Over a quarter century after the release of "Born To Run," we may have come to take this album for granted, forgetting the incredible rush it gave us the first thousand times we heard it. Make no mistake - this is one of the best rock albums ever recorded. From the lyrics to the melodies to the production, The Boss held nothing back. This recording provides evidence that Springsteen works as hard in the studio as he does on stage.

Each track is now, after all these years, immediately recognizable - the opening harmonica strains of "Thunder Road," the symphonic piano introduction to "Jungleland," the organ that kicks off "Backstreets," and, of course, the explosion of sound that is the title track.

The production here is obviously influenced by Phil Spector, the legendary inventor of the Wall of Sound. Lyrically, Springsteen evokes memories of early Dylan. (Listen to the song "Backstreets." I've always felt this song was Springsteen's nod of acknowledgment to Bob, with the feel of the song closely resembling that of "Like A Rolling Stone.") The vocals are reminiscent of Roy Orbison, but with more of an edgy sound. The final product is a masterpiece, and should take its place alongside the best of Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, and Hendrix when the history of Rock and Roll is written.

"Born To Run" immediately catapulted Springsteen into the mainstream of American Rock. Thankfully, he was never inclined to rest on his critical laurels. He has consistently created great music for over 25 years.

I can't imagine anyone not owning this recording.

33 of 34 found the following review helpful:


Incredibly affecting music from a prodigious talent  Mar 19, 2005 By SKB Greystone
I was born in the year when this album was first released, so perhaps understandably I had little awareness of it at the time. Growing up, Bruce Springsteen to me was always Born In The USA and Glory Days, and none of the copious airplay devoted to the "Live 1975-1985" box set in my parents' house could shake that initial impression.

But I always quite liked what bits of Springsteen's live performances I happened upon; whether or not you're a fan, you can't help but feel the energy that the E Street Band projects. That in itself is a rare enough commodity (especially in the current music scene) and one to be appreciated, so I eventually relented and bought Born To Run.

What can be said about this album that hasn't already been committed to the page over the past 30 years? Not much - and for good reason, I'd wager. This is one of those records that I've assiduously avoided trying to dissect and intellectualize. The songs here are too visceral and too affecting to be waved aside by some dismissive categorization.

You needn't be a staunch American patriot or blue collar worker to relate to these songs or to feel an endless affinity for the way that Springsteen evokes the plight of the characters that inhabit his stories. God, if you've ever felt the frighteningly boundless passion of youth you know exactly what it means when you hear "Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness / I'll love you with all the madness in my soul". If you've ever felt the gnawing need for escape from a situation that peels your soul away, you feel "It's a town full of losers / And I'm pulling out of here to win" in the pit of your being. If you've fallen short of the ideal version of yourself you saw stretched out at the peak of your youth, you've never heard more bittersweet words, I would wager, than "Remember all the movies, Terry / We'd go to see / Trying to learn to walk like the heroes / We thought we had to be."

For me, these songs resonate with something very primal, and the fact that I've lived a comparatively comfortable middle class life in a perfect family detracts in absolutely no way from my appreciation of this album. Springsteen has captured the essence of the most human experiences on Born To Run, in a way that links the most disparate demographics together in the commonality of struggle through everyday life.

What more can be said ...? It's all said with infinitely more meaning in each note, in each word on every song on this record.

79 of 88 found the following review helpful:


Five stars? Try TEN. Fifty?  Aug 28, 2003 By M J Heilbron Jr. "Dr. Mo"
"Born To Run" is one of the greatest albums of all time, and that fact is inarguable. The only question is how many albums you'll put on the list. Any list with more than ten, without this one, is clearly in error.
It is an album where a single listen will convince you.
The cinematic sweep, from "Thunder Road" to "Jungleland", makes you feel like you're watching a movie while listening. The epic nature and true storylines makes you feel like you're reading a classic novel.
I ask you, what album have you ever listened to, that elicits a sensation of music, film and literature simultaneously? It's breathtaking.
And ageless as well. You know how old black & white movies seem crisp and eternal, while, say, certain 70's movies have a dated feel...even though they may be GREAT 70's movies?
"Born To Run" hasn't aged one iota. It's as impressive now as it must have been in 1975.
It's an album that sounds just as good in your car as it does on your headphones.
From Roy Bittan's piano opening "Thunder Road" to Springsteen's anguished howl ending "Jungleland", you will have gone somewhere. Bruce and the band takes you on a journey...GOD I'm jealous that some of you haven't heard this yet! I'd like to watch someone listen to it for the first time...
I'm telling ya, this is simply one of the great musical experiences of all time.

39 of 45 found the following review helpful:


DOWN TO 4.5 STARS?  Sep 01, 2005 By Music Fan
Bruce Springsteen Doesnt deserve this. And this album in particular. There is no other album as epic as this one. Every song is a masterpiece. You should not go through life without hearing the title song and "Thunder Road". One thing that bugs the heck out of me is its down to 4.5 stars due to all the ignorant people who review Bruce's political views. You people forgot this is a free country? You people reviewing his political views are just as ignorant sounding as those people you claim are "Anti-American". How is Bruce anti-american exactly? Just because he disagrees with Goerge Bush's actions doesnt make him a criminal or anything. It's ok, it's free country. Say anything you want about the president and the war on Iraq. Unfortuantly you ignorant people dont realize this. That's why people out there in other countries look at america as evil.

As far as this album and the MUSIC. This album is just fantastic. I am dissapointed to see this album going from 5 stars - where it should be - to 4.5 stars. If you Bruce fans agree with me, show it by clicking on the Helpful button. So we finally can get the review back to 5 stars.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:


"...They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets..."  Jan 10, 2007 By J. H. Minde "Everything I need is right here"
Having been an impressionable fifteen year old when BORN TO RUN first ran, it's hard, thirty two (!) years later to adequately measure the impact this album had. The changes it wrought in the young people who first heard it were very nearly on the cellular level (that's biology, not telephony, you 21st century yahoos!). The only reason that BORN TO RUN did not acquire near biblical status amongst my immediate peers was because Springsteen was a Jerseyite, not a Long Islander (that's "Lawn Guylander" to you, man), and while bopping back forties in the schoolyard at night and choking down red-pack Marlboros by the handful, we still managed to sneer a bit at "B.S.", that yokel from the swamplands that stretched "from the coastline to The City."

Of course, even the sneeringest, the most Billy Joelic, Good Ratsish, and Twisted Sisterite of us couldn't deny that Springsteen had created a work of aural cinematography with BORN TO RUN. Virtually every song is not only memorable but visceral in a way that rock albums have not been for so long since then. Sure, those New Jersey people obviously lived in hog pens and drank budget beer, but just like us, they dreamed of taking Dad's old Musclecar ("Hemipowered drones") on a 120 MPH rip down Route 80 toward the setting sun. Go West, young man. Go West.

And yet, there's more here than wish fulfillment. There's real depth. When Bruce sings of the "skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets," he unconsciously echoes Allen Ginsberg in 'Sunflower Sutra': "Jack Kerouac sat beside me on a busted rusty iron pipe. 'Look at the sunflower,' he said." Springsteen gave us our own flowering in the sun.

BORN TO RUN spoke so loudly and meaningfully because it spoke so universally. Trapped in seemingly dead-end suburban small towns (just within sight of the New York skyline, but oh, so far away) we wanted so desperately to run, we dreamed of hearing that long, mournful train whistle blow, we wanted Dylan's vision of the soul in BLOOD ON THE TRACKS, but we also wanted the brash unrestrained energy of Bruce S. on a hot, neon-encrusted night.

A Shaman with a guitar, he gave us visions: "...She dances across the porch as the radio plays." The blonde wore Wayfarers. Her name was Wendy. Or Mary. Or maybe it didn't matter as long as "her eyes shone like the Midnight Sun. She was the one."

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