Bruce Springsteen started his recording journey in the 70s. He arrived as a heavily hyped, critically acclaimed artist who struggled to sell albums. But he ended as one of the most popular rock and roll stars in the world.
He released four LPs in the 70s. We found one song from each of those LPs that deserves much more recognition than it has received.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Lost In The Flood” from ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.’
Because he auditioned solo, first with acoustic guitar and then with piano, the execs at Columbia Records figured that Bruce Springsteen might proceed in the fashion of Bob Dylan. But he preferred to go in a rock and roll direction. That tension defines his 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Even as Springsteen chafed against the Dylan comparisons, it’s hard to deny that his extremely wordy songs owed a debt to mid-60s albums like Blonde On Blonde. But his perspective on songs like “Lost In The Flood” sets him apart. His narrator in this mournful ballad seems to both admire and look askance on the parade of misfits whose lives veer haphazardly between the romantic and the tragic.
“The E Street Shuffle” from ‘The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle’
There are only seven songs on The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Springsteen’s second album of 1973. As you might expect, several of those songs go longer than the average. They were intended as epics, and they delivered. That makes it a little bit tougher to find a track here that isn’t among the most revered in the Springsteen canon. We’ll go with “The E Street Shuffle”, the opening track on this wonderful album. The music is distinguished by the clever clavinet work of David Sancious. Meanwhile, Springsteen spits out nimble lyrics about the denizens of the mythical avenue, suggesting that this shuffle is a dance that only the young and reckless can properly manage.
“Meeting Across The River” from ‘Born To Run’
Bruce Springsteen found the epic sound to match his narratives on Born To Run. The title track was fine-tuned over months for maximum grandeur. Once Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg joined the band and Jon Landau took over as producer, most of the rest of the album followed suit. But “Meeting Across The River” hearkens back to the jazzier leanings of his first two records. Bittan’s piano and Randy Brecker’s trumpet do a delicate dance. Springsteen keeps his lead vocal at a low boil for much of the song, eventually belting as the song progresses. The tragedy inherent in this song is that everybody knows that the two schemers at the heart of the story are doomed, but they can’t see it themselves.
“Factory” from ‘Darkness At The Edge Of Town’
Springsteen spent his first three albums mostly focusing on the behavior of youths, with adults only entering the picture as plot points. On Darkness On The Edge Of Town, he began to work through his thoughts on the older generation, often focusing on his conflicted feelings about his father. In “Factory”, he takes a look at, as he calls it, “the working life.” As he depicts it, it’s not just the workers who suffer. Everyone who crosses their path feels the reverberations. This song demonstrates the new succinctness in Springsteen’s writing. It’s also evidence of the delicacy and tenderness of the E Street Band, with keyboardists Roy Bittan and Danny Federici stepping to the forefront in magical fashion.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images