The Landmark Album. 'Born to Run' encapsules everything that is great in Springsteen's music. The drama, the passion, the vision of rock'n'roll redemption. It all starts here.

Bruce and the E Street Band would never sound this loose in the studio again. The classic 'Rosalita' and the lovely 'New York City Serenade' are here.

Springsteen's business difficulties at the time brought a directness and bitterness to this album, driving home the idea that nothing is free, and anything gained can be lost.

The album that turned Springsteen into a mega-star and a part of Americana. A blast of an album that revels in relationships even as it plumbs the depth of tragedy.

'Lonesome Day' and 'You're Missing' reach into the heart of personal loss in an unforgetable way. 'Mary's Place' manages to balance the joy and sorrow of living with a sound that is a throwback to the E-Street Band's glory years.

Springsteen sings about being happy, married, and, well, being Bruce Springsteen. Only one clunker on here, 'Leap of Faith', a stillborn rocker containing some of his worst lyrics.

The best collection available,with remastered sound and augmented with rarities such as Bruce's great live version of Jimmy Cliff's 'Trapped'. Since Columbia has, with the exception of 'Born to Run', allowed Springsteen's individual albums to languish without benefit of remastering, this release is a worthwhile purchase.

More live Springsteen. Contains one of his greatest songs, 'Land of Hope and Dreams', and one of his worst, 'American Skin(41 Shots)' on which he goes from pondering an event to poisonous pontificating.

Another production debacle. There are some great songs here ('Leah', the title track), and 'Reno', a song that falls just short of greatness due to Springsteen's insistance on using the most base terms of description. Surely such a gifted lyricist could have avoided middle school level toidy-talk. Does not hold up with repeated listenings.

A live Springsteen hoe-down. It's a step or two above the studio album he was supporting at the time and the band can swing, but Bruce sounds out of place and forced here. For Springsteen completists only.

Try as he might, Springsteen just can't pull this together. A noble gesture, but at times almost unlistenable. Pass it by.

The E Street Band is absent and it shows. The one and only version of 'Red Headed Woman' that appears here does not justify this travesty. The professional, sterile versions of some of Springsteen's best songs resist Bruce's vain attempts to light a fire somewhere, anywhere. Pure, pointless product.