Track Listing

1. Thunder Road
2. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen
3. Night
4. Backstreets
5. Born to Run
6. She's the One
7. Meeting Across the River
8. Jungleland

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1022 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
Few albums are as fueled by hope, possibility, and the lure of the open road as Born to Run, a virtual concept album about small-town Jerseyites in search of a better life via hot-rodding out on the turnpike, scoring some small-time hustle, or blowing out of town altogether, either across the river to New York City or west for parts unknown. Songs like "Jungleland," "Thunder Road," "Backstreets," and the title track are epic productions, both sonically and lyrically, borrowing from Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, and West Side Story. When Born to Run was released in 1975, it earned then-unknown Springsteen the rare honor of simultaneous covers on both Time and Newsweek. The attention was warranted then, and it still is now. --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews

A LANDMARK RECORDING
Bruce Springsteen has said that when he set out to record this album, he was going to make "the greatest rock and roll record ever." Well, maybe he came up short, but if so, only by a hair. "Born To Run" is nearly flawless from beginning to end; each song tells its own distinct story, yet all are wonderfully woven around the album's central theme, which is also the title of the record.

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.

Five stars? Try TEN. Fifty?
"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.

Incredibly affecting music from a prodigious talent
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.