Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.

Sound DNA

• Rock
• Classic Rock

• gritty
• earnest
• urban

About

The first studio album from Bruce Springsteen was, improbably, a mostly acoustic record made with some backing musicians—a collection of songs on which Springsteen sounds nothing like the long-haired hard-rocker he’d been in his earlier bands, nor like the cool-rockin’ daddy he’d later become. Written on an old piano in the back of a beauty parlor, and released in 1973, <i>Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.</i> is a record full of tall tales, and populated by Jersey Shore legends: the Madman Drummer and Go-Cart Mozart of “Blinded by the Light”; the Ragamuffin Gunner of “Lost in the Flood”; Crazy Janey, Wild Billy, Hazy Davy, and Killer Joe of “Spirit in the Night.” Springsteen once described the songs on <i>Greetings From Asbury Park</i> as “twisted autobiographies,” with names and places changed to protect the not-so-innocent. They’re epic-length songs, full of vivid, poetic imagery, with Springsteen leaning on the rhyming dictionary and striving to find his solo voice after years of playing in bands. These are the songs that convinced John Hammond, the man who discovered Bob Dylan, to sign Springsteen to Columbia Records. Although the intention was for Springsteen to follow in the footsteps of the singer-songwriters of the mid-1970s, and record and perform as a solo artist, that was never his goal. Instead, he managed to sneak his friends and bandmates into the recording sessions, including some of the same players who’d end up becoming members of the E Street Band, including saxophonist Clarence Clemons, bassist Garry Tallent, and keyboardist David Sancious. The record wasn’t successful commercially, but “Blinded by the Light” would later become a chart-topper for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and David Bowie would try his hand at “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City” (although Bowie’s version never made it onto a record). Additionally, many of the songs on <i>Greetings From Asbury Park</i> evolved beyond their semi-acoustic beginnings, thanks to more beefed-up arrangements; as a result, tracks like “Spirit in the Night” and “Growin’ Up” have transcended their otherwise minimalist origins, becoming fan-favorites along the way.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits