release date: Jun. 4, 1984
format: vinyl (86304) / cd (2010 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,46]
producer: Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt
label: Sony Music - nationality: USA
7th studio album by Bruce Springsteen originally released on Columbia Records. After the naked folk and singer / songwriter solo album Nebraska he really put energy back into the music with his so far best selling album. It's a return to the blue print that produced his breakthrough album, Born to Run and instead of continuing with his combo of narrational style as heard on The River, he combines the sing-a-long pop / rock anthems with rock & roll.
I received the album as a Christmas present from my older brother, who knew I enjoyed his Nebraska album. I was mildly surprised but sort of enjoyed it... somewhat. Fact is, I never really liked it near as much as his older albums. To me, this is over-the-top American mainstream, and I find that it's stuck in the same song throughout the whole album. The drums are almost ruining the album [80s producer-syndrome, I know], but yes, it has its moments. The title track... I can hardly sit through it. I think, you have to be American to enjoy that. And apart from running much in the same pitch and the same 1-2-3-4 rhythm [and yes, I know The Ramones never did much else], another striking annoyance is that I hear older songs popping up. When playing "No Surrender" and "Glory Days" I keep hearing too many analogies to greater songs like "Badlands/Racing in the Street/Streets of Fire".
The album is Springsteen's fourth - and in my mind least deserved - to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone Album Guide 5 / 5 ]
