release date: Oct. 10, 1980
format: 2 cd (1985 reissue)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,38]
producer: Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt
label: Columbia Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: Disc 1: 1. "The Ties That Bind" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Sherry Darling" (4 / 5) - 3. "Jackson Cage" - 4. "Two Hearts" (4 / 5) - 5. "Independence Day" - 6. "Hungry Heart" (5 / 5) - 7. "Out in the Street" (4,5 / 5) - 8. "Crush On You" - 9. "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" (4 / 5) - 10. "I Wanna Marry You" (4 / 5) - 11. "The River" (4,5 / 5)
Disc 2: 1. "Point Blank" (4 / 5) - 3. "I'm A Rocker" (4 / 5) - 4. "Fade Away" - 5. "Stolen Car" - 7. "The Price You Pay" (4 / 5) - 8. "Drive All Night"
5th studio album release by Bruce Springsteen originally issued as a double album. This was one of the first full Springsteen album I had in my collection. I had only just discovered the predecessor, Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) when I heard this at my best friend. The album is not that different from the '78 album, but it's a sort of a conceptual album dealing with the present state of economical recession in America, and what that does to ordinary families. The album has more focus on the singer / songwriter part and it contains both slow dwelling stories and the more uptempo rock & roll riffs from his earlier albums, like Darkness.. and Born to Run (1975). After this, he really took his first round with the folk and singer / songwriter side of his talent when releasing the even more sinister and simple album Nebraska (1982) as a solo album without any studio musicians.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 5 / 5 stars ]
