release date: Sep. 11, 1973
format: cd (2010 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,14]
producer: Mike Appel, Jim Cretecos
label: Columbia / Sony Music - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" - 5. "Incident on 57th Street" - 6. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
2nd studio album by Bruce Springsteen originally released on Columbia Records, 8 months after his debut from Jan. 1973. Stylistically, this continues much in the same melting pot of r&b, folk and singer / songwriter tradition as the debut. It's still The Band, Dylan, Morrison, Cohen and Waits one comes to think of as close sources to many of the songs. "4th of July, Ashbury Park (Sandy)" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" stand out as quite original material, but much of the remaining material doesn't live up to the same standard. "Kitty's Back" is a dreadful jazz fusion composition, and other songs drown and disappear in looong arrangements without distinct direction because there need to be a part for the sax, the organ, the piano and... (perhaps inspired by Morrison's great Astral Weeks and Saint Dominic's Preview?).
After listening to his first two albums, it's evident that Springsteen is a strong songwriting talent, and it could have been a truly great debut had he come up with the best tracks from both and only released one album in '73.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 5 / 5, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]
