Born to Run
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the album by Bruce Springsteen. For other uses, see Born to Run (disambiguation).
- For the song with the same name see Born to Run (song)
| Born to Run | ||
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| Studio album by Bruce Springsteen | ||
| Released | August 25, 1975 | |
| Recorded | Record Plant Studios in New York; 914 Sound Studio in Blauvelt, New York ("Born to Run") |
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| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 39:22 | |
| Label | Columbia Records | |
| Producer(s) | Bruce Springsteen Mike Appel Jon Landau |
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| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bruce Springsteen chronology | ||
| The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (1973) |
Born to Run (1975) |
Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) |
Born to Run is a rock album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released in 1975 (see 1975 in music).
Contents |
[edit] History
Bruce Springsteen's third album, Born to Run, was a breakthrough hit and launched his career in the United States and around the world. His first album to feature Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg, Born to Run was released to overwhelming critical acclaim which swiftly spiralled into hype. While his previous two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, received good reviews, popular success had been scarce; Born to Run cemented Springsteen's reputation among critics and established his first mainstream fanbase.
The album is noted for its use of introductions to set the tone of each song (all of the record was composed on piano, not guitar), and for the Phil Spector-like "Wall of Sound" arrangements and production. Indeed, Springsteen has said that he wanted "Born to Run" to sound like "Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Spector."
In terms of the original LP's sequencing, Springsteen eventually adopted a "four corners" approach, as the songs beginning each side ("Thunder Road", "Born to Run") were uplifting odes to escape, while the songs ending each side ("Backstreets", "Jungleland") were sad epics of loss, betrayal, and defeat (Originally, he had planned to begin and end the album with alternative versions of "Thunder Road".)
Also,original pressings have "Meeting Across the River" billed as "The Heist." The original album cover has the title printed in a graffiti style font. These copies are very rare and considered to be the "holy grail" for Springsteen collectors.
Upon release, the album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard album chart and spent over two years in the top 100 best-selling albums. As of 2006 it has sold over 6 million copies in the U.S., and is Springsteen's second-best-selling studio album ever after Born in the U.S.A.[1]. Most reviews were immediate raves, even to the extent of writer Greil Marcus comparing the introduction to "Backstreets" to The Iliad.
The album's reputation has not suffered over time. In 2001, the TV network VH1 named it the 35th-greatest album of all time[2]. Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the greatest 500 albums of all time ranked Born to Run at number 18[3]. In 2003, Born to Run was ranked as the most popular album in the first Zagat Survey Music Guide[4]. In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry[5].
[edit] Album cover
The cover art of Born to Run is one of rock music's most popular and iconic images. It was taken by Eric Meola in 1975, who shot over 900 frames in a three hour period. Springsteen's pose was not planned, after plugging into an amp and starting to play, he casually leant on Clarence Clemons. The famous shot was taken, and used as the cover art. "Other things happened," says Meola, "but when we saw the contact sheets, that one just sort of popped. Instantly, we knew that was the shot." Ultra-thin lettering was used on the mass produced version, which at the time was unheard of, and something of a design classic. The image could be seen in retrospect as a metaphor to describe Springsteen's reliance on the E Street Band for support. If one is to look carefully at Bruce's guitar strap, you'll see a button that has a picture of Elvis Presley on it (Elvis was Bruce's ultimate idol) from the King's Court fan club in New York. How Bruce acquired this button is still not known, but it is an interesting bit of triva.
The Springsteen and Clemons cover pose has been imitated many times, from Cheap Trick with their album, Next Position Please, to Tom and Ray Magliozzi on the cover of the Car Talk compilation, Born Not to Run: More Disrespectful Car Songs, to Bert and the Cookie Monster on the cover of the Sesame Street album, Born to Add.
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Bruce Springsteen.
[edit] Side one
- "Thunder Road" – 4:49
- "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" – 3:10
- "Night" – 3:00
- "Backstreets" – 6:30
[edit] Side two
- "Born to Run" – 4:30
- "She's the One" – 4:30
- "Meeting Across the River" – 3:18
- "Jungleland" – 9:35
[edit] 30th Anniversary Edition
On November 14, 2005, Columbia Records released Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition in box set form. The package included:
- a remastered CD version of the original album
- the DVD Wings For Wheels, a lengthy documentary on the making of the album, which won a Grammy award for Best Long Form Music Video at the 49th Grammy awards on February 11, 2007.
- with bonus film of three songs recorded live on May 1, 1973 at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles
- the DVD Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Hammersmith Odeon, London '75, a full-length concert film recorded on November 18, 1975 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London during the brief European portion of their Born to Run tours.
- this live recording was subsequently released as the CD Hammersmith Odeon London '75
Packages from retailer Best Buy also included:
- a CD single replica of the original "Born to Run" 45 single.
The box set debuted on the Billboard 200 album chart on December 3, 2005 at number 18 with sales of 53,206 copies. It spent 6 weeks on the chart.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] The E Street Band
- Roy Bittan – piano, Fender Rhodes, glockenspiel, harpsichord, organ, background vocals
- Ernest "Boom" Carter – drums (on "Born to Run" only)
- Clarence Clemons – saxophones
- Danny Federici – organ (on "Born to Run" only)
- Suki Lahav – violin (on "Jungleland" only)
- David Sancious – keyboards (on "Born to Run" only)
- Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, horn arrangements
- Garry Tallent – bass guitar
- Steven Van Zandt – horn arrangements, background vocals
- Max Weinberg – drums
[edit] Additional musicians
- Wayne Andre – trombone
- Mike Appel – background vocals
- Michael Brecker – horn, saxophone
- Randy Brecker – trumpet, flugelhorn
- Charles Calello – conductor, string arrangements
- Richard Davis – bass guitar
- David Sanborn – saxophones
[edit] Production
- John Berg – album design
- Greg Calbi – mastering
- Andy Engel – album design
- Bob Ludwig – re-mastering
- Eric Meola – photography
[edit] Engineers
- Andy Abrams
- Angie Arcuri
- Ricky Delena
- Jimmy Iovine
- Louis Lahav
- Thom Panunzio
- Corky Stasiak
- David Thoener
[edit] Chart positions
[edit] Album
| Year | Chart | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | U.S. Billboard Pop Albums | 3 | initial release |
| 1985 | U.S. Billboard 200 | 101 | re-entry at time of Born in the U.S.A. |
| 2005 | U.S. Billboard 200 | 19 | Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | "Born to Run" | U.S. Billboard Pop Singles | 23 |
| 1975 | "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" | U.S. Billboard Pop Singles | 83 |
[edit] References
- ^ Recording Industry Association of America: Gold and Platinum. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
- ^ The Greatest: 100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll. The Greatest. VH1. Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
- ^ The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
- ^ Barry A. Jeckell (2003-09-23). Born To Run' Tops Zagat Music Survey. Billboard. Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
- ^ Sheryl Cannady (2004-03-19). Librarian of Congress Names 50 New Recordings to the National Recording Registry. The Library Today. The Library of Congress. Retrieved on January 31, 2007.
