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All rights reserved.Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1984)
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| Track Listing 1. Blinded by the Light - (live) 2. Growin' Up 3. Mary Queen of Arkansas - (live) 4. Does the Bus Stop at 82nd Street? - (live) 5. Lost in the Flood - (live) 6. Angel, The - (live) 7. For You - (live) 8. Spirit in the Night - (live) 9. It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City - (live)
Album Notes Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, bass instrument, congas); Clarence Clemons (saxophone); David Sancious (piano, organ); Harold Wheeler (piano); Garry Tallent (bass instrument); Richard Davis (double bass); Vincent Lopez (drums). Recording information: 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York. Hailed early on by Columbia producer and talent scout John Hammond as "the new Dylan," Bruce Springsteen has always shared many of the folky, poetic, word-savvy tendencies of his hero and predecessor. Nowhere is this more evident than on Springsteen's debut, GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, NJ, which veritably bursts at the seams with lyrical invention, pell-mell imagery, and acoustic-guitar driven troubadour tunes. Yet Springsteen trades in on Dylan's pensive and bitter sides for dew-eyed optimism and exuberance. While there is spare, folkie fare like "The Angel" and "Mary Queen Of Arkansas," on which Springsteen sings of his local New Jersey color in his uniquely passionate voice, there is also something fresh and irrepressible here. A rock & roll heart beats at the center of GREETINGS, with a spunk and spirit that push the whole affair along. "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" and "Growin' Up" are fueled by David Sancious's rollicking piano, wailing tenor sax, and Springsteen's husky voice. Together these elements defined a James Dean rebel persona and a giant rock & roll ambition that would guide Springsteen's music for the rest of his career. Editorial Reviews Rolling Stone (07/05/1973) Rolling Stone (07/05/1973) | Find errors in the product description? Submit a catalog update request now. | ||||||||||||||||
  The Shape of Things to ComeReview created: 04/15/00 by: buffoonery -- a member of Epinions  Pros: A few wonderful tunes Cons: Sound and production are thin Bruce Springsteen had become a club legend on the East Coast when he landed an early record contract. The result was this first album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.", a harbinger of the future. Dense, complicated lyrics combined with muddy engineering and occasionally thin production made this a disc that looked a bit to the future but was an amazing work for somebody in his early 20's. The album can rock, but the things wouldn't blaze up until Springsteen had a solid band and better production. Despite its flaws, "Greetings" has a few tunes that would become Springsteen concert and rock classics--"Spirits in the Night", one of the great show-stoppers, "Growing Up", and two that were also covered by Manfred Mann, "For You" and "Blinded By the Light". For my money, the best song on the album is the frightening "Lost in the Flood", which closes out side one and becomes more eerie as it progresses. Springsteen was early compared to Bob Dylan and it's easy to see why; indeed, it's hard to see how he could exist without the path forged by Dylan, who was able to put on vinyl subject matter and expressions never before permitted. Springsteen took great advantage of that path--the album opens with the almost incomprehensible "Blinded by the Light", a tune I have heard hundreds of times and still don't know what it's about. Next follows the short teen rocker, "Growin Up". The three songs mentioned above are the remaining highlights, the other tunes a little less important. All of the songs would sound much better in their concert versions. "Greetings" is worth listening to as much as a piece of history as for its musical merits. To really get an idea of the early Springsteen, pick up a copy of "Tracks", the recently released retrospective. The first disk contains a couple of solo cuts from "Greetings" that Springsteen played for his contract audition, and the first CD contains some great early Springsteen rockers, still young and a little immature, but clearly the road was open for this guy. Review ID: 10000000000234177 Epinions.com ratings are not included in the item's average rating. Links in this review may have been removed. |
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