The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1986)

On "The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle" we see realized some of the potential present on Springsteen's first album "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." Better writing and performances combined with much improved production and engineering to create some powerful rock and roll, though not as strong as the work to follow. In particular, the performances are a little tepid compared to hearing them in the flesh.

This album spawned two Springsteen concert traditionals, "Fourth of July (Sandy)", about a boardwalk loser who is finally realizing that is life is getting away from him, and the centerpiece crowd-pleaser "Rosalita", a tune played so much that, like "Born in the U.S.A." and "Born to Run" it has almost become a clich . The latter is a song I really don't need to hear anymore, thanks to classic rock radio (read: easy listening for forty year olds), the former thankfully hasn't been overplayed to death and still sounds fresh. The title track and "Kitty's Back" also show some drive.

But the best song on the album is the almost unheard "Incident on 57th Street", really the first in a long series of Springsteen gangland dramas. Here, young Johnny meets up with a love of convenience but her seduction of him falls prey to the seduction of those romantic young boys. There is a 10-minute live version of this song on the flip side of the "Fire" single released back in 1986 when the 1975-1985 collection came out. It is as good as anything Springsteen has ever performed, emotional and dramatic, and it's a crime that it wasn't on the concert collection instead of some of the filler that showed up there.

If you're a Springsteen fan, you already own this. If you're not one, get "Born to Run" and "The River" first, and maybe "Darkness on the Edge of Town" next. The album is still just a bit too idiosyncratic for new listeners. But it is intelligent and challenging from beginning to end--plus, it rocks.