Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1984)

I could write an entire article about the musical, critical, and commercial success of one Bruce Springsteen. Quite honestly, an introductory paragraph about the man and what he's known for seems redundant.

Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ is Springsteen's 1973 debut, and it stands almost thirty-one years later as a solid and enjoyable debut record. While his storytelling style of songwriting would evolve and branch out, musically this is a bit sparser than later efforts. Many would compare this album to Dylan, but I don't know if that's quite a fair comparison for the at the time 23 year old Springsteen.

The opening pair of songs rank among the best of Springsteen's career. Blinded By the Light melds horns, drums, guitar, and Springsteen's catch as catch can vocal performance into an upbeat number that far outpaces just about anything else on the album.

Growin' Up is perhaps one of the greatest songs about finding yourself ever written ("I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch, I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched"). Lyrically, the song is brilliant, with sharp imagery that seems to burn itself into your head.

In fact, throughout the album, Springsteen seems to overdo the imagery on some songs, as if he can't stop himself. Aside from the questionable (but understandably so) production values, the pure amount of actual writing on this album may be it's biggest downfall.

That being said, there are plenty of great songs to be discovered on this disc. Lost in the Flood is considered holy among die-hard Springsteen fans (and with good reason). It is almost as sparse as the material found on the Nebraska and Tom Joad discs, but as with much of the material on this disc, there seems to be a ray of hope that permeates the song, even though it is darker in nature than most of the rest of the album. Also considered holy among fans is Spirit in the Night, with it's creeping saxophone opening and the bluesy atmosphere said saxophone creates. For You, meanwhile, is a gorgeous song that just makes you smile thanks to its exuberance.

Of the nine songs found on this disc, I find myself easily able to enjoy 7 of them on a regular basis. Mary Queen of Arkansas is a bit too much overwrought emotion and too drawn out for my liking, while The Angel is one of the prettiest songs I've ever heard that has no replayability whatsoever, at least for me.

Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ isn't the stroke of genius that Springsteen would paint many times in the 5-7 years immediately following this album's release, but it is an interesting portrait of where Springsteen was when he started, as well as the beginning of a road map where one can track his sonic evolution. If you take away the aforementioned albums, this is by far his most sparse and simple album musically. That doesn't make it any less satisfying.

If you can get by the disappointing production, and the couple of tracks that fail to really take off in any way, shape or form, you should find that Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ is an enjoyable disc. It also might be the best place to start for a Springsteen newbie.