Born in the U.S.A. - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1984)

Start with this: that, despite the prominence of at least two, three singles you could probably go your whole life without hearing again, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. remains one of the greatest pop albums ever. That should probably be a lot more reassuring coming from a Springsteen fan that could probably, on his least-fond days, be nicely described as "charmingly obsessive"; it is well-documented that, as long as there have been obsessive fans, obsessive fans have found something to nitpick about regarding their pet artist's mainstream albums, as if the magic is lost once ten million other people start to listen in.

Which means that, both logically and according to the set precedent, I should be offering you a lukewarm review of Born in the U.S.A., perhaps basing it around the fact that it would be a lot more impressive if written and recorded by a lesser artist, or around the fact that since more than half of the album is made up of tracks that could be accurately described as "hit singles" (with at least three of 'em earning that most beloved of music-review qualifiers, "ubiquitious", tacked to the front) it's lost the power it might have had if everybody else (heathens without the direct line to Springsteen's soul) had just left well enough alone, or perhaps throwing in that it's Springsteen's - gasp! - POP album, too many keyboards and not enough sax solos and, sob, no tracks that even approach the five-minute mark, much less eclipse it. By fanboy standards, Born in the U.S.A. kinda sucks.

But - and I'm not the type of person who'll even consider feigning objectivity - I figure it's my civic duty as a fan of an artist to not hold the artist to such lame standards. Born in the U.S.A. isn't Bruce Springsteen's greatest album, but it's not because it's "pop" and certainly not because it's popular - it's because, first of all, The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle already filled the position, and second of all because Bruce bothered making albums like Born to Run and The River. Okay, fine, whatever. Born in the U.S.A. is still one of the most stunning pop albums of the 80s, and even - if you ask me - holds its own when stacked up against the rest of Bruce's barn-storming discography.

**

Of course, and I shouldn't need to explain it this way but the stigma unfairly attached to "pop" has made it necessary, when I refer to Born in the U.S.A. as a pop record, I mean that in the sense that Springsteen on this album has cleaned up his sound, streamlined his legendary wordiness, and made a record entirely fit for mass-market consumption. Gone are the lengthy, suitelike songs of The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, and gone is the painful sense of overwhelming desperation that made Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska such heartbreaking records - but what Springsteen manages on Born in the U.S.A. is a harnessing of both the youthful nostalgia of E Street Shuffle and the urban decay of his more pessimistic albums, all dressed up in pretty keyboards and pop arrangements. So what Springsteen has really accomplished - besides a really, really good record - is a marketable packaging of his previously-alienating ideals, another means of expression that circumvents his old norms.

It's an idea that's not lost on your average critic; every music journalist, after all, knows how the title track's bombastic arrangement and cries of "born in the U.S.A.!" earned president Reagan a bronzed Darwin award for his gross misinterpretation of the track as an uber-patriotic anthem, and touches on it with every mention of this album. Not that they shouldn't: it's a good point, and one that could be lost on a cursory listen of Born in the U.S.A. Because, right, it *is* a pop album, and pop music is happy, no?

Oh, but the struggle of previous albums isn't lost on the characters populating Born in the U.S.A.; road rocker "Darlington County" may *sound* like the template for every J. Geils song ever, but as the two romantic young boys learn the harsh ropes of working-class life, the song's breezy bounce and pleasant, singalong "sha la la la" chorus obscures something far more disaffected. That disaffection saturates monster hit "Glory Days," too, its anthemic shuffle and chiming guitars overpowering what amounts to a terribly depressing narrative about high-school wash-ups. "I'm Goin' Down" is catchy and repetitive, and a more compact version of the sort of adolescent sexual frustration Meat Loaf toyed with all throughout his Bat Out of Hell album; "I'm on Fire"'s sexuality is more obsessive than frustrating, and tackles this with a breathtaking instrumental perfectly suited to mood and subject matter.

Then, of course, there's the wistful exuberance of youth, tackled in several big-rock anthems. "No Surrender" would under normal circumstances be the best one, with not one, but TWO wordless choruses ("whoaaaa ohhh ohhh" and "la la la la la-la la") and a great, life-describing line like "we learned more from a three-minute record, baby, than we ever learned in school"; but then it's got the terrific "Bobby Jean" to contend with, a touching farewell to guitarist Steve Van Zandt that amounts to that one moment on every Springsteen record that you will inevitably sniffle wistfully at, and everyone who's ever owned a Springsteen record knows what I mean. Of course, Born in the U.S.A. ends on a bit of a downer, as "My Hometown" details most clearly the sort of urban decay Bruce'd try to personify all these years, but it's powerful enough to make you think, and sounds great coming on the heels of "Dancing in the Dark," Bruce's misguided stab at synth-pop and dancing with Courtney Cox.

More importantly, though, Bruce had finally managed to unify the optimism of his first two albums and the howling desperation of his latest few, a symbiosis that, perhaps unsurprisingly, yielded pop gold.

**

If there's a problem with Born in the U.S.A., it's that Springsteen has an E Street Band at his fingertips that he sometimes refuses to use. Clearly the tightest band in rock and roll, there are precious few seconds devoted to the sort of full-band workout that so frenzies live crowds. Perhaps more disappointingly, hulking saxophonist Clarence "Big Man" Clemons is sort of relegated to a guest spot here, taking solos here and there, but not nearly enough to satisfy those of us who missed him while listening to Nebraska; without Clemons' sax you kind of lose some of the soul of the group. I mean, doesn't anyone remember "Rosalita"? I quote our very own foxy_shy when I say "When Bruce shouts Let's rock! before the bridge in Glory days... nothing happens." Foxy's review - which is a lot more critical on the album than mine is, but nonetheless drags up lots of valild points - details explicitly one of the album's drawbacks, and that's a near-criminal refusal to allow some of these songs that special E Street spark.

But then again, we always have to wonder: would it really have been better that way? Instinct (and fanboydom) says yes, but there's a certain charm to Born in the U.S.A. that makes its streamlined, mainstreamized sound rather appealing. If this were the sort of sweaty soul revue of The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, it might sound better, but it wouldn't be fitting to its characters, and probably wouldn't have been the same popular smash.

So while Born in the U.S.A. is obviously not the only Bruce Springsteen album you need to own, let me be clear with you: you still need to own it, because it's fantastic. I'll withhold the fifth star until I'm able to reconcile my love for the album with my disappointment at not hearing nearly enough Clarence Clemons, but know that this is as close to a full-scale recommendation as a four-star album is likely to get.



GROWIN' UP SPRINGSTEEN REVIEWS:
- Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
- The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle
- Born To Run
- Darkness on the Edge of Town
- The River
- Nebraska
- Born in the U.S.A.
- Tunnel of Love
- Human Touch