Greetings From Asbury Park - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN***

Blinded By The Light/Growin' Up/Mary Queen Of Arkansas/Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street/Lost In The Flood/The Angel/For You/Spirit In The Night/Its Hard To Be A Saint In The City

Greetings From Asbury Park was the debut album from Bruce Springsteen who would become the leading exponent of blue collar rock in the USA during the 1970s. (US:60)

“At this early point in his career, Springsteen had the mantle of a sort of working class Bob Dylan, rich strings of verbal imagery painting only slightly surreal portraits of youthful ennui and growth, ranging from the grim and world-weary to the starry-eyed and naive. The songs are frequently rambling and blissfully incoherent.”

“The Boss hits the ground running with Greetings From Asbury Park, and while he would certainly improve on it with time, this is nevertheless an accomplished and exciting album. Springsteen's appeal is best represented in the unabashedly romantic and nostalgic songs that should be ridiculous, but are rendered sublime by his cool conviction and go-for-broke delivery.”

“There's a feeling of looseness and fun running through this album that just doesn't show up as consistently on other Springsteen albums. I think that's because he hadn't yet become The Boss, but rather was just a working class style musician trying to put out the best album he could. It's a fine first crack, and there's a unique quality about this that set Springsteen apart from the beginning.”

“At the time Springsteen wasn't yet the troubadour of the working class he would become a few years down the line. Asbury's dense lyrics dealt with growing up, dreams of making it in music and city life. The colourful characters Springsteen portrays he met on the Jersey Shore and were often highly romanticized.”

“Some outstanding material but also some serious flaws; a number of these tracks are much too wordy and the arrangements sometimes don't seem to click with the songs. Otherwise Bruce's voice has never been better.”

“Kernels of Bruce's signature style haven't quite gelled yet on his debut; he's more in love with how he says things than what he's saying.”