Classic Albums: The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle (1973)

I saw rock ‘n’ roll’s future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen

On August 25th, 1975, Bruce Springsteen’s musical career changed forever. Born to Run was a triumph of encapsulating the motifs of the American Dream, the hope of the future versus the world weary reality, the desire to make something out of nothing and never look back, audiences took to it immediately and a star was born.  Many thought that this Jersey boy had come out of nowhere (he had) and that this was a stunning debut (it wasn’t).  The genius of Born to Run lay in its absolute desperation, it’s all or nothing grandeur that was indeed the result of an artist taking his last shot at stardom, doomed to fade to obscurity if he failed.  The tales that came out of this recording were legendary, it took two years to make the album, with a good 6 months spent on the title track, complete with 12 guitar overdubs and a change in production and management halfway through.  The guitar slinger from Jersey had finally found critical and popular success, yet Springsteen had already touched upon the themes so heralded in Born to Run, and it was The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle that had brought him there.

Continue reading Classic Albums: The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle (1973)

“You could mess up my life in a poem
Have me divorced by the time of the chorus
Theres no need to change any sentence
When you always decide where I go next

Many nights you would hide from the audience
When they were not in tune with your progress
In the end you are like the journalist
Who turns what you sing into business”

“Working Titles” off of the new Damien Jurado album, Maraqopa, is a beautiful song, self-referential lyrics with clever wordplay boost an already gorgeous arrangement. Jurado’s voice itself is perfect for the tune; confessional but not completely mournful, sparse but not completely haunting.

Working Titles- Damien Jurado 

Maraqopa was released on Secretly Canadian on February 21st.

Al Green’s I’m Still In Love With You didn’t have “Tired of Being Alone” or “Let’s Stay Together”, the bedroom classics that most people associate his name with, but it’s a stellar album nonetheless. “Love and Happiness” might have been the lasting track from the 1972 release (Let’s Stay Together had been released earlier the same year) but “I’m Glad You’re Mine” is a stunner with some great inflections on a blues groove featuring some deft drum-work and strings that really swoon.

I’m Glad You’re Mine- Al Green 

If you do know of Johnnie Taylor, it’s from the excellent “Who’s Making Love” which came off an album of the same name. That in turn was covered by the Blues Brothers. This number “Save Your Love For Me” from the same album, features Taylor in a different light. Make no mistake, he’s one belter of a singer, but in this slow swing he’s more of a jazz crooner, and it works.

Save Your Love For Me- Johnnie Taylor