Bruce Springsteen

Seven must be the Boss' lucky number because this, his seventh album, culled seven Top-10 singles. One of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Born in the U.S.A. reflects the Reagan-led '80s with despair and disenfranchisement, setting it to an anthemic, arena rock sound. Fans and casual listeners alike should start with this breakthrough album.

Though it looks at hard times, at little people in little towns choosing between going away
and getting left behind, Born in the U.S.A," Bruce Springsteen's seventh album, has a
rowdy, indomitable spirit. Two guys pull into a hick town begging for work in "Darlington
County," but Springsteen is whooping with sha-la-las in the chorus. He may shove his
broody characters out the door and send them cruising down the turnpike, but... More >

Imperceptible though the movement has been to many sensitive young people, Springsteen has evolved. In fact, this apparent retrenchment is his most rhythmically propulsive, vocally incisive, lyrically balanced, and commercially undeniable album. Even his compulsive studio habits work for him: the aural vibrancy of the thing reminds me like nothing in years that what teenagers loved about rock and roll wasn't that it was catchy or even vibrant but that it just plain sounded good. And while Nebraska's one-note vision may be more left-correct, my instincts (not to mention my leftism) tell me that this uptempo worldview is truer. Hardly ride-off-into-the-sunset stuff, at the same time it's low on nostalgia and beautiful losers. Not counting the title powerhouse, the best songs slip by at first because their tone is so lifelike: the fast-stepping "Working on the Highway," which turns out to be about a country road gang: "Darlington County," which pins down the futility of a macho spree without undercutting its exuberance; and "Glory Days," which finally acknowledges that among other things, getting old is a good joke. (Grade - A+)