Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run - 1975
In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
So when I first heard him, some time in the mid 1980s, when Born in the USA was released and became a huge success, the sheer idea of this extremely American guy, looking like the epitome of americanism, singing with so much love and pride and conviction about being an American, caused instantaneous rejection.
And that's the way things remained for a few years. In 1988, the Human Rights Now! worldwide tour on behalf of Amnesty International brought an amazing set of artists to Buenos Aires, and Springsteen was among them. I went there because of Peter Gabriel and Sting, and only stayed for his gig because, well, I was already there. I'm not going to expand much on that gig here, because The Boss live is a better subject for a few months from now, when we get to the mid 1980s and talk about his massive quintuple (yes, as in 5 ) live album, which is one of my three absolutely favourite live albums.
So, by now, you can guess that my opinion changed at some point, and it was that night, during that gig, in which I went from sceptical to awestruck in a matter of minutes. Of course, after the gig, I went and bought what I could find which, at the time, was Born... and an extremely compressed version of the quintuple live one, which had been released as a single album.
And we finally get to the point, because the first song of that live album was "Thunder Road", and I still remember playing it for the first time, and thinking it was a bit of a weird song, I couldn't figure out exactly where the music was going. But I could understand the lyrics a bit, and I felt they were extremely sad but also hopeful. I remember thinking that "roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair" sounded a bit like freedom, and by the time the song ended with that amazing "it's a town full of losers and I'm pulling out of here to win", I was pretty much crying.
It's hard to tell if that's my favourite Springsteen song , "The River" is an extremely strong contender, and there are others pretty close. One of them, of course, is also in this album, which is the title track. At any rate, this has been too long an intro for this massive classic of an album, you should just listen to it. I should listen to it more often, to be honest. I tend to favour live version of his material still today, so I haven't played this one too often. If there's anything I may say I don't like too much, is that the production sounds maybe a bit too clean. But the songs are all gems, and they tell stories that are heartbreaking, a bit bitter and, of course, absolutely American. I'm only glad that it didn't take me too long to realise that there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.
- Ok, I'm just gonna put this here: For all my respect for Bob Dylan, I think that if the Nobel prize folk were looking for an American songwriter, they should have picked Bruce instead. Nobody can express the culture and feel of America as he does. And the emotion conveyed on the lyrics is unparalleled.
- The album cover, with Springsteen holding his Fender Telecaster and leaning on Clarence Clemons is an absolute classic. It has been imitated by several artists out of whom, the best ones, indeed, are Sesame Street's Bert and the Cookie Monster. It's for the cover of their album Born to Add.
- Apparently Julia Roberts once said she related to the "Thunder Road" line that goes: "You ain't a beauty but hey, you're alright". Come on, Julia! You can't take that line away from us mere mortals who actually have a right to relate to that line!!
- Nobody seems to know what a "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is, but the song is actually about the E Street Band.
- Both the title and the excerpt above are from the title track. It's a brilliant song and actually the line "Together Wendy we can live with the sadness / I'll love you with all the madness in my soul" is one of the most perfect love line ever.
- Of course, I'm picking "Thunder Road". By now, I don't think I need to explain.
Flow into the endless sea
Scorpions - In Trance - 1975
When I was listening to this one today, for a moment I had an almost visual image of the band finally coming to shape, a bit like when an image comes into focus slowly.
This is the album in which Scorpions fully came into being, the one in which they fully became themselves, so to speak. Well, "fully" may be a bit of an overstatement, because they sound, at times, heavier than they would later, and there are still some remnants of the progressive / psychedelic influences of the previous album.
But this is clearly Scorpions. And definitely a great album. I think I like more the ballads here than the rockers, and Uli Roth singing in a couple of songs was probably not the best of ideas. Still, another great album by a band I am quite glad to be rediscovering.
- There was a bit of controversy about the cover of the band, which features a woman hanging down towards a guitar. In the original cover, one of her breasts can be seen, which caused the controversy. It wasn't as bad as their next album would be though.
- Another thing about the cover was that it was the first time the band logo appeared. That's a good visual image of the band coming into shape.
- While the title track is one of my favourite ones by the band, I'm going to put "Life's like a River", which is a bit less known, and absolutely beautiful.
I keep singing the same old song
Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band - 1975
This would be the last album that Deep Purple would ever release before going into an 8 year hiatus. It's also the only album without Ritchie Blackmore in it. He had left early in the year and was replaced by Tommy Bolin.
If their previous album felt very little like a Deep Purple album, this one is actually not really recognisable as DP at all. There's a lot of the funk sound, very little keyboards, and not much that makes you think this is the same band from just a few years back.
Not a bad album, actually, and I think I like it a bit better than the previous one. Tommy Bolin, whom I've never been too familiar with (he died only a year after this one was released), was actually a hell of a brilliant player.
Maybe a better album that I can acknowledge, not the one I would pick up when I want to listen to Deep Purple. I wish I could listen to it as if it wasn't theirs.
- Years later, Jon Lord allegedly said that "the worst thing you can say about it is that, in most people's opinion, it's not a Deep Purple album". I have to fully agree.
- I'm putting "Drifter" here. It's really a brilliant track, one of the best of the album, and the closest to DP that the album gets to. It also has a great Bolin solo.
Bonus picture
- Of course, I can't leave without putting that Sesame Street cover here. It's too cute.
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