Born to Run is the record that made Springsteen into a bonafide star – like Kerouac and James Dean rolled into one, the Boss injects a cinematic sense of the romantic into this portrait of the working class Jersey Shore of 1974. Alive, in love and punch drunk on the possibilities of youth, freedom and rock n’ roll, the universal language of Born to Run makes you feel nostalgic for a world you have never known. Springsteen’s poetry and unflinching sincerity are so inscrutable that Born to Run doesn’t feel like a trope heavy concept album for a second – it possesses a strange quality that absolves you of cynicism the moment the needle drops, immersing you in tales of young love, tough guys, motorcycles and the American dream for thirty-nine minutes and twenty-three seconds. Scoring the festivities, of course, are the almighty E Street Band. Able to turn time to slow motion with the tap of a glockenspiel or make the hairs on your neck stand up with the rumble of Clarence Clemons’ iconic saxophone, the E Street Band flesh out Springsteen’s world and almost make it materialise before you. Born to Run is up there with Springsteen’s – or anybody’s – finest work. It doesn’t get much better than this! Just put it on your turntable, “roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair. The night’s busted open. These two lanes will take us anywhere.”
Pete Whelan 