Tag Archives: Bruce Springsteen

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Song of the Day #1,423: ‘Kitty’s Back’ – Bruce Springsteen

Best Albums of the 70s – #10
The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle – Bruce Springsteen (1973)

With one or two exceptions, I didn’t hear any of the albums on this list during the actual 70s. I discovered them mostly in the 80s and 90s, as I became a bigger music fan and dug through bins at used record stores to find CDs I’d read were important.

So in most cases, while I haven’t known these records since they were released, I have lived with them for 20-30 years.

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Song of the Day #1,388: ‘Reason to Believe’ – Bruce Springsteen

Best Albums of the 80s – #15
Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen (1982)

I suppose the most obvious Bruce Springsteen selection for a list of great 80s albums would be Born in the U.S.A.. But I’ll tip my hand by revealing that neither that nor Tunnel of Love, another standout by The Boss from this era, made my list.

Instead, the lone Springsteen slot goes to the album that preceded both of them, 1982’s Nebraska.

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Song of the Day #1,323: ‘Shenandoah’ – Bruce Springsteen

Today’s Random Weekend selection is making up for a past sin.

When I spent a three weeks last year walking through Bruce Springsteen’s discography an album at a time, I skipped one in order to fit the series into the allotted time frame. That album was We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Springsteen’s 2006 collection of classic folk songs.

Today, that record gets its due.

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Song of the Day #1,258: ‘The Last Carnival’ – Bruce Springsteen

My final post of the three-week Bruce Springsteen series takes us to his most recent album, 2009’s Working On a Dream. This record was released just two years after Magic but found Springsteen in a much different frame of mind.

Released the year he turned 60 and a year after the death of E-Street band member Danny Federici, Working On a Dream finds Springsteen contemplating his own mortality. But this isn’t a morbid record — on the contrary, it’s a celebratory one. On songs such as ‘Kingdom of Days’ and ‘Surprise, Surprise,’ he embraces the joys of a long life lived well.

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Song of the Day #1,257: ‘Long Walk Home’ – Bruce Springsteen

In the late 2000’s, Bruce Springsteen went on a tear, releasing four studio albums in five years. I’m skipping over one of those — We Shall Overcome: The Pete Seeger Sessions — in order to wrap things up this week.

That record is Springsteen’s only album of non-original material. It features covers of a dozen folk and protest songs made popular by Pete Seeger. It’s a great listen and features some terrific musical interplay with a group of musicians Springsteen assembled for the cause, but I’m sticking to Springsteen’s own songs during this three-week series.

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