Album Review Friday
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#10 Couldn’t Stand The Weather - Stevie Ray Vaughan
#9 Let It Be - The Replacements
#8 Learning To Crawl - The Pretenders
#7 The Smiths
#6 Born In The USA - Bruce Springsteen
Up until now the albums chosen on this list have been defended for their position, their claim to the spot on the ten best records released in 1984. With number six, it almost seems necessary to explain why it is not among the top two or three. An honest dilemma for sure, especially if you just look at the numbers. Thirty million copies sold. Seven top ten singles. Number one on album charts all over the world. One of the best selling albums of all time. Consistently ranked among the top albums ever. But consistency is exactly why it does not place at the top of this list. Born In The USA, the seventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, is not only inconsistent, it is not even his best display of musicianship or songwriting. As well, looking back thirty five years, it marks a turn in his career that may not represent a positive change in his music, although it did turn him into an international icon. That story is beyond the scope of this article, but while an excellent and often glorious album to listen to, Born In The USA has too many missteps to rise higher than sixth place.
Born In The USA would change Springsteen’s music forever. It is the last album to feature the core E Street band, that power backing group that provided such energy and life to his studio albums and legendary live shows. Clarence Clemons, Roy Bittan, Garry Tallant, Danny Federici and Max Weinberg would all be cast aside following this album, only to be used in sparse combinations until the reunion tours over ten years later. And the album was so impactful and pervasive, all of Bruce’s music afterwards has to be viewed in its reflection. Is his career after 1984 better or worse because of Born In The USA? That certainly is debatable.
One dilemma in ranking albums is the conflict of consistency. Does a ten song album lose stature if nine songs are great and one is unlistenable? Do all the songs have to be great for an album to be considered one of the best? I believe this is so, that all the songs have to be excellent at a minimum, have some value they add to the entire work or else the album loses its importance. And this is the case with Born In The USA. Broadly it is a fantastic album, well worth its praise. But there are glaring weaknesses in the songwriting and production that weaken the entire project, which limit its rank among 1984’s greatest. Let’s examine those weaknesses first.
While the album begins with a thunderclap, the title song is followed by “Cover Me”, maybe the most misplaced song of Springsteen’s career. More fitting for his “LA Bruce” years of the early 1990s, this song, which he originally wrote for Donna Summer, does not belong on this album. All the energy infused by the preceding “Born In The USA” is drained immediately by this clunker. The lyrics are repetitive, as is the music. While there are flashes of impressive guitar work, they do not overcome the boring backbeat that just seems uninspired. “I’m On Fire”, which closes out side one, is a song of unquenched desire backed by simple guitar and synthesizer. But the message is not delivered, as the production seems empty, without soul or heart that is needed to support the lyrics. A more fitting song would have been “Fire”, a staple of Springsteen’s live shows that carries the drama that “I’m On Fire” just does not have. The most glaring misstep is the album’s first single, “Dancing In The Dark”. The second side to Born In The USA is brilliant, and “Dancing In The Dark” is the reason why it falls short of perfection. Reportedly the last song to be recorded, when Bruce was instructed to write a pop song that could be a hit single, “Dancing In The Dark” leaves the listener empty. The lyrics feel rushed, the production is synthesizer heavy and slick. It is unlike any song on the album, and not in a good way. It would be redeemed in later years with an energized live version, but that is not the song that brings the album’s greatness down a notch.
But there is so much that makes this album special, and one worth revisiting three decades after its release. The title song is a tour de force, kicked off by an anthemic synthesizer and drum riff that begins four minutes of pure energy and power that made the live shows of Bruce and the E Street Band legendary. I will not go into the politics around the song, and how it was so often misunderstood as jingoistic, but it is a good example of Bruce’s tendency to mismatch his music with his lyrics. He has been criticized for combining upbeat music when the songwriting describes despair or heartbreak. Just listen to “Hungry Heart” from 1980, as the singer tells the tale of an affair and leaving his family while the upbeat melodies inspire fist-pumping dancing whenever its played live.
Two songs on side one, though, show Bruce at his best, using his writing to tell simple stories transformed into beautiful songs. “Darlington County” and “Working On The Highway” are a joy to listen to as they show off the skills of the band and its leader at their peak. “Darlington County” echoes the lighthearted melodies of “Sherry Darling” off of The River, Bruce’s double album masterpiece from 1980. “Working On The Highway” seems to be from the same vein, and comes across as the more danceable than “Dancing In The Dark”.
The songs of the album’s second half, excluding “Dancing In The Dark”, show the strength of the band coming together delivering Bruce’s messages of the complexity of relationships, family, and the belief in oneself. “No Surrender” is just an all out rocker, while “Bobby Jean” is a triumphant sounding love song, though in this context a goodbye to Springsteen’s longtime bandmate and confidant Little Steven Van Zandt. And if you are not tapping your foot and singing along to “Glory Days” by the time the chorus comes around, check your pulse. The album closes with “My Hometown”, which though a somewhat cheaper version of “Used Cars” from Bruce’s Nebraska, it still is the right ending to the record. The synthesizer is used well here, giving just enough background to Springsteen’s description of the despair of economic, political and racial hardship.
Born In The USA was Springsteen’s most accessible record and the effects of becoming an international icon would impact him for the rest of his career. While not his best work (listen to The River to hear him at top form) it deserved much of the accolades it received and can be considered one of the best of 1984.
