Jeremy Urquhart is a writer at Collider who focuses on the Godzilla series, the films of Martin Scorsese, and anything in the action genre.
Bruce Springsteen has been at it for over half a century at this point, and though The Rolling Stones have been around and playing for longer, Springsteen’s longevity is still impressive. Even into his 60s and now 70s, his energy level on stage remains high, and the quality of his music… well, it hasn’t been as good in the 21st century as it was in the 1970s and ‘80s, but the last couple of decades have not been devoid of solid, new Springsteen songs.
That’s all to say that if you go through this here ranking, you'll find that most of the albums came from the first couple of decades of Springsteen’s career, but not all of them. If you're somehow new to Bruce Springsteen, or only know him from his handful of hits, these albums are likely worth checking out, because Springsteen, at his best, really has been responsible for some all-timers, as far as classic rock is concerned. 10 'Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.' As a debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is alright, and that’s alright. It’s important, as a rock album, for establishing Springsteen , yet at the same time, the sound here isn't necessarily one that The Boss stuck to much going forward. His second album, released the same year, did have a somewhat similar singer-songwriter/almost folky vibe, but with a bit more by way of grand/bombastic rock, and then the third album really was Springsteen reborn. Reborn to move fast . But back to Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., The E Street Band weren’t fully formed at this point, or at least they didn’t have that full sound just yet. Mainstays like Roy Bittan, Max Weinberg, and Steven Van Zandt hadn’t officially joined Springsteen’s celebrated backing band at this point, and you only get Clarence Clemons and his saxophone on a couple of songs. Still, it’s a good album, just not quite a great one; more an early sign that there could be interesting things to come, for Springsteen. 9 'Letter to You' And then jumping to the other end of things, here’s the most recent studio album Bruce Springsteen’s released: Letter to You. Not that it’s as historically significant or strong, but the approach here feels like the one The Beatles sort of took with Get Back, which was later re-worked to Let It Be: a late-era record that’s intended to be a return-to-basics sort of thing. Letter to You is Bruce Springsteen doing the whole heartland rock thing one more time, and with a pretty substantial E Street Band kind of sound, and in that sense, it works. He and his band have still got it, or at least they still had it back in 2020, and the album’s an overall solid one. It’s not as good as his 1970s or 1980s albums that have a comparable sound, yet it is easy enough to recommend to those who like Springsteen’s more classic era. Like Bruce Springsteen's Letter to You Documentary Music Release Date October 23, 2020 Runtime 90 minutes Director Thom Zimny Producers Bruce Springsteen Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse 8 'Tunnel of Love' With Tunnel of Love, things are downbeat and a little older and creakier than most of the Springsteen albums released before this point, with the exception of a certain 1982 album that’s more intense and downbeat, but maybe not quite as personal. You can refer to Tunnel of Love as Springsteen’s divorce album, or maybe his midlife crisis one, albeit it’s a fairly early midlife crisis, since Springsteen was 38 when it came out, and it’s now been more than 38 years since it came out, so mathematically… Tunnel of Love was informed by a divorce and likely some anxiety, since it was the follow-up to what remains Springsteen’s most popular and commercially successful album. He was doing some interesting things around this time, but also, Tunnel of Love was informed by a divorce and likely some anxiety, since it was the follow-up to what remains Springsteen’s most popular and commercially successful album. Tunnel of Love is more stripped back and somber, with the standout tracks not exactly being rousing or exciting ones. 7 'The Rising' The best album Bruce Springsteen’s done since the year 2000 would have to be The Rising, which was recorded not long after the 2001 September 11 attacks, and it’s hard to separate some of the songs here from that event. “The Rising,” the song, is especially linked to the day in question, and proves to be one of Springsteen’s most moving, as a result. The Rising is largely about catharsis, and inspiring some kind of hope in the wake of a tragedy, but without being sappy or insincere, and not by suggesting that moving on or recovering will necessarily be simple/straightforward. Bruce Springsteen’s music has always been sincere, and carries with it a feeling of honesty , and The Rising is no exception. It could be a tad long, in the end, but there’s a lot of good here, and it’s an easy album to start with if you're venturing outside Springsteen’s classic period for the first time. 6 'The River' Like The Rising, The River is also long, and maybe even a bit too long, though it mostly keeps the momentum going for its 80-ish minutes. It also intentionally feels like an album where the first half is a bit livelier and approachable than the second half, even if the first half does conclude with the impressively devastating title track, which remains one of Springsteen’s very best songs. Also, The River was the first album of Springsteen’s to reach #1 on the Billboard 200, though not the last . It’s also the album with “Hungry Heart” on it, which is one of those Springsteen songs some might feel is overplayed , but at least a song this good getting overplayed is better than a less deserving song being absolutely inescapable for anyone who still listens to the radio… for whatever reason. 5 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' Those tomatoes you want to hurl at your screen right now, they're noted. Yes, Darkness on the Edge of Town is low here, and there would be a fair few Bruce Springsteen fans who’d put it as high as #2, or maybe even #1. If a defense can be mounted, then the main argument is that from this point on, everything’s amazing. Springsteen’s top 5 is remarkable, even the one that just sneaks in at #5, and that album just so happens to be Darkness on the Edge of Town. Also, this one is incredibly consistent. Some albums of Springsteen’s have higher highs, but lower lows, while there really aren’t any songs on this album that feel like lows. Lows quality-wise, that is, because there are some low mood/energy tracks here. Darkness on the Edge of Town does get pretty dark, befitting its title, and the grittiness and rawness here might make it a less enjoyable Springsteen album to throw on than some other ones, but the execution is sound, and the quality of songwriting throughout is certainly strong. 4 'Nebraska' While Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. remains unique for being a Springsteen folk-rock sort of album , Nebraska stands out for being pretty much all folk, without much rock, and for being considerably more desolate and sparse. Also, while Springsteen’s debut had a reduced E Street Band, and Tunnel of Love only had a few contributions from some E Street Band members, Nebraska was a one-man show. Seriously. There are mastering consultants and a recording engineer listed as personnel involved in the creation of Nebraska, but otherwise, Springsteen did everything. There wasn’t much to do, sure, since you only get vocals, guitar, some harmonica, and small hints of other instruments throughout certain tracks, yet it’s still noteworthy how it all came from The Boss himself. He tapped into something surprisingly haunting here, and if you dismiss Springsteen’s music as dad or boomer rock, Nebraska is probably your best bet as the album to listen to if you want to see him in a different light… in a different light, while the music is emotionally in the dark. And there’ll be no dancing in it. That comes later. 3 'The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle' Maybe The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. should’ve been, though perhaps that other 1973 release had to happen before the sound could be refined and improved on a follow-up album. It’s the earliest one you can listen to and go, without a doubt, “Oh yeah, now that’s Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.” Subscribe for deeper Springsteen album insights Subscribing to the newsletter gives you continued Springsteen coverage - ranked album guides, contextual deep dives, and curated listening suggestions to help you explore his catalog and related classic-rock retrospectives. Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. Having “E Street” in the title helps with that lack of doubt, sure, but you could go in not knowing the title and still pick up that full band sound here, even if The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle does retain a little bit of folksiness heard on Springsteen’s debut. Come to think of it, the most folky song is easily the weakest one on the album: the plodding and overlong “Wild Billy's Circus Story.” Everything else here is excellent, though, with “Kitty’s Back” and “Rosalita ” becoming excellent staples of Springsteen’s live shows later on, and the likes of “Incident on 57th Street” and “New York City Serenade” being some of his most underrated songs. 2 'Born in the U.S.A.' Yeah, it’s Born in the U.S.A., and it’s tempting to dismiss the super popular one, but this is a remarkable pop-rock sort of album that was in the right place at the right time. That might make it sound like it was lucky, but it probably wasn’t just luck, since Springsteen – post-Nebraska – likely knew the direction to go in, or advance from, with The River, and he refined/polished the sound there while condensing things into a single album this time, rather than a double. Born in the U.S.A. really doesn’t waste a track, and even if some are “merely” pretty good, it’s the standouts here that make the overall album so memorable. Actually, most of the songs are standouts. “Dancing in the Dark,” obviously, but there’s also “Bobby Jean,” which is low-key one of Springsteen’s best-ever songs… and then the title track, “I’m on Fire,” “Cover Me…” yeah, see, you're getting to the stage of listing every song, or damn near close to it. It’s a great album, and that’s that. 1 'Born to Run' Guess if a Springsteen album has the word “Born” in the title, you're in for a good time, since Born to Run is one all-timer of a classic rock album, and arguably Springsteen’s very best overall. It’s a summation of almost everything Springsteen does , and it did cement that grand, effortlessly cathartic sound Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have become legendary for. Going through further highlights results in a similar issue to trying to shout out Born in the U.S.A.’s best tracks, since all the ones on Born to Run are winners… but especially noteworthy are “Thunder Road,” the title track, and then “Jungleland.” It would be a shame if you could only ever listen to one Bruce Springsteen album, but if you are in that unfortunate position, then you're best off making that one album Born to Run.
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