Track Listing

1. Blinded By The Light
2. Growin' Up
3. Mary Queen Of Arkansas
4. Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street
5. Lost In The Flood
6. Angel
7. For You
8. Spirit In The Night
9. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6020 in Music
• Released on: 2003-05-05
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
Hailed early on by Columbia producer and talent scout John Hammond as "the new Dylan", Bruce Springsteen has always shared many of the folky, poetic, word-savvy tendencies of his hero and predecessor. Nowhere is this more evident than on Springsteen's debut, GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, NJ, which veritably bursts at the seams with lyrical invention, pell-mell imagery, and acoustic-guitar driven troubadour tunes. Yet Springsteen trades in on Dylan's pensive and bitter sides for dew-eyed optimism and exuberance.
While there is spare,folkie fare like "The Angel" and "Mary Queen Of Arkansas", on which Springsteen sings of his local New Jersey colour inhis uniquely passionate voice, there is also something fresh and irrepressible here. A rock & roll heart beats at the centre of GREETINGS, with a spunk and spirit that push the whole affair along. "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" and "Growin' Up" are fueled by David Sancious's rollicking piano, wailing tenor sax, and Springsteen's husky voice. Togetherthese elements defined a James Dean rebel persona and a giant rock & roll ambition that would guide Springsteen's musicfor the rest of his career.

Customer Reviews

A solid start from the Boss!
Bruce Springsteen's debut album was a solid start to his long partnership with Columbia Records. Recorded with the original lineup of the E-Street Band, featuring Gary Tallent & Clarence Clements, the songs proved to be some of Springsteen's best, and highlighted the future paths he would move towards on his later work. 'Mary, Queen Of Arkansas' is a moving acoustic ballad, which could have easily fitted in on Nebraska, while fans of Manfred Mann would have recognised the original 'Blinded By The Light' with its brilliant lyrical wordplay. Other highlights include the funky 'Spirit In The Night' & the upbeat 'It's Hard To be A Saint In The City,' contrasting with the powerful 'Growin' Up'. While he would go on to create more well known albums, Springsteen's first album is the best way to understand the true style of the man they call the Boss.

Superb Debut from The Boss
What a start! A fresh young product of the Jersey Shore seen producing his first album. Sometimes the first is poor, but this is great. All the songs are so deep and the lyrics are finely written. Lost In The Flood gives a touch of darkness to the album, and It's Hard to Be a Saint is just superb. A great album for any fan of music.

Yesterday's good news (2)
I have been a fan of Bruce Springsteen's for two and a half decades. At some point I owned all of his albums up to then. Eventually, though, I resold a bunch of them, this one included.
There are excellent songs on this album, no doubt! The reason I sold it is that all the best songs are also included on the stunning 3 CD live compilation (1975 - 85). Literally all the live versions are more engaging and even the sound quality is way better.
On these early studio dates, Bruce still made an effort to sound like his great personal hero, Bob Dylan. This caused him to sing much worse than he would have been able to, and did later on.
The sound quality is substandard, too.
All in all, this sounds like music that was stunning in its day. Which was yesterday.