Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. | 1973 | A lyrical rainstorm set against a loose almost-folk sound |
The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle | 1974 | Wearing jazz and folk influences, Bruce begins refining his lyrics and sound. |
Born To Run | 1975 | Lyrically concise and musically explosive, it stands as one of rock's great albums. |
Darkness on the Edge of Town | 1978 | A bleak and brooding examination of small town life and modern society. |
The River | 1980 | A double album, it features a number of classics but there's a nagging feeling that it could have been truly awesome. |
Nebraska | 1982 | Unable to recapture the sparse and hollow atmosphere of the demos, Bruce simply releases the demos. |
Born in the U.S.A. | 1984 | What can I say? It's too solid and too impressive to attempt finding faults. |
Live 1975/85 | 1986 | Attempting to capture the power of his legendary concerts, this box set nearly succeeds. |
Tunnel of Love | 1987 | If I were to nominate his best, this would be it. Quiet, introspective and genuinely touching. |
Human Touch | 1992 | Long (14 tracks) and very patchy. |
Lucky Town | 1992 | A little eclectic but still solid. |
XXPlugged | Given the opportunity to strip his songs to their core, Bruce plugs in and offers something which fails to excite. Thank god for the current tour... | |
Greatest Hits | 1995 | The title belies the fact that it is a cross between a "best of" and "greatest hits" release. A reasonable starting point for the uninitiated. |
The Ghost of Tom Joad | 1995 | A hushed, solo acoustic social commentary of modern America, it received widespread critical praise. |
Tracks | 1998 | A 66 track collection of non-album material from 25 years of recording, including 56 previously unreleased tracks. |
18 Tracks | 1999 | Features 15 tracks from "Tracks" plus three previously unreleased songs: "The Promise", "The Fever" and "Trouble River". |
Live in New York City | 2001 | A 19 track collection of live performances from the final shows of the 1999/2000 world tour. |
The Rising | 2002 | Bruce returns to the studio with the E Street Band. |
Where should a Bruce novice start? I would nominate Born In The USA or Greatest Hits but still you would miss something essential about the man and his music. That's why I've put together a track listing of a tape that would demonstrate the range, scope and depth of his talent. It doesn't have the songs you've heard of a million times before, nor does it mark the cornerstones of his career. Instead, it has the songs that are most likely to change your opinion of his work.