Editor’s note: The following story originally appeared in the Asbury Park Press on June 11, 1978.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Boss is back.<\/p>\n
The album, \u201cDarkness on the Edge of Town,\u201d which thousands of Bruce Springsteen fans \u2014 an critics \u2014 have been waiting for, is out, re-establishing the former Bradley Beach resident as a major rock and roll figure.<\/p>\n
And although none of the 10 cuts on the album have the spirit of \u201cRosalita\u201d from his second album or \u201cSpirit in the Night\u201d from his first, cuts like \u201cBadlands\u201d and \u201cProve It All Night\u201d have the old Springsteen rocking style.<\/p>\n
While his fans wondered what he was up to for the almost three years since his last album, \u201cBorn To Run,\u201d was released, Springsteen awaited the resolution of the court cases dissolving his ties with his former manager Mike Appel and allowing him to work with the producer of his choice, Jon Landau.<\/p>\n
The new album is produced by Springsteen and Landau.<\/p>\n
This story and review on “Darkness on the Edge of Town” was in the Asbury Park Press on June 11, 1978.<\/p>\n
The Freehold native\u2019s image as a rock and roll star became somewhat tarnished during the long interlude between albums.<\/p>\n
But tunes like \u201cCandy\u2019s Room,\u201d \u201cBadlands\u201d and \u201cProve It All Night\u201d reaffirm that Springsteen can write and write well.<\/p>\n
One reason he may have come on so slowly after his first album was released in 1973 was because his lyrics just didn\u2019t live up to all the hype surrounding his fast rise to the top.<\/p>\n
At that time there were stories that he was signed up by the same person who signed up Bpb Dylan, and Springsteen was looked up as the new \u201cMusical Poet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lyrics, printed on the cover were just not literally masterpieces and didn\u2019t hold up under close scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Taken as a whole, music and lyrics together, however, the album, \u201cGreetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,\u201d was really quite good but went largely unnoticed.<\/p>\n
Springsteen\u2019s second album, \u201cThe Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle\u201d is the only one of the four albums sold without lyrics printed either on the cover or included inside the jacket.<\/p>\n
Springsteen writes the lyrics to all his songs.<\/p>\n
The second album includes one of the songs most requested by fans at Springsteen concerts, \u201cRosalita,\u201d and if any song stands up to scrutiny that one does.<\/p>\n
The lyrics to the new album are typed on a sheet in the jacket, and give the impression it was just typed up as an afterthought \u2013 no fancy packaging in this album.<\/p>\n
And gone is the playfulness demonstrated between Springsteen and his saxophonist, Clarence Clemens, on that cover. The two of them were back to back playing their instruments, easygoing and happy.<\/p>\n
The cover of the new album, not unlike another New Jersey resident’s album, Patti Smith, shows us a side of Springsteen not seen when he\u2019s on stage.<\/p>\n
The trademark black leather jacket is there, but his eyes look tired, as if he\u2019s spent too many days on the road.His hands are almost clasped (as if in prayer) and the room he is standing in looks gloomy.<\/p>\n
The cover fits the lyrics to the songs.<\/p>\n
From \u201cBadlands;\u201d \u201cBadlands, you gotta live it everyday,\/ Let the broken hearts stand\/ As the price you\u2019ve gotta pay\/ We\u2019ll keep pushing\u2019 till it\u2019s understood,\/ and these badlands start treating us good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The somberness and introspection of the pretty ballad, \u201cSomething in the Night,\u201d seems like almost a continuation of an earlier Springsteen song, \u201cNew York Serenade\u201d from his second album. In the new song however, we know he\u2019s back in Asbury Park when he sings \u201cI\u2019m riding down Kingsley,\/figuring I\u2019ll get a drink.\u201d Kingsley Street, the street referred to in the song, runs parallel to the Ocean and one block west of the boardwalk.<\/p>\n
The likeness of the album designed to one by Ms. Smith could have something to do with his collaboration with her on her single, \u201cBecause the Night.\u201d Could it be he is moving in another direction, away from his solid rock and roll style?<\/p>\n
One of his new songs, \u201cAdam Raised A Chain,\u201d is such a switch from anything on the other four albums that if you didn\u2019t listen closely it would be hard to recognize it as a Springsteen song. It comes close to what\u2019s called heavy rock.<\/p>\n
What isn\u2019t gone from the new album, however, is the plaintive moan heard on an earlier album in \u201cJungleland\u201d and used here in the lead in to \u201cSomething in the Night.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the half singing, half talking beginning of \u201cBadlands\u201d is as effective now as it was in \u201cThunder Road\u201d from his last album. \u201cLights out tonight\/ Trouble in the heartland,\/Got a head-on collision,\/ Smashin\u2019 in my guts, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The singer songwriter is still writing about broken dreams, \u201cracin\u2019 in the street, chasing something in the night, believing in a promised land and the working life.\u201d<\/p>\n
And although the album as a whole might not have the force of some of the meatier songs on \u201cBorn to Run\u201d such as \u201cJungleland\u201d and \u201cBackstreets,\u201d it stands up musically and is more professional than previous albums.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, a Springsteen song which has become almost a standard at his concerts, \u201cThe Promise,\u201d was not included in the album.<\/p>\n
There are those who will be sorely disappointed in the album because it doesn\u2019t have the catch or hook of some of his popular concert favorites. But listen to it; it lives up to the Springsteen name.<\/p>\n