How Bruce Springsteen’s First Two Albums Showed What He Could Do (And What He Needed To Change)

Bruce Springsteen released his first two studio albums, the first two of his career, within the same calendar year of 1973. The albums did poor business, threatening Springsteen’s record deal in the process. None of the songs made a dent in the wider mainstream listening audience.

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Those albums contain some of Springsteen’s most daring, acrobatic songwriting feats, especially in terms of their lyrics. But Springsteen wisely realized that he needed a course correction, leaving behind the florid style of those two records for something more sustainable and relatable.

Early Issues

There are times on Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle when it seems like Bruce Springsteen was trying to clear some imaginary songwriting bar. His ambition sometimes outpaced his craft.

You can certainly hear the talent all over songs like “Mary Queen Of Arkansas”, “The Angel”, and “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”. The guy clearly possessed a grasp of the vernacular that outstripped many of his songwriting peers. But these songs just get a little tiresome after a while, especially considering the lack of melodic deviation.

That’s not to say, however, that these two albums were devoid of good stuff. In fact, we’d go so far as saying that some of Springsteen’s finest songwriting is found on that first pair of LPs. Even when things get a little unwieldy, they’re nonetheless thrilling.

The High Points

On Greetings, Clive Davis helped matters. After hearing the early version of the album, the record exec asked Springsteen to write some songs that were a bit more radio-friendly. “Spirits In The Night” and “Blinded By The Light” were the result. Those songs pack a lyrical wallop while also amping up the catchiness factor.

Even better is “Lost In The Flood”, a song where Springsteen conjures up a whole world of dropouts and ne’er-do-wells racing each other towards oblivion. That track pointed the way to the more fully fleshed-out narratives found on the second album.

Although the production is still a bit muddy at times, the second album presents a big leap forward. “Incident On 57^th Street”, “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”, and “4^th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” are all-time Springsteen songs, brimming with the majestic chaos and heartache of youth.

Changing Course

When Springsteen returned in 1975 with Born To Run, he had a new producer (Jon Landau) and a couple of new bandmates (Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg) in tow. The stories remained larger than life. But this time, the arrangements matched them in that grandeur.

An album later (Darkness On The Edge Of Town), Springsteen shaved down the scope of his writing. His songs became much more concise, more lifelike. They’ve mostly remained in that vein ever since. Smart move, that. Even a wordsmith like Springsteen realized that his early songs tipped too far in favor of the lyrics to make them relatable to a wide audience.

On his 2020 album Letter To You, Springsteen included three songs that he had written in those early days but had never recorded. It was a blast to hear him going full tilt, seeming to tie himself in lyrical knots only to have the refrains come around and sort it all out. Those songs represent the road nearly taken in his career. That road likely would have continued to wow critics. But it also would have rendered Springsteen viable to only a loyal, modest cult.

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