THE BOSSMAN COMETH
The documentary Bruce Springsteen: In His Own Words debuted Monday on HBO Canada. The 73-minute “bio-documentary” can be considered the video companion to Springsteen’s autobiography (Born to Run), published last September. The musician also narrated the
Tonight’s gonna be everything that I said.
BORN TO RUN (1975)
The album that made him famous, Born To Run contains songs that are the centre of Springsteen’s live show to this day. The anthemic title cut (“We gotta get out while we’re young …”), Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (“When the Big Man joined the band …”), and lovelorn carpe diem tale Thunder Road (“Pulling out of here to win!”). Underrated: The understated Meeting Across the River. With just piano, trumpet, double bass and Bruce, it’s the story of a hustler who you know won’t get a happy ending. “Tonight’s gonna be everything that I said.” When has that ever happened?
NEBRASKA (1982)
Springsteen at his darkest. Recorded without the E Street Band, Nebraska brings to life the stories of various outsiders, losers and criminals. The album cover tells the story: stark and harrowing, Springsteen makes these stories resonate with, mostly, just his voice and acoustic guitar. Highway Patrolman, about a cop and his violent brother, is especially memorable. Check the lyrics: the cop stole his brother’s girl. Highway Patrolman was later covered by Johnny Cash.
BORN IN THE U.S.A. (1984)
Stadium rock at its finest. U.S.A. was a massive-selling album, full of hits, including the famously misinterpreted title track (Hint: it’s not a flag-waver, it’s critical of the government’s treatment of veterans.). I’m on Fire is Springsteen at his most sensual, My Hometown at his most sentimental. And don’t forget No Surrender, with the perfect line: “We learned more from a three-minute record, baby, than we ever learned in school.”
LIVE IN DUBLIN WITH THE SESSIONS BAND (2007)
This may seem like an odd pick for essential Springsteen (Where’s The River?). It’s not one of his bestsellers, but Live in Dublin is a great double-CD set that presents Springsteen in a different context than most fans are used to. Backed by a horn section and other acoustic instruments, he reimagines his own songs as well as folk standards — and the crowd is with him all the way. Sometimes raucous, sometimes tender, the Dublin set is worth having for the banjo intro on Jesse James alone.
WRECKING BALL (2012)
Includes the final work of the Big Man, saxophonist Clarence Clemons (the liner notes include part of Springsteen’s eulogy for his longtime friend). Named the No. 1 album of 2012 by Rolling Stone, Wrecking Ball contains the single We Take Care of Our Own (now there’s a concept). Other highlights are Death to My Hometown and Shackled and Drawn, which manage to pack a social-commentary punch and be a lot of fun at the same time. The final track, We Are Alive, is a defiant, heartfelt tribute to those who’ve died, as well as the resiliency of the human spirit.