BORN IN THE USA

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Listyguy
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BORN IN THE USA

Post by Listyguy »

I was just listening to this album and (even though I was already well aware of the fact,) I thought about how amazing of an album it is. I know it's not as well liked as "Born to Run", "Darkness on the Edge of Town", or even "Nebraska", but I think it;s his best album. Anybody have some thoughts to add to this?
Zorg
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Re: BORN IN THE USA

Post by Zorg »

It's funny, this album. As far as I'm aware, it was always Bruce's most popular album, and it was lauded by the critics and all, and then a sort of "revisionism" came into play that looked deeper at the post-Born to Run pre-Born in the USA albums a lot more closely, while Born in the USA had kinda been dismissed as Bruce doing pop. While I agree that those middle albums are better than what came before and after (Darkness imo stands up there with the finest albums of all time), Born in the USA still has more ideas and fun than most albums, and some rip roaring songs, including the rousing "No Surrender". In fact all the songs I think are at the very least great, except for the perplexing Dancing in the Dark. I really don't get that song at all.
slick
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Re: BORN IN THE USA

Post by slick »

2 Things stand out:

1.) 7 top 10 singles (US) which most of them are really good, but 2 remain the popular trademarks "Dancing in the Dark" and Born in the USA"
2.) The 5 non-singles are as good, if not better than then the main songs.

It is by far his most mainstream album, but it is hard for me to put this above the 3 albums that Listyguy spoke about in the 1st post. I think I need to listen to this again, time to dig out some vinyl!!!
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Stephan
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Re: BORN IN THE USA

Post by Stephan »

It's probably the most instantly enjoyable of Bruce's albums, and for this reason it's at around #60 in my all-time list, but Born to Run, Darkness, Nebraska and even The River are higher up because I feel they have more to offer in the long-term. U.S.A. may be the second album I turn to for instant Bruce fun (after Born to Run), but it doesn't quite have the depth of those other 4.
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VanillaFire1000
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Re: BORN IN THE USA

Post by VanillaFire1000 »

USA probably did get that particular revisionism because it was so popular. And how it is less "authentic" because of the synths. Even people who love the album will admit that there are many parts that sound dated today.
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nicolas
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Re: BORN IN THE USA

Post by nicolas »

IMO (I'm probably one of the biggest Bruce fans here) it is the last of the great Springsteen albums. Bruce had reached the status of a superstar, and he wasn't as free as before. Maybe he was a little more lazy too. Anyway this is where he started to aim for the largest possible audience and adopted a radio-friendly sound; but the songs are still very strong : the come from the same writing sessions as Nebraska.
Then after I think it's the beginning of the decline. I don't really like the post-USA Bruce, except for a few moments, especially when he sounds more folky (that's why Ghost of Tom Joad and We Shall Overcome are my 2 favorite post-1984 Bruce albums, the only ones I can listen too. The rest is buried under terrible production and arrangements that IMO don't suit the Bruce i love; I still haven't heard the new one (my mother gave it to me but it's still sitting on my night stand
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