Maps of Music

Born to Run (1975)

Where the lyrics of Born to Run take you, and where it was really made.

Recording the title track alone took six months, and the label refused to release it as an early single.

Key places

Where the sessions began (1975)

Recording site 914 Sound Studios — Recording for the album began at 914 Sound Studios in January 1974, the studio Springsteen had used for his first two albums. The sessions stayed here until the move to Manhattan in 1975. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Manhattan sessions at the Record Plant (1975)

Recording site The Record Plant — In March 1975 the recording sessions moved from 914 to the Record Plant in Manhattan. Sessions there ran from March to July 1975, and the album was finished in this studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Born to Run: third studio album by Bruce Springsteen
• Released August 25, 1975 on Columbia Records
• Co-produced by Springsteen, manager Mike Appel, and producer Jon Landau
• Recorded in New York
• Breakthrough album after the commercial failure of his first two records
• Characters feel trapped and fantasize about escape along highways

Background

• First two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, released by Columbia in 1973
• Both albums were critically acclaimed but sold poorly
• By 1974 his popularity was limited to the US East Coast, and the label's confidence was waning
• Springsteen rejected a CBS suggestion to record in Nashville with session musicians and a brought-in producer
• The label agreed to one more album, on the condition that the band would be dropped if it failed
• The phrase 'born to run' came to him while lying in bed at his home in West Long Branch, New Jersey

Recording

• Sessions began at 914 Sound Studios in January 1974
• In March 1975 sessions moved to the Record Plant in Manhattan
• Recording of the title track lasted six months
• Clarence Clemons and Garry Tallent were among the E Street Band members in the early sessions
• Jimmy Iovine engineered the Record Plant sessions
• Mixing was completed on the morning of July 20, 1975, just before the tour began

Cover

• Photographed by Eric Meola at his personal studio on June 20, 1975
• Black-and-white shot of Springsteen leaning against Clarence Clemons
• Fold-over sleeve created by art director John Berg, typography by Andy Engel
• Early pressings misspelled Landau's name as John, and Columbia covered the error with stickers

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey; grew up in Freehold, New Jersey.
• Inspired by Elvis Presley and the Beatles, began playing with local bands in the 1960s, including the Castiles, Steel Mill and the Bruce Springsteen Band.
• Formed the band that became the E Street Band in October 1972; the name came into use in September 1974.
• Signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by John Hammond; debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. released January 1973.

Members

• Performs solo and with the E Street Band, his backing band since 1972.
• Long-time members include Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Steven Van Zandt, Roy Bittan, Max Weinberg and Patti Scialfa.
• Clemons died June 18, 2011; Federici died in 2008.

Career

• Born to Run (1975) brought worldwide fame; Born in the U.S.A. (1984) became one of the best-selling albums of all time.
• Won an Academy Award in 1994 for "Streets of Philadelphia"; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.
• Has sold more than 140 million records worldwide; holds 20 Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award.
• The 2023–2025 tour with the E Street Band was among the highest-grossing tours in history.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Highly positive reviews from music critics, praised for cinematic storytelling and Wall of Sound production
• Greil Marcus in Rolling Stone praised the majestic sound, rock and roll style, evocative lyrics, and impassioned delivery
• A few critics found the production excessive and heavy-handed, and the songs formulaic
• Langdon Winner in The Real Paper called it the complete monument to rock and roll orthodoxy
• Voted third best album of 1975 in the Pazz & Jop critics poll run by The Village Voice

Reappraisal

• Retrospective reviewers consider it a masterpiece and one of Springsteen's best works
• AllMusic's William Ruhlmann argued that calling the album overblown misses the point
• Christgau, in a later Blender piece, named the pompous declaration of greatness as its major flaw
• Rolling Stone ranked it 18th in its 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and 21st in the 2020 reboot

Records

• Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart: number 3
• Record World chart: number 1
• UK Albums Chart: number 36
• Sold 700,000 copies by the end of 1975
• RIAA certified it seven times platinum in the US by 2022
• Lead single 'Born to Run' reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2003

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Springsteen threw the initial acetate into the swimming pool of his hotel during mastering, and he considered re-recording the whole album live before Landau stopped him.
• Recording of the title track alone lasted six months, and CBS/Columbia refused to release it as an early single.
• Springsteen and Clemons occasionally remade the cover pose onstage during their concerts.
• The cover pose has since been imitated by other singers and musicians, including Cheap Trick on the 1983 album Next Position Please.
• The album was reissued in 2005 as a 30th anniversary edition with a concert film and a documentary on its making.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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