YoTony B -

I would imagine, given your love of Born to Run, that you've either seen/purchased the 30th anniversary set with the concert from Hammersmith, Odeon? That is a really neat package with the "making of Born to Run" dvd.

I once read a review of the album that "Thunder Road" was like waking up in the Springsteen story at the early sunrise and that the album's closing song, "Jungleland," makes the listener feel like it is midnight.

Like you said, it's extremely difficult to rank one of his records over another.

As my post above states, I like Darkness and Born in the USA the most. Here are my reasons for Darkness:

This record, to me, legitimized Bruce Springsteen's place in rock history. Before this record, and through Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen and the word 'hype' were often said in the same sentence. Bruce was often referred to as "the new Dylan." His future manager, Jon Landau, once wrote a review of the Wild & Innocent and described Bruce as the "rock and roll future." All of these adjectives and expectations led to a lot of pressure and some backlash. The success Bruce had during the Born to Run time was not what he expected and it left him feeling unfulfilled.

From the time Bruce released Born to Run in 1975 to the time Darkness came out in 1978, many changes occurred in Bruce's life. He and his first manager, Mike Appel, became entangled in a nasty lawsuit over who owned Bruce's music. After a bitter battle, Bruce was no longer the idealistic kid he was until Born to Run. Bruce emerged wiser, more cautious, but determined to rise or fall on his own merits. He once said that after all the hype and negative experiences he had after Born to Run, he wanted his next record to just appear in record stores one day and not be promoted at all.

Darkness on the Edge of Town and its accompanying tour were a watershed in Bruce's career. His new songs no longer were about abstract stories or idealism. They focused on a new found maturity and the every day struggles that Bruce found to be heroic in their own right. He toured for nearly 18 months in support of the album and played some of the most legendary shows in rock history. It was almost unheard of if Bruce didn't play for 3.5 hours and played a varied setlist from night to night. He'd open with cover songs of old rock classics one night and then "Badlands" the next.

Perhaps the most defiant song he ever wrote opens the album: "Badlands." Themes about missed opportunities or how life can grind you down (if you let it) were in songs like "Racing in the Street," "Streets of Fire," and "Darkness on the Edge of Town." On Darkness, Bruce isn't writing about the Mary of "Thunder Road," but the bitter girl in "Racing in the Streets" who 'hates for just being born.'

As bleak as some of these songs seem, there was also some optimism and reflection in songs like "Promised Land," "Factory," "Prove It All Night," and "Candy's Room."

The album is filled with searing guitar & sax solos. It is Springsteen's most "rock-n-roll" album to that point in his career. Again, going back to how prolific a songwriter Bruce is, here are some of the songs not included on Darkness that other artists probably would have centered an album around: "Fire," "Rendezvous," "The Fever," "Because the Night," and "The Promise."

I could go on and on, but those are my initial thoughts about this masterpiece. Here is the Rolling Stone 5 star review of Darkness: