When Columbia Records signed Bruce Springsteen in 1972, the label execs thought they were signing a piano-playing folkish singer/songwriter whose lyrics were the prime selling point; the "next Bob Dylan," as it were. So imagine their surprise — indeed their disdain — when he recorded his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., with a four-piece jazzy rock outfit replete with electric guitars, saxophone and keyboards. That backing band included Clarence Clemons and Garry Tallent, two of the members of what would later become The E Street Band.
Rarely has a backing band engendered the level of excitement as The E Street Band (since the mid-1970s it's been Clemons and Tallent, Danny Federici, Roy Bittan, Max Weinberg and Little Steven Van Zandt, while Nils Lofgren and Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa joined in the '80s). Over the years, Springsteen has sung about cars and girls, Jersey swamps and the promised land; he's written about 9/11 and the nation's down-trodden; he's examined America from many angles, campaigned for international human rights and called out politicians who took their eye off the ball. His fans seem to love it all, but at the end of the day the one thing they revel in more than anything else are the legendary, physically exhausting — even for the audience — hours-long parties that Springsteen throws whenever he takes the stage with The E Street Band.
His 2007 release, Magic, is Springsteen's 18th album and the eighth that he's done with The E Street Band.
Provenance: Freehold, New Jersey, though he's more closely associated with nearby Asbury Park.
Latest release: Magic (2007)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Bruce Springsteen
