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 When Columbia Records signed Bruce Springsteen in 1972, label execs thought they had a piano-playing folkish singer/songwriter whose lyrics were the selling point. So imagine their surprise when he recorded his 1973 debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., with a four-piece jazzy rock outfit replete with electric guitars, saxophone and keyboards. That band included Clarence Clemons and Garry Tallent, two members of what would eventually become the E Street Band.
Rarely has a backing band engendered the level of excitement as the E Street Band (from the mid-1970s it was Clemons and Tallent, Roy Bittan, Max Weinberg, Little Steven Van Zandt and Danny Federici — who succumbed to cancer in 2008 — while Nils Lofgren and Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, joined in the ’80s, and Soozie Tyrell came on board in 2002). Springsteen has delivered epic rock albums and hushed acoustic solo sets; he’s sung about cars and girls, Jersey swamps and the Promised Land, about post-9/11 America and the nation’s downtrodden; he’s campaigned for human rights and blasted politicians who took their eye off the ball. His 1975 album, Born to Run, made him a national icon and 1984’s Born in the U.S.A., one of the all-time best-sellers, made him a pop star. His fans love it all, but they revel most in the legendary, exhausting — even for the audience — sprawling parties that Springsteen throws whenever he takes the stage with the E Street Band.
After an 11-year hiatus, Springsteen put the E Street Band back together for a 1999 world tour and for three of his five CDs in the ’00s (2002’s The Rising, 2007’s Magic and 2009’s Working on a Dream). A collection of mostly pop-flavored rock tunes, the Brendan O’Brien-produced Working on a Dream also features the stark, award-winning theme song from the sleeper hit film The Wrestler.
Provenance: Freehold, New Jersey
Latest release: Working on a Dream (2009)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
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