Cut Loose Like a Deuce: Greetings from Asbury Park (1973)

Today's selection:

(1973)

Beginning: a chronological overview of Bruce Springsteen's career and discography. To the Boss and Beyond!

Greetings from Asbury Park got a lease on life when then-manager Mike Apel bullied his way into Columbia Records' office and demanded the brass pay heed to his new client, who he predicted would be the biggest star in the world in a couple years time. It took a little longer than Appel envisioned - and he wouldn't be there when it finally happened - but the brass in question (then-president of Columbia Clive Davis and John Hammond, the man who'd signed Bob Dylan (hence Appel's targeting Columbia for his client.) Here's Ultimate Classic Rock with a little more of the story:

"Hammond wanted to record a mostly acoustic album in the singer-songwriter mode. Springsteen, however, had been honing his craft for the previous six years or so in a variety of rock bands on the Jersey Shore, and didn’t see himself as a folkie. A compromise was reached: Springsteen would be allowed to bring in a band, but only in a limited capacity.

He hired a few of the local musicians he had played with over the years — notably keyboardist David Sancious, bassist Garry Tallent and drummer Vini 'Mad Dog' Lopez — to flesh out his sound on many of the tracks, with saxophonist Clarence Clemons joining in on 'Spirit in the Night.' The five, with organist Danny Federici, would soon become known as the E Street Band.

However, the need to scale back the sound meant that Springsteen’s best friend, guitarist Steve Van Zandt, was told to go home on the day of the first session. Van Zandt was so hurt that he quit playing music for nearly two years."

He'll be back.

I’m joined in this endeavor by blogger of many hats and fellow Springsteen fan Bryant Burnette. Welcome, sir!

Bryant: I’m honored to once again be asked to befoul the placid waters of Dog Star Omnibus with my filth!  What’s your opinion of this debut album from Springsteen?

Bryan: It’s definitely an album that everyone seems to like much more than I do. Here in Chicago the local classic rock station will play whole albums sometimes on Sunday mornings, and I think of the four or five times I’ve tuned into this, I’ve heard Asbury Park twice. I like it, but – and I was heartened to discover later that Bruce hates the production sound of the first few albums, so hey, good company I guess – I am baffled by the production sound on this one. It really muddies songs like "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street" or "Lost in the Flood," which are decent arrangements and Bruce storytelling. I don't say it ruins them - and I understand it was a low-budget affair and all, but it just plays down the band/ songwriter's strengths rather than augment them. And Bruce's vocals are not too lovely on this record all around. Better on some than others.

Bryant: I'll have to listen to the album with fresh ears to have a perspective on the production issues.  I'm definitely in agreement regarding the vocals, although the sheer amount of words he crams into some of the songs is a vocal achievement that should not be overlooked.

Bryan: Very true, like he was getting paid by the word or something. It always bugs me when people cram too many words into songs. If a chorus hits my ear as having a single syllable too many, I can really turn on a song. 

Let’s take this tune by tune.

"Blinded by the Light"

Bryan: The vocals aren't great, but there's no "wrapped up like a douche" confusion at least. Too many damn words, though. It reads better than it sounds, but it reads like the free association verse of a younger man still in a Dylan/beatnik phase. Which was the case, certainly, and nothing wrong with that just yeah. I do like “Mama always told me don’t look into the sun, but mama that’s where the fun (is),” though. 2.25/5.

Bryant:  Oh, man, I love this one. Everything you say is true, and makes sense, but for me it's a set of positives more than a set of negatives. The production issues...? I'm kind of deaf to that sort of thing. Like, I kinda think I do hear what you mean, especially in the vocals -- sounds like Bruce wasn't keeping his mouth in front of the microphone or something. Wouldn't surprise me if it was literally that. For me, this is a perfect first-song-on-a-first-album. It explodes right out of the gates, and sounds like a bunch of guys who have all the talent in the world but maybe haven't actually quiiiiiiite figured out how to use it yet. If you want to apply that Great Bruce Metaphor, they're still stuck in that place they're trying to escape ... but they are trying REAL hard to get out of there, and you can tell it's gettin' ready to happen. The car is at the line and revving, and any second now, it's gonna be racing. I dunno, maybe it's just that I love singing along with the first verse.  3.75/5

Bryan: I like that Great Bruce Metaphor. What do you think of the Manfred Mann version?

Bryant: I like it alright.  I knew it before I knew this, and the first time I heard this, I was like, "Oh, THAT'S what this song is...!  Okay, then."

"Growin' Up"

Bryan: I think he does this sort of song better later in his career, but if you like Springsteen, you pretty much default approve of songs like this. I’m resistant, tho. That “commanded the night brigade” line always bugs me. Kind of pretentious lyrics but “he was a young man” and all that. 2.75/5

Bryant: For my part, I always want to like this one more than I actually do. It's fine, and it is quintessentially Springsteen, no doubt. But, like you say, it's an inferior pre-echo of better later songs. 2.75/5

Bryan: Like all pre-Born in the USA tunes, the first time I heard it was via the E-Street Band Live triple album from 1986. That version has the whole autobiographical commentary with it. ("Hey Mom, give it up - I ain't never going back to college!") Have you heard the David Bowie version before? 

Bryant: That live one from the box set is indeed great. I had no idea that Bowie had done a version, though. Thanks to YouTube, I have now heard it. Didn't care for it. Probably I'd change my mind if I ever did a Bowie deep-dive; but he took a rough song and made it even rougher. Bleh.

"Mary Queen of Arkansas"

Bryan: This one is just painful to my ears. 1/5

Bryant:  I guess I like this more than you do, but not by a whole heck of a lot.  By almost any standard, it's one of the worst songs of his career.  I like the lyric "You're not man enough for me to hate / or woman enough for kissing," although I'm sure he'd get pilloried for it nowadays.  And I guess there's something to be said for the earnestness; whatever else there is to say about this song, you can't say Bruce wasn't putting forth the effort.  Oddly, this is one of the songs that got him a recording contract; so… 1.75/5

Bryan: I’m glad John Hammond at Columbia liked it more than us!

"Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street"

Bryan: It's tough to gauge the true quality of some of these songs as the production is so bad. Bruce's vocals need the full cushioning of later productions/ the live show. Ditto on the Dylan/beatnik phase; it comes across better with all the bells and whistles. Or maybe he just grew into it as a performer. Anyway, this reads and sounds like the notes of a such-influenced young man taking his first bus ride in NYC. Something I did often enough in my own Beat/Dylan-inspired years. Not that I don't find inspiration still, at least from Dylan, but I no longer jot poetic observations of city life from behind a bus window in a Moleskine. This is all my own projection, of course, but meh. 1.75/5

Bryant: It's okay, but the lyrics are goofy and the song almost literally just stops. 2.25/5

"Lost in the Flood"

Bryan: These lyrics are epic and crazy but pretty cool. Not wholly successful but still a decent effort. I like the keyboards. Ends well. I really like the lyrics, even if they're kinda nuts. It's a good nuts. 2.75/5

Bryant: I love this one, maybe not quite as much as "Blinded By the Light," but it's definitely close. I love when the band joins in around the two-minute mark; I'm a sucker for songs where it goes on forever and then suddenly the drums kick in when you don't expect it. The lyrics are great (mostly), and Bruce's vocals mostly do them justice; here, again, you can see the perfection to come, because it's almost there already. This is the song I'd have ended the album with, personally. He's done some great live versions of this; the 2001 NYC live album has one of those.  I still prefer the original, though, which is almost always true for me. 3.75/5

End of side one.

"The Angel"

Bryan: This one is just painful to my ears. 1/5

Bryant:  Wikipedia says of this song, "It has had very few live performances." Yeah.  I bet! I can't quite make myself go all the way down to a "1" on this, but only because I know worse songs wait in the future. Not many, though, blessedly. 1.5/5 

"For You"

Bryan: This is kind of a prototypical Springsteen tune. Lyrically, melodically, arrangement-wise, pace-wise. A different production and another vocal take might have made it more palatable. The Dylan influence is a little too much for my taste but hey. 2.25/5

Bryant: I like the drumming by Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez on this one. The vocals come and go; I think Bruce was having trouble staying in front of the mic again. But I love that vocal run he goes on from about 3:30 to 4:00. He says a LOT of words during that stretch. Not great singing, by any means, but I don't know how he managed not to pass out, so kudos. 2.75/5 

"Spirit in the Night"

Bryan: The slow break section doesn't do it for me, but it's a great tune. The drums sound so flat here. 3.75/5

Bryant: The vocals here aren't great, and it feels like a case where there was a better song waiting to come out, but nobody managed to find it. Until that live box set, of course, which is indeed host to a marvelous, energetic take on the song.  I think my favorite version, though, is the 2003 Barcelona performance, which is just Bruce, a piano, and a mildly faulty memory. The audience sings background on the chorus, and it kind of gives me the chills. 3.5/5 

Bryan: I love when the audience sings on Bruce tunes! It goes well with the whole Springsteen gestalt. This is one he wrote when Clive Davis decided the album needed a single, according to the wiki, so you're definitely right: there's an imperfect, kind of rushed feel to it. I'm always impressed when Bruce shuffles off to the corner/ home when so advised and comes back with a hit single of some kind. Even if this wasn't a hit, technically, it's still a hit. I like that Barcelona version. 

The Mannfred Mann version is pretty cool. What is it with MM recording 3 tracks from this album? Is there more to that story? And why do they make it "spirits" plural?

"It's Hard to be a Saint in the City"

Bryan: This one’s grown on me upon multiple listenings. But still - Slow it down, Bruce! There are just way too many words in these verses - I get the approach, but the arrangement is awful - hard to pick out the right instruments for some relief to the ear from the assault. The live mix/ performance is easier on the ears, and I'll give that one 2.75/5

Bryant: This isn't really built to be an album-closer, is it?  I like it more than you do; I think the attitude puts it over the top for me, and gets me past the deficiencies.  I kind of like the way the song ends, too, with the charging drumbeat leading to ... well, to nowhere, actually.  That's a lot less true of the live '75 version from the Hammersmith Odeon, which is my pick for the definitive take on this song. 2.75/5

Bryan: Big-time rock finale-ing on that Hammersmith Odeon 1975 version.

Bryant: The version on the live box set is good, too.

Bryan: Amen. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Bryan's Final Score: Total 19.75 / Avg 2.19. It's really the production of this one I object to. Everything’s too flat in the mix, and the vocals don't work for me. It probably sounds better on the vinyl/ stereo speakers it was designed for. 

Bryant's Final Score:  Total 24.75 / Avg 2.75. Now that I'm actively listening for it, yeah, I have to admit that the production on this one is pretty rough. But generally speaking, I'm probably a bit of an apologist for some of these tunes, and I think I hear it as a kind of ... necessary album. This is one of the albums they had to make before they could make the really GREAT stuff. I'd love to be able to flip some mental switch that would allow me to hear the album with no knowledge of what came after it, and write a report on it, and then flip the switch back on again and read what I'd written. I'm guessing I'd be a lot more harsh toward it. But I don't have that switch!  All my mental Bruce switches are flipped to the "on" position. No going back!

Bryan: Preach it! I want to respond with the hoarse-top-volume ONETWOTHREEFOUR from right before the big finish of "Born to Run" or "NO RETREAT BABY NO SURRENDER!" But yeah, it's funny how mellow the music/ career got considering it started from such a every switch on/ torpedoes-awaaaaay! place.

Bryant: I think it's probably rare to be able to keep that sort of intensity. I'm sure there are some good examples of artists who have, but they are likely few and far between. What you're probably hearing with at least part of Bruce's career is the cacophony of a well-spent youth, which eventually turns (somewhat suddenly in Bruce's case) into the fruitlessly questing melancholy of middle age. The earliest work is typified by an intense desire to go somewhere, even if the destination is unknown; that's what Asbury Park sounds like to me, even the bad songs.

Bryan: It'll never be the Springsteen I reach for on a Saturday night (or a Sunday morning) but you're making good sense here.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:

"Old Bruce makes a point of letting us know that he's from one of the scuzziest, most useless and plain uninteresting sections of Jersey. He's been influenced a lot by the Band, his arrangements tend to take on a Van Morrison tinge every now and then, and he sort of catarrh-mumbles his ditties in a disgruntled mushmouth sorta like Robbie Robertson on Quaaludes with Dylan barfing down the back of his neck. It's a tuff combination, but it's only the beginning."

"Hot damn, what a passel o' verbiage! He's got more of them crammed into this album than any other record released this year (...) He slingshoots (sic) his random rivets at you and you can catch as many as you want or let 'em all clatter right off the wall which maybe's where they belong anyway. Bruce Springsteen is a bold new talent with more than a mouthful to say, and one look at the pic on the back will tell you he's got the glam to go places in this Gollywoodlawn world to boot."
- Lester Bangs, Crawdaddy

PERSONNEL:

Big Man – saxophone, backing vocals, handclaps
Mad Dog– drums, backing vocals, handclaps. (He says in Peter Ames Carlin's Bruce that due to his prominence in the above picture picture always thought he was Bruce.)
David Sancious – piano, organ, keyboards
The Boss – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, handclaps
Garry Tallent – bass guitar
Richard Davis – upright double bass on "The Angel"
Harold Wheeler – piano on "Blinded By the Light" and "Spirit In The Night"

SINGLES:

Released February 1973

Released: May 1973

~