Darkness On The Edge Of Town (studio album) by Bruce Springsteen

This album has a track score of 96 and is placed in my top albums chart no. 2. My rating for this album is 100

Excellent album as always.

A fine record, dark and raging, compared to the nostalgia and summer spirit of Born to Run. It takes a page from Woody Guthrie, but instead of the Dust Bowl it's the streets of urban New Jeesey. In this heart-wrenching set of songs, the listener is flooded with emotions. It's as authentic as anything. Essential.


A Side: Factory
B Side: Racing in the Street

My first time listening to this album.

I’ve never been much into Springsteen. The musical style of this album, with the saxophone and stripped down instrumentation, gives me an image of a rock and roll band from the late 1950s or early 1960s. I don’t know if that’s what Bruce is going for but that’s my image.

And then clearly Springsteen is known as a lyricist (partly driven by the fact that his mumbling and not quite pitch perfect vocals aren’t the main attraction), but these lyrics don’t really line up with my own experiences so I’m left scratching my head.

In all, I kind of get it but not really. It’s a feeling of nostalgia that doesn’t mean anything to me, specifically.

None of the songs stood out in this first listen.

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Goes toe-for-toe with Born to Run as Springsteen's best record. Highlights include the title track, Prove It All Night, Racing in the Street, Adam Raised a Cain, and Streets of Fire, but the whole thing is worth listening to. I'd probably give this one the slightest little edge over the 1975 record.

From teague 02/18/2021 17:27

It's consistent, I'll give it that.

Great album, one of Bruce's best. Bit rough at times but a great time still.

From planetneutral 01/23/2021 19:33

I've said before that no Bruce hits me the way that "Born in the USA" hit me when I was a kid. Still true.

Not much separates this and Born to Run, but if I had to pick only one, I'd go with this.