The album this fall completely different from the melancholy, quiet and sometimes stiff previous album "Nebraska".
The work on "Born in the USA" Steve Van Zandt joined the production team. I remember that Steve Van Zandt has reported later in an interview that you've talked in the work to "Born in the USA" a lot about live sound and that it was also an important goal, precisely this enthusiasm and dynamism bring on the album.
This is then also succeeded in every respect. Succeeded in this respect is already the song selection. So some of the pieces are straighte, powerful rock songs. Examples include the title song, "Cover Me", "Working on the Highway", "Glory Days" or "Dancing in the Dark". This was followed by Springsteen also to some extent with the zeitgeist of the early 1980s. If you look at today, what songs and albums were in the Year in 1984 successfully in the charts, so these are often just such powerful or anthemic songs (1984, z. B. successful Van Halen with "Jump", Kenny Loggins with "Foot Loose "or Hall & Oates with" out of touch "). There are at Springsteen but also silent and contemplative songs like "I'm on Fire" or "My Hometown".
Even with the arrangements and the production efforts were made to a possible accompanying sound. The best example is the title track. Later appeared on the album "18 Tracks", the original version of "Born in the USA" - and they hear Bruce Springsteen solo with acoustic guitar. In this form the song would have fit well on the Nebraska album. For the new album, Springsteen has then opted for the stadium rock version with the E-Street Band. In the production of "Born in the USA album" Drums were quite mixed to the fore; "Born in the USA" begins with a simple, almost monotonous drums, where you recognize the song instantly. Another important stylistic device is played by Roy Bittan synthesizer.
In addition to these vigorous passages but also fine details were not forgotten. Is a good example - I find - "Dancing in the Dark" with its danceable rhythm that then but decays with a beautiful saxophone.
Also, the structure of the album is reminiscent of a concert. It starts with the powerful opener "Born in the USA" and dismisses the listener with the gentle, thoughtful "My Hometown".
Pete Townshend wrote in his biography "Who I am", that the world has been waiting for a musicians such as Bruce Springsteen in the 1970s on so. And the world has just been waiting for his fantastic concerts on him. And this thought follows the album - and better one would hardly be able to implement this idea also.
I think that the accompanying sound of the album has helped make it - was initially misinterpreted as jingoism - probably many times. So wanted to z. B. the then US President Ronald Reagan just use the song "Born in the USA", the very critical deals with the situation of Vietnam War veterans, in his election campaign in 1984. To the misunderstanding also like the album cover have contributed to the image of photographer Annie Leibovitz, is played on with ur-American symbols as the Stars & Stripes Flag, the Levi's jeans with studded belt and the baseball cap. Here Springsteen is stylized to the American Working Class Hero.
After "Born in the USA" Bruce Springsteen released the great live album "Live 1975 - 1985". With this album, you can make sure that "Born in the USA" really has this particular live atmosphere. And I believe that will there be no disappointments ...
