Born to Run is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released in August 1975, by Columbia Records. As his effort to break into the mainstream. Two singles were released from the album: “Born to Run” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out”; the first helped Springsteen to reach mainstream popularity. The tracks “Thunder Road”, “She’s The One”, and “Jungleland” became staples of album oriented rock radio and Springsteen concert high points.
Springsteen began work on the album in May 1974. Having been given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a wall of sound production. But, fed by the release of an early mix of “Born to Run” to nearly a dozen radio stations, anticipation built toward the album’s release. All in all, the album took more than 14 months to record, with six months alone spent on the song “Born to Run” itself. During this time Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard “sounds in his head” that he could not explain to the others in the studio.
The album is noted for its use of introductions to set the tone of each song (all of the record was composed on piano, not guitar), and for the Phil Spector-like “Wall of Sound” arrangements and production. Springsteen has said that he wanted Born to Run to sound like “Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Spector.” Most of the tracks were first recorded with a core rhythm section band comprising Springsteen, Weinberg, Bittan, and bassist Garry Tallent, with other members’ contributions then added on. In terms of the original LP’s sequencing, Springsteen eventually adopted a “four corners” approach, as the opening songs on each side (“Thunder Road”, “Born to Run”) were uplifting odes to escape, while the closing songs on each side (“Backstreets”, “Jungleland”) were sad epics of loss, betrayal, and defeat. (Originally, he had planned to begin and end the album with alternative versions of “Thunder Road”.
The album first charted at number 84 on the Billboard album chart in September 1975. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard in mid October. Born to Run continued to be a strong catalog seller through the years, re-entering the Billboard chart in late 1980 after The River was released, and again after the blockbuster success of Born in the USA, spending most of 1985 on the chart. It was certified triple-platinum by the RIAA in 1986,
Born to Run garnered widespread acclaim on release. It has since been considered by critics to be one of the greatest albums of all time. In November 2005, a 30th Anniversary remaster of the album was released as a box set including two DVDs: a production diary film and a concert movie.
