Album Companion: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.

Fifty years ago today, Columbia Records introduced their hot new up-and-coming singer-songwriter to the world.

Or to 25,000 people at least. That’s how many people (at most) bought Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973. As debuts go, it wasn’t the most auspicious.

For an artist who still insists on thematic cohesion for his albums, Greetings features a mélange of styles and genres that piqued the interest of critics and listeners but didn’t quite win them over… yet.

As critic Robert Hilburn put it, Greetings was “more exciting for the potential his current work suggests than for that actual work, a rich, but sometimes diffused series of musical collages.”

But oh, what a collage! Even if the sum of its parts is greater than the whole, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. demonstrates tremendous potential across its nine tracks.

We hear remnants of the loose, jazzy sound of The Bruce Springsteen Band and hints of E Street future; contemplative character studies and vibrant streetscapes; imprints of influences like Dylan and Van Morrison; and a range of styles spanning from Latin-tinged acoustic to almost prog rock.

• “Blinded by the Light” — the dazzling, dizzying barrage that made Rolling Stone’s Lester Bangs exclaim, “Hot damn, what a passel o’ verbiage! …[t]he joy of utter crass showoff talent run amuck and totally out of control!”
• “Growin’ Up” — a nostalgic, defiant anthem about anything but
• “Mary Queen of Arkansas” — the album’s languorous, breathtaking musical apex and one of the most beautiful tracks in Springsteen’s entire catalog
• “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street” — with no plot, no chorus, no point-of-view character, this two-minute track is barely even a song, but it sure is fun
• “Lost in the Flood” — a ferocious but under-realized prog nightmare that only comes to life on stage
• “The Angel” — a sophisticated ballad about an innocent trying to live up to his self-styled image
• “For You” — a love song for anyone who’s tried to save someone who refused to be saved
• “Spirit in the Night” — a swinging bacchanal that wears its literary influences on its sleeve
• “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City” — the album’s best writing, about a street rat-turned-cool cat and legend in his own mind

Greetings took only a few weeks to make and cost about $10,000–and sounds like it. The production is often muddy, thanks to poor studio acoustics, and band members (The Bruce Springsteen Band minus Steven Van Zandt plus a few special guests) often disappear in the collective rather than stand out in the mix.

But that’s also part of the album’s charm: it sounds like something you’d expect from a bunch of broke, vagabond musicians scraping together their first LP. Considering the songs are about a collection of New York street and Jersey boardwalk characters, their stories sound like they’re being told on the spot and in the moment, with grit that only enhances their verisimilitude.

And its that verisimilitude conveyed through lyrical poetry that ultimately hooked enough critics and listeners to broaden Bruce’s cult following.

Jack Lloyd of The Philadelphia Inquirer nailed it: “Springsteen’s melodies and total sound constitute the weakest elements in his music. It is his flair for metaphorical imagery, with emphasis on the seedier ingredients of life, that bring the listener quickly to attention.

“On the surface, at least, this album sounds like bits and pieces of things you’ve heard before. But listen closely. There is a struggle out there in the streets. A fascinating, terror-filled game of life and death. It needs telling and Bruce Springsteen has given himself the assignment.”

It wouldn’t take long for Springsteen to make good on his potential with his next assignment. Before the year was out, he’d follow up his debut with a sophomore album that would silence his critics and awe with both his music and lyrics.

But as introductions go, Greetings did its job, capturing the interest of audiences and critics until he could seal the deal with his live shows. Bruce’s debut album finally cracked the Billboard album chart two years later, peaking at #60 in the autumn of 1975. By then, however, no one was talking about his potential anymore.

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