Rarely do heavily hyped artistic endeavors come even remotely close to living up to the expectations. Born to Run is as notable an exception as you'll ever encounter. After an ordinary debut and an extraordinary but under-appreciated sophomore effort Springsteen released Born at the end of the 1975 summer. While The Wild, the Innocent... sounded as if it had been hastily put together Columbia, Bruce and the E Street Band pulled out all of the stops on the new recording. The result is a sonic blast never before heard. It is over the top in the manner of Phil Spector and it works.

Lyrically Born continues Springsteen's string of personal Jersey stories of love, regret, violence, street life and heartache. Musically he leaves behind most of the R & B, jazz and Latino influences and turns to straight ahead rock and roll. Whereas the previous records sounded somewhat muddy this one is crisp and clear with Springsteen's self-assured vocals leaping out at the listener over layers of well-defined instrumentation. Again, as with The Wild, one strong song is followed by another - there are no let downs.

For me Springsteen is just one of the dozens of great artists who I have admired over the course of my rock and roll life. I am not what you would call a great fan. Van is the man. Bruce is just a man! However, whenever I listen to this cd I cannot help but be amazed and energized. It truly is a landmark in the history of American popular music. Five stars aren't enough. There should be a super category for the likes of Pepper, What's Goin' On, Nevermind, Pet Sounds and the other really important records. I need an asterisk.