Favorite and/or Best Springsteen album?

Human Touch has two of his best songs... I Wish I Were Blind and Real World. Although the released version of Real World seems over-produced, go on YouTube and search for Springsteen Real World Christic and listen to one of the 1990 versions from the Christic Institute shows to truly appreciate the power and beauty of the song. I love almost everything off Lucky Town (hence my high rating for it).
Nebraska is a bit of a downer, but there's no denying the power of the songwriting on there.

 

See, this is a little what I guess I wanted to get into. EStreetJoe, can you explain why you think you like "Lucky Town" more than others?

I'm the kind of person who will defend "BITUSA," but a lot of that is because that's the first Springsteen album I grew up on. It holds nostalgia probably more than anything for me, and over the years, it moved down my list.

 

There are not many rock bands you can say this about, but his songs just sound better live. And, IMHO, it's not even close with early, 1970s Bruce. Just so much fucking energy.

 

I've never seen him live, but I disagree in terms of recorded concerts vs. studio tracks. Songs like "Backstreets" and "Jungleland" and "Racing in the Streets" are so complex or melodic that background noise cuts into some of the beauty of the composition.

For something more straightforward and up-tempo, like "Rosalita" or "Glory Days," I could see that argument.

 

I like my rock and roll with some imperfections or changes from each time it is played. It's not classical music.

But I see where you are coming from.

 

My impressions are clouded by the live performances as I almost never listen to the studio albums once I get my hands on a bootleg. I am not going to include the Seeger Sessions in my rankings, as it is strictly a cover album. I also think that a few of his best songs (This Hard Land, Blood Brothers) are not on any album:

Here we go, and as with ESJ, the top 3 are the Holy Trinity:

1. WIESS -- the production is very iffy in spots, but I love the wide-eyed romanticism of this album. Bruce is taking baby steps figuring out who he wants to be.
2. Born to Run -- I have issues with a couple of the songs, but the best five (Thunder Road, BTR, Meeting/Jungleland and She's the One) are as good as it gets.
3 Darkness -- needed to be just a bit looser to be higher on the list, but what fire.
4. Tunnel of Love -- from "Bobby said he'd pull out, Bobby stayed in" through the end, it is just haunting.
5. Wrecking Ball -- maybe a little recency effect, but thematically it is wonderful and it is the best writing in a couple of decades
6. Greetings
7. Lucky Town -- swap out Human Touch, Real World and Roll of the Dice for Book of Dreams, Leap of Faith and The Big Muddy and it would be 2 spots higher
8. The River -- bloated, but there is one great album there
9. Nebraska -- I love solo Bruce. I wish he recorded with a small band -- violin, steel guitar and drums. This is the best of the 3 spare albums. Feels a little gimmicky, but there is some outstanding writing, with maybe only Mansion, Used Cars and My Father's House being misses for me.
10. Devils and Dust -- any album with Long Time Coming shouldn't be this low.
11. Ghost of Tom Joad
12. BITUSA -- Downbound Train, the title track and Dancing in the Dark are the only really good songs.
13. Magic
14. The Rising -- ultimately a miss for me. I don't like on the nose Bruce so much.
15. Human Touch -- a shocking number of mediocre/poor songs.
16. Working on a Dream -- his worst. Not one great song.

 

I would question anyone who didn't put those top three in at least the top five, and even that is being generous. They're the certifiable, unquestionable classics, the five-star albums.

also, not including "No Surrender" on your list of the best songs on Born in the USA is treasonous.

 

No Surrender is, in my opinion, inferior to This Hard Land and Blood Brothers, which explore many of the same themes. I guess you could argue that No Surrender is the more optimistic version of those two songs, but it is a touch too broad and too common for me. It's a fine concert song and reminds me of encores on warm summer nights, but a lot of artists could have written that song.

 

My fave is WIESS, for personal reasons, not because I think it's his best album. It's his early Thomas Wolfe "Look Homeward Angel" stage, where he's throwing everything at the wall and luckily a lot of it sticks. "Rosalita" remains my favorite song ever, and "New York City Serenade" has some special memories.

But I think "BTW" is his best. Of course I like some songs better than others, but there's not a weak link on that album.

 

Is it my imagination, or has "The Rising" sort of fallen in the overall rankings as time goes by?

 

It has. Obviously the theme of the album still strikes a chord with many and certain songs (You're Missing, Into the Fire) are very gut wrenching, but many of the songs don't really hold up.

I think that Mary's Place, My City of Ruins and Nothing Man are probably the only songs that are above average, and the latter two were in the can before the album was written.

 

Granted I agree with you about No Surrender being inferior to This Hard Land and probably a tad inferior to Blood Brothers as well. But nearing the end of my freshman year of high school in June 1984 that trinity of No Surrender, Bobby Jean and I'm Going Down to open side 2 sealed the deal for me - it made me a fan. Then a week or two later buying and listening to the Born to Run album made me a fanatic.