Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

Template:Infobox album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was produced from June through October 1972 by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos at the budget-priced 914 Sound Studios. The album was released January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records to average sales but a positive critical reception.

Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. first charted in the United Kingdom on June 15, 1985, in the wake of Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. tour arriving in Britain; it remained in the top 100 for ten weeks.<ref name="ReferenceA">The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, 1996</ref> In 2003, the album was ranked at No. 379 in Rolling StoneTemplate:'s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list<ref name=RS500/> and in 2013 the same magazine listed Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. as one of the "100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On November 22, 2009, the album was played in its entirety for the first time by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York, to celebrate the last show of the Working on a Dream tour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Recording

Springsteen and his first manager Mike Appel recorded the album at the low-priced, out-of-the-way 914 Sound Studios to save as much as possible of the Columbia Records advance, and cut most of the songs during the last week of June 1972.<ref name=StonePony>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Penguin Group USA Inc">Template:Cite book</ref>

There was a dispute not long after the record was recorded—Appel and John Hammond preferred the solo tracks, while Springsteen preferred the band songs. As such, a compromise was reached—the album was to feature five songs with the band ("For You", "Growin' Up", "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?", "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City", and "Lost in the Flood") and five solo songs ("Mary Queen of Arkansas", "The Angel", "Jazz Musician", "Arabian Nights" and "Visitation at Fort Horn").<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

However, when Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard the album submitted on August 10, 1972, he felt that it lacked a potential hit single, and rejected it. Springsteen quickly wrote "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night",<ref name="cbs">Template:Cite web</ref> and recorded both on September 11, 1972. Because pianist David Sancious and bassist Garry Tallent were unavailable, a four-man band was used—Vini Lopez on drums, Harold Wheeler on piano, Springsteen on guitar, piano (on Spirit in the Night only), and bass, and the previously missing Clarence Clemons on saxophone.<ref name=AlbumCover>Template:Cite web</ref> Columbia accepted the revised album, and Davis was personally pleased with Springsteen's response.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Critical reception

Template:Album reviews Reviewing for Rolling Stone in July 1973, Lester Bangs hailed Springsteen as a daring new artist who sets himself apart from his contemporaries with songwriting that either has a serious meaning or showcases his uninhibited gift for verbose, overloaded lyrics and rhyme schemes. "Some of [his words] can mean something socially or otherwise", Bangs said, "but there's plenty of 'em that don't even pretend to, reveling in the joy of utter crass showoff talent run amuck and totally out of control".<ref name=RS1973>Template:Cite news</ref> Peter Knobler wrote in Crawdaddy that "he sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone' ... the album rocks, then glides, then rocks again. There is the combined sensibility of the chaser and the chaste, the street punk and the bookworm."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Creem magazine's Robert Christgau said Springsteen's songs are dominated by the kind of mannered emotional transparency and "absurdist energy" that made Bob Dylan "a genius instead of a talent".<ref name="creem">Template:Cite journal</ref> In Christgau's Record Guide (1981), he wrote that despite the grandiloquent, unaccompanied "Mary Queen of Arkansas" and "The Angel", songs such as "Blinded by the Light" and "Growin' Up" foreshadow Springsteen's "unguarded teen-underclass poetry", while even the maundering "Lost in the Flood" is interesting.<ref name="CG">Template:Cite book</ref>

In All Music Guide to Rock (2002), William Ruhlmann gave Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. five stars and said that it combined the mid-1960s folk rock music of Bob Dylan, accessible melodies, and elaborate arrangements and lyrics: "Asbury Park painted a portrait of teenagers cocksure of themselves, yet bowled over by their discovery of the world. It was saved from pretentiousness (if not preciousness) by its sense of humor and by the careful eye for detail ... that kept even the most high-flown language rooted."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 2003, the album was ranked number 379 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.<ref name=RS500>Template:Cite book</ref> They ranked it 37th on their list of greatest debut albums.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Track listing

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Personnel

Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, congas, handclaps, bass guitar on “Blinded by the Light” and “Spirit in the Night”, piano on “Spirit in the Night”

The E Street Band

Clarence Clemons – saxophone, backing vocals, handclaps
Vini Lopez – drums, backing vocals, handclaps
David Sancious – piano, Hammond organ, keyboards
Garry Tallent – bass guitar

Additional musicians

Richard Davis – double bass on "The Angel"
Harold Wheeler – piano on "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night"

Technical

Mike Appel – producer
Jim Cretecos – producer
Louis Lahav – engineer
Jack Ashkinazy – remixing
John Berg – cover design
Fred Lombardi – back cover design
Steven Van Zandt reportedly provided sound effects on "Lost in the Flood",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> although Van Zandt denied having any involvement on his official Twitter page.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>