The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle

[Davey]

Did Springsteen ever put out a record better than this? For me, I don't think so. Some compare it to what Van Morrison did on Astral Weeks, and maybe there's something to that as it does have a jazz side, and it was a one-off that influenced future records, but was never revisited. And of course, it did have a lot of Bob Dylan too. And those David Sancious keyboards and Vini Lopez drums give it such a spontaneous sound, like it could collapse any minute, but never does. Great production, not an audiophile classic, but a classic in its own right, and a rock classic for sure. Listening to the original Columbia CD right now and it sounds great, pretty crankable, too bad his records never sounded this good again.