Bruce Springsteen
Born In The U.S.A.

THE REVIEW

1984 is the year of Bruce Springsteen. The rocker from Long Branch, after the masterpiece "Nebraska," tries again and delivers to the music world his flag, his musical summa: "Born In The USA."

"Born In The USA" is a hundred-mile-an-hour journey through the Southern United States. It's an album for Route 66 and summer heat. A gritty rock, rough and raspy, yet full of energy in true Springsteen style, alternating with the Southern country sounds of "Cover Me," musical intimacy moments like "I'm On Fire" and "Dancing In The Dark." When Jack Kerouac traveled the streets of the New World, he found in Gillespie's bebop his soundtrack; if the great writer had to travel the USA again in the 70s, he would certainly have found this album to be an excellent travel companion.

Anyone who listens to "Born In The USA" will encounter a 360-degree masterpiece, never repetitive and easy to listen to. The record doesn't have the introspective pretension and bitterness of "Nebraska." It's an Easy Rider album, where guitars and drums are drawn just enough to make the album a fusion of rock and folk, with a neologism one might call it "Hard Country", perfectly matching the roar of a motorcycle engine.

The opening of "Born In The USA" is entrusted to the title track, the Boss's ultimate success that will place him on the front row of the world's rock stage in the second half of the 80s. "Born In The USA" is just any American story, it's the story of a boy, his struggles, his eating dust, it's a story of love and Vietnam. A story made of driving and rough rock perfectly intertwined with Springsteen's raspy voice. The same goes for "Cover Me," "Darlington County," and "Working On The Highway." Saloon pieces from the old west played with the Fender Telecaster.

Every self-respecting cowboy has his night by the campfire after his high noon, and that soft moment comes with "I'm On Fire." A track in the album that has its own story, it's not a gallop across the prairies, it's not a worker with a jackhammer. "I'm On Fire" is a glass of whiskey alone, a track for relaxation and reflection, breaking up the tracklist between one guitar riff and another.

Springsteen's work finds its completeness in "Downbound Train," "No Surrender," and "My Hometown" which conclude the journey begun 46 minutes earlier with the title track.

In discussing this album, I've used a "Yankee" terminology, Clint Eastwood movie terminology, but "Born In The USA" is above all this, a painting, a frame, a snapshot of 80s America, an America always racing, always searching for answers, which, beyond the skyscrapers of New York and the dispatches of Washington, was also the America of the provinces, the America of youth raised on the "roads," the America of Bruce Springsteen, an America perfectly summed up in one of the greatest masterpieces of rock music, perfectly summed up in "Born In The USA."