September 11: Bruce Springsteen released The Wild the Innocent and the E-street Shuffle in 1973

“…Springsteen is obviously a considerable new talent.”
– Ken Emerson (January 1974, Rolling Stone Magazine)

Great Bruce Springsteen album!

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is the second album by Bruce Springsteen and the as-yet-unnamed E Street Band.

As with Springsteen’s first album, it was well-received critically but had little commercial success at the time. However, once Springsteen achieved popularity with Born to Run, several selections from this album became popular FM radio airplay and concert favorites.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 132 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. On November 7, 2009, Springsteen and the E Street Band played the album in its entirety for the first time ever in a concert at Madison Square Garden.

“This young singer’s debut earlier this year was an impressive one, with his interesting lyrics and fine singing, and this LP is, if anything, more impressive. Some of the obvious rhymes that found him compared with Dylan are still there, but the arrangements are more varied and the singing more spirited, as on “The E Street Shuffle” and “Kitty’s Back.” LP could be the one to vault him to stardom, especially with his stark images of New York City.”
– Billboard, 1974

“Bruce Springsteen expanded the folk-rock approach of his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., to strains of jazz, among other styles, on its ambitious follow-up, released only eight months later. His chief musical lieutenant was keyboard player David Sancious, who lived on the E Street that gave the album and Springsteen’s backup group its name. With his help, Springsteen created a street-life mosaic of suburban society that owed much in its outlook to Van Morrison’s romanticization of Belfast in Astral Weeks. Though Springsteen expressed endless affection and much nostalgia, his message was clear: this was a goodbye-to-all-that from a man who was moving on.” 5/5 – William Ruhlman, Allmusic

Rosalita, Hammersmith 1975:

The Wild, the Innocent & the E-Street Shuffle on Spotify:

– Hallgeir

Sources: Wikipedia, Allmusic, Rolling Stone magazine, Billboard