Born in the U.S.A.

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
With its roller-rink keyboards, trash-can drums and generally festive air, this is Springsteen at his most joyous and radio-friendly. Spinning off seven hit singles ("Dancing in the Dark", "Cover Me" and "I'm on Fire" among them), iUSA/i is deceptively accessible. Underneath, the tales are often dark and the characters grim--the shafted Vietnam vet of the title track, the prison-gang of "Working on the Highway", the ageing folks of "Glory Days"--but the E Street Band party like it's 1984. Only the album's forlorn closer, "My Hometown" has the tension and regret of Springsteen's later work. For this moment, at least, Bruce ruled the world and iUSA/i sounds like it. i--Rob O'Connor /i

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-01-20 rating:
Born In The USA
`Born in the USA' is one of those albums that has become a classic and epitomises the times it was written and released in. This lead to Bruces famous stadium tours that left him exhausted, but showcased his music to a wider audience. Although the title track has been overplayed and feels slightly cliched as a result, it still has great power when it starts and this album has so many great tracks that you are left in awe at the amount of talent on one CD. From excellent, more low key tracks such as `Cover Me' to `Darlington County' via full on rockers like `Glory Days' and `Bobby Jean' and touching on the more brooding and moving songs like `I'm on Fire' and `My Hometown', this albums has a selection of tracks to suit any mood or taste. All of this, coupled with the now iconic album cover and you will have in your hands a slice of music history that has rarely been surpassed. It has become a classic for a reason and is well worth a try.

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review by: mccanns23 date: 2009-01-12 rating:
born in the usa
Born in the USA is the most,at first glance uplifting and joyous album that he may have ever released,its when you look at the lyrics that you realise that despite the stadium rock sound and the over the top 80s feel to it,that this is a dark album disguised by poppy sounds and a rock n roll heart. br /The album starts with the title track,a track we all know and is possibly guilty of being overplayed but is still a good track,and it sure is dark,citing a man sent to fight in vietnam with no understanding of why.'cover me' is the next track and is a real classy track,the next two tracks are a bit generic for my liking but thereafter lies great tracks,perhaps glory days is a bit average but songs like 'downbound train','im on fire','dancing in the dark' and the excellent 'im goin down' really showcase this albums strengths,not his best but contains some genuine quality.

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review by: davethorn13 date: 2008-06-05 rating:
Born to rock
Like Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours', 'Born In The USA' became the artist's biggest album because it appealed to a much wider audience than earlier material did. It was commercial. So what? There's nothing wrong with appealing to more people by making your music more accessible. Bruce Springsteen's previous album 'Nebraska' may possess greater snob value because, wow, it's dark and stripped down, but there is no disguising that much of it is also dull. As Tommy James commented when criticised for creating 'Mony Mony' at the height of the revolutionary, anti-war sentiments of 1968, why can't you make people want to dance? br / br /The most obvious slice of glossy pop is, of course, 'Dancing In The Dark' and it soon palls, but nothing else is as disposable, and throughout Springsteen maintains a combination of intelligence and vitality, backed by a superior band. Mostly, the songs appear celebratory or defiant, while the title track is obviously ironic. The ghostly 'I'm On Fire' and 'My Hometown' provide the wind-downs. br / br /It is misleading to suggest that 'Born In The USA' was calculated to lift Springsteen to stardom. He may not have been a household name in the UK before this, but anyone who subscribed to the music weeklies knew of him, his reputation, and had probably at least heard 'Born To Run'. More significantly, he was already big in his homeland. So enjoy a high quality rock album and don't worry about what is or isn't 'cool'.

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review by: BORN TO RUN date: 2008-01-08 rating:
5 STAR MELANCHOLIA YOU CAN DANCE TO
I'm sure someone, somewhere, has already coined the 'melancholia(y) you can dance to' phrase, but it perfectly describes this great album. Springsteen's BITUSA divides Brucefans simply because there are those who saw it as a sell-out, while others just saw it as a natural progression from what he'd produced before. I fall into the latter camp - his earlier classics like 'Sandy', Born to Run, 'Jungleland' and Badlands' had helped to raise Springsteen's stock, but BITUSA was so full of melodic hooks that it simply couldn't fail. Many heard the noise but hadn't listened to the words - Ronald Reagan for one - but beyond the familiar tunes were words as hard-bitten and melodramatic as anything he's produced before or since. The title track itself is a stone cold classic, while my favourites were the songs of regret and melodrama - 'Bobby Jean', Glory Days' and 'No Surrender'. Springsteen reportedly recorded 100s of songs for this album and what a double it could have been! Imagine 'None but the brave', 'Frankie', 'This hard land' and 'My love will not let you down' added to this platter! Anyway, not everyone is 45 and over, and there will be new listeners wondering what the fuss was all about; so for them, it's loud, it's noisy, it's melodic, it's tells great stories, it might make you cry, it's full of melancholy...and you can dance to it. Enjoy it.


review by: date: 2007-10-22 rating:
Rock Roll
I was 13 years old when i first heard this album and of Bruce Sprigsteen. br /It made me an instant fan. The same day i bought the other "born" album - Born to Run. In less than a week i had the entire Bruce Springsteen collection in my hand. Altough great this album may be, for me it has that "discovering" quality that has made it one of my favorite albums of all time. If you want to start hearing Bruce Springsteen, star with this one. You won't be dispointed.

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