Bruce Springsteen, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
Columbia, 1973: Bruce Springsteen (vocals and guitar) and the E-Street Band: Clarence Clemons (saxophone, died 2011), David Sancious (keyboards), Garry Tallent (bass), Danny Federici (organ, died 2008), Vini Lopez (drums)
Notable songs (almost the whole album!)
This was Springsteen's second album after the more lyrical, not-as-rock-centered Greetings from Asbury Park (1973), and this album was also the first with the full E Street Band, although the band's lineup would change in succeeding years. This album rocked!
Although well-received critically, the album didn't do that well in sales across the US when it was initially released--it did do very well in the mid-Atlantic region--but sales picked up after the success of Born to Run (1975). In 2003 Rolling Stone ranked it on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
"Rosalita" is one of the great party rock songs of the 1970s, and it's even a love song of sorts. You could also say that it is kind of an autobiography of Springsteen himself, who, as the song says, got the big record company contract. In concert, often at the end of a very long concert, the song was a real rock blast and a showcase for Clemons on sax.
"Sandy" is a great song, a concert favorite that evokes the Jersey shore scene of the 1960s and 70s. You will understand a lot of Springsteen's earlier music better if you grew up on the east coast in the 60s/70s (bad economic times) or hung out at the Jersey shore.
"Incident on 57th Street," reminding you of West Side Story, is a song of fantastic lyrics, a song with a story to tell, a song revealing life in the big city, and then it merges right into "Rosalita." "Incident" is reminiscent of the story-telling that Bob Dylan did on Desire.