The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle

About

On his second album, 1973’s <i>The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle</i>, Bruce Springsteen ignored whatever desires his label or his management may have had about turning him into a “new Dylan.” Springsteen’s experiences recording, performing, and promoting his scaled-down 1972 debut had given him more confidence in what worked for him, and what didn’t. For his follow-up, Springsteen switched his creative strategy, assembling a real band to accompany him in the studio—a collection of musicians that would soon become the first incarnation of the legendary E Street Band. With <i>The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle</i>, Springsteen—who’d been leading and playing in rock ’n’ roll bands since he was a teen—would use those new players to help craft an album that could reflect his already-infamous live performance. Lyrically, the album would cover some of the terrain Springsteen had explored on his debut. He was still writing about the Jersey Shore, using it as the setting for a series of intricate, rambling epics that feature unexpected key changes and tempo shift, all populated by revolving cast of renegade, misfit, and weirdo. These are people who didn’t fit in anywhere—except with each other—and their stories are told on such standout tracks like “Wild Billy’s Circus Story,” “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” and “The E Street Shuffle.” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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