(Album ©1975, Columbia Records)
This is my list so it should come as 
no surprise that I’m including my favorite album of all time. This record was a phenomenon when it was released in 1975, because an artist who few people knew about, who was about to be dropped by his label, turned in an all-time great collection of songs, became a star, and set a course for greater things in the future. The cover, though, is a thing of beauty unto itself.
The cover is so clean and crisp – the photo is by Eric Meola, and Columbia Records’ in-house art director John Berg designed the cover. The photo was set to go from front to back so that the viewer is left to wonder who or what Bruce is leaning on, only to find Clarence on the back blowing his horn when you opened the album up! Of course, for the shoot, Bruce had to stand on a box, as he was at least 7 inches shorter than the Big Man.
I love this image for so many reasons – it’s an image of friendship, of brotherhood, of love between two heterosexual men, one black and the other white, who were bonded by their music. On this album, that music relies on Clarence’s sax at all the big moments, from the end of “Thunder Road” through the title track and “She’s The One” to the most famous Big Man solo of all, the piece played mid-song during “Jungleland.” Keep in mind – Clarence’s left side is the only appearance by anybody other than Bruce on the front cover of ANY of his albums. I think it’s totally appropriate to include him on the record that changed Bruce’s and the band’s fortunes forever.
There is an fascinating essay on Meola’s website describing the photo shoot in some detail, with lots of alternate images from among the 900 frames he shot that day, but suffice it to say that there were only two shots of Bruce staring at the Big Man, and in only one of those was he smiling. Incredible that this picture was the one shot like it among 900.
Interesting fact: the song “Born to Run” was recorded in a studio that was about a half a mile from where I lived for almost 15 years, in Blauvelt, NY – the former 914 Studios (now an abandoned car wash). Springsteen had recorded his first two albums there because it was cheaper than recording in the city, and started work on this album there as well, cutting the basic tracks for the song “Born to Run.” Once Jon Landau stepped in to “help” produce the record, though, he moved everything to the Record Plant in NYC. Still, while 9 million units sold was far from Springsteen’s highest album sales total, numbers cannot quantify the reach and scope this record has had.
