Bruce Springsteen Albums, Ranked

So. There have been at least two different outstanding lists recently, ranking Bruce Springsteen's albums from worst to best. Good as the lists were—and they were—neither list quite agreed with each other, and we both disagreed with both lists, but disagreed over just where the disagreements were. Naturally, out of this strife came the idea of making our own ranking. Since we disagreed, however, on what went where or why, we each did one and then smooshed them together. (To use the technical term.)

It's tempting to make one of our usual jokes about how Scott's list is the correct one, and then DT adds a parenthetical about how, no, his is, and then Scott comes back, but the truth is that both of our lists are pretty good and are pretty flawed, in that (like the previous lists that spurred ours) they're both (we like to think) well-reasoned and coming from a place of considerable Springsteen knowledge, but attempting the impossible, as art of this calibre shifts as the years go by and future works (by the same artist as well as others), as well as the listener's changing and evolving life experiences, limn the original in different lights, leading to constant reappraisal. Meaning it's possible Magic, say, will drop a half-dozen places in the next decade, or Wrecking Ball rise, or vice versa. 

One thing's for sure, however: it's nearly impossible that Human Touch'll ever get outta the basement. At least, sweet fancy Moses, we sure hope Bruce never records an album more awful than that.

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Human Touch — Last place with a bullet. By far the easiest to place on this list. Nothing even comes close. There are a few genuinely good or even great songs on there—"With Every Wish," "The Long Goodbye" and "I Wish I Were Blind" are the most obvious, but I've always had a soft spot for "57 Channels," which I think would have made a killer b-side, and "Real World" in its stripped down piano arrangement is wonderful—but most of it's just forgettable, except for the ones that are all too memorable (that's right, I'm looking at you, "Real Man") but for all the wrong reasons. It's also his first release that began a surprising number of albums with disappointing endings. I mean, sure, "Pony Boy" is sweet and all...but, come on, man.

—Scott

Human Touch — Three great songs (“I Wish I Were Blind,” “With Every Wish” and the title track), one truly god awful song (“Real Man”) that ranks among his worst ever, and a whole lotta filler in between. Without question his worst. Plenty of the songs are listenable (“Gloria’s Eyes,” “Real World”), they just don’t measure up to what he’d done before, what he’d do in the future, and what he did literally at the same time with Lucky Town.
—DT

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The Seeger Sessions — I'm not 100% convinced this should even be on the list. I know Springsteen himself would disagree with me, but I'd actually put this on the side along with Tracks, Greatest Hits, The Essential and The Promise. Fine collections, one and all, a delightful weekend excursion with some relevant lessons learn, yet still well off the spine of the main story.
—Scott

Working on a Dream — Thematically I really like the optimism of this album and see it as something of a long-awaited sequel…or flip-side?...to Tunnel of Love. Melodically it’s beautiful on so much of it. But it has that horrendous title track, an overlong opening song that oddly does not exactly hold up, and more filler (“Life Itself,” “What Love Can Do,” “Tomorrow Never Knows”) than any other album save for Human Touch. “The Last Carnival” and the gorgeous “Kingdom of Days” are standouts, and again, the effort and the thread of happiness running through most of it are admirable. Just doesn’t really cut it the way he may have intended.
—DT

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Devils & Dust — Look, let's make something crystal clear: something's going to have to go on the bottom of this list; I mean, that's just the way ranked lists work. So just because I'm saying this is only his 15th best album doesn't mean I don't think it's fantastic. 'cuz I do. We're just speaking in relativities here. And, yes, I feel absolutely sick about this being ranked so low. Anyhoo. The good stuff on here (the title track, "Reno" and especially the "Rosalita" sequel "Long Time Comin'") is absolutely brilliant. There's just not quite enough of it to outweigh the ungreat stuff, some of which (DT mentions the others in his write-up but unlike him I'm also very much not a fan of "Jesus Was An Only Son") is really not great—at least, not Springsteen-level great. Oddly, it's more a collection of songs than a cohesive album, at least, by Springsteen standards; Human Touch may be much, much weaker (and indeed it is) but at least it has a certain unity of theme, something Devils & Dust, alone amongst Springsteen's oeuvre, lacks. It ends much stronger than several of his better albums, interestingly.

—Scott

The Seeger Sessions — If I must include this—and I’d rather not—it falls here. Excellent effort, most of it works swimmingly (“My Oklahoma Home” is awesome, “Mrs. McGrath” is stark and haunting, and favorites like “John Henry” and “Erie Canal” get a rather royal treatment) but, well, this is a hard list to be on top of. (That’s what she said.)
—DT

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Working on a Dream — The title track is the worst song since his debut—even worse than "Cautious Man" or "Skin to Skin"—and only maybe three songs have lyrics truly worthy of him. (Those'd be perhaps "This Life" and definitely the gorgeous "Kingdom of Days" and the insanely underrated "Queen of the Supermarket," which manages to be both truly funny and surprisingly touching and trenchant.) Most of the lyrics, on the other hand, are shockingly insubstantial. And yet, pound for pound, it's more melodic than any other album he's ever done, boasting an unusual and sumptuous baroque 1960s sound, erasing any doubt that he could have been a constant presence on the pop charts any time he wanted, had he chosen to go higher, and making this one of his most simply pleasant albums to listen to.
—Scott

Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ — Too short and has two of the five worst songs he ever wrote (“The Angel” and “Mary Queen of Arkansas”). Five of its songs are undeniably brilliant, though, (particularly “Growin’ Up,” his first great song, and the incomparable “For You”) and I get why it is so treasured by fans. The riotous and chaotic word explosion is so stunning that it comes close to equaling Dylan at his most zany (hence the "New Dylan" moniker he briefly earned...and hated). And after this album he moved on to something else, for the most part. A breathtaking debut. Too bad the good stuff is less than a half-hour long, and therein is the problem. It’s still a 4-star album. Just compared to what was to come, it’s more like a (hearty) check-swing.
—DT

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The Ghost of Tom Joad — Going by just the best material, this should be much higher, given how great the great stuff is (the title track and "Youngstown" most obviously). But it simply doesn't have the musical interest of virtually anything else he's ever done, and is really dragged down by the three songs on it for which he forgot to write melodies. Sure, the idea behind "Galveston Bay" is a wonderful one, but a song in any of the genres in which Springsteen has worked—even a challenging folk song—is supposed to have some sort of melody, rather than a random drawl going up and down sporadically over a barely audible guitar. To show what this could and should have been, compare and contrast it with the not entirely dissimilar but vastly greater "Matamoros Banks." And following the disappointing and eternal-seeming "Galveston Bay" with the failed humor of "My Best Was Never Good Enough" was a mistake. A frustrating collection, because the good stuff is just so good.
—Scott

Devils & Dust — Most of the tracks work well. A couple lack...something. Like “Black Cowboys” and “Silver Palomino.” “All The Way Home” is strangely out of place for someone who usually crafts his song orders so intricately. At its best (“Long Time Coming,” the gorgeously mournful “Reno” and the title track) it is transcendent. But the bottom line is this is a very, very good record that unfortunately does not reach the crazy heights other records of his reach.
—DT

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Wrecking Ball — It's too soon, for me, to have any kind of objective view of where this belongs. I don't think it really should be quite this high, and yet, there 'tis. Possibly, I'm realizing as I type this, as a sop to DT. Now I hate myself. It's got the opposite trajectory to Magic and works just as well here as that does there. Here's one thing about it that stands out compared to Greetings from Asbury Park, Devils & Dust, Working on a Dream and The Ghost of Tom Joad (and even The Rising): there's no really glaring weak spot. (Although "You Got It" comes mighty close—an okay song, but out of place.) The other thing, I just realized, is this: when I'm reaching for a Springsteen album to listen to these days, this is almost always one of the first I go for. I just really like it.
—Scott

The Ghost of Tom Joad — This and Devils & Dust are largely companion pieces. Near equals in execution, too. Here’s why I rank Joad one step higher – the first five songs on Joad are just so damn good it’s hard to imagine an album starting out more audaciously and building as well as this does. The Ghost of Tom Joad has the weakest song of the 24 in the lot (the melody-free “Galveston Bay”). But the album starts off so damn strong—the title track through “Sinaloa Cowboys”—and it has such a strong thematic fiber running through it all (poverty, crime, violence) that it’s hard to ignore.
—DT

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Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ — The two acoustic songs are so bad. But the rest of it is so damn good: where others hear anemic production of songs later played with far more power, I hear a nearly DIY recording of a band that's lithe and sinewy in a way they never will be again. Still, I have a feeling I have this at least a bit too high, given that after you nix the two awful songs, the album's really only 28 minutes long. But what 28 minutes they are.
—Scott

Magic — Holy crow this is too low, isn’t it? Such brilliant songs. “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” and “Long Walk Home” and “I’ll Work For Your Love” and “Devil’s Arcade” and “Radio Nowhere.” It also speaks to the anger and fear and frustration that was the end of the Bush era of Iraq and looming economic crash. "That flag flying over the courthouse means certain things are set in stone," he brilliantly offers at the apex of "Long Walk Home. "Who we are, what we'll do, and what we won't." Also, in many ways the album is the last major work we see from Clarence Clemons. Damn. Now I hate myself for ranking it this low. And for making you do this too. Dammit. Dammit!
—DT

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Lucky Town — Jesus, look at that track list. Is there anything on there approaching weak, much less dead weight? I mean...when "Better Days" and "Local Hero" are maybe the softest spots, that is an album to be reckoned with. And he's never had a lovelier closing track than "My Beautiful Reward" and, yes, I really did just write that and, yes, I know what his other closing tracks are. From another really, really good artist, this'd be a grand slam, the artist's bid to crack the all-time classic list with Abbey Road and Blonde on Blonde and Exile on Main Street and Automatic for the People. From Springsteen it'd surprise most Bruce fans that it's this high. In fact, I'm not sure it belongs this high. I hate you now. (Know what? I think I've just revised my opinion on this one: it's [almost] to parenthood and a happy marriage what Tunnel is to a troubled marriage. Screw y'all.)
—Scott

Lucky Town — For the second of what will oddly be seven times, we are in agreement on the placement. This is an amazing collection of songs that finds Bruce...happy! After all the doubt of Tunnel of Love, where we'd last left off. It is also way tighter thematically than it’s ever gotten credit for, with sketches of marital bliss and parenthood and protection of those you love shining around every corner, as well as some startling self-awareness. Highlights? How about the splendid “My Beautiful Reward,” the joyously fierce “Living Proof” and the leadoff raveup of “Better Days.”
—DT

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The Rising — If it weren't for the dead weight at the (literal) center of the album, this'd be at least one notch higher...and maybe two. Cut "Worlds Apart," "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)," "Further On Up the Road" and "The Fuse" and you've just added at least half a star to the LP and maybe a full star: addition by subtraction's a real thing, at least when it comes to art. (I love "Further On Up the Road," but it just doesn't fit here; meanwhile "Worlds Apart" does fit...but isn't good.) But the surrounding 11 songs are very nearly as good as anything he's ever done, and certainly far, far better than anyone had any right to expect, given the subject matter and that it'd been 15 years since he'd last released a truly great album. (Also, I don't think Springsteen gets enough credit for producing what appears to be, 10+ years down the road, one of the very few truly great works of art yet to come out of September 11th.)
—Scott

The Rising — Two in a row! Yes to everything Scott said. The middle four songs drag it down a few slots. If the album was the 11 songs that open and close the record it may have been the best album of the 2000s. By anyone. Yes, I just wrote that. "The Rising" and "Lonesome Day" and "My City of Ruins" and "You're Missing" and "Nothing Man"...man, does the list go on and on. And its greatest song (“Paradise”) is its quietest and least known, as well as the boldest thing he ever wrote. Wow again.
—DT

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Magic — Rollicking, fun, serious (deadly serious, in fact) without ever becoming preachy, it starts off with "Radio Nowhere," which at first seems like it could be a cranky old man yelling at you kids to get off his lawn but you realize it isn't and is, in fact, much deeper and more serious, and gradually gets darker and darker all the way to the very end, his only album with that trajectory—a tough one to pull off, but he does it, with the final three songs being absolutely flawless, including not only "Long Walk Home," perhaps his finest song of this century, but "Last to Die," a greatly underappreciated post-apocalyptic horror show. (The last song, incidentally, being the sadly beautiful "Devil's Arcade," and not "Terry's Song," which is a bonus track and that's just the way it is.) It's tempting to switch this and The Rising, and if The Rising were four song shorter, they would be. But it's not, so here it is, the sleeper of his entire catalog.
—Scott

Wrecking Ball — Forget “Swallowed Up,” as bonus tracks don’t count. They just don’t, okay? The next weakest song is “You Got It,” and…that’s a pretty damn good song. It just doesn’t fit, much like “Further On (Up the Road)” doesn’t on The Rising. But he just bends so much into this record and delivers a product that is thematically airtight and melodically breathtaking. This is a post-Tea Party, pre-2012 election album that gets just the right snapshot of where we are (“Death to My Hometown,” “Shackled and Drawn”), who it hits the hardest (the masterpiece that is “Jack of All Trades”) and, hopefully, where we’re headed (“Rocky Ground” and “We Are Alive”).
—DT

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The River — "Hungry Heart," "Independence Day," "Point Blank," "Wreck on the Highway," and, oh, and the little ditty that is the title track, and this isn't a Top 5 record? Insanity. (And that's not even considering the phenomenal songs, like "Roulette," "Be True," and a half dozen more that were cut at the same time but tossed aside.) It runs the gamut from (near) throwaways to stone cold genius and everywhere in between—and as a double album, there's room for a lot, and Springsteen packs every corner. If this were released five years later, it would have had a song or two deleted and fit on a single CD. Now aren't you glad it wasn't released five years later? Because you just know one of the first things to get nixed would be something like "Crush on You" or "I'm a Rocker," which are goofy and fun and still manage to kick major ass, thanks to a band that sounds harder and hungrier than ever and yet looser than they'd ever be again. Lousy cover, though.
—Scott

The River — Again we agree. And FYI we are now into the bona fide classic album category. This is his last one that is not lockdown 5 stars (as in an A). And it might be. The album starts with the line “You been hurt” and ends with a man thinking about a death on the highway. In between we have serious father issues, family abandonment and miserable desolation alongside love both requited and unrequited and promises to never, ever fade away. "The Price You Pay" is amazing, and it's like the 12th best song on this record. "Two Hearts" is amazing and it doesn't crack the Top 10 either.  I have no idea how this album could have been any better. No clue. Probably because it couldn’t have been.
—DT

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Born in the USA — The incendiary title track, the creepy "I'm on Fire," the defiantly happy in the face of impending defeat "Glory Days," the flawless, complex pop of "Dancing in the Dark," the poignant and quietly tragic "My Hometown"...how the hell can this not be Top 5? The admittedly dated keyboards are nowhere near as dated as their reputation, and the songs and performances are very nearly unparalleled. Geoffrey Himes argued persuasively in his book-length tome (in the wonderful 33 1/3 series) that this is Springsteen's best ever album, and while I obviously don't agree, it's more a reflection of how great his other albums are than any flaws in this one. Because there sure ain't many, and they ain't major. Springsteen had already swung for the fences and hit it out of the park. This time he decided to try to pitch a perfect game as well, and did.
—Scott

Born in the USA — This is getting spooky. We’re agreeing too much. Or we're both frequenting the same crack dealer. Either way. The bookends of anger (“Born in the USA”) and resignation (“My Hometown”) are perfect. Perfect. Because you know what? They're the only songs that really address those two emotions head-on. Everything else in between stops short of boiling over with frustration and stops equally short of packing it in. But BitUSA still seethes and hisses, even as it tries to have fun and refuses at every turn to take itself too seriously. While there is a song I genuinely don’t like (“Cover Me”) I can’t say it’s a bad song. They say a good golfer is more judged by how manageable his bad shots are than by how wonderful his good shots are. We know the classics are awesome (“I’m On Fire” and “Bobby Jean” and “Dancing in the Dark” and “Glory Days.”) But check out the strength of the “lesser” tracks here – “I’m Going Down,” “Downbound Train,” “Working on the Highway.” Yeah. Yeah.
—DT

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Tunnel of Love — There are lots and lots of great rock albums made by Angry Young Men. In fact, pretty much all of them are. (And a million more lousy ones made by the same demographic.) Except for Tunnel of Love, which stands with only Blood on the Tracks as all-time great classic unimpeachable albums made by adults looking at the trials and travails of adult relationships and finding the road not merely rocky but verging on impassible. The title track should have been a dance hit, "Brilliant Disguise" is as brutally self-reflective and incisive as anything Elliott Smith or Kurt Cobain ever attempted, "One Step Up" is as gorgeous and heartbreaking as a George Jones classic, while the catchy "All That Heaven Will Allow" almost seems like his first happy upbeat love song...except that it's not, really, because nothing on this album is quite what it seems. Only "Cautious Man" keeps this from overtaking The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.
—Scott

The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle — Raucous and ridiculous and flamboyant and a more diverse cocktail of competing styles than anything he (or anyone else, for that matter) has ever done. This album aches and pines ("Fourth of July, Asbury Park") as loudly as it howls and wails ("Kitty's Back"). It struts with the clueless cocksure of the lovable loser ("The E Street Shuffle" and, of course, "Rosalita"). And it unveils two of his three impassable street operas that forever have embedded themselves into the hearts of his fans (the graceful elegy of "Incident on 57th Street," the sprawling urban jambalaya of "New York City Serenade.") Only “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” keeps this from overtaking Tunnel of Love.
—DT

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The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle — Of his top 10 albums, this has the weakest songs, using the commonly accepted metric (a composition which loses little to no power when played on just an acoustic guitar)...but sweet Jesu, the energy, the passion, the exuberance, the beauty and the joy. Springsteen and the E Street Band would never again come close to this level of true funkiness, and on "Rosalita," they race at lightning speed along a crumbling precipice for far longer than should be possible and yet somehow never quite slip. Meanwhile, with "New York City Serenade" Springsteen decided to see what would happen when the Celtic mysticism of Astral Weeks got transplanted to the greater NYC metro region and, it turns out, what happened was sheer magic of a loose gossamer beauty he'd never again quite attain (or attempt). And he was all of 23 years old. Punk.
—Scott

Nebraska – More than any I agonized over whether this or Tunnel of Love should be higher. Whose idea was this? Yours, Scott? I hate you. But the songs...good golly. The dead cold drone of "Nebraska" chills to the bones. More murder and mayhem follows, without an ounce of regret or apology, in "Atlantic City" and "Johnny 99." Wistful dreams are tamped down with hard reality in "Used Cars" and "Mansion on the Hill." Family heartbreak pervades every second of "Highway Patrolman." And to wrap it up, in easily one of the 10 best songs he ever wrote as well as the most provocative, Bruce leaves us with a conundrum for the ages with the Woody Guthrie-esque "Reason to Believe." Is it a testament to perseverance? Or a scornful mocking of the hopeless who still think there's hope? We never find out. With Nebraska, Bruce stripped it all the way down after the sonic mayhem of the first five albums and envisioned something only he could see. Now we all can see it. Exactly as he had intended.
—DT

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Nebraska — Right between his first major pop hit (1980's "Hungry Heart") and his biggest pop hit (1984's "Dancing in the Dark") comes a solo acoustic album that starts in the head of a serial killer and ends with a jilted groom staring at a river rushing by, wondering why his bride-to-be stood him up at the altar, in front of everyone, and now he's perhaps considering suicide as he wonders how anyone in such a world can possibly have faith. And in between those bookends are tales every bit as challenging—the raucous "Johnny 99" begging to be executed, the terrifying singer warning the "State Trooper" not to stop him, a threat you never doubt for a second is real—set to skeletal music equal to their lyrics. And virtually the entire thing is made up of first takes set down in just a single day. It wasn't even supposed to be an album, just some demos for the band, but Nebraska wasn't having it, instead forcing its way out because that's what the greatest art does, sometimes, it overwhelms its creators, just like Nebraska's still an overwhelming listen, an auditory docudrama of people pushed to their absolute limits or even beyond. Rarely in the history of rock has l'art pour l'art been so successful or rewarding. Spine-chilling and haunting and yet you cannot turn away and find yourself drawn back again and again.
—Scott

Tunnel of Love – Not even “Cautious Man” sinks it for me. His bravest effort ever, in that his post-Born in the USA megastardom left everyone wondering where he would go next. Instead of bigger, he looked inward and scored one of the two greatest albums (the other being Blood on the Tracks) written about adult relationships by an adult. It is entirely possible to read the full album as 12 chapters in a book, in order. (With the brilliant “Spare Parts” and the dull “Cautious Man” thrown in as vignettes, or possibly dreams.) But once “Walk Like a Man” comes on Bruce is as in command of the material as any artist who has ever lived.
—DT

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Darkness on the Edge of Town — It is unlikely verging on impossible to believe Bruce Springsteen could ever have released a finer album than this one. When the least good song on the album may be the soul-searing look at and through my father's eyes of "Factory," or perhaps the not soul-crushing but soul-crushed dirge "Something in the Night," with the lines "you're born with nothing and better off that way—as soon as you got something they send someone to try to take it away," you know you have an LP to be reckoned with. Home to not only anthems "Badlands" and "The Promised Land," the statement of purpose title track and, inconceivable as it may be, the only song greater than "Born to Run" or "Thunder Road," Darkness is a stone masterpiece from beginning to end. So why isn't it Number One? Because, improbably, he'd already created one even (ever so minutely slightly) better.
—Scott

Darkness on the Edge of Town — Only because even Abbey Road has Revolver to look up at. The perfect follow-up to the most perfect American album ever released. What a follow-up, to make the understatement of the year. Bruce the Romantic was gone, mostly, lost to court fees and plaintiffs motions. The highway that once held such promise now offered nothing more than road, road leading...who knows where? Dreams were torn, pain was inherited, workers grew deaf and angry and storm clouds appeared on the once clear horizon. Yes, darkness is everywhere here. Far more raw than anything he would ever again do, more despondent than anything he had ever done, and bookended by four openers and closers (“Badlands,” “Racing in the Street,” “The Promised Land,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town”) that only one other album has ever equaled in terms of quality. Hmm…I wonder what that album is?
—DT

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Born to Run — There are a lot of reasons this is Bruce Springsteen's greatest ever album. From the iconic cover art—a masterpiece itself of design, conception and execution—to the production to the performances to, perhaps most of all, the songs. But the thing that gives it the top spot is this: as previously mentioned, there has been a lot of great rock and roll created by Angry Young Men™—in fact, in terms of sheer numbers, that's who's created most of the best stuff. Well, the Springsteen of Born to Run was young, that's indisputable (although, like most 24-year-olds, he probably didn't think at the time he was young at all). But anger? There's little or none to be found on the LP. Instead, there's passion, there's yearning, there's lust, there's humor, there's desire, there's exhilaration, there's desperation, there's joy and there's love. So much of those things, such a surfeit, that the grooves practically overflow from the abundance. Angry and sad songs may not be easy...but the evidence would seem to indicate they're a whole lot easier, otherwise there wouldn't be so many more great angry or sad songs than happy ones. As with so many other things, here Bruce Springsteen shows that not only can it be done, it can be done brilliantly. Hence not only his greatest album ever, but a serious contender for anyone's greatest album ever.
—Scott

Born to Run — Yep. From the scene-setting harmonica of “Thunder Road” to the disembodied cries that close “Jungleland,” this is Bruce Springsteen’s masterwork in every way imaginable. It has the pathos of "Backstreets" ("Remember all the movies..."). The powerful strut of "10th Avenue Freeze Out." The cool, sultry burn of "Meeting Across the River." It has inimitable contributions from people named Boom and Suki. Oh, and it has his greatest song at the heart of it (the title track), and the promise, "Someday girl, I don't know when, we're gonna get to that place where we really want to go, and we'll walk in the sun." Simply put, no American artist has ever shot bigger, aimed higher and scored such a perfectly realized vision as Bruce Springsteen does with Born to Run.
—DT