Born In The U.S.A/Living In The U.S.A.
This weekend’s On The Turntable will lean a little thematic; assisting us with celebrating America’s 245th Birthday … The program will begin with Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” … and follow that with “Living In The U.S.A.” from Linda Ronstadt ….
Born In The U.S.A.
Born In The USA is the seventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen … It was released in early June 1984 on Columbia Records …. The album was met with positive reviews and was a stupendously commercial success, selling over 30 million copies. … It spawned seven top ten singles and was promoted with a worldwide tour that I witnessed in Memphis, Tennessee in December of 1984. Springsteen paints some of his most colorful characters on this album..
The title track was intended to be angry, however it turned out to be anthemic, even to the point of the Regan Administration attempting to hijack the song as an election year campaign. The song “Glory Days” has also become an anthem for reunions … The album is listed in the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’. Rolling Stone place the LP 85th on it 500 Greatest Albums of All Time List …. Best Ever Albums Dot Com considers Born In The USA to be the 4th best album of 1984 and the 23rd best of the decade … Digital Dream Door Dot com placed it 2nd on its top 100 list for the year.
Notable Tracks – ‘I’m On Fire’ ‘Glory Days’ ‘Born In The U.S.A.’ ‘Cover Me’
Living In The U.S.A.
Living in the USA is the ninth studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in September 1978. The album was Ronstadt’s third, and last album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200. The album received positive reviews at the time of its release, however, Elvis Costello was quite critical of her cover of his song Alison, citing that “he did enjoy the money.” Ronstadt covers, Smokey Robinson, Warren Zevon, Buddy Holly, Elvis and Chuck Berry … no one covers a song quite like Linda; even Costello’s tunes, which she did three more times on later LPs.
Linda employed an eclectic group of musicians for this lp .. Peter Asher, David Sanborn, Kenny Edwards, Russ Kunkel and Andrew Gold were among the sixteen players listed in the credits … Best Ever Albums Dot Com considers Living In The U.S.A. the 261st best lp of 1978, a number that I find ridiculous for an LP that topped the Billboard 200. Digital Dream Door Dot Com ranked the album 63rd on its top 100 of the year list. Side two begins with a fantastic cover of Little Feat’s “All That You Dream” and includes “Ooh Baby, Baby” and her very last cover of Warren Zevon, “Mohammed’s Radio.”
Notable Tracks – “Back In The U.S.A.” “All That You Dream” “Ooh Baby, Baby” “Mohammed’s Radio”
You can catch ‘On The Turntable’ each Saturday evening at 6pm on 97.7 The Rewind. The program is rewound each Sunday at 7am. Listen over-the-air, on line at www.977therewind.com and on The Rewind App.