Springsteen’s sixth studio album, which he recorded himself on a four track to use as demos but then decided to release them directly. (Somewhere in the vaults exist at least some of these songs in full band versions, but they’ve not surfaced yet).

Springsteen has cites as inspiration both the story of Charles Starkweather (who murdered 11 people in the fifties) and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States as well as musically folks like Alan Vega. It remains my favorite Springsteen album.

My copy is the Vinyl Me Please Essentials reissue from 2022, with listening notes by Peter Ames Carlin and an print by Justin McHugh.