Born To Run

Springsteen's make-or-break third album represented a change from his first two albums, which had been made for modest sums at a suburban studio. Born to Run was recorded on a superstar budget, mostly at the Record Plant in New York. Springsteen's backup band had changed, with his two virtuoso players, keyboardist David Sancious and drummer Vini Lopez, replaced by the professional but less flashy Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg. The result was a full, highly produced sound that contained elements of Phil Spector's melodramatic work of the 1960s. Layers of guitar, layers of echo on the vocals, lots of keyboards, thunderous drums - Born to Run had a big sound, and Springsteen wrote big songs to match it.