When Did Springsteen Stop Making Great Albums?

In retrospect, Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska — a collection of personal and sometimes gloomy songs recorded solo, on a simple four-track cassette — seems a bold but fairly sensible move for that point in his career. His double album from 1980, The River, was the smashing conclusion to a trio of powerhouse records recorded with the E-Street Band, following the rugged and brilliant Darkness on the Edge of Town from 1978 and his declaration-of-greatness from 1975, Born To Run. The messianic aura growing around him must have felt dangerous. The logic of backlash was in place. From that perspective, making a lower-key musical statement looks a natural and even canny decision.