Documenting the Creation of an Iconic Album: Tonight in Jungleland by Peter Ames Carlin

 Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run by Peter Ames Carlin

Tonight in Jungleland book cover

Many thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Peter Ames Carlin’s detailed and compelling book Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run. I recently read Carlin’s The Name of This Band is R.E.M., and thoroughly enjoyed how comprehensive that book was in exploring the origins and career of a band that spanned different eras in music. I also knew that Carlin previously wrote a biography of Springsteen, so it seemed like he is not only an excellent music journalist, but also is knowledgeable about the subject. What was different was that rather than covering the entirety of this musician’s career, he had to narrow the focus and analyze the factors and events that led to the creation of one of Springsteen’s most heralded albums, Born to Run. Carlin explains these differences in the “Acknowledgement” section when he writes “covering the expanse of Bruce’s life and career hadn’t allowed for the sort of close attention to any particular album that this project required. So there was still a lot to learn, and quite a bit of new information to chase down and digest. Doing this required the cooperation, help and patience of many people.” That is one of the great aspects of this book in that many of the key players collaborated with Carlin on this book, providing further insights into the struggles, barriers, and doubts that arose during the creation of this album. This was also a noticeable difference from his R.E.M. book, where the band members did not participate in the book (although it is also a great read). Furthermore, the book arrives just in time for the 50^th anniversary of this album, and while this album and the song “Born to Run” in particular have become important for rock and roll, Carlin emphasizes that “Every work of art is the product of someone’s extraordinary effort. But some projects still feel surrounded by at least some measures of grace,” and this book helps to explore the unique circumstances that contributed to making this album special and helping make Springsteen and the E Street Band such an iconic American rock band.

Although I’m not huge Springsteen fan, I appreciate his work, and hadn’t realized how challenging it was to create this album. Carlin’s book spends most of the book exploring the musical and business aspect that led to this album, and doesn’t spend that much time exploring the personal influences of Springsteen’s life, although some of the chapters focus on his family and growing up in Freehold. I was amazed to learn that Springsteen faced limited support from his record label in creating Born to Run since his previous two albums were critically praised, but did not receive much commercial attention and had limited sales. Furthermore, Carlin provides some historical context about the early to mid-1970s both across the nation and in areas in Jersey like Asbury Park, where Springsteen and his band were gigging and practicing. It’s important to consider in that the nation was facing the Watergate Scandal and economic uncertainties and strains with events like the oil embargo. This contextualization helps to paint the kind of dire and hopeless situation that many Americans experienced, which also might one of the reasons that Springsteen’s Born to Run resonated with many people, as he often championed downtrodden characters who were fighting their ways out of desolate and hopeless situations, professing how the town “rips the bones from your back…we gotta get out while we’re young…” I gained a new appreciation for this album and its music, helping to better understand how Springsteen’s lyrics and music presented music as a kind of escape or salvation from many of the wrongs in the world. In particular, it was interesting to see how his band was interracial and evenly split between white and Black members, which at the time was not that common. Carlin notes, too, how this kind of integration was a part of the album’s photography and artwork for the cover, with Springsteen asking for Clarence Clemons to be on the cover with him.

Carlin’s book presents the challenges that Springsteen faced from his record label, especially since they were unwilling to front the money to record the album, which required Springsteen and his band to go out and tour to make money to pay for studio time just to record some singles to share with his label what the new record might sound like. Carlin’s book includes the perspective of Springsteen’s manager and first producer, Mike Appel, and how integral he was to supporting Springsteen’s early career. Throughout these financial challenges, Springsteen was able to maintain his band, although some members from the original band departed. This further delayed the ability to tour and record since the new members had to learn the music and adapt to the styles. Regardless, it was interesting to see these challenges and how Springsteen was able to maintain such a large band with many different members who obviously believed in him and his music.

Carlin’s research also delves into the lyrical content where readers learn about the car culture of Asbury Park, and how Springsteen’s experience with some racers led to some of the more famous lyrics from the album, as well as the imagery and symbolism of songs like “Jungleland” and “Tenth Avenue Freezeout.” I enjoyed learning about this aspect of the album, especially considering the time period and how Springsteen’s lyrics created unique characters who were battling not only for their lives, but also for their futures, challenging the inequality and barriers in society. However, my favorite aspect of the book focused on the recording process, where we learned about the studio challenges that Springsteen and the band faced when trying to capture the music and intensity of the live shows. It was fascinating to learn that Jimmy Iovine was one of the engineers for the album, and that Springsteen brought in Jon Landau, who at the time was an emerging music critic, to co-produce the album with Appel. In Carlin’s estimation, it seems like having the co-producers led to some disagreements and delays, but also heightened the quality of the recording since Appel and Landau had different perspectives on the music. It was also fascinating to think about how the technology of the time limited the ways the band could record their sound, and with a large band featuring not just traditional rock instruments, but also horns, it was a challenge to capture the various dynamics of these sounds on a limited amount of tracks. In assessing the recording sessions and highlighting some of the challenges from those sessions, Carlin seems to indicate that these limitations helped to shape different directions and versions of the songs, where Springsteen and the band were revising different parts of the songs, playing instruments differently to emphasize emotions and ideas from the songs. I loved reading about this creative process, and it was fascinating to learn about how the recording process and the limitations of technology influenced the ways the songs were shaped. In addition, Carlin presents the challenges of artists who want to maintain a vision, yet are also compelled to sell records through the typical process of creating radio-friendly pop music. It seemed like the two producers were in a constant struggle to manage both the artistic vision and the commercial appeal of the album that features some songs that run over 5 minutes.

One of the more surprising aspects of the book was Springsteen’s reaction to the initial pressing before the album was released. Despite encouragement from his co-producers and others at the record label, Springsteen seemed unhappy with this, and Carlin attributes these initial reactions to self-doubt largely from his father. It’s not a major theme of the book, but Springsteen’s complicated relationship with his parents, and his dad in particular, does come up a few times, and it seemed to play a hand in Springsteen’s personal questions about whether he was staying true to his vision or if he was making an album to just sell records. It was not something I expected to encounter considering Springsteen’s place in rock history. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how he responded to the initial pressing, and how his band members, producers, and others who are close to him reassured him about this album. Much like Carlin’s R.E.M. book, Tonight in Jungleland highlights how musicians have to navigate the border between artistic integrity and commercial success; however, this book is primarily focused on the process and factors that led to the creation of an iconic album. I appreciated this detailed focus and Carlin’s meticulous research and interviews that help to flesh out this process. Highly recommended.