Born to Run: Why the Poor Sound Quality?

Agreed. In the pantheon of legendary rock LPs, this has to be one of the most poorly recorded of all time. However, why does "10th Avenue Freeze-out" sound so good compared to the rest of the album which is all murk and muffle. I'd be curious to hear the Classic reissue of it.

-Richard

It sounds exactly the way Springsteen, the producer (Landau) and the engineer (Iovine) wanted it to sound. It's not intended to be played back over audiophile type systems. They were going for a Phil Spectre type wall of sound without too much stereo effect. Play it back over an average car stereo to get a better understanding of what they were trying to do. Springsteen has a reputation for being a studio perfectionist, but that doesn't mean he has audiophile sound values.

it was not intended to sound 'clean'...its rock and roll. its all music...no 'sound' masquerading as music.

I'm with Onhwy61, it was done deliberately to sound that way - a kind of steelworker, automaker, tough guy, jump in your "built-like-a-rock" all-American pick-up with the boys kind of sound. Compressed and slightly edgy.

It worked - the album did well even it does sound awful!