Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run (2005)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Very good look at the making of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" album features interviews with the man himself, the entire E Street band and producer Jon Landau. Springsteen starts off talking about where he was in his life when he started writing the album and talks about how he wanted the entire album to feel as if it was taking place in one day. From here he then talks about 10th Avenue Freeze-Out and adds that he still doesn't know what the title means. From here he discusses the lyrics and breaks them down one by one to explain what they mean. From here on out the documentary covers the band getting into the studio and how everyone agreed it wasn't a fun time. We hear stories of them taking sixteen hours on one idea and then scrapping it and going into a different direction. We hear about the sax solo on Jungleland and why it took multiple days just to try and get a few notes of it down. Everyone agrees that it wasn't a fun time doing this album but it seems everyone put up with it because they wanted to reach something perfect and many of them comment on how this might have been their last shot at doing something special. Some of the best moments feature Springsteen and Landau in a studio listening to some of the musical takes that weren't used and it's interesting seeing their thoughts on it thirty years later. Another great moment is during the making of the song Born to Run when we get to hear various mixes that were used and we also get to really see and learn how a mix was done back in those days. Fans of the artist will certainly enjoy this look back at what most consider his first great album.
