I’m a late comer to the Bruce Springsteen fandom. Just two years ago, I largely dismissed the Boss, until Born to Run (the single) caught my attention, followed by the album it led. Since, I’ve been getting into his catalog one album at a time, which usually followed me dismissing that album before conceding that it is, in fact great (see: Born in the USA). That trend has, to date, only moved forward. But I recently found his debut for four dollars, and took a gamble. And if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that a bet on the Boss is a good bet.

One of the strange things about Springsteen’s discography is the pattern between albums. Starting with Born to Run and stopping somewhere in the 80s probably, the albums alternate between anthemic and triumphant (Born to Run, the River, Born in the USA) and dark and introspective (Darkness on the Edge of Town, Nebraska, whatever album came out after Born in the USA). Greetings from Asbury Park however, has a sort of dichotomy of its own. The recording sessions were split between solo tracks and band tracks, and after Bruce and the suits failed to agree on which versions were best (he preferred the band), they split the difference mixed them into the same playlist, with Blinded by the Light and Spirit in the Night tacked on as singles. But whatever conflicts may have been behind the production, it created a fantastic record, introducing one of the most dynamite songwriters and performers to the world. And Springsteen has never been as dynamic as he was here (that’s right, I said it). The unrefinedness of youth serves his untempered passion, going from whispering to wailing in alternating bars. And the not-yet-named E Street Band follows him so closely (on their first album, remember) that you would hardly tell the difference between the solo and band tracks if you weren’t listening for it. Mary Queen of Arkansas packs as much pathos and energy with an acoustic guitar and harmonica as Its Hard to be a Saint in the City does with a full band. The full band Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street? and the piano-only Lost in the Flood even feel like a single, masterful seven-minute song. It’s that passion that would lead Springsteen through his indelible career, and here, on his debut, it’s already fully formed.

Even if his version of Blinded by the Light isn’t everything it’s been talked up to be.