Gary U.S. Bonds - On the Line

Happy seventy-third birthday today (June 6th) to American rhythm and blues singer Gary Levone Anderson, known best by his stage name of Gary U.S. Bonds. He started his career in the 1960’s and, after two albums, took a break from recording. In the early 80’s, he made a career comeback.

In June of 1982, thirty years ago this month, Bonds released his third studio album On the Line. This was the second of two albums that were produced by Bruce Stringsteen and Steven Van Zandt. The two E. Street Band members wrote eight of the tracks, and Bonds was also back by the classic rock group. The album produced one Top 40 hit single.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

In 1975, Bruce Springsteen released his third studio album, the hugely successful Born to Run. The record helped him break through to a more national and international audience. It was his best selling record up to that point in his career, going Platinum in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US (a number of times over in the later three). It debuted its first week on the US Billboard 200 album charts at number 84, moved to number 8 the following week, spent the next two weeks at number 4 and finally reached number 3 by its fifth week of release. The 30th anniversary edition released in 2005 reached number 18 on the same charts. The album was also a critical success, earning high marks from numerous music publications. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 18 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time. VH-1 ranked it at number 27 on its Greatest Albums of All-Time list. Many fans consider it one of Springsteen's greatest works to date.