Vinyl Icons

Original LP
Born To Run came out in a gatefold cover in 1975 with the lyrics on the inside. In the US it appeared with an error on the rear sleeve crediting 'John' Landau, which was corrected with a sticker on some copies and reprinted on the second pressing. The US LP had the orange Columbia labels [PC 33795], while in the UK the orange and yellow CBS labels were used [69170; 33795]. The Japanese LP had a gatefold sleeve and a photo insert with Japanese titles, text and lyrics. It came with an olive green obi strip.

The holy grail for collectors is a 'script cover' blank label promo issued by Columbia in 1975 [no cat no]. The cover was the same as the finished album, but with a handwritten title. It included a typed lyric sheet with 'Meeting Across The River' still listed under its original working title of 'The Heist'. About 200 were made in advance of standard promos. One sold in 2020 for over £4000.

Tape Editions
In the UK, Born To Run was released on 8-track cartridge with a blue label incorporating the black and white album cover artwork on a white shell [CBS 42-69170]. In the US it came in a white case with a square cut-out window to reveal the full LP cover photo of Springsteen and Clemons on the cartridge [Columbia PCA 33795]. The programmes differ between the two releases. The 1975 American cassette cover release placed the full LP cover shot over a white lower panel [Columbia JCT 33795]. The cassettes had textured white shells with a smooth panel on which the tracklisting was printed. In the UK the photo was placed within a blue border [see below left] while the cassettes themselves were black with red labels [CBS 40-69170].

A MiniDisc was released in Europe in 1992 on Columbia [MD 80959] with the cover photo on the front of the disc itself and tracklisting printed on the reverse. The US version was virtually identical [Columbia, CM 33795].

First CD Release
The first CD of Born To Run was released in 1982 in Japan on CBS/Sony [35DP 21]. The early CDs for the 1983 European release, which came with an eight-page booklet with lyrics and credits [CDCBS 80959], and for the US release in 1984 [CBS CK 33795], were made in Japan.

In 1993 a gold CD remastered by American engineer Bob Ludwig was released in a long-box format in the US [Columbia Legacy, Master Sound series CK 52859]. It came out as a limited edition standard format CD in the US in 1994 [CK 64406] and also in Europe [480416 2].

Special Editions
The 30th anniversary edition of Born To Run [see pic top right] was released in 2005 with a CD – again remastered by Ludwig – and two DVDs. One featured a full concert of Bruce Springsteen And The E-Street Band at Hammersmith Odeon, London, in 1975 mixed in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound and a second with a 90m documentary Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born To Run and an excerpt from a concert at The Ahmanson Theater, LA in 1973. This came with a 48-page booklet of rare and unseen photographs [Europe: Columbia 82876755892; US: 82796 94175 2].

Born To Run has never been reissued with outtakes as bonus tracks, although in 1998 'Linda Let Me Be The One' and 'So Young And In Love' came out on the Four HDCD Tracks set, originally released in long-box format on Columbia in Europe [492605 2] and the US [CXK 69475].

The album, again remastered by Bob Ludwig and transferred from the original tapes using the Plangent Processes tape playback system, was released in 2014 [see pic below] as part of the 8CD set Bruce Springsteen: The Album Collection Vol 1 1973-1984 [US, UK and Europe: Columbia 888750141420S1].

Audiophile Vinyl
A 180g vinyl LP was released in the US in 1999 in the Columbia Classic Records series; some pressings were on 200g, which was indicated by a sticker [PC 33795]. The most recent 180g LP was released in the US in 2005 [Columbia JC 33795].