I really don't like The River or Greetings from Asbury Park, I'm afraid, though Wreck on the Highway is awesome and no doubt they're a huge step up compred to the execrable Born in the USA. The title track from The River is one of my least favourite tracks of his, like a lot of his stuff it's a perfectly good song completely ruined by some awful Americana-AOR production and his patented "I'm starting off quiet and emotional, and finishing loud and anthemic" vocal stylings that I've never got on with. Maybe I'll check out the Ghost of Tom Joad. I did like Streets of Philadelphia I guess, but yea, I've never really got on with Springsteen with a full band sound, even if not all of it is as painfully overblown as Born to Run, or as awful as Dancing in the Dark. Everything sounds like it's got to sound huge even when the song should be intimate, and then you get the big build-ups, and it all feels very clichéd. That's why I like Nebraska, because they showcased that he could write great songs, and deliver them in an understated matter that let the song sink in, which I just feel he never did often enough for me. Even then, on Nebraska you've got the end of State Trooper where he quickly fades it off on what was clearly intended to become a big climactic rock ending.