Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.: Esoteric Reissues David Sancious’ First Two Albums

When the members of Bruce Springsteen’s mighty E Street Band took the stage at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center earlier this year to accept their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, keyboardist David Sancious took his rightful place among them.  Asbury Park, New Jersey native Sancious, the only band member who actually lived on E Street, helped shape the band’s sound on Springsteen’s first three albums before decamping to begin his own musical journey.  Sancious’ first two albums – 1975’s Forest of Feelings and 1976’s Transformation (The Speed of Love), the latter with his band Tone, have both been recently revisited by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings label.

Tom Werman of Epic Records wrote in the original liner notes for Forest of Feelings, “The music on this album (David’s first) is the result of fifteen years of playing keyboard instruments.  At age 15 he also took up the guitar and percussion…David, who is now 21, has given us an extraordinary album.  We at Epic wish him a 400-year lifetime.”  Indeed, music was part of Sancious’ life from an early age, beginning with classical piano.  In the fertile music scene of Asbury Park in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Sancious met Springsteen, his E Street Band comrades, and the likes of Southside Johnny Lyon and Bill Chinnock.  Sancious played with the future Boss in bands like Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom – also featuring Steven Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, Southside Johnny and Vini Lopez – and the original Bruce Springsteen Band, also with Van Zandt, Tallent and Lopez.  On Springsteen’s debut album, 1973’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., Sancious, Lopez and Tallent all appeared (along with a certain Big Man, Mr. Clarence Clemons).

Piano/organ/keyboard prodigy Sancious played a major role on Greetings, as well as The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, for which he not only handled keyboards and the pivotal organ solo in “Kitty’s Back,” but also the string chart and piano introduction for “New York City Serenade” and even the soprano saxophone part on “The E Street Shuffle.”  (He wasn’t involved in initial sessions for the album, but officially enlisted on June 28, 1973 in the group that would become known as The E Street Band, joining Tallent, Lopez, Clemons and Danny Federici.)  When drummer Vini Lopez left the band’s ranks in early 1974, Sancious recommended his friend Ernest “Boom” Carter as a replacement.  Though Sancious and Carter would both leave themselves in August of that year, they didn’t take off before performing on “Born to Run,” the single that would catapult Bruce Springsteen’s career to the next level.  It was the only track on the album on which they played.

Join us for a look at both of these recently-reissued albums after the jump!