Music ages like nothing else, but my favorite albums are 50

I hope everyone can find their perfect music, because there’s nothing like it. Putting on a song or album that puts you in the perfect mood is incomparable.

I’ve been lucky enough to not only find my music, but to also have had it for as long as I’ve been able to jam out to anything I wanted to.

That’s because most of my favorite music is twice as old as I am.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of two albums I hold dear to my heart. Both “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen and “Blood on the Tracks” by Bob Dylan were released in 1975 and are two constants in my daily rotation.

“Born to Run” is nothing short of spectacular. Every song can stand on its own but put together, the eight songs combined create a timeless record that holds the feelings of love, escape and maturing all in one.

Starting with “Thunder Road” sets the bar high. “Thunder Road” kicks off with piano and explodes into a world of endless opportunities that Springsteen sings about that sucked me in when I first heard it as a 16-year-old. From there on, I was hooked.

“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Backstreets,” “Born to Run” and “Jungleland” cement the album into rock history and the upper echelon of my favorite albums.

Every song on the album has amazing vocals, guitar and saxophone that I haven’t found combined on another album. Springsteen bottled what I still think is a perfect album and it hasn’t expired in 50 years.

The exact same thing can be said about “Blood on the Tracks.”

Dylan was at a low point in his life, with his marriage in turmoil and a dip in success. In rare Dylan fashion, all 10 songs act like a window into his world, although he’s gone back and forth on if the songs are autobiographical or not.

The first song on the album, “Tangled Up in Blue,” sets the tone for the rest of the album by showing how Dylan’s acoustic guitar accompanies the feeling of sadness that exudes from every line.

Almost every song is about the ups and downs of love, affairs or how Dylan sees those around him. Some listeners may see this as a mistake, because the album sounds like the same song on repeat for 50 minutes, but to me every song sounds like a page from a somehow-shared diary between myself and everyone else that has been through any relationship.

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And Dylan says it all in his beautiful way.

With both Dylan and Springsteen slowly fading into obscurity and old age, I know the chances of me getting another gem from either one of them is near zero. Despite this sad fact I’ve accepted over time, I know “Born to Run” and “Blood on the Tracks” will accompany me through the rest of my life in a way only seemingly-mind-reading albums can.

turmankd@miamioh.edu