The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle departed from the folk influences of Springsteen's 1973 debut album "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." and was instead characterized by "a grand fusion of nostalgic rock 'n' roll and soulful R&B". There is disagreement on "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle"'s release date between official sources and third-party sources, including various Springsteen biographies covering the era. Springsteen's official website provides a release date of September 11, 1973; however, it is known that Springsteen was still in the studio recording for the album past this date. The consensus among other sources is that the album was released in
Asbury Park station the construction of an extension of the New York and Long Branch Railroad (NY&LB), a subsidiary of the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Pennsylvania Railroad. The NY&LB began as a railroad between Elizabethport (in Elizabeth, Union County) to Long Branch, finished in 1875. The railroad was extended through the city of Asbury Park on July 7 to Sea Girt. However, the station at Asbury Park was built on land donated by the Ocean Grove Campmeeting Association, a part of the Methodist Church. The new station was built for the purposes of serving both Asbury Park and Ocean Grove.