Hey, thanks for your comments, and welcome to the forum. Good to know someone is reading!
I'm kind of the same as you: the last Springsteen album I listened to was
Magic, and that wasn't consecutively, so I have ones like
Western Stars, The Promise, Working on a Dream, High Hopes and so on to hear yet. I got into Bruce via
Born in the USA and worked backwards, then on from there when his later albums came out. Of the older ones, I'm not crazy about the debut and you can keep side one of
The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (though side two more than makes up for it), but other than that I don't feel he's ever put a foot wrong. Of course, as I say, that's with the caveat that I have recent albums yet to hear, but I don't see that being a problem.
Favourites would be
Nebraska, The River, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born to Run (of course) and
Born in the USA, but hell, it's hard to pick out a real favourite when all his albums are so good. Other than
Welcome to Asbury Park, N.J., and as already mentioned the first side of
The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, I can't think of many bad songs even (well, maybe "Why Can't We Be Friends" off
The Rising, don't like that one).
You're right though that he shines best live, and gives great value for money. I only saw him once, here at Slane Castle, but man was it worth the admission!