Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind The Songs

★★★★ Brian Hiatt CARLTON. £30 Every Boss release from 1973-2014 examined by senior Rolling Stone writer. Previous Springsteen song-bysongs have taken a selective approach, so the major draw to Brian Hiatt’s book is its completist scope. Even by restricting himself to official releases of studio recordings of original compositions, the author has some 300 songs to dissect (it could have been more: he misses The Wrestler, ‘hidden’ on Working On A

Dream) and is sufficiently immersed in his subject to reference unreleased recordings where appropriate. Such impressive research, allied to drawing on his Springsteen interview archive, plus new conversations with various producers and E Street Band members (Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg are especially revealing), will have Brucephiles drooling. What a pity that Hiatt’s comprehensive approach should be compromised by a large hardback format, with too many pages devoted to stock photographs at the expense of deeper analysis. Hopefully, a future updated edition will swerve the coffee table and go the full Revolution In The Head.