Bruce Springsteen has distilled his life into 528 pages for his forthcoming autobiography, Born To Run. To accompany his book, he boils his career down to 18 tracks, five previously unreleased with the rest seasoned staples such as The River and Born To Run plus the odd surprise.
The new material predates the E Street Band; He's Guilty (The Judge Song) tips the hat to Thin Lizzy, Ballad of Jesse James does likewise to Little Feat and Henry Boy is a fascinating early version of Rosalita.
Throw in two very early juvenile attempts and that’s the lot for the anoraks; everything else is already available on signature albums and/orcompilations. Perhaps the book will contextualise this selection and thus create some sort of meaning out of what smells like an ill-advised marketing ploy.
