Rating: 
Summary: Springsteen's short essays and song lyrics up to 1998
Review: "Songs" is available in both softcover and hardcover formats, with very different prices for each. If you want to spend a higher amount for a beautiful hardcover, here it is, or if you want to own the book for more of the content and to save money, there is a softcover version. I own the hardcover and am enjoying it very much. The paper is thick and glossy. This is a very hefty tome. The hardcover with its' large format pages does make for a great coffee table book.As a preface to each album's lyrics, Bruce provides a short essay about what was going on with his life and what his idea for the message of the album was. There are great photographs throughout. Sometimes there are color photocopies of his handwritten lyrics, taken from the spiral notebooks that are his "blank slates". I really enjoyed reading the songs whose original lyrics were different, and the places where he inserted 2 or 3 different adjectives as he tried to find the best one for what he was trying to convey. I especially enjoyed "Candy's Room" as it is one of my favorite songs, and I was surprised to see that the original lyrics were quite a bit different and I got a gist for the original intent of the meaning of the song vs. my own interpretation of the final product, which were two different things. Artistically, the book could use some improvement; after all, this is a coffee table book! The font is very plain for the lyrics of the songs, and the same font is used for every song, and every page of lyrics has a plain white background. I assumed since this is a coffee table book that the text would have been stylized a bit, perhaps with different fonts for each album or for every song, to match the mood of the song or such. For example, the printed lyrics in "The Rising" CD special edition package are printed with a very funky font (which are actually a bit hard to read when printed with such tiny font). Where in the CD case I am fine with clearly printed, plain style tiny font, I thought this large format book would have used the space and artistic flair to stylize it up a bit, as was done with "The Rising" lyrics inside the CD package. Another way the book could have been stylized more is to have the background of the song lyrics not plain white but at least a color or having a textured look, a border or a collage of sorts, with small photographs around it or something to jazz up the look of the pages. However, with it the way it is, with plain font on white paper, it allows for clear reading and forces the words to stand on their own and for what they are. Without clutter, we are easily able to use our imagination and form our own opinions. Perhaps that is what Bruce Springsteen wanted for us: to have his lyrics speak for themselves, to not overload our eyes and mind with images, to have a clear canvas and allow our own minds to use the words to form our own thoughts and images. Despite my desire for it to be more artsy, I love the book and am treasuring it. This is about letting the songs speak for themselves. If you are looking for a biography of Springsteen, this is not it; there are other books already out there that fill this market. I hope at some time in the future a second book will be published with all of the songs that this book lacks, such as the recordings on the "Tracks" album that are not featured here and all of the recordings released since this book was published in 1998. I agree with other reviewers here, I also crave more detail directly from Bruce Springsteen about his own reflections on his life, his songs, and his general outlook on things. We have plenty of information from other writers (i.e. Dave Marsh) but we are critical enough to know that we can't fully trust biographers, rock critics, and other spin-doctors. We want the information right from Bruce, not filtered through interviewers for television programs, and not through biographies. We know Bruce is a real person with strong convictions and firm opinions and we crave the information (the pure truth) directly from The Boss. However, I can appreciate that at some point, Bruce Springsteen and other musicians (and celebrities) who have reached a high popularity status level want to keep at least some of their lives and thoughts private. But I will ask anyway: "please...can we have more directly from you, Bruce"?
Rating:
Summary: I just spent 75 bucks on Bruce--and it was worth every penny
Review: A beautiful, wonderful, absolutely worthy accompaniment to the new boxed set, this book combines the complete lyrics to all Springsteen's albums (so THAT'S what he was saying in "Kitty's Back") with lots of great, intimate photos and--best of all--commentary by the Boss on each and every album, as well as looks at the development of the lyrics to selected songs. Seems to me that, what with the big 5-0 coming up and all, Bruce wanted to do some serious looking back over the first 25 years, and what better way to do just that than with the fascinating boxed set and this book? I just hope the next 25 are even better.
Rating:
Summary: This is the Standard for all Songwriters
Review: Absolutely amazing. The lyrics stand on their own, only to shine brighter when this book is in hand while listening to the albums. Like the others, I would love to have heard more of his own comments, but I have a feeling that no matter how muhc he had written I would be saying that. Unquestionably necessary for a true fan, a great way to hook in a Bruce novice. As for those who question Bruce's relevance since his success, I wonder who would give away all of their fortune in order to attain credibilty with their fans. The true fans see the honesty always present in Bruce's work, and if you would like proof of that, I would highly suggest this book for proof.
Rating: 
Summary: From Ragamuffin Gunner to Elvis Springsteen, in 300 Pages
Review: First of all, when did Mr. Springsteen decide that he was America's Poet Laureate? His Woody Guthrie fixation, as evidenced by last year's embarassing performance at the Kennedy Center, is tiresome and just a bit creepy -- how does a guy from Jersey wearing a bolo tie and singing with an Oklahoma twang expect anyone to take him seriously? Besides, we already have a Woody Guthrie. His name is Bob Dylan. Patient fans coughed up the big bucks for the live record (wasn't Chicago the only other band flatulent enough to produce a 4-record live album?), we endured Bruce's late-80's efforts to reinvent himself as Sting, we coughed up more big bucks for the recent excursion into the Sony vaults, but spending $$ for a bunch of photos of a multimillionaire who wears motorcycle boots and ripped jeans to prove he hasn't lost touch with the Working Class, is beyond the pale. This book offers no insights into the creative process, it prvides no recording history for the songs, it doesn't even include the lyrics for the songs included on the egregiously-named "Tracks," even though the two cash cows were released within days of one another -- how did Jon Landau miss that obvious tie-in? It's a bunch of photos, and a coy little graphic layout of the lyrics (in Bruce's actual handwriting!) It's not a book; it's "Tiger-Beat" for the middle-aged. There was a time when no one made better music than Bruce Springsteen -- who else could sing a goofball line like "I'd drive all night, just to buy you some shoes," and make you feel the yearning, right down to your toes? He was the soundtrack to the lives of thousands of us, growing up poor and disillusioned in the Rust Belt (the first two-and-a-half CD's of "Tracks" remind you how powerful Springsteen was, pre-"Tunnel of Love"). Today, Bruce is rich, satisfied, and almost empty of anything interesting to say. Every couple of years, he fingers his big gold earring, strokes his "see-I'm-not-an-old-****" goatee, and cranks out some expensive package that his upwardly mobile, aging fan base is all too willing to purchase. I can't wait for the hip-hop album...
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely, completely....Awesome
Review: Having not followed The Boss in sometime, it was a great treat to thumb through the book and remember where I was when the song came out. I was also impressed with his interpretations of the songs and was delighted to discover I was on the same thought wave as he intended the listener to be. This is a "must have" for any true Springsteen fan.
Rating:
Summary: Love the Boss-This book not worth it.
Review: I am a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and a struggling songwriter so when I saw that there was a book written by Bruce himself about his feelings during the writing of his wonderful songs, I knew I had to buy it right away. The book is very thick but 90% of it is reprints of ALL of his lyrics with like one or two pages telling about what he was thinking during the conception of each album. If you skip over reading the numerous pages of lyrics, you'll be done reading this book in ten minutes! Bruce...you've brought us so much joy with your music but this book was very misleading and disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: It is the ultimate accesorry for a die hard Bruce fan.
Review: I got "Songs" as a brthday gift. I have since read through it several times, enjoying every page. I love the way the lyrics are presented, and the book's pictures are fantastic. I would have liked for Bruce to write a little more about his work, but what he did put in was great. It allowed me to see things a little more from his perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Just one more book you should own if you love Bruce
Review: I got this book about 4 months ago. I love all of the pictures and looking though the lyrics. I knew that Bruce had a lot of songs but when you see them all put together and word for word in his own writing its just none other then amazing. He's still the boss.
Rating: 
Summary: nice pictures but we need more
Review: I recently purchased this book and like how Bruce explains what was going on in his head in every album from Greetings from Asbury Park to The Ghost of Tom Joad. The book has some great in-studio photos of Bruce and other E Streeters as well. The reason I only gave it 4 stars is there is so much more to the man other than the albums. He's basically mute about his personal life, touring,comments about his work by critics etc. Hopefully he has one more book down the road that will address these subjects.
Rating:
Summary: A "must have" for diehard fans of Springsteen!
Review: If you are a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, you *must* own this book. Yes, it has the lyrics to all his released songs, but it also has handwritten drafts containing alternate lyrics, which are a fascinating look into his songwriting process. Bruce also writes briefly about each album, although one wishes they were longer. There are also dozens of great pictures not found anywhere else. There are always cynics, but Bruce is exactly as he appears to be. Sure he is a rich rock star, but he remains true to his roots, and true to his artistic vision. If he was so interested in money, would he have played two 2-1/2 hour shows in Asbury Park, NJ this past week, with all proceeds going to charity?? I think not!
|
