E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
*Starred Review* The cover illustration shows Springsteen and band in a group photo looking happy, feckless, and hip: black guys, white guys, scruffily hirsute, and engaging. In the present rock milieu of Dylan and Rod Stewart releasing albums of piano-bench songs (and scoring hits with same), it’s probably a good idea to revisit a time when one of today’s rock gods and his crew were hungry, energetic, and capable of singing and playing all night. And that’s what Heylin’s book does so well, recalling Bruce Springsteen’s “glory days” and, for that matter, his bandmates’ salad days. Arguably they were just a bunch of guys from Jersey out to conquer the rock ’n’ roll world and grooving on their oeuvre. Not that it was all that easy: Springsteen had a classic bad dad—sullen, brooding, and given to drinking beer and smoking cigarettes all night in the dark—with whom he frequently clashed. Heylin goes into detail on this and other formative topics, quoting Springsteen at length. So although this is a band bio, it’s mainly a bio of Springsteen and how the rest of them coalesced around him. Rich in detail and generously referenced, this is vital stuff for pop-music or Springsteen-specific collections, and an entertaining read for all. --Mike Tribby