Chapter and Verse Gives a Musical Tour of Springsteen’s Life

Bruce Springsteen’s long-awaited autobiography Born to Run already has his fans buzzing, and the 18-track companion album Chapter and Verse only ups the ante. The album, a double LP that hits shelves four days before the book, covers every stage of Springsteen’s career, and includes five unreleased tracks that correspond with the book’s content. It also features material from the Steel Mill and Bruce Springsteen Band, solo demos recorded prior to Springsteen’s 1972 debut, and two tracks from his high school band, the Castiles. More than a compilation, and more than an accompaniment to his book, this album is a guided tour of Springsteen’s creative life.
The two Castiles songs that open the album are notable because they sound exactly like you’d think a high school band from the 1960s would sound; a bit juvenile, a bit sloppy, clearly influenced by the British Invasion sound (with some Beach Boys guitar tone thrown in), but enthusiastic above all else. Moreover, they lend credibility to Springsteen’s persona of a basically normal guy who loved rock ‘n roll, but wasn’t a genius or prodigy and had to work really hard at music to get anywhere with it.

Similarly, the demo versions of “Henry Boy” and “He’s Guilty (The Judge Song)” represent an era of Springsteen’s career that hasn’t seen much daylight up until now. Both of these songs were recorded prior to his 1972 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, and both songs ride the line between Springsteen mimicking his obvious influences, and coming into his own as a songwriter and musician. “Henry Boy” in particular owes a lot to Bob Dylan, but jettisons his I’m-smarter-than-you attitude in favor of the earnest storytelling you’d hear in old country and folk records.
Naturally, samples of Springsteen’s career apex in the mid-1970s and 1980s are included here, with “Born to Run,” “Badlands,” and “Born In the USA,” and his underrated work in the 1990s is represented by “Living Proof” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad” (a song famously covered by Rage Against the Machine). The album’s final track is the title track from his 2012 album Wrecking Ball, picked as the best album of that year by Rolling Stone.

Including Springsteen’s more recent songs may seem like an empty, “he’s still got it” gesture, but this later period of his career is what inspired him to write Born to Run in the first place; Springsteen was so exhilarated by his 2009 Super Bowl performance (which the state of Maryland had the gall to interrupt so they could announce lottery numbers) that he wrote about the experience, and that became a seven-year commitment to telling his life story.
It’s those not-immediately-obvious links to his book that give Chapter and Verse so much depth, and together they establish that Bruce Springsteen has transcended the question of relevance. Plenty of really good, interesting, innovative bands have peaked and faded in the 52 years he’s been around, and yet he has endured. Not only that, he has kept a huge, devoted audience that doesn’t care how au courant his music is in the present moment; as long as the Boss is motivated and having fun, he’s not going anywhere.
Chapter and Verse is in stores on September 23.