Being in the public eye for over 40 years and being one of the biggest rock stars on the planet for much of that time, there has been much written and documented about Bruce Springsteen - from articles to interviews to documentaries to books. But despite some of his songs having some personal content, The Boss had never sat down to tell his own story. Happily, this fall, Springsteen's autobiography Born To Run is released by Simon and Schuster on September 27. Four days before that, on September 23, Columbia will release a companion 18-track compilation album entitled Chapter and Verse.
Springsteen has personally chosen the song selection on the new album to reflect the themes of the book. They range in time from his high school days up through 2012's Wrecking Ball. Five of the tracks are previously unreleased, all from before Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and the formation of the E Street Band. Two come from Springsteen's high school band The Castiles and were recorded in 1966-67. After graduating high school, he would help form a band called Steel Mill (which would include three future E Street Band members) which is represented by one track on the compilation. Several other bands followed including The Bruce Springsteen Band in 1971 and 1972 and that group has one track on this album. Springsteen would soon cut a demo for Columbia (the version of "Growin' Up" from this session is also on the set - having earlier appeared on the Tracks box set) and be signed to a record deal. The rest, as they say, is history. The final unreleased track is a studio recording of "Henry Boy" which Springsteen performed in the first couple of years of the 1970s and would eventually morph into "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)."
While there have been numerous Springsteen compilations over the years, several with more comprehensive tracklistings, the unreleased tracks here do make this a unique album. It should serve as a good companion soundtrack to the book. You can view a trailer for the compilation by filmmaker Thom Zimny here. The album will be available from Columbia on September 23 as a single CD, 2-LP set and digital download. You can see the full tracklisting and pre-order links below.
Bruce Springsteen, Chapter and Verse (Columbia Records, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
- Baby I - The Castiles (rec. 5/2/66 at Mr. Music, Bricktown, NJ - written by Bruce Springsteen and George Theiss)
- You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover - The Castiles (rec. 9/16/67 at The Left Foot, Freehold, NJ - written by Willie Dixon)
- He's Guilty (The Judge Song) - Steel Mill (rec. 2/22/70 at Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, CA)
- Ballad of Jesse James - The Bruce Springsteen Band (rec. 3/14/72 at Challenger Eastern Surfboards, Highland, NJ
- Henry Boy (rec. 6/72 at Mediasound Studios, New York, NY)
- Growin' Up (rec. 5/3/72 at Columbia Records Recording Studios, New York, NY - previously appeared on Tracks)
- 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (from The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, 1973)
- Born to Run (from Born to Run, 1975)
- Badlands (from Darkness on the Edge of Town, 1977)
- The River (from The River, 1980)
- My Father's House (from Nebraska, 1982)
- Born in the U.S.A. (from Born in the U.S.A., 1984)
- Brilliant Disguise (from Tunnel of Love, 1987)
- Living Proof (from Lucky Town, 1992)
- The Ghost of Tom Joad (from The Ghost of Tom Joad, 1995)
- The Rising (from The Rising, 2002)
- Long Time Comin' (from Devils and Dust, 2005)
- Wrecking Ball (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Tracks 1-5 are previously unreleased.
Gary Dunaier says
Will there be an audiobook? And if so, will it be read by the author?
Kenny says
Just what the world needs......another Springsteen compilation! This release can only be targeted at the Springsteen completist who will need to fork out the price of a full album for just five tracks. Has the altruistic Bruce Springsteen got any control over these blatant rip offs?
Shaun says
As much control as he does over ticket prices? $100 for a ticket (not including all the bullsh*t fees) in the upper deck of a 20,000 seat arena, as was the case on this year's tour, was also outrageous. The people he sings about pretty much can't afford to see him anymore.
I certainly wasn't going to pay it, but my wife surprised me with tix as a Christmas gift. Glad I got to go, but it's the last time I'll see him.
Kenny says
Know what you mean Shaun. The price was pretty much the same over in Europe. Some of the stadiums held 70 - 80 thousand....not a bad payday. The tour was sold as "The River" and people assumed it would be the same as in the US and contain a full performance of the album. After tickets were sold he announced he wouldn't be playing the full album "as it wouldn't suit arenas" Then he goes and plays it all through at three shows!! That's how you treat your fans....not. The shows I saw seemed very ordinary and stilted at times.
Bill says
I think the Boss sold away any control when he resigned with Columbia a couple of years ago. Let's face it: his new stuff is not flying off the shelves. The catalog and vaults are where the money is and, if we learned anything from the River box, the label WILL recoup what's it's paying him. Those riding lessons and college tuition cost bucks! I plan to do my part, down those backstreets.
Philip Cohen says
Well, Springsteen still owns the recordings and song publishing, but in the latest deal with Sony, he agreed to boxed set editions of "The River", "Born in the U.S.A.", "Nebraska", and a "Tracks 2" box. He also agreed to give Sony a 15% cut from the sales of downloads that Springsteen sells on his own site.
As for Springsteen's recent tour, I'm content to hear the recordings (Springsteen is professionally recording every show). If you can't afford them all, they can be found quite easily on the internet, either as 44.1Khz/16-bit audio or 48Khz/24-bit audio.