'For You' The Bruce Springsteen Book (Edited by Lawrence Kirsch)
I=92ve always been devotional and obsessive fan when it comes to music.
Merely having the released albums has never been enough for me for
certain artists. For the chosen few, I go over the deep end and need
to have everything. One of the artists I follow religiously is Bruce
Springsteen. While he was amongst the first artists whose albums I
bought, my addiction to his music didn=92t get the best of me until
college. By this point, Springsteen had dismissed the E Street Band,
had won an Oscar for =93Streets of Philadelphia=94 and was largely
hibernating while still being among the world=92s most respected
artists. I can=92t even pinpoint my exact watershed moment, but if I
remember correctly, I felt an enormous void in my life and was
continually looking for answers in films, books and music. One day,
while perusing a used CD store, I magically found all of Springsteen=92s
albums that I had not yet bought on CD. I snapped them all up and
later that day while listening to the dark, desolate and hopelessness
of the characters on Nebraska, something snapped. I can=92t even
properly express what happened, but I felt as if there was someone out
there who understood me, my feeling, my emotions and my struggles. As
the disc spun its way towards a conclusion, it reinvigorated me and
provided me with a =93reason to believe=94. From there I went on to
collect every B-side and bootleg I could get my hands on. Listening to
the album cuts wasn=92t enough. I needed to hear the alternate and live
versions that would one day validate my traveling hundreds and
sometimes thousands of miles to be touched and inspired by this music.
When you really love a certain artist, you find live versions of songs
that have that extra bite that will leave a small scar on your heart.
When you go back and eventually listen to the studio cut, in your head
you can hear exactly where the crowds roars and voices congeal in a
perfect concert moment. Ever since then, I=92ve been compulsive when it
comes to Bruce Springsteen and even though my devotion has waned in
recent years, I still consider him an integral part of my musical
experience.
Through the years, I=92ve read almost every book written about
Springsteen. Some are great and many are not. Over time, I=92ve even
become cynical when I hear about new books. In the last few years,
there have been a plethora of coffee table book releases in the
Springsteen world including Greetings From E Street, the Born To Run:
The Unseen Photos and Dave Marsh=92s Bruce Springsteen On Tour:
1968-2005. Each one in itself is a gorgeous work of art that will
glisten on your polished coffee table. However, if you only have those
three, then you still are missing the ultimate Bruce Springsteen
keepsake ; For You. When I heard about this book a year ago, I
dismissed it thinking I didn=92t really need yet another glorified
coffee table book. I was wrong=85.dead wrong. For You takes the reader
on a magical, mystical and poignant journey through forty-years of
Bruce Springsteen=92s life. It=92s a time machine to the past where
tickets were once $7, the E Street Band was a boy=92s only club, Steve
Van Zandt looked like a member of Jimmy Buffet=92s band and most of the
members of the E Street Band could have begun their own television
show-=93Sta****n=92=94. I wasn=92t impressed with the book, I was bowled
over=
..
Something no press agent, record company or management firm will ever
wrap their heads around is the concept of fanaticism. They may think
they get it, but in reality, they don=92t. To truly understand a full
blown junkie music fan, you have to be one. Die-hard fans are always
vocally ardent about their devotion, but Springsteen fans are in
another realm all unto themselves. So why was I deeply cautious about
reviewing For You? All I could think about was =93does the world really
need a new Bruce Springsteen book=94? Don=92t get me wrong, I love the man
as much as anyone, but as I grow older I often question these types of
projects. In recent years some of these books have been nothing more
than exercises in pretention. I often find myself wondering if they
are birthed out of greed, capitalism, ego or pure passion? Now that I
hold For You in my hands, I can confirm there=92s nothing but unbridled
passion in all of its 205-pages.
For You (available exclusively at: www.foryoubruce.com) was worked on
meticulously for a two-year period and is a self-published book
limited to 2,000 copies. No, that is not a typo, two-thousand copies.
Editor Lawrence Kirsch had a monumental undertaking choosing from 1500-
stories which were submitted and tracking down and obtaining the 400
photos eventually used for this project. If this wasn=92t enough, he had
very ardent and strict rules; only scans from original negatives and
slides were considered. I don=92t know anyone who would hold a book to
standards this high today in the age of internet scans and cell phone
photos. I=92m glad he did, as For You is staggering in its detail,
vastness and variety of concert shots. Kirsch dug his heels in, shot
for the moon and the stars while putting this book together and
succeeded wildly. It=92s an awe-inspiring book that should be on your
book shelf even if you aren=92t a Springsteen fan because it would
convert you without hearing a note of his music; it=92s that impressive.
It encomp***** every Springsteen tour in detail (organized by decades)
and has over 400-pictures. The book contains 200 stories from fans
explaining why this music and this band mean so much to them. The good
news for fans is that the largest section (close to 70-pages) is the
1970=92s and many of these photos I didn=92t even knew existed and let me
tell you, they are a sight to behold. They range from epic concert
poses to random softball games where someone was fortunate to have a
camera on hand. The 1980=92s is a close second in coverage with 53-pages
dedicated to the decade and even the most current decade has a
whopping 50-pages dedicated to it. You see pictures of Bruce with
assorted musicians through the years including John Eddie, Southside
Johnny, Jon Bon Jovi and Neil Young.
The difference between For You and most other books commissioned by
the artists themselves is that there wasn=92t a 4th quarter release or
special anniversary being exploited dictating the contents or the
constraints of it. The book is held together by passionate and
resourceful fans whose main objective was to provide fans with the
best damn book possible. Saying that Kirsch succeeded would be saying
that Born in the USA was a semi-successful. For You is a photographic
passage through forty years of Bruce Springsteen=92s career. The
photographs are not just revealing and are more than mere images, but
part of a larger story of just not Springsteen=92s life, but many fans
as well. The detailed anecdotes make the pictures jump off the page
and come to life. For You provides a better history lesson of who
Bruce Springsteen is better than any album, DVD or book has done to
date.
Most self-published fan driven books can be cringe inducing and just
flat out embarrassing in their devotion for the artist or sloppily
executed which is not the case here. While there is zealous admiration
for Springsteen and his music, the book is an epic visual storytelling
time machine that encourages you to hop on for a ride down thunderous
roads to simpler times for a journey through the heart of darkness
where the fans feel so close and intimately personal with Springsteen
like he=92s an old college buddy. As I paged through For You I thought
of how far I=92ve come in my own life journey since that desolate day
where I listened to Nebraska repeatedly. This book took me back to a
time where a new world was opened to me. This book is not just a fine
addition to your collection, but is essential for any Springsteen fan.
It is a treasure trove of pictures and stories that will not just take
you for a ride down memory lane, but will leave you with an
impenetrable sense of hope much the same way you feel cruising down
the highway and having =93Thunder Road=94 blast from your speakers with
the wind in your hair. When was the last time the written word did
that? www.foryoubruce.com
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