By Forris Day JR
Jim Beviglia creates another wonderful music book that will start many conversations among music aficionados for years to come. In his second book “Counting Down Bruce Springsteen; His 100 Finest Songs” Beviglia puts together a list of 100 songs that in his opinion are Springsteen’s best songs. He doesn’t just list them. He writes a short to medium length essay as to why he believes that particular song belongs in that particular spot on the list. Each essay breaks down the song into its smallest parts from perhaps a drum beat, a key progression and the lyrics themselves.
Springsteen fans will love the book for the wealth of knowledge that can be gleaned from reading it. Even the most die-hard fan is bound to pick up a new morsel of info. Lots of history of the band and little nuggets of information for your brain to chew on are spread throughout this nearly 200 page, hardcover reference book. As a bonus Beviglia includes, at the end of the book, a list (without essays) of his next 100 favorite songs.
Sure you can debate his song choices and reasons for including or not including a certain song, but remember, this book is his opinion. He backs up what he says and why he chooses each song with an essay so you don’t have to wonder why he placed a song in its place. If you choose to debate a song, well, that is the fun part of a book like this. It opens up conversation on the subject of music and all things Springsteen.
Being a hardcover book it is perfect library addition for fans of music and certainly any fan of Springsteen. I consider myself a fan of Springsteen, but not a huge fan, so I read through it with slight interest in the beginning.as I soon got hooked and found the information within its pages fascinating. The same was true when I read Beviglia’s first book in his Counting Down series, “Counting Down Bob Dylan; His 100 Finest Songs”.
Do I recommend “Counting Down Bruce Springsteen; His 100 Finest Songs”? Heck yea! The books are fun reads and hey… they look pretty darned sweet on the bookshelf. I look forward to what he has in store for future books in this series.
Rating: 8.5/10 -Baby, we were born to read.
Purchase “Counting Down Bruce Springsteen; His 100 Finest Songs”