For the second time this year, I’m reviewing a book about just one album by Bruce Springsteen. Perhaps Peter Ames Carlin, who had already written a biography of Springsteen (which I have not read) was inspired by the success of Warren Zanes’s Deliver Me From Nowhere, which has been adapted into a biopic coming out in a few months. His book, Tonight in Jungleland, purports to tell the story of Bruce’s big, breakthrough album, Born to Run. An immediate sensation that landed Bruce on the covers of Time and Newsweek, Born to Run was a huge turning point in Springsteen’s career. But it’s development and release was a torturous process, marked by fierce disagreements between Bruce and his bandmates, his management, and the people at his record label.
Carlin focuses more on the conflict than the creation, a choice that frankly left me wanting. I lost interest in the back-and-forth bickering after awhile. I would rather have heard more about the songs themselves, but I suppose creativity is hard to capture on paper.
The book is at its best prior to the recording of the album, as it details Springsteen’s struggles to capture an audience. There are fun anecdotes covering his performances in small venues. In particular, I enjoyed the reporting on a gig at Brown University, where Springsteen caused trouble with an interview he gave to the student newspaper.
Tonight in Jungleland is a short book, befitting its narrow focus, but perhaps that brevity is why I was left wanting more.