Reviewed: New Bruce Springsteen tracks from Chapter & Verse

'Born To Run' is an amazing song. So is 'The River'. 'Badlands' rocks too. Jesus, this album review is the easiest thing I'll ever write…

OK, so there isn't much sense in analysing the familiar offerings on Chapter and Verse, the career-spanning Best Of released to coincide with Born To Run, the long-awaited autobiography of one Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen. But it's the five previously unreleased tracks, taken from the pre-Greetings From Asbury Park period – back when he wasn't yet The Boss, but rather the Regional Manager. Perhaps with responsibility for Sales and Marketing.

A pair of recordings with his early band The Castiles kicks proceedings off, with 'Baby I' possessing more than a touch of doo-wop about it. Blues influences pour from the speakers early and often, revealing one of the building blocks for a man who would go on to be one of the all-time iconic songwriters. A cover of 'You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover', a major hit for Bo Diddly, demonstrates a level of ramshackle enthusiasm that was probably reined in a little when things got that bit more serious.

That same exuberance is on show in 'He's Guilty', a track with another early group, Steel Mill. Notable is its keyboard solo, which sounds not dissimilar to the sort of contributions which would later be made by the big man, Clarence Clemons. But if its hints of what was to come for Bruce you're looking for, then the last two of the new offerings are where you'll find them.

'Ballad Of Jesse James' is decidedly more like the Springsteen we now know; a ballad it may be, but it's one of brutish, barroom brilliance. And anyway, an ode to an outlaw – I mean, you've seen the book's title, right?! 'Henry Boy' is the only stripped back number, where the distinctive voice is given its moment in the spotlight – albeit decidedly less gruff and grizzled than we now know it to be.

At which point we're into 'Growin' Up' and the tunes that have defined more than 40 years of rock'n'roll. The die-hards will obviously be delighted with the chance to add five more Bruce tunes to the library, but for the casual fan there's a more subtle charm; across the five tracks, the shape of the man becomes a little more clear, as the unmistakeable marks of heroes and influences fade to allow the real Springsteen to shine.

And boy, are we looking forward to that book now too!