Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band "Working on a Dream" Columbia **1/2 -- Bruce Springsteen is the quintessential album-era rock star. Hear me out, ye who would argue Beatles-Dylan-Marvin-Brian Wilson-Who-Pink Floyd-Stones: Those artists might have made superior individual efforts, but none has used the long-player form itself more powerfully over the arc of a career, not only to establish a world through song, but to inhabit an enduring persona.

Books about the arts and entertainment for holiday giving run the gamut from stocking stuffers on Jennifer Love Hewitt to recollections of the final days of "Seinfeld" to the comedy musings of Ray Romano to coffee-table books on Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and the New York City Ballet: Television "EVERYTHING AND A KITE," by Ray Romano, Bantam ($22.95).

For a decade, devoted fans of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have wondered when--or if--the celebrated rock 'n' roll alliance would ever tour again. They got their answer Tuesday: summer 1999. A brief, faxed statement from the Jon Landau Management Co. on Tuesday confirmed the worldwide tour, but said all the key details--such as dates, prices and venues--won't be announced until early next year.

"Bruce Springsteen: Tracks," a four-disc boxed set due Tuesday from Columbia Records, contains 56 previously unreleased Springsteen recordings, along with 10 others that have appeared only as B-sides of singles. The material ranges from the folk-oriented, pre-"Greetings From Asbury Park" demos that he made with producer John Hammond to tunes written for but not included on such albums as "The River" and "Born in the U.S.A."

The Orange County Performing Arts Center had hoped to roll out the welcome mat for Bruce Springsteen's dusty boots, officials say, but it won't happen on the rock 'n' roll troubadour's current solo-acoustic tour. Presenting the Boss would have been a striking step for the 10-year-old center, which has moved glacially when it comes to presenting music of the rock era.

The enthusiastic audience in the elegant old Stambaugh Auditorium has been cheering after each of the first dozen songs in Bruce Springsteen's solo acoustic concert, from the stark observation of "Darkness on the Edge of Town" to the bittersweet commentary of "The Ghost of Tom Joad." But the crowd is hushed now as Springsteen begins introducing "Youngstown."

Rocker Bruce Springsteen, whose songs chronicle people's struggle to achieve their dreams, used music Sunday to urge a Westwood rally of about 1,400 people to battle Proposition 209. "I don't think any of us can look in our hearts and say we live in a colorblind society," Springsteen said, reading from scrawled-out notes and clearly a bit ill at ease with his role as a speechmaker.

Back in his commercial glory days in the '80s with the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen combined the celebration of Elvis Presley and the commentary of Bob Dylan.

This was a year of dramatic comebacks and spectacular breakthroughs in pop, a time in which veterans Bruce Springsteen, Randy Newman and Neil Young shared top creative honors with a stirring crop of young, mostly female mavericks, including PJ Harvey, Ani DiFranco and Alanis Morissette. Musically, the albums on the list of the 10 best works of 1995 range from stark acoustic folk and invigorating electronic dance to restless rap and Broadway-minded pop.