Joel Selvin: Here Comes the Night – The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm & Blues

EVERY SO OFTEN, a music bio arrives that becomes "the book to read." Think of Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, Peter Guralnick's exhaustive considerations on the arc and impact of rock's first true superstar. Last year gave us Johnny Cash: A Life, Robert Hilburn's deeply lived and reported recounting of the Man in Black. Books like these, defining what lives and careers really mean, engage readers well beyond the realm of music bios.