The Boss presents a beautiful curiosity piece

FOR many Bruce Springsteen fans, the 2000s were a wilderness.

It was Springsteen's most prolific period - five albums in seven years, and that's not counting a raft of compilations and live releases. It also featured some of his least-memorable work, along with a seemingly unending march of the almost-great (the 9-11 elegy The Rising, parts of 2007's Magic), niche releases (We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions) and the inexplicably mediocre (Working on a Dream).

High Hopes, Springsteen's 18th studio album, is billed as a collection of newly finished versions of cover songs, live favourites that had not been recorded, redone versions of released tracks and songs that simply didn'…