During the past few years, I've turned into an avid reader. It figures that most of the books I read are music autobiographies or bios, but music culture fascinates me, so my reading list has no political science nor spy thrillers nor murder mysteries on it, and the deepest I delve into history is pop history.

Most of the bios follow a familiar pattern  and are of interest if you always wanted to know more about the act, say Poco, whose Legend is a straight forward telling of the band's story, why it should have been more successful, why it wasn't, and its resolution. It's evident that there is a lot of research poured into the book but this tends to be undone by typos and sloppy writing.

Among the several books consumed lately, four depart from that pattern and are different from one another. Hound Dog, the life of songwriters and record makers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, fills in a vital part of rock history; Stewart Copeland's bouncy Strange Things Happen is upbeat; The Light In Darkness is a night by night retelling of Bruce Springsteen's pivotal 1978 tour and, although it's years old and my second reading, Without You, is a comprehensive history of Badfinger.

In most ways, Dan Matovina's Without You is the most conventional of these four books. It is, however, the most dramatic. Talented band comes to London, gets schmoozed by an American business manager, who tells them what they want to hear - they'll be huge stars, making lots of money. Badfinger naively makes one bad deal, which leads to another, which leads to another. They get ripped off cruelly while the business manager gets rich. Ultimately, there are two suicides, and none of the survivors connected with the group comes off well, forcing the reader to understand their situation, sympathetically or otherwise. For example, guitarist Joey Molland sometimes seems an opportunistic bastard, but you ask yourself, in his situation what would you have done?

Without You is a lesson in what not to do if you are ill-equipped to deal with the music business, which is why Strange Things Happen is refreshing. Copeland applied his aesthetics and talent and enthusiasm to co-found The Police and then used The Police's success to take advantage of what it offered him. All the while, he is protected by his heads up intelligence and lessons learned about the music business from his older brother Miles. The drummer jumps from one adventure to another - soundtracks, films, operas, different world music bands in Europe. Anybody wanting to know more about The Police will be disappointed but the emotional dynamics of being in a band are clear. Copeland isn't a casualty but thrives.

The Light In Darkness recounts how Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band embarked on a tour to promote the Darkness On The Edge Of Town (with songs that looked ahead to The River) and returned to New Jersey as living legends. I attended one of those nights (at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre) and have a page devoted to it in Lawrence Kirsch's book. I wish now my contribution was written better but I remember the show made me a lifelong fan. Springsteen was both spectacular and down-to-earth, while the E Street Band seemed locked into sync and would go spontaneously wherever he went. However, it is the many photos and the sense of completeness that explain why this was such an important tour, not only for Springsteen but rock in general.

Hound Dog simply is one those books that must be read by anyone with a curiosity about the shaping of rock and roll and Leiber and Stoller's part in it. Like any of the back room people (session men Hal Blaine and James Burton come to mind) Leiber and Stoller don't dish dirt on the crooks or the shady characters, but they say enough that anybody can read between the lines, and both Leiber and Stoller are honest in assessing their own lives. They started writing rhythm and blues songs and had their first big hit with Hound Dog (hence the title of the book) and then wrote a plethora of songs for, among others,  Elvis Presley, The Coasters, Drifters, Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. When rock and roll happened in the 50s, the duo was established and merely adapted. In so doing, they created a "which came first?" situation.  It would be hard to think of rock and roll without The Coasters' "Searchin'," "Yakety Yak," or "Little Egypt." Conversely, would Leiber and Stoller have had a place for these funny and hip records if there was no rock and roll? Rock and roll had a place for The Coasters and Leiber and Stoller were able to fill that place with their songs.

The book also makes clear that Leiber and Stoller were innovators in other ways (production, instrumentation, recording deals), and seemed to have their head up, even when going into what turns out to be a mistake. Hound Dog is informative, enlightening and entertaining. So, in their way, are the books about Copeland and Springsteen. They make you wish there was some guiding light for Badfinger.