Springsteen -- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

that said, i love bruce's covers in live shows. i've got a '78 tape with him doing, "it's my life," the eric burden song, and it's tremendous. i just don't have much use for an entire pete seeger homage.

 

So poetry shouldn't have any sort of message or point to it? I've never understood this.

 

Old Dan tucker sounds like and reminds me of the guy who played Mr. Edwards on Little House on the Prarie.

 

As the great Dan Jenkins once wrote, Boom, you're dumber than a fundamentalist preacher.

 

Those who yearn for the Boss and the E Streeters are advised to run - not walk - to your nearest music store and pick up his two-CD Hammersmith Odeon - 75 album.

Un-fucking-real....

 

I've been a huge Bruce fan going on 24 years now and I was a little skeptical when I first heard about this project, then I saw the video for John Henry and was sold on it. Bruce is having a blast with the material and every fan's review of the first rehersal show used the word "fun"
John Henry video: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EU1PNC/qid=1145801187/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4410655-3581629?s=music&v=glance&n=5174

and then use this link to see the link for the "Pay Me My Money Down" video which is even more fun than the John Henry video:
http://music.aol.com/artist/main.adp?artistid=5505#

I'll be going to the Wednesday afternoon rehersal show -- had to work desk for the first rehersal show and am on desk again for the Monday and Tuesday rehersal shows.. finally get a night off on Wednesday.
I'm going to try to see as many shows as possible this tour, but I've already got other plans I can't get out of for three of the four NYC/NJ/Philly area shows.

 

On a separate note, Springsteen fans here who don't care for this project, fear not, it looks like more E Street Band and archive materials are on the way.... from an article on RollingStone.com:

>>> "My goal has been to try and put more things out, because in my youth I was so spare with my releases," Springsteen explains. "So now, like, the rules are off. By the time you're fifty-six, hell, if you're worrying yourself at that point, then you haven't learned your lesson. And I can say one thing: I have learned my lesson. The kind of fretting I did as a young man, I don't do anymore. I'm an old guy who can do what he wants, you know." He takes a step backward, laughs and spreads his arms, letting it be known that a big, heartfelt conclusion is on its way. "Right now, I just feel like I'm at the top of my game. And I've never felt freer or like I've had more music in me." >>>

then later in the same article...
>>> Initially, Springsteen had no intention of putting out an album of centuries-old folk songs. After touring behind Devils and Dust, he'd planned to take a year off, then get back together with the E Street Band to record some new songs he'd written for them.

But idleness is not something that sits well with Springsteen. First, he thought he'd use the time to dig through the vaults for a second volume of Tracks, his 1998 collection of rarities and outtakes. That, however, led him to consider revisiting a record he made but never released in the mid-Nineties: a solo album of songs over tape loops, extending the terrain he explored in "Streets of Philadelphia."

Still, something kept haunting him: a 1997 session he had recorded for a Pete Seeger tribute album. After agreeing to do a song for the disc, he bought an armful of Seeger records, studied them, gathered a dozen or so musicians in his Monmouth County, New Jersey, farmhouse and cut seven songs; "We Shall Overcome" was used on the tribute album. Because he enjoyed listening to the recordings from time to time, Springsteen decided to release them. So he called the musicians back to his house two more times in the past two years. <<<<

From the AP interview that came out this weekend:
>>> Leaning back on a couch, Springsteen said he was intent on getting out more music, including a group of songs already written for the E Street Band and a follow-up to "Tracks," his collection of unreleased studio cuts. He was working on the latter before deciding to do the new record. <<<<

and from last week's NY Times...
<<< "Nah, I write all the time," Mr. Springsteen said reassuringly, leaning back on a cream-colored couch in one of the Paramount's small, slightly grimy dressing rooms after the day's rehearsals were done. "The stuff on 'Devils & Dust' — I just liked those songs and didn't want to see them get lost. I have an E Street Band record that I have a lot of stuff written for. I'm just waiting for the right time to do it." >>>>

 

Saw a rehearsal show last night in Asbury Park. Probably one of the most fun concerts that I've ever been to. Bruce was in fine voice and the new band was awesome. If he's playing in your area this late spring/early summer, it is worth checking out. He let the political message of the music speak for itself for the most part, with only one anti-Bush line slipped into a song. Otherwise, just a fun time -- his band of either 17-19 people (depending if the two horn players from Conan's band were on stage) was fantastic.

The crowd was great, as always. One of the members of the E Street Band (Nils Lofgren??) once described playing before a Springsteen crowd as playing game 7 of the World Series every night at home and you knew that you were going to win.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1887925

Performance of "Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep" from GMA in Asbury Park.

 

Junk --
I didn't know Bruce was covering Brooks and Dunn songs, too.

 

That's my most consistent source of joy.

 

I've been a longtime fan, although I don't like the "Devils & Dust" or "Tom Joad" lockjawed Guthrie-channeling.

But I bought this CD yesterday (hey, $15 and it comes with a DVD) and I'll give it a thumbs-up. For the most part it's fun and loose. If anything, it reminds me of some old David Bromberg concerts, where seemingly every musician he knew would get on stage and jam.

And shit, a lot of these songs I remember from having to sing them in grammar school, back when that, instead of VCRs or DVDs, was the accepted way for the teacher to get out of teaching for a period.