[Dixielandjazz] Review of Bruce Springsteen's Dixieland

Steve barbone barbonestreet at earthlink.net
Mon Apr 24 18:50:29 PDT 2006


Here is a Boston Herald Review of Springsteen's new CD/DVD. Note the 2nd
paragraph. Wonder what the Boss envisions with this Cajun / Dixieland /
Gospel / Folk, stuff?

Doesn't he know this kind of music sucks and that the vast bulk of his fans
hate it?  Yet the reviewer says that "this is certainly the swingingest
album of his career." Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :-) VBG

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Monday, April 24, 2006 - Updated: 11:48 AM EST
Bruce Springsteen We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Columbia

Pete Seeger became the most influential folkie of the 20th century with his
utterly plain and simple recordings of America¹s rootsiest songs -
performances that allowed a song¹s words, melodies and chords to shine
through and captivate. Springsteen¹s tribute to Seeger takes an almost
perversely different approach. His arena-folk arrangements call for a small
army of instruments including guitars, fiddles, horns, keyboards, accordion,
voices and, at times, painfully obtrusive drum and cymbal bashing.

But if some tracks fall victim to overkill, others grab you as powerfully as
Seeger¹s versions did: ³O Mary Don¹t You Weep,² ³Erie Canal² and a most
lovely ³We Shall Overcome² fulfill Springsteen¹s crazy
Cajun-Dixieland-gospel-folk vision (and this is certainly the swingingest
album of his career). Released in the DualDisc format, flip the CD for a DVD
containing two forgettable bonus tracks and a 30-minute making-of
documentary filled with several rollicking performances and footage of Bruce
spouting platitudes about folk music to his band, a captive audience for
sure. Download: ³Eyes on the Prize.²




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