Last year’s release of the 30th anniversary edition of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run found me involved in a heavy Boss-related email correspondence with fellow Blogcritics and Springsteen fans Mark Saleski and DJRadiohead. Burning up the wires with emails one afternoon, it occurred to us that we had enough to say to warrant writing an article, and so we did. And because we had more to say when we were done, we wrote another one.
On April 25, accompanied by plenty of protests from the hardcore faithful, Springsteen released his latest album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. Since the emails were already flying back and forth, our overflowing inboxes suggested that fate had clearly handed us another assignment, and so the roundtable has reconvened to offer you a triple take on The Seeger Sessions.
Lisa McKay:
The grumbling from the fans (and there’s always grumbling, isn’t there?) around this one has been interesting, to be sure. Most of the naysayers are disappointed that this year’s release isn’t an E Street outing, citing the advancing age of the band members as one reason why another such record shouldn’t be put off indefinitely (not to mention the fact that last year’s other release, Devils & Dust, was a solo effort). Another nitpick centers on the notion that Bruce is a songwriter first and foremost, and shouldn’t be releasing entire albums of other people’s songs, as if there is no artistry in interpretation, in making the text one’s own – tell that to Sinatra.
A quick perusal of the fan boards at Backstreets suggests that even post-release, a lot of people aren’t happy with this record, calling it a vanity project (among other things), and claiming that only the most fervent of the faithful will anoint this one with their approval. Many of them have decided to sit out the tour. Having listened to it quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, I have to say that I fail to understand the animosity. I don’t consider myself one of those fans who automatically approves everything a favorite artist does – I was pretty disappointed in The Rising, truth be told – but I am a fan who likes to see an artist defy expectations and convention. Artists owe us their best effort and their most honest work. They don’t owe us anything else.
This is a fine record, full of life - dare I say rollicking? - and full of the kinds of sentiments that Springsteen often expresses in his own songs. That’s not too surprising, considering that Seeger, via his influence on a new generation of folkie storytellers like Dylan, had a huge, if indirect, influence on Springsteen’s own development as a songwriter. This is essentially the work of a man who’s coming full circle back to the musical roots that have informed his life. If you think of Springsteen as a uniquely American artist (and I do), then who better to reinterpret this collection of uniquely American tunes?
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
I'm assuming you guys have already read my own review of The Seeger Sessions so you should already have a pretty good idea of what I think.
As a hardcore fan, I feared the worst going in. And I definitely incurred the wrath of the "Bruce can do no wrong" camp when I voiced that opinion on the Backstreets board--they practically ran me out of town there with over 300 angry responses to one post of mine.
My concerns we're many of the same you three have expressed here. The "age issue" of the clock ticking rapidly away on the window for another E Street Band record. The idea of Bruce doing an album of songs written by anybody but Bruce. I think I even used the "vanity project" tag that Lisa mentions.
That having been said, I was really pleasntly surprised by the Seeger Sessions. Like DJ Radiohead says, it's not the record I asked for. Hell, neither was "Human Touch" or "Lucky Town".
But it's much better than I would have hoped for. I expected an ultra serious, joyless folk record with Bruce doing his "Woody Guthrie" schtick as Al Barger calls it. Instead I got "O Mary Dont You Weep", which I agree with Saleski may be one of Springsteen's finest moments ever captured on tape.
Seeger Sessions isn't perfect by a long shot. Like DJ Radiohead, I could do without the "fi-da-diddleays"...to me they sound forced, unnatural, and embarrasing. But the bulk of what is here, swings with a grrove that rocks in it's own way as much as a lot of what Springsteen does with the E Street Band does.
I'm not really one of DJ Radiohead's "kvetchers" or "tories". I love Springsteen's music, but I would not rush to praise an album of him making farting noises like it seems so many of his fans would. I am also willing to grant the man his right to follow his artistic muse. It has often been a joy as a fan to follow his artistic choices, as was the case with last year's Devils & Dust album and tour. Other times it hasn't been so easy, as was the case with the "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town" period I mentioned above.
Seeger Sessions surprised me. I expected the worst. What I got was a surprisingly decent record for what it is. Not his best by a long shot. But again, not bad for what it is.
But next year, we'd better get an E Street Band record Mr. Boss Man. Got that?
2 - Glen Boyd
One more thing...
Vini better than Max?
No Freaking way.
Okay I'm done now.
-Glen
3 - DJRadiohead
Myself, I don't care what he does next as long as it's him. Tracks Vol 2 would be nice just because I have heard there is a ton of great stuff in the vaults (Tracks and Hammersmith bear this out nicely. If he gets the E-Street band back together, that would be great. If he wants to do another "solo" album with a stripped-down sound, I will be all over that.
Which I guess brings me a bit to some of what I believe Sir Saleski was directing ever so slightly in my direction. I think covers can be interesting and fun and yes, Springsteen has done a few in concert and they were great. Doing a cover here and there is understandably fun. Doing an entire album of them... I'm just not as big of a fan of that particularly when the artist is such a great songwriter on his own.
And I stick with my opinion that the slower songs (particularly "Mrs. McGrath) are not the best moments on Seeger. I liked the CD on the whole more than I expected I would.
4 - Glen Boyd
Tracks 2 should be awesome. I have a lot of his unreleased stuff on various bootlegs I've collected over the years, and there is still a TON of great unreleased stuff. The full band version of "The Promise" from the Darkness sessions; songs like "The Way"; the solo accoustic (on guitar, not piano) Thunder Road...that's just a few of the ones I'd love to see on a Tracks 2.
There's also lots of great live stuff out there. Anything from the 78 tour would be welcome, if only for the version of "Prove It All Night" with the extra long guitar intro they we're doing back then.
Yeah I can hardly wait for Tracks 2.
But I'd also really like to see a new E Street Band record and tour. Once he gets that last band tour done with, Bruce can make all the folk records he wants as far as I am concerned.
As long as he writes the songs he can anyway. With ya 100% on that DJ Radiohead.
-Glen
5 - Glen Boyd
One more for Travks 2: Summer On Signal Hill.
Incredible instrumental, credited to Clarence Clemons and The Red Bank Rockers and originally issued as a B side to a Clemons single in the 80s. Once you hear it there is absolutely NO DOUBT it is actually Bruce and the E Street Band. It's just a gotgeous instrumental.
Yeah. Definitely gotta see Summer On Signal Hill on Tracks 2.
6 - Mark Saleski
this reminds me that i've just GOT to get those live Clarence recordings. i have the Redbank Rockers lps are they are just a big loada fun.
ok, that's it. i'm on vacation now. honest.
7 - Lisa McKay
I think "Mrs. McGrath" is one of the best songs on the record, and probably one of the best antiwar songs I've ever heard. It gives me the chills. It doesn't really take much of a political stand, but it describes the senselessness of war from the standpoint of a mother who is trying to come to terms with its aftermath, which I imagine is a pretty universal experience, regardless of which war you're singing about.
In any case, I'm hoping (along with lots of other fans, I'm sure) that Glen and the DJ get their wish fulfilled in the very near future, because frankly I'm not going to turn my nose up at another E Street record (and tour) either.
8 - DJRadiohead
If Springsteen wanted to make an anti-war statement on the record there are songs he could have chosen that might have felt a bit more natural coming from him (to say nothing of his own "Devils & Dust"). I think "Mrs. McGrath" and Bruce are a bad match.
9 - Mark Saleski
yea, well you also don't like Patti's voice when she does her intro to Rumble Doll live...so what the hell do you know!
ok, i admit it. commenting from an internet cafe (we forgot to pay bills, oops!) is kinda pathetic.
10 - DJRadiohead
Sir Saleski, I don't see how that is an indictment of my ears. And if it is, I am not the only convict on that particular block.
Now go back to your vacation.
The only way to solve the problem is send Bruce on tour with just a guitar and harmonica.
11 - Glen Boyd
...or better yet, with a certain bamd hailing from E Street.
12 - joboo
Jesus what a bunch of empty grousing and grumbling. Why quibble over where this ranks among Springsteen's canon or if the E Street band is going to live long enough to record another bombastic disc.The simple fact is this is springsteen's most heavily politicized, brilliantly artistic record because it is a folk album and, by very essence of that medium, it is a protest album that hearkens back to the music that reverberates at the core of a country that is in danger of losing its very soul. At a time when everyone is busting their vocal chords screaming their various outrages at each other--Neil young, anyone?--Springsteen's embracing of Americana through the use of these songs is a wonderfully stirring piece of dissent. Just as Ken Kesey literally turned his back on the Vietnam war, as immortalized in wolfe's Kool-Aid Test, Springsteen's apparent refusal to join in the blame-game debate is a masterful choice.
Anyone fortunate enough to see this band perform live--as I was in New Orleans--knows what is really happening. springsteen is leading a people's crusade of sorts, using the music of Seeger and those before him as a direct commentary for the injustices all around us.
The album is good, but the live performance was the best that I've ever seen with Springsteen. No more tired in-jokes of "the big man," and little steven and he performing mutual oral on the mike during "two hearts." this is a hootenanny, a circus, a minstrel show and a barnstorming tour. But always reverent and urgently relevant. Springstee's eyes are on a much bigger prize than those who savage this latest vanity project.
13 - DJRadiohead
That it's a politicized disc means nothing in terms of the quality of its music. I don't think it's empty grousing or grumbling to analyze the music on the disc.
I'm glad you enjoyed the show in New Orleans.
14 - joboo!
this is true but it seems the people are diehard springsteen fanatics who should understand better than anyone that isn't a typical springsteen album. It's not overly produced like most of his studio albums wih bands--whether e street or that "other" band. It's not quiet and muted like the acoustic stuff. It's more a live album than a studio album, recorded on three days over some ungodly long period of time. yes, the music can be analyzed and all that, but to subject it to the same critical lens as lucky town, tunnel of love or asbury park seems off the mark. An an artist, springsteen didn't approach the record this way; he thought outside his own impressive box. Just a shame that the people who seem to champion him so much don't share his same sense of adventure and passion to the moment.
15 - Yvonne T, Reyes
When I played and listened to the CD, I experienced never ending goosebumps. I was weepy (it got worse in We Shall Overcome). Bruce Springsteen's interpretation of the songs moved me. My 12 year old son hasn't stopped singing Mrs. McGrath (my 6 yeard can only manage the refrain) and O Mary Don't you weep no more. In one listening - my 12 year old son understood and grasped what Mrs. McGrath was all about. I admire his work in general but I respect him more for doing this in particular music. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Bruce Springsteen.