Bruce Springsteen: The Seeger Sessions
Bruce Springsteen's next project has a working title of "The Seeger Sessions", and is said to be comprised of either music "inspired" by Pete Seeger, or an entire album of Seeger covers, according to the blog The World Wide Glen: Welcome to My Thoughtmare.
It seems that Glen is a bit disappointed and would like to hear some E St. band. Sort of like Neil Young fans being disappointed when Neil tours without Crazy Horse, I suppose.
More on Bruce Springsteen & Neil Young.
posted by thrasher @ 2/24/2006 08:50:00 AM
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10 Comments:
Thanks for the link Thrasher!
Though I actually found one comment on the link to my "Seeger Sessions" on your blog interesting...and that was the one about comparing Bruce fans who miss the E Street Band to the way Neil fans miss Crazy Horse.
Not the same at all.
Neil has carved out a very effective "duality" in my view.
The quiet, accoustic Neil resonates every bit as effectively as the cranked up to eleven Neil does.
When Neil is doing his full on, cranked up to eleven electric thing, it's more about Neil's guitar playing than it is about the band (Crazy Horse).
Thats why I like Mirror Ball, which as you know he made with Pearl Jam, as much as I do some of his records with Crazy Horse. Because it's all about that amazingly ragged but beautiful guitar sound he makes. Listen to "I Got Id" on that Pearl Jam companion EP "Merkin Ball"....fucking amazing..
On the other hand, Bruce has yet to acheive the same sort of duality in my view. As an accoustic artist, he has made...at least in my view....one bonafide masterpiece (Nebraska); one very, very good record (Devils & Dust); and one that is completely underwhelming (The Ghost of Tom Joad).
When Neil does his accoustic thing it sounds completely natural, organic, and effortless....every bit as much as his electric stuff with Crazy Horse does.
When Bruce does his, it often sounds forced and unnatural. The "okieisms" in Bruce's voice...the "yelps" and what not...on Tom Joad are particularly irritating. It doesn't sound natural or genuine at all. And sometimes I have to admit that I feel like if I hear another "mister" or "sir" in the lyrics, I might just scream.
On the other hand, when Bruce is performing with the E Street Band, the camraderie you feel, and the joyful noise they make comes through as completely natural to the point of being infectious.
Springsteen concerts with the E Street Band are a celebration...it's literally like being in a room with about 20,000 of your best friends. Plus The E Street Band is as tight and musically sharp as Crazy Horse is loose to the point of being sloppy...albeit somewhat belovedly so.
Bruce's accoustic shows on the other hand can be a test in endurance.
The Tom Joad shows we're downright dull. On the D&D tour he wisely began mixing up the setlists which made those shows a lot more interesting. But there was still a quality about them that was as "forced" as his shows with the E Street band are celebratory and absolutely natural
When I go to see Neil accoustic or semi-accoustic...I know I can count on the shows being warm. Bruce has yet to get past the serious to the point of being dour quality of his "quiet" shows.
Neil Young has never handed out leaflets posting the "rules" of his accoustic concerts at the door to my knowledge.
Know what I mean?
Sorry I got a little longwinded there...but you basically asked. LOL....
Thanx again for the link!
Glen Boyd
The World Wide Glen
http://theglenblog.blogspot.com
I get a little tired of the people who expect Springsteen to stay tied to his musical roots of 30 years ago. Why not allow him to take this journey into Seeger's music and even better, encourage those who appreciate his voice to take the journey with him.
This whole thing is making me cranky.
Those preaching about the superiority of Neil's acoustic tours obviously don't remember the "Shut up, Asshole" tour.
It stuns me that so-called fans can't seem to comprehend that the alleged "joy" they claim to only feel with E Street is clearly there for BRUCE when he plays acoustic.
Bruce, regrettably, cares a little too much about letting his fans down. He needs to take more chances, not less. Neil doesn't care whether or not the fans get cranky, as evidenced on the Greendale tour and what happened with the audience reaction there. Neil just GOES. They are wildly divergent personality types and you might as well compare Springsteen to Sinatra.
And it's 2006. Pearl Jam are an actual established band at this point and regarded as one of the best rock bands in the world. Can Mirror Ball not be held up as some kind of "and I even like Mirror Ball" exception?
This is all reminding me of the Springsteen symposium and the people who insisted that the 1992 tour felt "wrong". No, it felt wrong to *them*. Obviously it didn't feel wrong to Bruce or he wouldn't have taken that band on the road. He was clearly having a grand old time.
He's not a human jukebox.
I've just posted the track list and the album cover art for The Seeger Sessions on my blog The World Wide Glen.
Check it out at
http://theglenblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/bruce-update-its-official.html
Cheers!
Glen Boyd
http://theglenblog.blogspot.com
Oh, goody! Bruce Springsteen does Pete Seeger!
Maybe Bruce will reprise those songs on the album that Seeger recorded supporting the Hitler-Stalin Pact prior to WWII and protested against those Americans who wanted to fight the Nazis.
Go to Amazon.com and do a "Search Inside" the following book and look at pages 35-36:
Commies: A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left and the Leftover Left (Hardcover)
Hi! I agree soo much with Glen's opinion's on the faux 'folksy' brand of Bruce's.
When Bruce does his, it often sounds forced and unnatural. The "okieisms" in Bruce's voice...the "yelps" and what not...on Tom Joad are particularly irritating. It doesn't sound natural or genuine at all. And sometimes I have to admit that I feel like if I hear another "mister" or "sir" in the lyrics, I might just scream.
And the guy did not want to contribute to NY's biography... whine whine...
I do like Springsteen and have truckloads of CDs and mp3s and even lps but well, it's not the same vein and heritage of alt country and folk... now you can blame me for being Neil Young fan and listening to Willie Nelson and Hank etc...
no problemo, musically speaking it's a different family.
I still sing a lot to the Springsteen songs in the car anyway...
Ann Marie
Quit whining about the E St. Band. Last time I checked we were still at war and being run into the ground by the very people Seeger rallied against in his lifes work. Now Bruce is symbolically taking that torch. Personally, I don't feel like celebrating much these days. I love the ESB too but Bruce is on the right tack. Have faith.
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