![cd-charts.com We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions / American Land Edition [CD+DVD] We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions / American Land Edition [CD+DVD] For Sale New or Used](/images/childrens%20toys.gif)
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Music : We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions / American Land Edition [CD+DVD]
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Rating: 
- Surprisingly great fun !
As a Springsteen fan of over thirty years' standing, I was wary of this album. I am not the kind of fan who follows "their" artist, right or wrong, and after witnessing a live BBC broadcast of some of this material, I was not of a mind to purchase it. The concert had Springsteen and an entourage of fiddlers, led by E Street violinist Soozie Tyrell, being lauded by an audience of bearded, out of time clapping, ageing folkies and I simply could not reconcile the performer I saw on stage that night with the author of "Thunder Road", "Badlands" and "Jungleland" ! However, upon listening to this album, I have to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong in my preconceptions. This is a truly great musical and lyrical album, and great fun to boot !
In this album one holds a great big slab of American social and musical history. Treated with both utmost respect and given new life simultaneously, the songs are those of the immigrants, the pioneers, the railway builders, the steel foundrymen, the homesteaders, the farmers and the watermen. They are songs of hope and poverty, dreams and despair, with more than a touch of Irish folk in most of them. It is proof, if ever there needed proof, that Irish folk music is deep set in the foundation of much American folk tunes. The fiddle, the flute, the bodhran drum sound. Why, Springsteen even seems to sing "American Land" in an Irish accent. Through all this, an astonishingly high level of musicianship (most of the cuts are recorded "live" at Springsteen's farm) prevails and a general atmosphere of good time is had by musician and listener. Nowhere is this better exemplified than on "Jacob's Ladder", which Springsteen turns from a spiritual into a piece of barnstorming New Orleans fun.
Other highlights for me are the afore-mentioned "American Land" and the baleful, moving "Shenandoah". Even the unpromising "Froggie Went A-Courting" is given wonderful new birth.
Well worth checking out whether you are a fan of his rock output or not.
Rating:
- Come back Sandy Denny
If, as I suppose, the main purpose of these reviews on Amazon is to orient prospective purchasers, then I had better warn all you die hard Bruce fans that you will be wasting your time if you read the following. My comments are aimed at the not so committed who, for example, rate "Tunnel Of Love", "Born To Run" and a few other albums but can take or leave a lot of his output for a variety of reasons. The main one being of course that he never lived up to the hype.
I am convinced that if some less well know musician had wanted to do this project they would have been turned down. There must be quite a few bands out there across the USA who on any given Friday or Saturday night are belting out these same songs and have always done so and will forever continue to do so. These are NOT songs in danger of oblivion (one of the reasons Springsteen offers for recording them).
The singing is raucous and insensitive; totally monochrome. Most of it is just a load of shouting.
The musicians are ok. But that's all and don't let the blurbs fool you: watch the accompanying DVD and then tell me if you really believe it was all such a great, free wheeling happy time as it was supposed to be.This is a load of unnecessary hoakum not very well done. No wonder it became available everywhere so soon for a fraction of the original asking price.
Pete Seeger fans, by the way, don't look for his originals because you'll only find two of them here despite the title.
The "future of rock and roll"? Yes,well. As a truly original musician once said,
"The past sure is tense."
Rating:
- Seeger sessions
This is such a good album. You cannot help but tap your feet along with each song and come off finishing the album with a big grin on your face It is good, simple, fun music. I love that you can hear the songs actually being performed and developing rather than a sterile studio album and it seems pretty obvious that a lot of fun was had making this music. The DVD is great to watch to soak up the atmosphere the music was played in and to see the group interaction. Bruce seems to be getting better and better and this is no exception.
Rating: - A very satisfying non-E Street Bruce product
After about the fifth person has come to me recently saying "I'm not a Springsteen fan at all, but I really like that Seeger thing" it tells you all you need to know. When I heard the rumours before it was released - folk album, Pete Seeger, banjo's, recorded on his ranch....it was quite depressing....until you put the record on.
Its not often you can put a Bruce CD on at a party either. I tried it the other day and there was a room full of tapping feet.
Top quality stuff!
Rating: - Wonderful, exhilarating - still definitely Springsteen and yet very different
This is a fantastic album of old folk standards given a faithful rendition from Springsteen the devotee but with that distinctive Springsteen treatment as well, and it works a treat on every single track.
If you don't like folk music - it's all fiddles and banjos (a friend described it as "a bit lumberjack-y"!) - you won't enjoy it, but there is a zest and joy to these songs that is exhilarating.
It comes from the spirit of the old songs themselves, Springsteen's infectious enthusiasm and passion, and from the genuinely improvised vibe of the performances: you hear the man himself instruct the musicians on whose solo he'd like next, and you can watch him do so on the accompanying DVD. (For a non-musician music fan like myself, eeing how the songs were arranged on the DVD was instructive, and fascinating.)
But for me the real thrills come from the brass section that adds a fabulous extra layer and flavour. According to reviews I've read, Springsteen was astute and knowledgeable enough to notice that when Pete Seeger was living and playing his folk music in New York in the 1920s and 1930s that big-band jazz would have been playing in venues nearby, and so he added trumpet and trombones to the fiddles, banjos, mandolin and honky-tonk piano. The blend is magical. When they blow hard for the first time on, for example, "Jacob's Ladder" - heralded with big cymbal crashes - the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, every time. The result is a fabulous hybrid big band/folk knees-up.
There isn't a duff track on the CD, and the extra DVD of the recording sessions is great. Plus, buy this version, as you get 5 extra tracks and some live concert footage that isn't on the original release (why, I don't know - was Springsteen himself in on this rip-off? I hope not.) One of these extra tracks is an old Vietnam protest song updated for the Iraq war called "Bring 'em home" (i.e. 'our' boys and girls in the armed forces). Unfortunately, neither of Springsteen's two specially written new verses explain how this policy will help the poor, innocent Iraqis caught up in the politicians "testing their grand theories"...
Tremendous stuff. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Trust Springsteen to breathe new life into old songs.
- Surprisingly great fun !As a Springsteen fan of over thirty years' standing, I was wary of this album. I am not the kind of fan who follows "their" artist, right or wrong, and after witnessing a live BBC broadcast of some of this material, I was not of a mind to purchase it. The concert had Springsteen and an entourage of fiddlers, led by E Street violinist Soozie Tyrell, being lauded by an audience of bearded, out of time clapping, ageing folkies and I simply could not reconcile the performer I saw on stage that night with the author of "Thunder Road", "Badlands" and "Jungleland" ! However, upon listening to this album, I have to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong in my preconceptions. This is a truly great musical and lyrical album, and great fun to boot !
In this album one holds a great big slab of American social and musical history. Treated with both utmost respect and given new life simultaneously, the songs are those of the immigrants, the pioneers, the railway builders, the steel foundrymen, the homesteaders, the farmers and the watermen. They are songs of hope and poverty, dreams and despair, with more than a touch of Irish folk in most of them. It is proof, if ever there needed proof, that Irish folk music is deep set in the foundation of much American folk tunes. The fiddle, the flute, the bodhran drum sound. Why, Springsteen even seems to sing "American Land" in an Irish accent. Through all this, an astonishingly high level of musicianship (most of the cuts are recorded "live" at Springsteen's farm) prevails and a general atmosphere of good time is had by musician and listener. Nowhere is this better exemplified than on "Jacob's Ladder", which Springsteen turns from a spiritual into a piece of barnstorming New Orleans fun.
Other highlights for me are the afore-mentioned "American Land" and the baleful, moving "Shenandoah". Even the unpromising "Froggie Went A-Courting" is given wonderful new birth.
Well worth checking out whether you are a fan of his rock output or not.
Rating:
- Come back Sandy DennyIf, as I suppose, the main purpose of these reviews on Amazon is to orient prospective purchasers, then I had better warn all you die hard Bruce fans that you will be wasting your time if you read the following. My comments are aimed at the not so committed who, for example, rate "Tunnel Of Love", "Born To Run" and a few other albums but can take or leave a lot of his output for a variety of reasons. The main one being of course that he never lived up to the hype.
I am convinced that if some less well know musician had wanted to do this project they would have been turned down. There must be quite a few bands out there across the USA who on any given Friday or Saturday night are belting out these same songs and have always done so and will forever continue to do so. These are NOT songs in danger of oblivion (one of the reasons Springsteen offers for recording them).
The singing is raucous and insensitive; totally monochrome. Most of it is just a load of shouting.
The musicians are ok. But that's all and don't let the blurbs fool you: watch the accompanying DVD and then tell me if you really believe it was all such a great, free wheeling happy time as it was supposed to be.This is a load of unnecessary hoakum not very well done. No wonder it became available everywhere so soon for a fraction of the original asking price.
Pete Seeger fans, by the way, don't look for his originals because you'll only find two of them here despite the title.
The "future of rock and roll"? Yes,well. As a truly original musician once said,
"The past sure is tense."
Rating:
- Seeger sessionsThis is such a good album. You cannot help but tap your feet along with each song and come off finishing the album with a big grin on your face It is good, simple, fun music. I love that you can hear the songs actually being performed and developing rather than a sterile studio album and it seems pretty obvious that a lot of fun was had making this music. The DVD is great to watch to soak up the atmosphere the music was played in and to see the group interaction. Bruce seems to be getting better and better and this is no exception.
Rating:
- A very satisfying non-E Street Bruce productAfter about the fifth person has come to me recently saying "I'm not a Springsteen fan at all, but I really like that Seeger thing" it tells you all you need to know. When I heard the rumours before it was released - folk album, Pete Seeger, banjo's, recorded on his ranch....it was quite depressing....until you put the record on.
Its not often you can put a Bruce CD on at a party either. I tried it the other day and there was a room full of tapping feet.
Top quality stuff!
Rating:
- Wonderful, exhilarating - still definitely Springsteen and yet very differentThis is a fantastic album of old folk standards given a faithful rendition from Springsteen the devotee but with that distinctive Springsteen treatment as well, and it works a treat on every single track.
If you don't like folk music - it's all fiddles and banjos (a friend described it as "a bit lumberjack-y"!) - you won't enjoy it, but there is a zest and joy to these songs that is exhilarating.
It comes from the spirit of the old songs themselves, Springsteen's infectious enthusiasm and passion, and from the genuinely improvised vibe of the performances: you hear the man himself instruct the musicians on whose solo he'd like next, and you can watch him do so on the accompanying DVD. (For a non-musician music fan like myself, eeing how the songs were arranged on the DVD was instructive, and fascinating.)
But for me the real thrills come from the brass section that adds a fabulous extra layer and flavour. According to reviews I've read, Springsteen was astute and knowledgeable enough to notice that when Pete Seeger was living and playing his folk music in New York in the 1920s and 1930s that big-band jazz would have been playing in venues nearby, and so he added trumpet and trombones to the fiddles, banjos, mandolin and honky-tonk piano. The blend is magical. When they blow hard for the first time on, for example, "Jacob's Ladder" - heralded with big cymbal crashes - the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, every time. The result is a fabulous hybrid big band/folk knees-up.
There isn't a duff track on the CD, and the extra DVD of the recording sessions is great. Plus, buy this version, as you get 5 extra tracks and some live concert footage that isn't on the original release (why, I don't know - was Springsteen himself in on this rip-off? I hope not.) One of these extra tracks is an old Vietnam protest song updated for the Iraq war called "Bring 'em home" (i.e. 'our' boys and girls in the armed forces). Unfortunately, neither of Springsteen's two specially written new verses explain how this policy will help the poor, innocent Iraqis caught up in the politicians "testing their grand theories"...
Tremendous stuff. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Trust Springsteen to breathe new life into old songs.