Springsteen's "Seeger Sessions" Debuts at #3 (Yes, it's a protest album)

[Hissyspit]

...albeit, a subtle one. With the inclusion of "Mrs. McGrath," (with topically rewritten lyrics) "We Shall Overcome," and a riveting "Eyes On The Prize," anyone who listens to it and does not ruminate on the state of the nation over the past five years is dull-witted. And although it does not include the now crowd-pleasing tour staple the 1927 Lousiana flood blues original "How Can A Poor Man Live Through Such Times?," (again, with topically rewritten lyrics), many of the arrangements have a Zydeco-band feel to them and it seems often as if you are listening to a New Orleans tribute album.

Rockers rule Billboard albums chart
From United Press International
May 03, 2006 5:24 PM EDT

NEW YORK, May 3, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The top three positions on The Billboard 200 albums chart are rockers, led by Godsmack's "IV."

The No. 2 album is Taking Back Sunday's "Louder Now" followed by Bruce Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions."

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[Imagevision]

1. Pink and Neil Youngs Impeach the president are excellant!

[rucky]

2. And it's Pete Seeger's birthday!

:cheers:

[pstans]

3. I got it

It isn't quite what I expected. More bluegrass than Folk in my opinion. I still like, but haven't gotten the chance to listen to it much yet.

[zanne]

4. pstans--Which one is mostly Bluegrass?

Springsteen or Neil Young? I'd like to get one of them, but bluegrass isn't my style.

[pstans]

19. The Springsteen CD

A month ago I bought a Seegar CD that had about 25 songs dedicated to unions, peace, civil rights songs. That CD didn't sound as bluegrassy as the Springsteen CD does. I agree that there is Irish and bluesy songs on there too.

[Hissyspit]

8. It runs the gamut, really. Appalacian, blues, spiritual, folk...

The constant popping up of the banjo is what is making you think bluegrass, but it IS a Pete Seeger tribute, after all. The songs are from blues, spiritual, folk, Irish American ballad, sea shanty, 19th-century protest sources, and there are horns and fiddles. One minute it sounds like blues, the next vintage country and western, the next zydeco, the next mournful dirge. It is not really accurate to label it as bluegrass (which is a modern term) or folk (which is a broad, almost meaningless term).

[VolcanoJen]

5. I've been hooked on this album since the day I bought it

Rollicking, raucous and a little bit rowdy.

I especially love the seagoing chanties, like "Pay Me My Money Down," and the great fiddle work in "Mrs. McGrath."

I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to have a good time with Bruce Springsteen for an hour or so. :-)

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

6. Bruce Kicked Butt At JazzFest!

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

7. Another Pic I Took At JazzFest

[keith the dem]

12. Fantastic pictures!!!

[Hissyspit]

13. Yes, very nice pictures. n/t

[keith the dem]

9. I can not stop listening to this album!

I wake up at night with the songs in my head. This maybe the most intoxicating album I've ever heard. Not a bad song, not a bad minute on the album.
I believe that this may be one of the most authentic folk albums in some time. Before electrical amplification, guitars were not that useful in a public environment. The instruments that carried were fiddles, brass and saxophones, banjos, and accordions. This is the sound of the new Bruce album.

Songs that you thought were tired and old, Bruce gives incredible energy, You can't help but to sing along!

[OneBlueSky]

10. one hour special at 9:pm tomorrow on CMT . . .

http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/bruce_springsteen_the_seeger_sessions/series.jhtml



CMT takes viewers behind the scenes with the making of Bruce Springsteen's 21st album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. The album features Springsteen's personal interpretations of 13 traditional songs, all of them associated with the legendary guiding light of American folk music, Pete Seeger, for whom the album is named. Speaking of the origins of the new music, Springsteen said, "So much of my writing, particularly when I write acoustically, comes straight out of the folk tradition. Making this album was creatively liberating because I have a love of all those different roots sounds. ... They can conjure up a world with just a few notes and a few words."

Friday, May 5, 9:00 pm ET/PT

http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/bruce_springsteen_the_seeger_sessions/series.jhtml

[dusty64]

11. I heard quite

a bit of this on the radio last Sunday.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

14. Two More From New Orleans

[Marnieworld]

15. Thanks for posting all of these pics

I love Bruce so much. I wished that I could have gone to this or seen it online but I couldn't. This was the next best thing. Thanks.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

17. You're Welcome

One last picture. Gotta run.

[ShortnFiery]

16. I'm buying it and three copies for my friends ...

Plus, I understand that Young's album is to be for sale at Borders, et. al., come 9 May.

[cascadiance]

18. I picked a copy up on Amazon Gold Box special a day ago...

After conditioning my recommendations to give it to me. I have tons of progressive music, DVDs, and books.

I've spent the last week helping to build my recommendation list to get more good stuff offered by indicating all of the content I own as "owned" in the appropriate checkboxes for the corresponding pages on Amazon's site.

I figure not only does this get me better recommendations, but it also hopefully sends a message to their data aggregators that there is more collective demand for these products too, to hopefully encourage more of them to get distributed.

About the only downside is if Bushco's spy program gets its hands on my profile data and uses that to single me out more, but I figure that's already being done anyway.