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Bruce Springsteen Returns with Tribute to Pete Seeger, Folk Music |
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Thursday, 04 May 2006 |
By Alexander O’Grady
 Bruce Springsteen's new album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, has been classified as Springsteen's tribute to folk singer Pete Seeger. The songs of Seeger, a self-proclaimed communist, seem to fit Springsteen's mold in singing about working-class heroes, so it was not an unexpected turn for Springsteen, especially after 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad. Despite all the songs on the album having some connotations to Seeger, however, it seems less of a tribute to the folk great and more of a tribute to all music's folksy roots.
The album is recorded sans E Street Band and with an assorted group of lesser-known folk musicians, a move that works better than feared. Despite the musicians' surprising talents on a multitude of instruments, ranging from the fiddle to the tuba and the banjo, it is clear that the album would succeed or fail on Springsteen himself.
Springsteen attacks the task of the music with vigour - you can feel the venom dripping in his reference to Robert Ford as "that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard," in Jesse James, and his admiration for John Henry in the rollicking song of the same name. This makes the album turn out like a very good tribute to Seeger and folk music.
Despite Springsteen’s approach, however, the album is not without flaws. It does not include arguably Seeger's biggest hit, 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone', and despite a very good version of 'Pay Me My Money Down', which includes a newly written verse regarding Bill Gates, the novelty and vigour subside a bit in the latter half. Springsteen’s admiration for Seeger and the material – and the fact that Springsteen could quite possibly make a decent album out of reading the phone book – prevents the album from ever getting boring, but it would still have gained something by being two songs shorter. The title track is especially disappointingly blasé.
The album is recommended for fans of Springsteen, Seeger, and folk music. It probably will not win either any new fans, but I do not think that is the point of the album - the point is and was, more than anything, for Springsteen to pay homage to one of his heroes; Springsteen was, by and large, successful in that.
4 / 5 stars
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