Bruce Springsteen

The Clifford The Big Red Dog of Springsteen albums: too big, too clumsy and too earnest, but adorable in spite (or because) of its inherent ridiculousness. Eighteen musicians! In period costumes! Playing old folk, blues and gospel songs! For 10 minutes each! Tuba solos! It's an oddly baroque hoedown, but if you can get past the sometimes forced reinterpretations of Boss chestnuts, you'll eventually succumb to the exuberant, sing-along-till-you're hoarse numbers, and mourn appropriately during earnest bits such as the delicate take on "When The Saints Go Marching In."

Last year' s Seeger Sessions was cut in just three days with a twelve-piece band that hadn't
played together before. This Dublin stop, taped at the tail end of a seven-month tour, finds
Bruce and the band going at the same material with a raw gusto that connects American
traditions: mountain string bands, whorehouse Dixieland jazz, juke-joint rockabilly,
Western swing and E Street soul. Across two CDs drawn from three concerts, Sp... More >