Jesus Loves Bruce Springsteen

I love Bruce Springsteen more than you. No offence, I just have more love to give. His new album, We Shall Overcome, is amazing! In My opinion, it is strongly on par with Johnny Cash’s work with Rick Rubin. It seems that for that past decade, Bruce has kind of slid away off the side of being relevant in contemporary music. Much like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash in the 1980’s, Bruce is more currently praised for his past than of his new releases. Happily, I think that is about to change. Ironically, with this new albums, I feel that Bruce has again found his voice. His past few albums have fallen limply behind not only his much stronger albums of his past, but have also had trouble standing up against other albums released around the same time. Bruce, while attempting to sound contemporary and relevant, was sounding more and more like a parody of his younger self. Everything chances with this new album though. Sounding like a cross between himself, Tom Waits, and yes, Bob Dylan, I am happy to see Bruce back with his strongest album since “Born In The USA”. This album feels like a soundboard recording from inside a revival tent in Alabama circa 1935… and that tent is about to explode. This album is worth the price just for the track “Mary Don’t You Weep” alone, but lucky for you, there’s 12 more killer songs on this unbelievable CD.

I’ll be honest with you, like I always am… when I first heard this album of covers was in the mix for Mr. Springsteen, I was none too excited. To Me, it sounded like another nail sealing him into his coffin of irrelevance. I was caught a little off guard by a few of the reviews, not so much the Rolling Stone review, but the Pitchfork review in particular. So by the time the CD made it into My holy ipod, I was definitely interested to see why they were so positive. By the end of track 3, I was ecstatic. This album is alive in a way that recalls the Springsteen epic album, “The River”. This is both a new turn for Springsteen and a jumpstart towards a rebirth much like the “American Recordings” sessions were for Cash and how “Time Out Of Mind” was for Dylan… and that gets Me excited. Ladies and gentlemen, if you enjoy genuine American music, this CD will make your month better. I have not been this excited with a new album for a while. My hope is that this CD might be the first of a whole series.

Here are a few live tracks from the new tour, including a very Katrina themed non-album track that is worth downloading.

Bruce Springsteen – Old Dan Tucker (live).mp3
Bruce Springsteen – O Mary Don’t You Weep (live).mp3
Bruce Springsteen – How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live (live).mp3
Bruce Springsteen – Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze (live).mp3
Bruce Springsteen – When The Saints Come Marching In (live).mp3
Bruce Springsteen – Open All Night (live).mp3