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Music > Collections > Bruce Springsteen - Badlands: a Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska (2000) Retail CD
added on May 31, 2007, at 19:03 by Menta

There was a time when nobody besides Manfred Mann really bothered to cover Bruce Springsteen songs. All that changed once Born To Run turned the singer-songwriter into an American pop icon. Still, it was in the bleak character studies of 1982's Nebraska that he reaffirmed himself as a literate everyman steeped in the tradition of John Steinbeck, Flannery O'Connor, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. And that's the side of Springsteen that clearly appeals to Johnny Cash, Los Lobos, Hank Williams III and the dozen other artists who participate in this remake of Nebraska. Chrissie Hynde, Ani DiFranco and Deana Carter all deliver haunting performances, but as far as the menfolk go, the album's most striking covers are "bonus" tracks that were recorded for but not released on Nebraska: "I'm On Fire" sounds even creepier with Cash's craggy vocal; the Mavericks' Raul Malo brings out the pop sheen of "Downbound Train"; and "Wages of Sin", in the hands of Damien Jurado and Rose Thomas, shows just how depressing Springsteen can be. All of this makes this a fine companion to the original recording. --Bill Forman

front 953 x 953 px

back 1181 x 929 px

cd 921 x 921 px

inside 953 x 953 px

inlay 1181 x 929 px