Bruce Springsteen, Pink, other new music albums

From English daily The Morning Star:

Album round-up

(Saturday 29 April 2006)

New challenge

Bruce Springsteen

We Shall Overcome (Columbia)

Ever since Ronald Reagan attempted to co-opt the Born in the USA album (1984) for his own political ends, Bruce Springsteen has worked hard to gain control of his musical message.

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions is a celebration of socialist folk singer Pete Seeger and his songs and should, therefore, leave nobody in doubt about Springsteen’s progressive credentials.

Considering that the instrumentation is entirely acoustic and that he is singing songs from the normally serious genre of folk, Springsteen sounds like is having a ball.

Just listen to the opening communal hootenanny Old Dan Tucker.

The mood darkens on the Irish ballad Mrs McGrath as a mother, welcoming home her legless son laments: “All foreign wars, I do proclaim, live on blood and a mother’s pain.”

Other standout tracks include the slow-burning African-American spiritual Eyes on the Prize and the otherworldly Shenandoah.

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions is further proof of Springsteen’s remarkable journey as an artist and his ability to challenge his audience without completely alienating them.

A worthy addition to his canon.

IAN SINCLAIR

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Shades of Pink

PINK

I’m not Dead (LaFace)

Pink has successfully released r’n’b, pop and rock. This last persona sees her latest album at its most successful.

However, the album’s lead single is a spectacular failure. Stupid Girls mixes cod reggae with the well-worn and cynical theme of lampooning women in the music industry who conform.

But the album recovers quickly with a number of rockier, introspective and angst-ridden tracks such as Who Knew and Nobody Knows.

Her collaboration with the Indigo Girls on Dear Mr President is a weapon of mass destruction aimed straight at George Bush and is her best track to date.

The review continues, also on the new album by System 7.

Ben Harper album review here.