Pickin' on Bruce Springsteen

Pickin' On (Series) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 1999)
• Original Release Date: August 24, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cmh Records
• ASIN: B00000JFY2
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #182,550 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspired covers - and a lot of fun, February 1, 2008

By 

Daiho - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pickin' on Bruce Springsteen (Audio CD)

For Picking on Springsteen Vol I, producer, arranger and performer David West was clearly inspired to reach beyond his typical cover project. And he's done quite a few. More than 50 in fact, a complete line of bluegrass and country tribute albums to popular musicians and bands such as Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers, Cat Stevens, Pink Floyd, The Who, Bob Marley, and Elton John, among others.

A consistent money-maker for CMH Records, these projects are the work of the California native and Santa Barbara resident, who besides playing guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass, and dobro - and thus capable of making the recordings all by himself - also calls on a huge cast of excellent studio musicians from nearby Los Angeles.

For this 1999 release, West chose to cover some of Springsteen's most popular anthems, ignoring the more obvious choices that might lend themselves to acoustic strings, such as material from Greetings, Nebraska, Tunnel of Love, or Tom Joad. That challenge appears to have brought out the best in his arranging abilities, which took him beyond typical bluegrass and into territory such as hot swing, with guitar, violin and clarinet trading leads on Cover Me, to the soft latin shuffle of Brilliant Disguise, featuring guitar and mandolin, with piano backing and pedal steel fills.

West also fiddles with tempo, slowing down Dancing in the Dark for melancholy effect, accentuated with a plaintive accordion on chorus. Prove it All Night is played at a tempo and intensity of the Darkness tour with mandolin and guitar trading leads, the banjo picking up the chorus, and all three joining in on fast-picking finale. And Born to Run really does run, with a banjo rhythm and brushes on the snare driving a chug-a-chug rhythm, like a train running down the tracks, with guitar and harmonica racing along sharing leads.

There are among the gems a couple of clunkers. The choice of violin for the chorus on Glory Days was inspired, but having to play at the original tempo strips the instrument and the song of its doleful potential. And the honky-tonk slide guitar on Born in the USA seems rather too obvious and too much like a cover band at the corner tavern.

West and CMH released a second volume of Springsteen covers in 2003 that is on the whole a less inspired collection than this first release. There is also a single volume Best Of disc collecting selections from both volumes. If you want to buy only one, go with Volume I.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh perspective, May 14, 2001

By 

Orgilion (San Antonio, Tx.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pickin' on Bruce Springsteen (Audio CD)

Those who think Bruce's music is above interpretation should get over it. Granted many covers of Springsteen songs are drivel, but some interpretations of Bruce's material is enjoyable. For the simple reason that I love Bruce's songs and I love bluegrass music, I love this combination. Call is "Brucegrass". In the end one can conclude that it is ok to have Bruce's songs sounding like Tennessee-slick blue-grass, or first rate elevator music, because afterall the musicianship is admittedly great, if a bit sterile. If you love Springsteen, you probably won't mind this collection.

5.0 out of 5 stars FANTASTIC BLUE GRASS MUSIC!!, August 4, 2006

By 

I LOVE CRAIG CLARK (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pickin' on Bruce Springsteen (Audio CD)

This CD is the best BLUE GRASS MUSIC by PICKIN ON!

Born to Run is GREAAAT!!