Search - Pickin' on Springsteen :: Vol. 2-Pickin' on Springsteen

Where David West and Springsteen intersect, lightening didn'

ShriDurga | 02/01/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I listened to this second volume of Picking on Springsteen again and again hoping something would jump out at me. On the first volume there was the hot swing version of Cover Me, the latin shuffle on Brilliant Disguise, the happy rhythm of the banjo and brushes on Born to Run, the plaintive accordion on the half-tempo Dancing in the Dark.



Volume II seems distinctly lacking in these ear-tickling moments. It is instead a collection of rather pedestrian arrangements of mostly mid-tempo compositions. One Step Up, Independence Day, and My Beautiful Reward don't sound all that different in tempo or arrangement from their original incarnations. I never realized how insipid the melody of Tenth Avenue Freeze Out could be without the horns to make it bounce; the harmonica sounds especially thin on these parts, as does the banjo plunking out the chorus.



Perhaps the best moments in this volume are in the two rockers, songs which benefit from the contrast between our expectations and the performances, from the bold brash sounds we know and West's lighter strings. Badlands is played at the same tempo as the original and features quick licks on guitar and mandolin, while Pink Cadillac gets stretched to double its original length, carried along by harmonica and more hot picking on banjo and guitar.



There is also one original composition, a piece called Jersey Beat, a Springsteen pastiche made of borrowed rifts and rhythms that will have you saying, "I know that part, that's from ...."



Besides Volumes I and II of Picking on Springsteen, there is also a single volume Best disc collecting selections from both albums. If you want to buy only one, go with Volume I.



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