Search - Various Artists :: Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska

Save Your Money!

P. B. Fey | Phoenixville, PA USA | 12/07/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"What a disappointment. The "Nebraska" album is a Springsteen watershed: haunting (downright scary at times), provocative, and a complete aural u-turn from its fine predecessor, "The River." Perhaps I expected too much from this "tribute" lineup; sure, the songs are solid but they uniformly lack the charisma that Bruce Springsteen so naturally brings to them. Only Johnny Cash is in that league here. Raul Malo, Ani DiFranco, and Chrissie Hynde do what they do best: run good songs through the de-flavorizer for an entirely unfulfilling experience. Aimee Mann and Michael Penn make a good go of it, as does Deanna Carter, surprisingly. Sad to say this is the first time I've ever heard Los Lobos phone one in. Hank III's voice eerily recalls that of his brilliant grandfather, but his reading of "Atlantic City" is awkward until it switches to a minor key. Too little, too late. Too bad. Save your money and and put it toward the Japanese import of the original "Nebraska." The sound quality on that is light years ahead of the disc Columbia offers. Get it, put it in your car, and drive the Jersey Turnpike in the middle of the night. That's the way the album is meant to be heard! (And if you want to hear the best cover of "Atlantic City," check out "The Band's Greatest Hits, Vol. II.")"

BADLANDS makes Springsteen look better

amazon@zenarchery.com | Las Vegas, NV USA | 11/09/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Springsteen's album NEBRASKA is one of the most haunting and remarkable pieces of music to come out in the past thirty years. As a unified work, it's about the disillusionment and sadness of what happens when you give ordinary people an American dream to look for...and what happens when they can't find it. It was recorded all on a four-track, with minimal instrumentation beyond guitar and harmonica.So now Sub Pop's released an odd sort of tribute album--a tribute to NEBRASKA. If any album deserved a tribute, this would be the one: but if any album also deserved a better treatment, this would also be the one.The impression I get from listening to this is how influential Springsteen was on a lot of these artists...and by how pitiably far they miss the mark. Ani DiFranco's "Used Cars" has a lovely guitar part, but her vocal meanders between spoken-word nonsense and off-tempo crooning. Son Volt's "Open All Night" is a silly narcoleptic redneck take on the original, and Chrissy Hynde and Adam Seymour's version of "Nebraska" is equally goofy, with a distorted guitar drone in the background. Probably the worst thing on the album is Hank III's absolutely offensively horrible country-swing version of "Atlantic City". The original is my favorite song, a lovely haunting piece about love and desperation, and Hank III turns it into an absolutely wretched piece of uptempo steel-guitar pap.A few of the tracks shine: Dar Williams' thoughtful take on "Highway Patrolman" is the best alt-country piece on here. Los Lobos' "Johnny 99" is a little hell-raiser, probably closest to the feeling of the original. One of the best tracks is a bonus one, a cover of a song not included on the original album due to space--Raul Malo's "Downbound Train", which sticks pretty close to the original (which ended up on BORN IN THE USA). Another notable track is the version of "Reason To Believe" by the husband and wife team of Aimee Mann and Michael Penn. It's pretty catchy, which is more than you can say for most anything else on here.What comes across is how much NEBRASKA influenced the current crop of alternative country--and how absolutely incapable the current crop of alternative country is of producing work that has the subtlety and emotionality that Springsteen puts in every nuance of the original album. In fact, very few of the artists coming out these days are capable of that, and every time I hear NEBRASKA it reminds me of that.Perhaps I'm too emotionally close to NEBRASKA--I discovered it about three months ago and have been listening to it nonstop ever since. But it's still extremely disappointing to see what these artists have done with this album. I would have liked to see less of the boring indie scene represented, and more individualistic artists--I can see Nick Cave doing wonders with this material, or Tori Amos, or Tom Waits, or even Sarah McLachlan. I have heard a live outtake from this album--the Counting Crows' version of "Atlantic City" and it was so superior it wasn't even funny.This album just reinforces my dissatisfaction with the state of indie music today. Maybe if you're really into these sort of self-satisfied artists, you'd like this: but if you enjoyed the kind of thing Springsteen did with the original, I'd give this a wide berth."

To Buy Or Not To Buy?

Bryan | Colorado | 01/18/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska is brilliant and is one of the most important singer/sonwriter albums to come out of the 80's. Badlands is a tribute to that album. There are reasons to buy it and there are reasons to save your money. Reasons not to buy it: 1. Hank Williams III doing Atlanic City. He does it his way but it just doesn't work for me. 2. Raul Malo doing Downbound Train. Raul sounds like he is playing this song in a bar in the background of a scene from the TV show LA Law. I don't know if that makes sense, but it causes me to shudder.Reasons to buy: 1. Ben Harper doing My Father's House. His bluesy/soulful voice is absolutely beautiful. 2. Son Volt doing Open All Night. When I first bought the CD I told a friend it was one of my least favorite tracks. It's an example of listening or reading something and not getting it, and then feeling a little stupid later for missing it. Son Volt took an acoustic Springsteen rocker and made it into this slow, pedal steel in the background, sweeping song that makes you ache at it's simplicity and beauty. One of the best, I'm driving by myself in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, songs ever. 3. Johnny Cash 4. Deana Carter doing State Trooper. I just like the way she does it.If you only buy albums because the whole album is great don't buy Badlands. If you sometimes buy albums because they have at least three great songs, then buy this album."