It’s official! The ‘expanded’ version of Springsteen’s latest album «The Seeger Sessions» will be released worldwide on October 3rd. Its new title is «We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions – American Land Edition» and will include a lot of additional stuff, including 3 new songs. Read the full official press release (from Shorefire Media) below:
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN OFFERS FANS THREE NEW SONGS, FOUR NEW CONCERT VIDEOS, EXPANDED DOCUMENTARY AND UNSEEN PHOTOS FOR ‘WE SHALL OVERCOME: THE SEEGER SESSIONS – AMERICAN LAND EDITION,’ OCT. 3 ON COLUMBIA RECORDS
SPECIAL CD/DVD SET INCLUDES NEW BONUS TRACKS, LIVE CONCERT VIDEOS, MUSIC VIDEOS, EXPANDED DOCUMENTARY AND EXPANDED BOOKLET
Bruce Springsteen will offer fans five additional songs, exclusive live footage, music videos and previously unseen photos for the upcoming release of ‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions – American Land Edition.’ Columbia Records will release the enhanced album October 3.
‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions – American Land Edition’ will include a CD, DVD and 28-page booklet in a striking package. New features and content include:
· New songs «How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live,» «Bring ‘Em Home» and «American Land.»
· «Buffalo Gals» and «How Can I Keep From Singing» on CD for the first time. (They were previously only available as bonus audio on the DVD side of the DualDisc release.)
· An extended, 40-minute cut of the behind-the-scenes film, including footage of Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band recording «Jacob’s Ladder,» «Froggie Went A Courtin'» and others and a complete rendition of «Erie Canal.»
· Music videos of «American Land» and «Pay Me My Money Down» by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny.
· Concert footage of Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band performing «How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live» (from Los Angeles, CA, June 5, 2006) and «Bring ‘Em Home» (from Concord, CA, June 6, 2006).
· Rare photos of Bruce Springsteen taken by Danny Clinch.
· Additional lyrics and fascinating complete track notes by distinguished music scholar Dave Marsh (also available at http://www.brucespringsteen.net).
Springsteen wrote «American Land» and performed it in New York and New Jersey. The song was inspired by «He Lies in the American Land,» a poem by a Slovakian immigrant steelworker that Pete Seeger later translated and set to music.
About «How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times,» Bruce Springsteen said, «This song was written by Blind Alfred Reed and recorded a month after the crash of ’29 that heralded the Great Depression. I first heard it on Ry Cooder’s self-titled debut album (1970). To his arrangement we owe a debt. I kept the ‘doctor’ first verse by Reed then wrote three others with a mind to the great trials the people of New Orleans have faced this year.»
Penned by Pete Seeger during the Vietnam War, «Bring ‘Em Home» quickly acquired anthemic power in the anti-war movement. Springsteen first recorded the song in January 2006 and added a final lead vocal during his European tour, at a studio in Oslo, Norway. His poignant rendition, performed frequently on the Seeger Sessions tour, adds several new verses and connects the song to a much earlier topical song, «When Johnny Comes Marching Home.» «Bring ‘Em Home» was written in 1965 and originally released on Seeger’s 1971 Columbia album, ‘Young vs. Old.’
‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions – American Land Edition’ will be available on a track-by-track basis from iTunes, allowing fans that have already purchased ‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions’ DualDisc to download the additional tracks.
Always ready to give a little help to his friends, Springsteen appears on the new album by Joe Grushecky (on 4 tracks, including a tremendous duet on the opening track: «Code of Silence», which both co-wrote), plus Sam Moore‘s «Overnight Sensational» (singing a full verse on «Better to Have and Not Need») and the forthcoming Jerry Lee Lewis album «Last Man Standing» where both sing together Bruce’s own «Pink Cadillac».
In a recent interview, actor Gary Busey confirms he’s working on a Buddy Holly tribute album that will include Springsteen’s version of «Rave On», the very same song they performed together onstage at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in August of 1978, when Bruce invited Busey onstage for a couple of nights. They had previously joined forced at a club show in L.A. in July ’78, when Bruce was the guest at the Old Dog Band show in a small club outside L.A.
