At least once a year, I have to spotlight this absolutely fantastic live cover album–Joan Osborne and The Waybacks just absolutely knock every single Born in the U.S.A. track out of the park. Some are relatively faithful, some are dramatic re-imaginings, some are clever mash-ups, but all of them are great, and this is an album very much worth having.
I don’t mind confessing that I do not like the song “Cover Me.” Bruce’s version has always left me cold, and if I stack-ranked his entire catalog I’m pretty sure you’d find “Cover Me” at the bottom of it.
But this version redeems it and then some. Brilliantly mashing it up with Edwin Starr’s “War” (which of course Bruce was known to cover on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour) breathes new life into the song–so much so that it’s a wonder that it never occurred to Bruce to pair them back in 1985.
Take a listen and enjoy–and then do yourself a favor and check out the rest of the album as well. Brilliant stuff.
