Born Again Savage

Personnel: Little Steven (vocals, guitar); Adam Clayton (bass); Jason Bonham
(drums); Steve Jordan, Jean Beauvoir, Ben Newberry, Frank Newberry (background vocals).
Recorded at Avarar Studios, New York, New York.
The once-and-future E Street Band honcho was probably better known for his role on HBO's THE SOPRANOS than for his music when this album was released at the end of 1999, but that's a rank injustice. In fact, BORN AGAIN SAVAGE is a tour de force, a great, brutal piece of guitar rock that yokes Steve Van Zant's political passions to songs that are canny tributes to (as he writes in the liner notes) the rock pioneers that kept him alive as a kid.
Backed by the killer rhythm section of Jason Bonham and U2's Adam Clayton (Van Zant plays all the multi-tracked guitars), he serves up a set that more than lives up to his influences. The title track is a politicized version of the Yardbirds' "Little Games," while "The Camouflage of Righteousness" is an angrier version of the Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It." "Salvation" is an open-G tuned rocker that recalls countless Stones songs, andàwell you get the idea. Yes, the album is by derivative by definition, but its coiled-spring passion and clear-eyed wisdom nevertheless speak volumes in ways that more superficially au courant product doesn't.