Hailed as Bruce Springsteen's return to rock upon its release in fall 2007, Magic isn't quite as straightforward as that description would have it seem. True, this does mark another reunion with the E Street Band, only his second studio album with the group since 1984's Born in the U.S.A., giving this a rock & roll heft missing from his two previous albums -- the dusty, literary Devils & Dust and the raucous We Shall Overcome: The Pete Seeger Sessions -- and unlike The Rising, the first E Street Band album of the new millennium, there is no overarching theme here. It's just a collection of songs, something that Bruce hasn't done since Human Touch, or maybe even The River. All the ingredients are in place for a simple, straight-ahead rock album, except for two things: Springsteen didn't write a lot of flat-out rock songs, and with his producer Brendan O'Brien, he didn't make an album that sounds much like a rock & roll album, either. Magic is bright and punchy, a digital-age production through and through, right down to how each track feels as if it were crafted according to its own needs instead of the record as a whole.
Underneath this shiny veneer, the E Street Band can still lift this music toward great heights, infusing it with a sense of majesty, but this is an E Street Band that was recorded piecemeal in the studio, pasted together track by track as the group fit sessions into their busy schedules. This approach gives the album a bit of a mannered, meticulous sound not unlike The Rising, but such careful construction was appropriate for Springsteen's cautious, caring 9/11 rumination; on Magic it tends to keep the music from reaching full flight. Then again, the songs here don't quite lend themselves to either the transcendent sweep of Born to Run or the down-n-dirty roadhouse rockers that cluttered The River. There's a quiet melancholy underpinning this album. It's evident even on the hard-driving "Radio Nowhere," whose charging guitars mask a sense of desperation, or the deceptively breezy "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," which grows more wistful with each passing chorus. "Girls" is also indicative of how Magic doesn't quite feel like classic E Street Band, even when it offers reminders of their classic sound: like "Born to Run," it trades upon Phil Spector, but here the band doesn't absorb the Wall of Sound; they evoke it, giving the song a nostalgic bent that emphasizes the soft sadness in his melody. This oddly bittersweet vibe that is shared by "Your Own Worst Enemy," whose baroque harpsichords -- uncannily reminiscent of the Left Banke -- are the biggest curveball here.
That is, it's the biggest specific curveball outside of the overall feel of Magic, which is far too somber to be called just another rock & roll album. The solemn, sepia-toned picture of the Boss on the cover is a pretty big tip-off that there may not be a whole lot of good times coming on Magic, but it's a surprise that this is not only not as joyous as We Shall Overcome, it doesn't have as many moments of sunny relief as The Rising, which had "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" and "Mary's Place" among its quiet, artful grief. Here, the joy and the sadness are fused, skewing such otherwise lively numbers as "Livin' in the Future" -- which otherwise sounds like it could sneak onto the second side of Born in the U.S.A. -- toward the sober side. Springsteen also targets war and politics throughout the album, either through metaphors (the title track, where the audience is suckered by a con man) or blunt declarations ("Last to Die"). All this toil and tension doesn't make for a very fun album, but 2007 isn't a very fun time, so it's an appropriate reflection of the time. The thing of it is, despite some fine moments of craft -- both musical and lyrical, whether on "Gypsy Biker" or "Long Walk Home" -- the songs aren't written with the keen literary eye that made Devils & Dust play like a collection of short stories. Like the music, the words just feel a shade too deliberate, rendering Magic just a bit too overthought -- hardly enough to make for a bad record, but one that isn't quite grabbing, even if it is helped immeasurably by the E Street Band in old pro mode. And what's missing comes into sharp relief as the album draws to a close with "Terry's Song," a quickly written and recorded tribute to Terry Magovern, Springsteen's longtime friend and assistant. Compared to the rest of the album, this simple tune is a bit ragged, but it's soulful, moving, and indelible, immediate where the rest of the album is a shade distant. After hearing it, it's hard not to wish that Bruce would record this way all the time.
That was my rookie concert with Bruce and was it worth it? Yes it was! Bruce went for over 3 hours straight with an energy unmatched. You just know when you are in the presence of a legend, and that was the truth last Saturday night at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
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Artist: Bruce SpringsteenClick here to downloaddownload Radio Nowhere mp3 download You'll Be Comin' Down mp3 download Livin' in the Future mp3 download Your Own Worst Enemy mp3 download Gypsy Biker mp3 download Girls in Their Summer Clothes mp3 download I'll Work for Your Love mp3 download Magic mp3 download Last to Die mp3 download Long Walk Home mp3 download Devil's Arcade mp3 download Hidden...
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I had the good fortune of having two tickets to get into Barack Obama's northern Indiana town hall meeting which took place earlier today. Barack was charismatic as always and his speech was filled with rhetoric and patriotism not heard since the speeches of JFK. Fortunately it seems as if Obama actually has plans and strategies to back up his platform of hope. He spoke for over an hour and ...
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New England Patriots Cheerleader Quinn Kingston.‘I want a thousand guitars. I want pounding drums. I want a million different voices speaking in tongues. This is radio nowhere, ‘is there anybody alive out there’. (BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN)Hear ‘RADIO NOWHERE’, ‘Livin In The Future’, ‘ You’ll Be Comin Down’’, ‘Last To Die’, and ‘Long Way Home’ by ‘BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’ from
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I've been listening to Springsteen's new album repeatedly the last couple of days, and I like it a lot. Not terribly surprising; I've liked just about all of his stuff. The most interesting thing about this one is the degree to which it doesn't *sound* like a Springsteen record. There's one throwback to the sound from the '70s and '80s (ironically enough, titled "Livin' in the Future") but it s...
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*Two years shy of 60, the voice of several generations*An articulate chronicler of the American condition in general throughout his lengthy career, Springsteen now finds himself, for the third time since the turn of the century, reacting to specific events troubling the nation's psyche. The Rising, from 2002, was an intelligent and uplifting response to a country shocked and bewildered by 9/11,...
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This is a catchy song coming from Bruce and the E Street Band.
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--- - |- I had the good fortune of having two tickets to get into Barack Obama's northern Indiana town hall meeting which took place earlier today. Barack was charasmatic as always and his speech was filled with rhetoric and patriotism not heard since the speeches of JFK. Fortunately it seems as if Obama actually has plans and strategies to back up his platform of hope. He spoke for over ...
More >
I had the good fortune of having two tickets to get into Barack Obama's northern Indiana town hall meeting which took place earlier today. Barack was charismatic as always and his speech was filled with rhetoric and patriotism not heard since the speeches of JFK. Fortunately it seems as if Obama actually has plans and strategies to back up his platform of hope. He spoke for over an hour and ...
More >
Last week Columbia Records premiered the new Bruce Springsteen video for "Girls In Their Summer Clothes." The video was directed by Mark Pellington ("Lonesome Day," "Pearl Jam's "Jeremy"), and shot in Ocean Grove and Asbury Park, NJ, near Springsteen's home.Available on iTunes are both a live version and a "Winter Mix" of the song."Girls In Their Summer Clothes"Bruce Springsteen and the E Stree...
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Missed Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band the first time around? Now the New Jersey rocker and his entourage have announced the second leg of their tour in support of Magic. Springsteen and Co. are kicking off the jaunt after the New Year on February 28th in Hartford, Connecticut. According to Billboard Boxscore, of the 18 stops on the first leg of the Boss' tour 14 of them were sellouts. ...
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Bruce Springsteen has a new album coming out in October that he made with the E Street Band. It's called Magic. Here's the first single, "Radio Nowhere." It's pretty damn good. Not "Born To Run" or "Thunder Road," but, hey, he's not that young anymore.Cover art for the "Radio Nowhere" single.
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New England Patriots Cheerleader Quinn Kingston.‘I want a thousand guitars. I want pounding drums. I want a million different voices speaking in tongues. This is radio nowhere, ‘is there anybody alive out there’. (BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN)Hear ‘RADIO NOWHERE’, ‘Livin In The Future’, ‘ You’ll Be Comin Down’’, ‘Last To Die’, and ‘Long Way Home’ by ‘BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’ from
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*Two years shy of 60, the voice of several generations*An articulate chronicler of the American condition in general throughout his lengthy career, Springsteen now finds himself, for the third time since the turn of the century, reacting to specific events troubling the nation's psyche. The Rising, from 2002, was an intelligent and uplifting response to a country shocked and bewildered by 9/11,...
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Springsteen has been in major rotation lately: "Magic," and some older things, and the second show from last week in Philadelphia. Next Wednesday, he plays Madison Square Garden; I haven't missed a tour in over 30 years, and I can't wait to hear the new stuff.I also watched the interview on '60 Minutes' on Sunday, and heard Springsteen speak eloquently about his vision of America.And I wondered...
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Anyone have experience with an internet radio receiver? I read an article about it in this month's Atlantic, and it sounds very intriguing. Connects to your PC via wi-fi, can do preset channels, etc.... article is "here":http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/radio, though you may need a subscription). I'd be curious if anyone has purchased a receiver and how you like it.
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I don't mind telling you, I was a bit worried. "Radio Nowhere" seemed so obvious, and Max sounded a little muffled, and Clarence's sax burst so perfunctory, but it's growing on me, and the album is Springsteen's best since...Entertainment Weekly says "The River," which it kind of resembles (if "The River" were half as long). I'll go with "Tunnel of Love." Since the '80s in either case, which ki...
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Bruce Springsteen's new album with the E Street Band, Magic, took top honors its debut week after selling 335,000 copies. Magic, The Boss' eighth Number One album, joins the leagues of his other chart-toppers: The River, Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band 1975-1985, Tunnel of Love, The Rising, Greatest Hits and Devils & Dust.The Boss' success took last week's Number One ...
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The upcoming Bruce Springsteen album, Magic, due out Oct. 2, began circulating via the web this weekend.Springsteen finds his groove again.The 12-track album is the Boss's best rock album since 1987's Tunnel of Love. Backed by the E Street band, but without being tied to a Big Statement as he was with The Ghost of Tom Joad and The Rising, he is able to deliver moving collection of new songs tha...
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Remembering those summer days and evenings.Lyrics | Girls In Their Summer Clothes lyrics
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Since Bruce Springsteen is the hot topic this week, I thought some of you might enjoy this AP news report on his new Magic and how it relates to the current Bush administration.
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I purchased and have listed to "Magic" a few times.. and I'm sad to say, the album doesn't live up to the title. I love Springsteen, so this isn't a rant on an artist that I don't care for to begin with.I have to say, the lyrical content of Magic was inspiring - and is some of his best recent work, without doubt - however, the music.. well, to put a point on it, sometimes "less is more". "Gir...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Radio Nowhere |
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| 2 You'll Be Comin' Down |
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| 3 Livin' in the Future |
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| 4 Your Own Worst Enemy |
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| 5 Gypsy Biker |
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| 6 Girls in Their Summer Clothes |
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| 7 I'll Work for Your Love |
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| 8 Magic |
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| 9 Last to Die |
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| 10 Long Walk Home |
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| 11 Devil's Arcade |
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| 12 Terry's Song [*] |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Magic")
