Artist: Springsteen, Bruce
Label: Columbia Records
Release: 2007
When I heard Springsteen’s new song Radio Nowhere late this summer, I was genuinely scared that his best days were behind him. The not-so-tasteful ego trip with the Seeger Session Band had let me down, so I was hoping the rumors about a new album with the E Street Band were true and would soon come to pass. I never imagined it would happen this year, though. In a little over two years, Springsteen has put out five new records: Devils And Dust, both versions of Seeger Sessions (the regular and the American Land Edition), the live Live In Dublin, and now his 15th studio album, Magic.
Aside from the radio hit I already mentioned (and nothing more than that) Radio Nowhere – the kind of song Springsteen, with the exception of the album Human Touch, usually left in the drawer – the new studio album is a sort of summary of his work so far. The centerpiece is definitely Long Walk Home, which is nostalgic, intimate and socially critical all at once, the kind of song where Springsteen doesn’t have to cast himself as the savior (the songs on The Rising) or parody himself (Seeger Sessions). Springsteen’s protagonists are nearly sixty years old, the days of escapism are long gone, and they know resignation well too, but they’re still not completely numb: his “novel” goes on, and it’s full of sadness, worry and fear, or rather anxiety about the future. According to Springsteen, Bush’s America is far worse than Nixon’s, Carter’s or Reagan’s … there’s almost no way back. The people, who already live in ghost towns, are not merely a Nobody (from the song Nothing Man on The Rising), but even less than that, if that’s even possible. Nowhere is this aspect shown better than in the title track, where Springsteen, like some kind of shaman, announces that there’s actually no way out. The future won’t spare us, just as the present doesn’t spare us (“This is what will be”). Last To Die and Your Own Worst Enemy bear witness to this too, while in Livin’ In The Future Springsteen briefly switches his innate optimism back on and wipes out the present for the sake of a better future. Or at least it seems that way. A song that, sound-wise, could easily sit somewhere next to Hungry Heart on The River can also be an uncompromising confirmation of a present in which there’s no future at all.
Still, despite the dark thematic note, Magic is a musically cheerful album, and in that respect you could call it a kind of successor to Born In The USA; the relentlessness of the lyrics mostly comes dressed in a very energetic rock outfit, which shows that Springsteen, all things considered, hasn’t thrown in the towel yet. I honestly don’t know why it’s now fashionable for the sound to be so heavily compressed that the separation of the instruments gets completely lost, but on some songs it comes in handy, most of all on Girls In The Summer Clothes, one of the best songs on the record; on the surface a return to youth on the Jersey shore, it’s actually proof, dressed up in a Beach Boys-style moment, that it’s possible to sincerely relive your youth even at sixty. On the other hand, maybe the song really is a take on a midlife crisis, as one journalist wrote, and there were rumors that the Springsteens were having problems, but that’s their business. On tour they’re back together, and this time Mrs. Scialfa is also presenting her own songs.
On the new album, Springsteen combined the sounds of Born To Run, The River, Human Touch and The Rising with something new, which shows mostly in the way he sings – the Springsteen growl and rasp are gone, and even on the most rocking songs he sings differently, more softly, but no less sincerely and convincingly. The “new voice” seems to fit songs like Girls In The Summer Clothes really nicely; in the title track it’s, say, more Streets of Philadelphia-ish, and in the last, hidden song, a tribute to his friend and collaborator Terry Magovern, he goes back to the sounds of Devils And Dust.
The tour is already in full swing, and the shows are sold out. It’ll be interesting to hear how the new songs work on stage and what kind of voice Springsteen puts on for them. And of course, we’re waiting for the studio follow-up. As Springsteen himself said, there isn’t as much time left for him to take seven years between albums. Or is there?
Lineup
Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitar, harmonica, organ, synthesizer, xylophone, percussion, backing vocals
Stevie Van Zandt – guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
Nils Lofgren – guitar, backing vocals
Clarence Clemons – saxophone, backing vocals
Patti Scialfa – backing vocals
Roy Bittan – piano, organ
Danny Federici – organ, keyboards
Garry Tallent – bass guitar
Max Weinberg – drums
Production
Brendan O’Brien
Track list
1. Radio Nowhere
2. You’ll Be Comin’ Down
3. Livin’ In The Future
4. Your Own Worst Enemy
5. Gypsy Biker
6. Girls In Their Summer Clothes
7. I’ll Work For Your Love
8. Magic
9. Last To Die
10. Long Walk Home
11. Devil’s Arcade
Album length: 47.00
