Bruce Springsteen, "Magic" 11/19/2009
By Brendan Harte Gilsenan
✭✭✭✭
“Is there anybody alive out there?” Apparently there is, and his name is Bruce Springsteen. Many consider rock a barren genre, whose glory days are those of the past – it seems The Boss never got that memo. Springsteen emerges from the studio with his follow-up to 2002’s The Rising. Magic, only his second E Street Band backed record in the last twenty-three years, entered the Billboard charts at number 1, and rightfully so.
Magic is a word often used in the music industry to describe something unique and incredible. Though these words have been repeatedly applied to Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band over the years, this time around Springsteen sings of a different kind of magic. I got a coin in my palm/I can make it disappear/I got a card up my sleeve/Name it and I’ll pull it out your ear he whispers in the album’s title track, which revolves around the deceit and disillusions of others. When performing live, Bruce has admitted that the song is not actually about magic at all; "[It's] not about magic, but about tricks," he told the audience of his openings night at Madison Square Garden. The tricks Springsteen talks about are those he feels the government is pulling with its citizens. Though he has been known to be a political critic throughout his career, this time around the Boss seems to focus most of the album’s material in a direction it has not gone in many years. “Lately, I've had a little romance with my oldest stuff,” he tells Rolling Stone Magazine. With Magic, Springsteen returns to the classic subjects and sounds of his earlier music.
The album opens with its heavy guitar-driven “Radio Nowhere”. A song about trying to connect with others musically, the lead single foreshadows what is to be found throughout the record. Sounding like the Springsteen of old, Magic reminds listeners of the E Street music they first fell in love with, while still holding its own place as an individual among the multitude of Springsteen albums. Side B (for all you vinyl lovers) begins with “I’ll Work For Your Love”. With an intro reminiscent of “Thunder Road” it shows, after all these years, Springsteen has never lost touch with his classics. Closing the album is the last minute addition of the “Terry’s Song”. This tribute to Springsteen’s longtime friend and colleague, the late Terry Magovern, sounds like it might as well have been a left over from the Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J era. Equipped with only his acoustic guitar and harmonica, and accompanied by a piano, Springsteen has recorded the perfect conclusion to a nearly perfect album.
Jon Landau, the Boss’s longtime manager, once said, “I’ve seen the future of Rock N’ Roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” That future has now become our past and our present. If Springsteen continues to release music at a level comparative to Magic, it will remain our future as well.
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
12. Terry's Song (hidden track)
✭✭✭✭
“Is there anybody alive out there?” Apparently there is, and his name is Bruce Springsteen. Many consider rock a barren genre, whose glory days are those of the past – it seems The Boss never got that memo. Springsteen emerges from the studio with his follow-up to 2002’s The Rising. Magic, only his second E Street Band backed record in the last twenty-three years, entered the Billboard charts at number 1, and rightfully so.
Magic is a word often used in the music industry to describe something unique and incredible. Though these words have been repeatedly applied to Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band over the years, this time around Springsteen sings of a different kind of magic. I got a coin in my palm/I can make it disappear/I got a card up my sleeve/Name it and I’ll pull it out your ear he whispers in the album’s title track, which revolves around the deceit and disillusions of others. When performing live, Bruce has admitted that the song is not actually about magic at all; "[It's] not about magic, but about tricks," he told the audience of his openings night at Madison Square Garden. The tricks Springsteen talks about are those he feels the government is pulling with its citizens. Though he has been known to be a political critic throughout his career, this time around the Boss seems to focus most of the album’s material in a direction it has not gone in many years. “Lately, I've had a little romance with my oldest stuff,” he tells Rolling Stone Magazine. With Magic, Springsteen returns to the classic subjects and sounds of his earlier music.
The album opens with its heavy guitar-driven “Radio Nowhere”. A song about trying to connect with others musically, the lead single foreshadows what is to be found throughout the record. Sounding like the Springsteen of old, Magic reminds listeners of the E Street music they first fell in love with, while still holding its own place as an individual among the multitude of Springsteen albums. Side B (for all you vinyl lovers) begins with “I’ll Work For Your Love”. With an intro reminiscent of “Thunder Road” it shows, after all these years, Springsteen has never lost touch with his classics. Closing the album is the last minute addition of the “Terry’s Song”. This tribute to Springsteen’s longtime friend and colleague, the late Terry Magovern, sounds like it might as well have been a left over from the Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J era. Equipped with only his acoustic guitar and harmonica, and accompanied by a piano, Springsteen has recorded the perfect conclusion to a nearly perfect album.
Jon Landau, the Boss’s longtime manager, once said, “I’ve seen the future of Rock N’ Roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” That future has now become our past and our present. If Springsteen continues to release music at a level comparative to Magic, it will remain our future as well.
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
12. Terry's Song (hidden track)
