Magic : Bruce Springsteen : Review : Rolling Stone

Bruce Springsteen’s first album of original songs with the E Street Band since he lost the vote for change in 2004 starts with guitars --a wall of angry, droning treble that, for the three minutes of “Radio Nowhere,” is blessedly louder than the oceanic static of bent truths, partisan reporting and general bullshit that passes for life-and-death debate in the new wired order. Springsteen isn’t just pissed about the state of rock & roll radio --that’s like kicking a corpse --although he is blunt about what’s missing. “A thousand guitars . . . pounding drums,” he demands against the racing squall of his band. But “Radio Nowhere” is actually about how we speak and listen to each other through the murk --”Is there anybody alive out there?”he growls, over and over --and how a firm beat, some Telecaster sting and the robust peal of Clarence Clemons’ saxophone can still tell you more about the human condition than a thousand op-ed words.

Magic is, in one way, the most openly nostalgic record Springsteen has ever made. The arrangements, the performances and Brendan O’Brien’s wall-of-surf production are mined with echoes and near-direct quotes of classic records, including Springsteen’s: the early-Sixties beach-radio bounce of “Girls in Their Summer Clothes‚” the overcast-Pet Sounds orchestration of “Your Own Worst Enemy‚”the “Jungleland” ring of Roy Bittan’s piano rainfall in “I’ll Work for Your Love.” “You’ll Be Comin’ Down” sounds like it strutted over from The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. “Livin’ in the Future” is “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” with a new, thick coat of twang and a full tank of lust. After wrapping himself in a thousand fiddles on The Seeger Sessions, Springsteen has rediscovered the boardwalk-dance-party power of Born to Run and the Mitch Ryder and Jackie DeShannon encore covers in his 1975 and ‘78 shows.

But Springsteen’s songwriting here is also intricately wired with outrage and disbelief. The pain, courage and genuine love of country that he saw and felt after 9/11 and put to song with the E Street Band on The Rising have gone up in flames and betrayal. He makes no direct references to Iraq, Bush or the so-called Patriot Act. He doesn’t need them. The pared metaphors and straight talk carry the weight and body count. Like “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Gypsy Biker” is the sober homecoming of a war veteran with images of anxious preparation (“We pulled your cycle out of the garage/And polished up the chrome”) and wasted effort (“The speculators made their money on the blood you shed”). Except this time, the soldier is returning in a coffin, and the devastated singer is numb with grief, mourning over lines of cocaine. “Last to Die”takes off like “Thunder Road,”but into a darkness of unknown depth. “Who will be the last to die for a mistake?”Springsteen sings, gripping the wheel and marking the miles in fires and martyrs from both sides of the road. And the title song, a skeleton dance of acoustic guitar and cimbalom, is a catalog of tricks, not magic. At the end, Springsteen adds up the high price of White House snake oil in a voice strained with exhaustion: “There’s bodies hangin’ in the trees/This is what will be, this is what will be.”

If we let it. Even when he was gunning Chevys in his old turnpike songs, Springsteen never wrote merely about escape. “Growin’ Up,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”and “Backstreets” were about choices, the work of freedom. The same goes for Magic and its vintage Stone Pony-a-go-go. Only the stakes are even higher. In “Long Walk Home,”a muscular update of “My Hometown,” a father tells his son, about to ship out, the true meaning of national service and sacrifice: “You know that flag/Flying over the courthouse/Means certain things are set in stone/Who we are, what we’ll do/And what we won’t.” We only know who dies last for a mistake when we all stand up and say, “Enough.”

DAVID FRICKE

(Posted: Oct 18, 2007)

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Give us your review of Magic

Review 1 of 60

1of 5 Stars

Wow, no surprise here. Rolling Stone kissing Bruce Springsteen's ass. Listen people, just because it's "The Boss" doesn't mean we automatically have to consider it perfection.

Jun 20, 2008 09:27:27

Review 2 of 60

5of 5 Stars

I don't know what made me check out these songs online. Since no one has been actually playing it much on the radio (Pat yourself on the bacl classic radio station hypocrites), I didn't know it existed until I saw the album cover. When I actually started listening to song samples I was really surprised by the direction he took. A new one. I was sure he would keep going with the classic sound on The Rising and earlier albums. What's better than an older artist totally reinventing himself, coming out with a modern classic that sounds different than anything he's done. And I can see no reason other than he wanted to do something different. I got it today, and after 3 listens it keeps getting better. He's back with a vengance. It sounds a little more commercial than some of his albums, but either way you look at it, Magic is a masterpiece.

Jun 13, 2008 22:24:49

Review 3 of 60

5of 5 Stars

I have to tell you I was scrolling through my itunes and looking at the play count of each song and BY FAR "Magic" is played the most on my computer. "Long Walk Home" has been played over 50 times since I've imported it when it came out. The album greater than the sum of it's parts, much like most Bruce and U2 albums. I think the only weak song is Devil's Arcade. This such a suberp album, if you're a Springsteen fan at any level this is a must have.

May 28, 2008 11:23:38

Review 4 of 60

5of 5 Stars

An essential album if you can not stomach today's popular music. The song structures remind me of sixties pop songs done with style and substance. My favorite song is I'll Work for Your Love and I can close my eyes and picture this as a Dylan remake. Girls in Their Summer Clothes harken to the Big Star song September Gurls. Radio Nowhere pretty much sums up today's music scene. Your Own Worse Enemy is about as Beatlesque as I have ever heard from Bruce. Like any great artist he perculates his sources into a sound that is his. This album has reaffirmed my love of the man and his music. Seeing him live the other night has inspired me to live on the edge again. Be brave again. Thank you Bruce!

Apr 28, 2008 20:45:33

Review 5 of 60

5of 5 Stars

This is without a dout one of the best albums I"ve heard in quiet a while.i think the lyrics are out standing.The last song talks about the titanic ,the pyramids of egypt, when they built you brother they broke the mold.The title to this song and the lyrics were not included on this CD,I wonder why,It's a great song.

Jan 25, 2008 13:16:05

Review 6 of 60

5of 5 Stars

I 'discovered' Bruce Springsteen's music about 6 months before The River released. And, from that point forward his music has been a true touchstone for me, informing and energizing my life, thoroughly entertaining -- sometimes offering a haven in the storm, sometimes offering a way to heal. Bruce's music changed my life. And, as much as I intellectually understand and respect his words and music without the band, it is the E-Street Band music that I feel, and it is the E-Street Band music that resonates and touches my heart. Listening to the snippets of the songs on this album online, I wrote it off and figured, eh, when I get around to it. Once I picked up the album, I still couldn't connect to it initially -- I felt like maybe Bruce's music didn't speak to me anymore -- yikes, yet one more thing I thought I could count on in my life disappearing. But without thinking, I just started listening to Magic intently over the last couple weeks and doing what I used to do when I was younger, taking the time to immerse myself in the music & lyrics one song at a time until I learned the song --understanding and feeling it. With this work, he just gets it -- and so eloquently and elegantly. I am so sad on so many levels for where we are as a country and a people right now; to watch it happen before my eyes knowing what's along the path and down the road -- deja vu all over again in a very bad way -- to see all the pain and sadness of the Vietnam era resurfacing, especially families and lives and people's simple dreams torn apart is a waking nightmare -- only this time the voices questioning it all are quieted. Magic doesn't offer answers, it offers war-weary touches of wisdom asking the same questions I am asking -- it is a beautifully orchestrated musical and lyrical voice dealing with the uncertain times we are all in -- individually and collectively. For me, it's becoming a haven in the storm.

Jan 8, 2008 05:52:08

Review 7 of 60

5of 5 Stars

It took me a few listens to get into the CD, unfamiliar with his new material as I was. However, after 4 or 5 listens, the great songs began coming out; Gypsy Biker, Radio Nowhere, Devil's Arcade. The songs You'll Be Coming Down and Your Own Worst Enemy are probably some of my least favorite Springsteen songs, not counting Human Touch hahah, but the rest of the album is some really great rock n' roll.

Dec 26, 2007 13:42:17

Review 8 of 60

5of 5 Stars

I have followed Bruce's work and music for most of my 50+ adult life. I have seen him over 25 times, so I may be biased in my opinion, but Magic works in so many ways. It is musically powerful and lyrically superior to anything released in the last year if not longer. We all long for the old Bruce of Born to Run and Darkness, but he has moved on and so should we. Magic is strong from the first chord of Radio Nowhere to the sentimental Terry's Song.

The songs take hold quickly. I heard it before it was released and thought it was ok. Then I listened again and again, and found that it was the only CD on my player for days at a time.

If you don't like Bruce, fine. Don't waste my time or the time of people that want to know the quality of the CD. If you like Rap or Country, then maybe this isn't for you. But if you want politically charged, socially relevant Rock and Roll that will set your ears ablaze, this is the album of the year.

Dec 7, 2007 11:25:31

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