I Just Want to Feel Some Rhythm

After releasing two widely forgotten albums on the same day, yet not as a double album, Bruce Springsteen disbanded the E Street Band and released only the sober Ghost of Tom Joad over the next decade. Then September 11th happened and America needed their leading voice and The Boss was happy to oblige getting the E Street Band back together for the uplifting The Rising and subsequence tour with concerts reaching the three hour mark. Bruce went back to the folk rock of Joad on Devils and Dust, and then went full on old time folk when rounding of a new band for The Seeger Sessions.

Luckily for those of us that love when Bruce goes full on rock and roll with the E Street Band, we didn’t have to wait another decade for the next rock opus, just half a decade this time. Foe the album Magic, Brendan O’Brien (fun fact: before producing for the likes of Pearl Jam, O’Brien was a member of The Georgia Satellites) is back as producer as he was on The Rising, again giving the songs a blend of classic rock that still sounds up to date.

Magic starts off with Radio Nowhere, granted not as great as Born to Run of Born in the U.S.A., but what could be, is still up there with the groups best in the terms of bombast rock where The Boss takes aim at the state of radio today, “I want a thousand guitars, I want pounding drums.” You may not find them on your radio dial these days, but Bruce and the boys happy to bring them to you on the song and throughout the album.

The rest of the album doesn’t rock as hard as the opener, but there is plenty to listen to. Livin’ in the Future, a song that could have easily fit on the Born in the U.S.A. album, should become a concert staple on the proceeding tour complete with a great sing-a-long ending. Girls in their Summer Clothes will be the song that will get people dancing in the aisles. Then at the end of the album, Devil’s Arcade is a slow building gem that is a great way to cap the album (well before you get to the bonus track which sounds like something left over from The Seeger Sessions).

Where Bruce decidedly didn’t take sides when assessing the damage of 9/11 on The Rising, there are shades of political overtones directed at the subsequent policy that came from that day and towards those who came up with it on the new album. You can’t help but wonder if the line, “Woke up election day, sky’s gunpowder and shades of grey” (Livin’ in the Future) is directed at our election back in 2004 or any Iraqi one since the war began. And you don’t have to read between the lines to figure out what the line, “Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?” (Last to Die) is about.

But for the most part Springsteen sticks to the tried and true lyrical content of love (I’ll Work for Your Love) and loss (the bonus track Terry’s Song, about the Bruce’s long time assistant). And anyways, it is the sound of the music that really counts, and the E Street Band was firing on all cylinders for the album, especially Clarence Clemmons sax solo which sound to be getting better with age. Hopefully it isn’t another five years until the next time Bruce rounds up the boys for another album.

Song to Download - Livin’ in the Future

Magic gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.