Bruce Springsteen: 'Magic'

'Iraq’n’roll is what keeps him awake at night'

Oct 9, 2007
6 Comments
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While The Killers may have nicked his trademark Big Sound and tales of busting out of this ole town for their second album, the return of the real Boss finds him running at 100mph in the other direction (down a lonely, dusty road, naturally). Even when he wrote an entire album about 9/11, Bruce somehow still managed to sound toe-tapping (and only he is still legally allowed to even use that phrase). Six years on he sounds like a man not getting nearly enough cuddles: “We don’t measure the blood we’ve drawn anymore/We just stack the bodies at the door”, he broods on ‘Last To Die’. In fact an overwhelming sense of mortality is everywhere here. But scratch the surface and it seems like Iraq’n’roll is what keeps him awake at night, as crystallised by closer ‘The Devil’s Arcade’: the desolate croak of a de-limbed soldier mouldering away in a hospital ward.

Gavin Haynes

6 out of 10

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Comments (6)

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Before and After

Oct 11, 2007

I'd hate to join the ranks of those who think a published assessment of a record needs to reflect their own opinions, but I want to put one word out there to describe this review: misleading. I do have a few more words than that, of course. Magic is a classic, through and through, and is overflowing with energy from the second the needle touches down. Whether it's "Radio Nowhere" with its relentless, desperate hope and endless guitars or the distilled Beach Boys influences, alternately heartstring-tugging and shimmering on "Your Own Worst Enemy" and "Girls In Their Summer Clothes," this album is bright and powerful. And that's without getting into the brilliant "Tenth Avenue Freezeout" rewrite of "Livin' in the Future" or "I'll Work for Your Love," which kicks off with possibly the warmest, catchiest melody in recent history and comes complete with chiming, massive 12 string guitar bits. The politics, too, are sharp, moral and soap-box free. This is not desolate "Iraq'n'roll," this is hope and the desire for redemption: "My father said 'son, we're lucky in this town, it's a beautiful place to be born....and that flag above the courthouse means certain things are set in stone, who

Before and After

Feb 24, 2008

I'd hate to join the ranks of those who think a published assessment of a record needs to reflect their own opinions, but I want to put one word out there to describe this review: misleading. I do have a few more words than that, of course. Magic is a classic, through and through, and is overflowing with energy from the second the needle touches down. Whether it's "Radio Nowhere" with its relentless, desperate hope and endless guitars or the distilled Beach Boys influences, alternately heartstring-tugging and shimmering on "Your Own Worst Enemy" and "Girls In Their Summer Clothes," this album is bright and powerful. And that's without getting into the brilliant "Tenth Avenue Freezeout" rewrite of "Livin' in the Future" or "I'll Work for Your Love," which kicks off with possibly the warmest, catchiest melody in recent history and comes complete with chiming, massive 12 string guitar bits. The politics, too, are sharp, moral and soap-box free. This is not desolate "Iraq'n'roll," this is hope and the desire for redemption: "My father said 'son, we're lucky in this town, it's a beautiful place to be born....and that flag above the courthouse means certain things are set in stone, who

bruce999

Oct 12, 2007

Is Bruce more relevant than Oasis in 2006 ? Hell Yes. The new album shows America at a crossroads post September 11th.On the title track--a somber,
violin-draped number--Springsteen sings of a magician who moves from making
a coin disappear to sawing a volunteer into two. "I'll cut you in half," the
sly trickster says, "while you're smiling ear to ear. And the freedom that
you sought's driftin' like a ghost among the trees." As Springsteen has
acknowledged, this song is about the Bush administration, and the
Bush-Cheney magic act ends apocalyptically:
Now there's a fire down below
But it's comin' up here
So leave everything you know
And carry only what you fear
On the road the sun is sinkin' low
There's bodies hangin' in the trees
This is what will be, this is what will be.
Springsteen knows that
it's not about running away, it's about walking back. And though the music
soars, his message is mired in realism: this walk is not going to be easy.
This album will be considered a classic in the future mark my words

SteveMgoneYankee

Oct 17, 2007

As a Brit newly located in teh US, I have to look at the review in NME and take issue.

This is probably Springsteen's best mainstream rock album for 20 years, and should also be measured by the way it comments on the wider political position of a country too often held in the sway of a neocon right wing media. Watching TV and listening to the radio here, it is too often the case that dissenters are browbeaten by the likes of O'Reilly, Limbaugh and Hannity.

Yet Springsteen presents a wider, caring, questioning worldview of his country (and his countrymen) whilst delivering some 'toe-tapping' tunes (and I am legally allowed to use that phrase), often delivered with lush arrangements reminiscent of some of Brian Wilsons' tunes on Smiley Smile, or (yes, the old cliche) Spectorish production (before Phil lost ALL his marbles).

There are negative elements - Yes, sometimes the production is restrictive and cloying, on occasion the E Street Band sounds as if certain members are delivering their contributions by numbers and now and then odd lyrics feel as if they have been lifted from a rhyming dictionary - but clearly a very welcome and needed return to

ManxVP

Jan 7, 2008

Fans of Bruce Springsteen are not only devoted but articulate about why they worship the Boss. The new book 'For You: Original Stories & Photographs by Bruce Springsteen's Legendary Fans' is the work of disciples from Boise to Barcelona. The mayor of Delray Beach, Fla., says it best: 'Bruce fans are a fraternity - we share something deep and special, a relationship with the artist and with each other.

ctg99

May 6, 2008

It may not be 'darkness on the edge of town', but this album has something of its own uniqueness to it. Straight from the off set 'Radio Nowhere' is an instant classic. There are other jems on the album, for me the album itself is to grand, to much like a stadium album.There is no doubt that this album live would be amazing, but listening it on your own it leaves something inside you missing. Perhaps what is needed is a five minute ballad about street racing. The album nontheless is a must listen for Springsteen fans and people who have never listened to a Springsteen song before.Enjoy the ride!