The Quad

Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Entertainment

Bruce Springsteen, set to release his first studio album with the E-Street Band since 2002's Grammy Award winning multi-platinum "The Rising," has announced his return to the rock world after two years of detours off E-Street.

"Magic" drops Oct. 2 and is perhaps Springsteen's best all around record since the '70s.

From the opening chords of its hit single "Radio Nowhere," to the final melodies on the atmospheric track "Devils Arcade," "Magic" is filled with rocking melodies, roaring guitars and pounding drums.

On first listen "Magic" is light on its feet and nothing more than a collection of songs meant to be blaring from your car stereo while speeding down the highway.

But as is the case in all things Springsteen, this album has much more to offer. Springsteen has managed to weave deeper political meaning into the Dylan-esque symbolism of his lyrics.

The album opens with "Radio Nowhere," which is ironically the most radio friendly song on a release loaded with potential hit singles.

The narrator is wandering through "The last great American night" searching for some rhythm. Asking for "A thousand guitars" and "pounding drums," the protagonist gets just that. It can be interpreted that this is The Boss' lament on the state of today's music industry and the eternal search for rock and roll on airwaves polluted with the mindless drivel of pop music. But as is the case in many of Springsteen's songs over the years, it can also reveal a much more personal struggle, such as a person seeking connection in another, or in society.

Regardless of your interpretation, expect this track to get heavy airplay on radio everywhere in the coming weeks and months.

Unlike recent projects such as 2006's "The Seeger Sessions," which saw Springsteen record and re-work traditional American Folk songs, and 2005's somber reflective solo effort, "Devils and Dust," "Magic" features the rocking guitars and drums of The E-Street Band. Though, much like his most recent work, politics move front and center on many of the album's 12 tracks.

Take the title track for example, "Magic" uses the eerie sound, and imagery of a magician's tricks as a guise to deliver a dark political message about the way the media has portrayed the Iraq war. The trickery ranging from making a quarter disappear, the rabbit in his hat, and most troubling, the fact that he has "got a shiny saw blade, all I need's a volunteer" and intends to "cut you in half while you're smiling ear to ear and the freedom that you sought drifting like a ghost amongst the trees" and prophetically states that "This is what will be."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools