There’s a reason that America went ga-ga over Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising in 2002. It was a time when America needed to lean on its homegrown folk heroes, and the Boss responded with politically charged, yearning numbers that recalled the glory of old New York and ached over the day that changed it forever. We ate up The Rising because Springsteen and the E Street Band were something familiar, but the album – artistically bombastic but commercially bland – was far from the product we had become familiar with. On Magic, the Boss’ new album and first collaboration with the band since ’02, he offers an age-defying set of nostalgia, the aura of which should last far longer than his previous effort.
In many cases, the songs on Magic are as close a return to form as you could expect from a man pushing 60. “Radio Nowhere,” the first single, is an amped-up arena rocker that sees Springsteen pulling out all the stops and “Livin’ in the Future,” kicked off by Clarence Clemons’ brilliant tenor sax, leaves your wistful for the Jersey Shore in the “Born to Run” era.
Magic succeeds over The Rising largely due to its embrace of the classic Springsteen formula: warm, anthemic numbers that transfer flawlessly over generations. The sunny, slickly produced “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” sees the Boss looking back to his younger days and recollecting his hometown as well as he did in the ’70s. At other times, like in the underwhelming “You’ll Be Coming Down” and the unremarkable “Your Own Worst Enemy,” Bruce’s age shows in his lack of enthusiasm for musical arrangement.
Ever the activist, Springsteen does get political during Magic, some times more heavy-handedly than others. “Last to Die,” a blatant rally against the Vietnam War, is clumsy compared to the brilliant “Born in the U.S.A.” – the latter is so compelling, in fact, that Springsteen shouldn’t feel the need to replicate it. On the other hand, the sparse title track is a lyrically mature, nicely masked tale about political trickery.
Magic isn’t a time machine back to Springsteen’s best stuff, and there are few songs on the album that will be marked as classics (The Rising‘s “My City Of Ruins” ranks among my favorites despite the album’s overall weaknesses). Still, this is good Bruce, and good Bruce is better than most of what you’ll hear on the air.
Rating: * * * * of 5