Springsteen, Bruce

After going from 1984 through 2002 without getting an "E Street Band" album, we then get three in the span of seven years (2002, 2007, 2009).

After enjoying the last two E Street Band albums, this was an auto purchase for me. I had it the day it came out, and I got the album, stuck it in and.. The first song is eight minutes and one second long? Wow - that's a surprise. You don't generally write songs like that nowadays. Good for Bruce that he's keeping that old school feel.

Like the other two albums from the 2000's, this has that old school Bruce feel to it. It should appeal to anyone who likes old school Springsteen. So much so I think he played the Super Bowl halftime show this past year (Steelers have six!) and played the title track, which is a good song. I do have to say I enjoyed Outlaw Pete (that long track 1 song). This is an album I listen to go and go "Oh yeah, that's a good track". There's no one single super standout track, but I enjoy just about everything on this album. Hopefully there's another album like this in a couple of years.

One last note about the song Outlaw Pete. There's a riff from 1:42 to 1:50 that sounds like the main riff from the old Kiss song "I Was Made for Lovin' You". I know Bruce doesn't need to rip off Kiss, but man does it sound familiar.

It's become apparent that as Bruce Springsteen gets older, that he seems to mix his output between folk records, live albums, and the occasional E Street release. The E Street releases are the rarer of the batch, with only three having been released since 1984. I seem to like these the best. After progressively slower and more boring musical output by Springsteen, I had burnt out on him completely for awhile; stopping altogether until 2002's excellent The Rising. I was hoping The Rising was a permanent return to form, but alas it wasn't - as he went back and did another folk album, a live album, another live album, and an album of covers. Yawn. So when I heard about Magic, my first thought was it something weird, or a "real" album - an E Street album. When I heard it was an E Street album, I was quite happy about that.

I first heard the single in late August 2007 when it was made available for free via iTunes. The first single (Radio Nowhere) was a free download, which I'll always take advantage of. It's quite anthemic in it's sound - something that would have fit well on the Born in the USA album. Lyrically it reminds me of the Tom Petty album "The Last DJ". Anyway, fantastic track. So I pre-ordered the album straight away. When I got it, I have to admit it initially bored me. It wasn't as immediately catchy as The Rising was. But given it was E Street, I gave it a fair shake, and continued to listen. The day it was actually released (Tue the 2nd), it clicked with me (I got it early via one of my record label contacts). Can't tell you why, it's one of those "OK, I get it now" moments, which kind of makes me wonder what the heck I was thinking the first few times I listened to it.

Radio Nowhere is by far the most radio friendly (ha) song on the album, so there isn't another one of those, but there's some really nice melodies on this. Some of my favorite tracks are Long Walk Home, Last to Die, and Devil's Arcade. Living in the Future has a sax hook that is seriously old school Springsteen. I'll Work for your Love also has an old school Springsteen feel to it I liked.

To sum up, for someone who had just graduated High School when Born in the USA came out, this album 23 years later makes me feel like I'm back then - this doesn't feel like his Tom Joad style of stuff (which I can't stand). Get it.

I saw this album come out, and after Springsteen's last studio album, I was leery. However, this was the first time that "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band" actually recorded anything SINCE the Born in the USA album - so I took a chance. Wow! This is spectacular! This is the album he should have made right after USA. It's not as solid as USA is, but the music here is great, the lyrics, while depressing at times (it is about 9/11 after all) are also good. A definite must have.

The next album he came out with after this in 2005 felt like Tom Joad 2, so I didn't bother.

After USA, I was buying all of Springsteen's albums (River of Love, Human Touch, Lucky Town, Live box set, etc). However, I found as time went on, I liked them less and less, until 95's "Ghost of Tom Joad", which I thought was utter crap - I vowed not to buy Springsteen albums anymore after that. Anyway, not long after that, he also released a Greatest Hits album, which has songs from albums before USA (which I never got), and the few I liked from the albums post USA. Figured this was the last Springsteen album I'd buy...

Probably the most "American" sounding rock album I've ever heard - which is odd, given what the title track is really about, not what everyone "thinks" it's about. This album is solid from start to finish, and is absolutely brilliant. Everyone should own this. As a side note, this was my first ever CD. I got my first CD player as an Xmas present in 1987, and I had this CD about two years before that! :)