Springsteen Turns Wine Into Beer. It's Magic!

It took me four stores to finally find Bruce Springsteen’s new one, Magic, in stock last week. When I brought it up to the counter, the woman working the register at the downtown Borders looked at the CD and marveled, “Ahh, the new Springsteen.” I felt like I was buying a cabernet.

Springsteen records tend to be a lot like a cabernet. Full bodied, complex, hints of oak (OK that’s a stretch). The problem with Magic is it goes down a lot more like a Michelob Golden Light. It’s still good but not much to taste. I’ve listened to the entire CD dozens of times and all too often I’ve forgotten it’s even playing in my car. The thoughts in my own head are drowning out the music, and that’s usually not the case with a Springsteen disc. Magic does nothing to command your attention. There are precious few songs from Magic that will stay on the E Street set list for years to come.

Make no mistake I’m a Springsteen apologist. I’ve traveled to see him play live in New Jersey. I’ve sent my in-laws to see him. And his 2002 9/11 inspired album The Rising is the only record to ever make me actually cry (the song was “You’re Missing” to be specific – check it out-crazy powerful). But it’s never a good sign when the first single is the best song on the album, and that’s precisely what “Radio Nowhere’’ is. “Radio Nowhere” is such a promising start to an album. It’s a put the top down sort of song that stretches across your hood just the same way “Thunder Road” did years ago.

But from there it’s pretty much downhill. The second track “You’ll be Coming Down” starts out in classic Bruce fashion. You’re waiting for him to yell “hep!” to start the march. It sounds like “I’m Going Down” from Born in the USA remixed for his more synth flavored Tunnel of Love record. But at best “You’ll be Coming Down” is very average background Bruce filler.

After song two we really go into the desert for a bit. “Livin’ in the Future” will sound nice with a dozen people in their 60s dancing around on stage at Springsteen’s live shows, but it feels old to listen to on CD. Sounds like the sort of thing a guy with “Sparky” for his pet name would listen to. But perhaps at 33 my body is still rejecting the saxophone.

The real low point of the record is “Girls in their Summer Clothes” which has the Boss doing a husky Thurston Howell III voice as he watches all the girls pass by undeterred in their summer dresses. Hearing a master like Springsteen this far off his game and not using his natural voice leaves no wonder why the girls aren’t bothering to stop.

Springsteen makes a modest recovery on “I’ll Work for Your Love,” one of the few songs that will stand the test of time on Magic. The second the Boss blurts out “Pour me a drink Theresa in one of those glasses you dust off” the beer is suddenly a darker color. “I’ll Work for Your Love” is just the sort of tough, honest songwriting that has made Bruce a legend. Another gem to add to your collection.

The back half of Magic is also relatively uninteresting with the exception of hidden/bonus track “Terry’s Song (not on iTunes)” where Bruce laments the loss of his one of a kind brother. Very good stuff here with great lyrics like “.Gone into that dark ether where you're still young and hard and cold.”

In between there are clearly some anti-war messages (“Devil’s Arcade,” “Last to Die”), stories, and ideas. Trouble is the music doesn’t have broad enough shoulders to carry the ideas into the world. It feels like a record Bruce rushed together because he wanted to get back on the road. I just hope Magic isn’t too big a part of the live show this Fall because he won’t get much audience involvement unless he seriously reworks the material. Bruce is too good, and has far too many songs in his head for this to be the start of Michael Jordan wearing a Wizards jersey –but Magic is clearly not his best effort.