Rather than dominating The Rising, September 11 suffuses it. The songs aren't really about loss; they're about what comes next: the empty bed, the need to persevere, the drive to rebuild and to heal. It is, of all things, optimistic in the face of tragedy.

The album gains force as it proceeds. "Worlds Apart" and "The Fuse" have clear Eastern harmonic underpinnings - explicit for the former, which features haunting vocals by Asif Ali Khan and Group. "Let's Be Friends" has a goofy charm of a 60's single. If you want to dance, check out "Waiting on a Sunny Day," "Further On" (a centerpiece of the 2000 tour), and "Mary's Place," which will remind the faithful of the much-missed "Rosalita." But before you grab a beer and boogie down, check the lyrics:

Eleven angels of mercy
Sighin' over that black hole in the sun
My heart's dark but it's risin'
I'm pullin' all the faith I can see
From that black hole on the horizon
I hear your voice callin' me.

Yes, this is actually an upbeat song. But it's some distance from "the record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance," isn't it?

The only clean miss on the album is "You're Missing." Wonderful lyric, but the arrangement is static and lugubrious. (Oh, go look it up.) There's a repeated horn figure - a rising tonic-fifth-octave, tonic-fifth-seventh - that's undercuts the track. Think "Mary Queen of Arkansas."

"The Rising" doesn't have the sweep and energy of "Born to Run," or the romantic angst of "Tunnel of Love," or the desolate tragedy of "Nebraska" or "Ghost of Tom Joad." But it is heartfelt, skillfully written and performed, and perfectly in tune with its time and purpose. Bruce Springsteen has created an album that will resonate for a very long time - which is about all you can reasonably ask of a guy, isn't it?