Again the roundtable convenes, this time, for Bruce Springsteen's Magic. We've been waiting ... and waiting. Oh, how we've been waiting. Though I did avoid early leaks of the record, I couldn't wait for the CD release. The vinyl album came out a week early. Mmmmm, the smell of fresh 180 gram vinyl!
Someday, the three of us will get together over a pitcher of beer and toss these ideas around. For the time being, please join me, BC editor Josh Hathaway, and BC executive editor Lisa McKay as we break Magic open and maybe discover a little bit about ourselves in the process.
Mark Saleski:
Well gee, wasn't the buildup fun? Okay, sort of. It did seem like a very long time between the original announcement and the eventual release. Heck, I had the thing a week early on vinyl and the wait still drove me to distraction. I was amazed that both of you had the willpower to ignore the leaks, "Radio Nowhere" excepted. Very impressive.
But on to the record. This is very interesting, because for the first time in a long time, I'm having flashbacks to Darkness On The Edge Of Town. The first listen gave me a general, somewhat hazy feeling that I'd just experienced something special. Repeat spins would obviously be necessary to fill in those gaps. On about the fifth pass, the shape of the record began to emerge. I started to remember song sequences and transitions, instrumental breaks, snippets of lyrics, themes, and moments of "oh!" Yeah, don't we all live for moments of "oh!"?
Sonically, Magic came into focus as a collection that mates the best parts of Darkness and The River. Guitars grind, glockenspiels chime, and pianos & keyboards accent the melodic lines. It's common knowledge that Bruce is a fan of many pop forms, and here it's gratifying to see him indulge. Songs like "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" and "I'll Work For Your Love" are a welcome additions to the Springsteen palette. We've all been wondering if the "real" E Street Band would ever return, and now we have our answer — Clarence's blustery horn seals it.
Thematically, Bruce plays a sly hand by mixing unlike ideas and sounds. "Livin' In The Future" is an unforgettably bouncy tune. The theme, however, is as serious as your life. The same can be said for "Girls In Their Summer Clothes," which sounds romantic but is more of a wistful look back. For me, it all works. Shocking words coming from the "not a lyrics guy," I know.
I've never worn out a CD before, but this disc is in mortal danger.
Lisa McKay:
After listening to pretty much nothing else since Tuesday, I have to say I'm still absorbing this and have a long way to go. My initial impressions? I love this album. Magic stands right up there with some of his very best work, and the thing I really love about it is that it's partly all the things that make Bruce and this band so great, and partly an excursion into a brave new world. Clarence's sax, those stirring choruses, that big noise that this big band makes—all familiar, and what could be better? Bruce talked in a New York Times interview a week ago about his "reinfatuation with pop music" and he uses it to tremendous effect here. A couple of things sound different enough to have nearly startled me when I first heard them, "Your Own Worst Enemy" being a prime example. Where did that opening come from?
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Good job all around, gang. I am curious to check out this album even though I didn't like the bland, boring "Radio Nowhere" at all.
The main thing I took away from this article is that Lisa doesn't write enough.
"but that's another day on Donahue."
How does the youngest member come off sounding like the oldest?
2 - Lisa McKay
Thank you, El B.
We like to think of Josh as being wise beyond his years :)
3 - JC Mosquito
Thoughtful and accurate - and I still wish we could combine all the Magic comments in one place.
4 - Josh
Agreed, El B. The dark cloud in the silver lining of our site's success has been the absence of Lisa and Eric Olsen as writers.
5 - Glen Boyd
I think that I've finally figured out the word that best describes this record:
It's bittersweet.
Its kind of like that same feeling you experience at something like a high school reunion, where you reconnect with long lost friends, only to realize that so much has happened that you can never really go home again.
Yes, I know I babble somewhat. I'm just home from a work related trip to Oregon, and in all likelihood I'm gonna have to go back next week.
But FUCK! I love this album!
I played in nonstop during my just completed (1:40 Am) trip.
So tell me, whats the initiation fee to join the roundtable (other than getting Josh to kinda like me like I think the rest of ya do?)
-Glen
6 - JC Mosquito
Bingo! Dead on, Glen. If there's a prize for shortest and most accurate review, it's yours fer shure.
Sk.
7 - mahesh
Ever felt you were dying of thirst and couldn't find a drop anywhere? I stopped listening to music when I stopped listening to Springsteen.That would be sometime after The Ghost of Tom Joad came out.I dont know what Magic means to Springsteen but to me it is that oasis that has quenched my thirst, atleast until the next great Sringsteen album.
8 - Ananda
Mahesh,
Do stop by at Devil's and Dust and We Shall Overcome.
You'll be more than pleasantly surprised.
Take care.
9 - Josh
I just re-read this and it brought a big smile to my face. This is such a great record and writing about Bruce with you two is about as much fun as writing can be.