Bruce Springsteen will release his newest album, Magic, on October 2, according to a statement released today. This is Springsteen's first album with the E Street Band since 2002's The Rising, and has been long awaited by fans, many of whom have been somewhat dissatisfied with Springsteen's more recent work.
Described as "a high energy rock record" by Springsteen's long-time manager Jon Landau, the album will contain eleven tracks and was recorded at Southern Tracks Recording Studio in Atlanta, Georgia and was produced and mixed by Brendan O'Brien, who previously worked with Springsteen on The Rising and Devils & Dust. Landau also said that the album is "E Street Band heavy" and is a "little more sonically guitar-driven than any past Bruce album." All told, this sounds exactly like what Springsteen's long-time fans have been waiting for.
The hugely successful world tour that accompanied The Rising was followed by a period which saw Springsteen release a solo effort in 2005 (Devils & Dust) and an adventurous re-imagining of traditional folk music in 2006 (The Seeger Sessions), the latter of which was critically considered by many hard-core fans to be a vanity project and an unnecessary detour away from E Street. Although the European leg of the Seeger Sessions tour was a success, shows in the U.S. failed to sell out. In spite of lackluster ticket sales, the album was critically well-reviewed and was well-received by fans open-minded enough to embrace it and view it as a natural progression within the larger contextual framework of Springsteen's body of work.
Springsteen's first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., was released 34 years ago, but it was the 1975 release of Born to Run that has guaranteed him his place in rock and roll history. Fans are undoubtedly hoping that Magic will see Springsteen returning to the kind of music that earned him his reputation as one of the best songwriters of his generation. While Springsteen continues to be the most energetic of stage performers, the advancing age of the band has had fans wondering how many more E Street tours the future holds.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - JC Mosquito
And EVERYBODY on BC gave it an HONEST review and they lived happily ever after.....
.....we'll see.
2 - zingzing
heh. jc, meet dd. dd, jc. oh, you two know each other?
seeger sessions, a detour? nah, just his best work in, oh, 20 years, give or take.
3 - Glen Boyd
The tour is going to be a reality and it will begin in October, after rehearsals in Asbury Park in late September. According to reliable sources, there are already holds on several buildings including the obvious east coast cities (Madison Square Garden and of course Esat Rutherford NJ) as well as in Oakland and L.A.
From there he goes to Europe. If this tour follows recent Springsteen routing, he should be back in America for a second leg in early 2008, and of course the big stadium run next summer.
The record sounds like a rocker too.
Thanx for the update Lisa.
-Glen
4 - JC Mosquito
A side note that might be interesting to some - I believe Brendan O'Brien served a stint as bass player for the Georgia Satellites in their infancy. I'm just wondering how Springsteen might've been produced by Dan Baird......
5 - Glen Boyd
I used to play cards on Wednesday nights with O'Brien when he was producing Dan Baird's solo disc for American.
My lone, brief brush with the guy who would produce Bruce. If only I knew...
-Glen
6 - zingzing
but brendan obrien is also responsible for a lot of shit. see: post-grunge.
7 - Donald Gibson
It'll be interesting to hear this "E Street Band heavy" sound. Other than The Rising, I don't believe that Bruce has shaped an album around the band since Born In the USA. (The E Street Band were used more as session musicians on Tunnel of Love if I recall).
I'm quite anxious to hear what a "Band" sound will be like.
8 - Mark Saleski
i just plain anxious!!
9 - Glen Boyd
Have to admit though that I hate that freaking title. Sounds like a Chuck Mangione album or something...
-Glen
10 - Tom Johnson
Hey, does this one have that "Cop Killer" song on it?
11 - Laser
New album, new tour, new book. Gonna be a busy and fruitful October. Foryoubruce.com
12 - El Bicho
"Have to admit though that I hate that freaking title."
Sounds like someone didn't get their shill money?
13 - Glen Boyd
Shhhh...keep quiet, Bicho. I'm trying to cash in my Bruce bucks before anybody notices and Landau sends out his goons to get me back into line. I just hate those unscheduled late-night knocks on my door.
-Glen
14 - daryl d
I can't wait to review this album!
15 - Mark Saleski
i know what you mean glen, i don't love it either.
on the other hand, it doesn't really mean anything yet. we haven't heard the title song, we haven't heard the overall sound & vibe. we haven't lived with it yet. so we'll see.
it could be that the magic has to do with how Bruce views what happens with the E St. Band, it could be that he's amazed at the magic that occurs in society despite the existence of so much abject ignorance. we'll find out.
16 - mike m
Bruce Springsteen is the rock version of Britney Spears-no talent at all. I wonder how many contrived songs about "the poor" will be on this album.
17 - Eric Whelchel
Funny...first thing I did was to see if O'Brien was producing it, and he is. Get ready for a glossy sheen applied throughout. ugh.
18 - Tom Johnson
"Glossy sheen" is just about the last thing I think of when the name "Brendan O'Brien" is mentioned. I take it you haven't heard his remixes of the Ten tracks Pearl Jam put on their best-of? He typically just seems to sit back and let the band sound like the band rather than try to bend them to sound a certain way, which many other producers do. He's brought out the best in the examples I can think of - Pearl Jam (VS. through Yield), King's X (Dogman), Matthew Sweet (100% Fun), Aimee Mann (Bachelor No. 2), among many others. I just can't think of a reason to dislike O'Brien.
19 - daryl d
Excellent article here.
Bruce, you ain't da boss of dis Garden Stater By Jack Cashill © WorldNetDaily.com
[Daryl, please don't post entire articles from other sources; that's not what the comments space is for... Your Comments Editor]
20 - Mark Saleski
interesting tom. yea, i don't remember even The Rising having a sheen to it. it was actually more "open"-sounding than most modern pop and rock recordings.
21 - daryl d
Sorry, Christopher: I'll just post link the next time. It's an interesting read though.
22 - Rodney Welch
Resentful right-wing trash.
23 - JC Mosquito
"Glossy sheen?" Listen to O'Brien's production of Billy Joe Shaver Live at Smith's Olde Bar sometimes for the antithesis of glossy.
Well, the antes are in and there's been a few raises already - it's amazing what happens when you coome back from holidays. But I hope the first week of October brings some real honest to goodness reviews with some intelligent comments. Personally, I'm hoping it will be a set of milestone reviews & comments, so we can put all these accusations of shilling & bashing to rest and focus on the music once again.
As a pre-October weigh in, I'll go on record as saying I was a huge fan for a short time - The River & Nebraska (through which I discovered the rest of his back catalog) and though I understood Born in the USA I didn't like it overall. Since then, every album has a few gems, a few duds, and lots of ho hums. But I'm still waiting for the Boss to make one more big'un - maybe this is it?
It's the hope that springs eternal in the heart of rock and roll.
24 - daryl d
JC
So, what you are saying, is that we should all give good reviews no matter what? If I misunderstood you, sorry.
I do wonder why is this release at the top of the Blogcritics news section when there are releases by far bigger, more relevant, and far more talented artists out there today.
25 - zingzing
daryl... i dunno if springsteen is the "biggest, most relevant, or most talented" artist, but he certainly was the most rabidly followed to set a release date that day. so that's why.
and your idea of relevance and talent is seriously questionable.
and your politics are sooooo see-through.
and no, jc didn't say nada about giving Him an automatic pass. and yes, that was on purpose. and no, it was not serious. and yes, i think your "i'm a critic, i'm free to dislike something" shtick is seriously wasted on u2 and bruce springsteen. you're not going to change anyone's mind about either of those two.
but seriously, wait until you hear the album, and then yell all you want. or don't listen to it. and shut up.