Magic
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
(Sony)
Billed as Bruce Springsteen's first album with the E Street Band in five years and a return to his rocking roots, Magic came out last Tuesday to much hullabaloo. The disc kicks off with the driving lead track/first single "Radio Nowhere," an amiable uptempo number that's not exactly memorable but should play well in concert. It's a solid song, but one that makes the critical listener think The Boss might be going through the motions, putting out a half-baked album to tour behind.
Ultimately, though, that's not the case. Other songs sound nearly as fresh and fervent as anything the man has recorded. "Livin' in the Future" opens with a blast of sax from the Big Man, Clarence Clemons; and over a peppy, grabby melody, The Boss offers the kind of lyric Bruuuuuce fans live for: "Don't worry, darling, no baby don't you fret," goes the chorus. "We're living in the future and none of this has happened yet."
It sounds simple and innocuous. But pay attention to the verses and it's clear that Springsteen is riffing on The Reign of Dubya: "Woke up election day/ Skies gunpowder and shades of grey/ Beneath the dirty sun/ I whistle my time away."
Whereas lesser songwriters bitch and moan about Bush with boring platitudes, Springsteen takes a rather poetic poke at him, cloaking the jab in a boisterous number that's as fun to hum as it is to dissect. Even on "Last to Die" — as in the John Kerry quote about being the last to be killed in battle for a politician's mistake — Springsteen makes his point without shoving a fist down the listener's throat.
He's equally as effective on "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," which evokes the same sweet nostalgic feeling as "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)."
Springsteen has always had a knack for writing outside himself — making us believe and relate to tales about teenagers in love or blue-collar types struggling to get by. With the title track to 2002's The Rising, he managed to play rock 'n' roll messiah without coming off as a self-righteous ass.
As a young man, Springsteen sang about much more than just sex, rebellion or alienation. So it should come as no surprise that at age 58 this rocker still sounds relevant.
That said, there's nothing on Magic to eclipse any of Springsteen's past work — young people looking to get into The Boss would be better served by first purchasing everything from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. to Born in the U.S.A. and Live 1975/85. But Magic is a gripping album nonetheless; full of classy pop songs written and performed by a middle-age rocker with a passion that still translates to record. 3.5 stars —Wade Tatangelo
Shine
JONI MITCHELL
(HearMusic )
Venerable singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell's first album for the Starbucks imprint HearMusic is a virtual nonstop screed about the environment, inhumanity, war, desensitization, technology, name it. Am I reaching for the irony here? Mitchell ranting "the cell phone zombies babble through the shopping malls/ While condors fall from Indian skies" on a disc placed right under your nose as you pay for your double latte? Regardless of where Shine is distributed, though, it's still mostly a slog. The grace and poetry that have characterized much of Mitchell's best work have been all but replaced by heavy-handed preachiness. A sample: "Holy Earth/ How can we heal you?/ We cover you like a blight/ Strange birds of appetite."
The best topical song on the disc is a remake of "Big Yellow Taxi," because that song had the wit to get its environmental message across without a sledgehammer. (Just to be perfectly clear, "Big Yellow Taxi [2007]" is by no means comparable to the 1970s original.) Mitchell's voice is in solid shape — improved, even — but she insisted on tracking most of the instruments herself on what sounds like a digital keyboard, and the results are for the most part wooden. 2 stars —Eric Snider
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn [Special Edition]
PINK FLOYD
(EMI)
Albums don't get much trippier than Pink Floyd's 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. There are few conventional moments on Piper. This is acid-freak Syd Barrett helming the ship before his drug intake did him in. Even folksy tunes keep the weirdness factor high by celebrating such things as "The Gnome." The most compelling composition is the nine-minute-plus instrumental "Interstellar Overdive," which features Barrett's fractured guitar starbursts surrounded by Richard Wright's ominous, often jazzy organ runs, while bassist Roger Waters and drummer Nick Mason navigate the tricky tempo changes. This three-CD, cloth-bound reissue includes the album in mono and stereo, and a third disc featuring singles and alternate takes from 1967 like "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play." 4 stars —WT
This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2007.