Here’s a rough draft of my Springsteen CD review that will run in the Spins section of the Creative Loafing that hits newsstands Oct. 10.

Magic

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Sony

As one would expect, Magic came out last Tuesday [Oct. 2] to much hullabaloo. Billed as Springsteen’s first album with the E Street Band in five years and a return to his rocking roots, the disc kicks off with the driving opening track/lead single “Radio Nowhere,” an amiable up-tempo 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 give him an excuse to do what he does best: tour.

But that’s not the case. Other songs on the disc 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 The Boss 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, The Boss 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.

This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2007.