Bruce Springsteen & the ESB - Magic - Oct 2 07

[Sydneyfan]

The Boss boards are all talking about a definite September 07 release - with Sept 4 being the date most discussed at the moment due to someone swearing they have inside info from Sony.

:rock

[blueone]

:bananaBANG:bananaBANG:bananaBANG

Hopefully a tour will entail!

[Sydneyfan]

:bananaBANG:bananaBANG:bananaBANG

Hopefully a tour will entail!

Word on the street (see how hip I am...) is that a MEGA world tour will follow the album release. :upyours :upyours

[blueone]

"MEGA" sounds alright, I guess,

[Sydneyfan]

There may or may not be performing elephants.

[blueone]

There may or may not be performing elephants.

Only Bruce could have thought up something that magical. :banana

[Sydneyfan]

More info on the proposed world tour - this comes from someone who has apparently had pretty good inside info before, so fingers crossed its accurate.

What is interesting is the most definitive and positive news relates to the tour, which will be the last for the entire ESB. Rehearsals for the tour are once again scheduled for AP around Labor Day. Look for the tour to kick off on or about 10/02/2007 in New York with a quick swing around the country until the end of November. All of the major cities, to include LA, DC, Philly, Boston, Chicago, etc. will be covered. The month of December will include a quick tour of Europe, about 10 shows or so. January and part of February look to be time off with a full world tour to begin in full effect during the Spring of 2008 (Feb/March) with outdoor arena shows scheduled for the summer of 2008. The U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, will all be on the schedule. Bottom line is that we are now entering the final stages in preparation for the final ESB world tour. Stay tuned."

[Sydneyfan]

Also, the same source says the new album sounds like a cross between Tunnel of Love and The Rising.

I'm not sure I can actually imagine that combination, but hopefully it sounds good.

[blueone]

So US and Europe get two tours? :confused

And the mixture does sound a little odd. I hope a synth isn't prominent.

[Sydneyfan]

I know, it seems a bit odd. But I guess time will tell whether its all correct information or not.

I love both TOL and The Rising, but I don't see a lot of similarities or opportunities to merge their sounds. I would have thought, given that its an ESB album that it would have more of a rock orientation.

Hopefully we'll get some tracks in the style of Mary's Place or Waiting on A Sunny Day. Those are great.

[blueone]

I was listening to The Rising in the car yesterday. I realised how Waiting On A Sunny Day is evolution of Hungry Heart - but damn freaking awesome one at that.

[Sydneyfan]

Sunny Day is a brilliant song - except for the "ice cream truck on a deserted street" lyric, but that's a minor quibble. The only weak track on the whole album for me is Let's Be Friends, which I think is pretty awful.

Everything else is stellar.

[blueone]

I'm not a big fan of The Fuse either, but otherwise it's ace. Would be great to hear an evolution of that albumn.

[Sydneyfan]

Eh, The Fuse works for me. One rumour doing the rounds is that the lyrics on the new album will be more centered on social justice issues and the "big world picture" rather than just on love songs etc. He's certainly touched on those areas before, especially on Tom Joad, so its quite possible.

Normally those kinds of lyrics can be a big mistake for most songwriters, but Bruce could handle it in his sleep. That rumour is not confirmed, but if it is true, I think it could be an interesting direction for him.

[blueone]

I concur. Unless it's not out and out cheese.

[Sydneyfan]

Just found this interesting article from The Independent about the plethora of indie bands now being influenced by Springsteen. Thought it was an interesting read.




Why the coolest bands in pop are bowing down before Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen ruled rock in the Eighties, but since then his decline has been long and painful. So why, asks Shane Danielsen, are the world's coolest bands so keen to champion the Boss?


It seems little short of remarkable, in a season dominated by breathless, momentary hype about "nu-rave" acts like Klaxons, New Young Pony Club and Shitdisco, that the presiding spirit of the two finest rock albums of the past 12 months should be a grizzled American veteran, now approaching his seventh decade. But somehow, against every expectation, Bruce Springsteen has rarely seemed more relevant.

It's a far cry from the days when Everything But The Girl felt obliged to defend their decision to include a Springsteen cover ("Tougher Than the Rest") on their 1992 Acoustic album. At the time, so closely was the singer associated with jingoistic, Reagan-era US (the result of "Born in the USA", a song about the dismal homecoming accorded a Vietnam veteran, being misread as a flag-waving nationalist anthem), that his stock slipped badly with all but his most loyal fans. His personal travails didn't help: in the mid-Eighties he first married and then divorced Julianne Phillips, relocated to Hollywood with new wife and former backing singer Patti Scialfa and drifted away from his longtime collaborators The E Street Band. He seemed restless and unfocused, and subsequent albums such as Tunnel of Love (1987) and Lucky Town (1992) struggled in vain to match the worldwide success of 1984's Born in the USA.

Yet after more than a decade in the wilderness, there is a growing sense that this is once again Springsteen's time. Ten days ago, at New York's City's Carnegie Hall, he was the subject of a tribute concert - a fundraiser for the Music For Youth charity - following in the footsteps of previous honourees Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Twenty different artists, including Patti Smith, Badly Drawn Boy and M. Ward, covered his songs, and The Boss himself appeared to perform the encore, a rousing, ramshackle version of "Rosalita" for which the entire line-up - including The Hold Steady, one of the most acclaimed of new American bands - joined him on stage.

For that group, in particular, it might have seemed like a benediction - or at the very least, a passing of the torch. (Singer-songwriter Craig Finn, according to the New York Times reviewer, "seemed about to burst.") A bar-band from Brooklyn by way of Minneapolis, The Hold Steady have been feted by US critics, and are distinguished by their ferocious live shows, their seeming disregard for cool, and by Finn's verbose, intensely descriptive lyrics, which recall with uncanny precision the early Springsteen - the Dylan-infatuated "street poet" of Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ (1973), who gave us the delirious wordplay of songs such as "Blinded by the Light" and "Lost in the Flood", before settling for the terser, more hard-bitten sentiments of Born to Run (1975).

Finn is more grounded in quotidian reality - no talk of "raggamuffin gunners" or "go-cart Mozarts" here: he's more likely to describe teenagers "sucking off each other at the demonstration/making sure their makeup's straight" (from "Stuck Between Stations", the opening number on their most recent album, Boys and Girls in America). But his logorrhea, his delight in the possibilities of fitting narrative language to rock music, is identical. He's allusive (the same song invokes a Kerouac character in its first verse, and the suicide of poet John Berryman in its second), but never showy. And like early Bruce, he doesn't sing so much as speak his lyrics, in a gravelly drawl that manages, somehow, to ride across the dense wall of sound his band create around him.

Indeed, it's this sonic grandeur that most directly invites Springsteen references. Listening to "Stuck Between Stations" is like hearing a bonus track from Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978): a stomping rocker in the vein of "Badlands" or "Candy's Room". The playing is muscular, all power chords and layered hooks, while both Tad Kubler's overdriven guitar work and Franz Nicolay's trebly, arpeggiated piano fills are undeniably inspired by the playing of their E Street Band antecedents, Steve Van Zandt and Roy Bittan, respectively.

Likewise, The Arcade Fire, whose second album, The Neon Bible, looks certain to be one of the bellwether releases of 2007. Their sound is bigger than on their debut, 2005's Funeral, and their concerns more expansive; the inclinations to arena-rock previously hinted at are here nurtured and indulged. And with them, a deeper stylistic debt to Springsteen is made apparent. "Keep the Car Running" (an almost parodic Bruce title) borrows the beat from "I'm On Fire" and the melody from "I'm a Rocker"; in doing so, it practically replicates what Jody Rosen, writing in Slate and borrowing a line from "Born to Run", called "the hemi-powered drones" of classic Springsteen. Another track, "Antichrist Television Blues", sounds at first glance like the gripe of a typical blue-collar protagonist from Born in the USA or The River (1980) ("I don't wanna work in a building downtown") - but marries this discontent to a more specific, modern-day unease ("Cause the planes keep crashing, always two by two").

Why this mining of Springsteen's back-catalogue, this reiteration of his sound? And why now? Rosen makes the point that, after more than a decade on the commercial sidelines, overshadowed by hip-hop and shiny, digital pop, rock musicians are actively seeking to reclaim their place in the spotlight - and in the process, rediscovering the attractions of scale, grandeur and making a noise.

In practice, these bands' sensibilities may differ: there's nothing remotely ironic about The Arcade Fire's music - on the contrary, their sincerity is what enables them to evade accusations of bombast - while The Hold Steady seem all too aware of, yet utterly besotted by, the broader clichés of stadium rock. Nevertheless, both The Neon Bible and Boys and Girls in America work, both as stylistic homages and as artifacts in their own right. As such, they repudiate a great deal of conventional wisdom about the diminished state of contemporary popular music.

It has in recent years become a dependable critical canard to suggest that rock music is, if not quite dead, then at least in its terminal stages - "circling the drain," as some unkind medical slang would have it. For a while, in the wake of Radiohead's OK Computer, it seemed that any rock music deserving of serious attention was obliged to reject the traditional consolations afforded listeners: few hooks (almost no melodies at all, in fact), little in the way of lyrical clarity, and certainly no liberating surge of major-chord uplift. How else to capture the spirit of this turbulent age? Rock 'n' roll was, at heart, a simple thing, and this very simplicity seemed to suggest that it had become exhausted, its possibilities used up. Meanwhile, songs that 10 years ago would have been considered "difficult", even avant garde, today own the charts. The mind-bending structural gymnastics of productions by Timbaland or the Neptunes are some of the most unexpected, sophisticated and flat-out glorious music of our time. But confronted with work as straightforwardly thrilling as the Arcade Fire and Hold Steady albums, big and bold and unashamedly inclusive in its reach, the temptation to punch the air is almost irresistible.

Yet, more than simply rocking up a storm, Springsteen's own career has been marked by artistic experiments and detours. It's telling that, with or without the backing of his E Street Band, his own music has grown steadily more intimate and reflective. Even 2002's The Rising - conceived as a response to the events of 9/11, and hailed by many critics and fans as a return to the widescreen grandeur of his mid-Seventies work - today seems a much more contemplative, even sombre set: the work of an older, more ruminative man.

The 1990s saw him become a father: he and Scialfa had three children in five years. While living in LA, he won an Oscar in 1994 for his contribution ("Streets of Philadelphia") to Jonathan Demme's film Philadelphia. But his work slipped: neither Lucky Town nor Human Touch (both 1992) satisfied long-time fans; nor did they win many new converts. And the appearance, in 1998, of a four-disc box set of out-takes and early performances - simply titled Tracks - had a distinctly valedictory air, the testament of a man whose hour had passed.

But then 2005's largely acoustic Devils and Dust album saw a return to the dustbowl Americana of Nebraska (1982) and The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), and the following year's We Shall Overcome looked back further still - this time to the source, the American protest tradition pioneered by folk singer Pete Seeger. It garnered glowing reviews and returned him to prominence, particularly in Europe. Beneath the recurring motifs - the girls and cars and girls in cars - Springsteen's abiding concerns are social, rather than strictly personal: his despairing sense of love for his homeland, and his keen awareness of its squandered potential. A liberal in the New Deal sense of the word, his patriotism is knotty and complicated, and the friction between his Walt Whitman-like dream of the US, and its disappointing reality, provides the basis for much of his finest work. As such, he might be rivalled only by the less famous Steve Earle, as the most politically relevant US songwriter today.

[Sydneyfan]

In this sense, his legacy perhaps looms largest in Low, the other great American band of the moment, whose eight albums to date are some of the gentlest, yet most unsettling in modern American song. Like Cowboy Junkies, with whom they are sometimes (mistakenly) associated, the band seem influenced by the haunted silence of Springsteen's Nebraska album, its still, quiet air of paranoia and desolation.

Tranquil, they might be (some might say tranquilised, so glacial is the pace of a typical Low track), but they are rarely pretty. On the contrary: theirs is a harsh, comfortless beauty, and after flirting with a heavier sound on their last album, 2005's The Great Destroyer, their new set, Drums and Guns, speaks directly to a nation mired in the Second Gulf War, disenchanted by the folly and culpability of its leaders.

Cowboy Junkies, too, have a new album: titled At the End of Paths Taken, its dark, faintly despairing mood seems closely related to Springsteen's The Rising - from which comes "You're Missing", a song that they regularly cover live. Watching them play recently, they seemed at once angrier and more ambiguous than ever before; appropriately, they closed their set with a lonely, chilling version of "State Trooper" - a song about psychosis and desperation, written and originally recorded, back in 1982, by one Bruce Frederick Springsteen.

[Sydneyfan]

There has been a strong rumour around for the last couple of weeks that the new album had the godawful working title of Dead Ringers.

I also think we can kill the early September release rumour. More likely October, surely?

[blueone]

Dead Ringers? :lol

And yup, September seems very unlikely with it being just over a month away.

[Quincy]

Heard this from JohnC on the org

"latest rumour is Euro Tour starts in Milan on 25th November"

[blueone]

I'm just glad that it doesn't overlap with RA. :)

Nice one, Q - you do have your uses. :P

[Sydneyfan]

OKay, latest rumours are that:

1. A song called Radio Nowhere will be the single. (or at least on the album)
2. The album itself will be called Radio Nowhere.
3. Release date for the album will be Oct 1.


Given my track record with Bruce rumours so far in this thread, none of this will be correct.

[blueone]

Okay, there's around a 50% chance you're right. :upyours

[Sydneyfan]

Rolling Stone is now saying the new album will be out in October. I think Oct 1 might be right.

[blueone]

http://www.rutopia.info/forum/images/smiles/love01.gif

P's been spilling the dirt.

[foggy]

http://www.rutopia.info/forum/images/smiles/love01.gif

P's been spilling the dirt.

:lol Ssshhh.

[Sydneyfan]

check this out - its a MySpace group called Fuck Bruce Springsteen. :lol

Its actually all pretty tongue in cheek, but it is sucking in plenty of outraged Bruce fans. Check out the forums, there is some funny stuff.

Best exchange:

that one guy wrote:
Bruce Springsteen has more talent in his sweat than you all you have in your entire bodies, some people just don't know good music when they hear it

Reply:When his sweat starts making albums, I might give them a listen; but the rest his body cranks out utter bullshit.

and from the moderator:
so why the fuck you join dumbass. oh thats right cuz your a stupid fucking bruce fan and have no logic, now i get it. fuck you your banned :upyours
http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=groups.groupProfile&groupID=100148009&Mytoken=BD2A8CF9-D263-4329-9AAC64418509568845566870

[blueone]

:lol That's painful to read. I like how all the "bruce haters" retaliate. Quite funny.

[Sydneyfan]

posted over at greasylake today:

Spoke with my Shore Fire contact late yesterday

She informed me a release announcing the album and acknowledgement of a tour will be released on Monday (though when pressed, she admitted it could be Tuesday, but they are totally preparing for Monday, Aug. 13th.) The announcement will list all song titles, musicians on the album, basic tour structure and some cities. NO TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE NEXT WEEK. I post this so no one here has to constantly refresh their Shore Fire Media homepage during the next 48 hours.

(To those wondering how I have a contact over there: I work in network sports tv and am constantly getting free CDs, invitations to record premiere parties and other goodies from record companies and publicists as I use commercially-issued music in my work. A few CDs or invites are nothing to a company if I elect to use their music on a Super Bowl or Final Four tease or throughout an entire network show, especially if it is new music. Being a Springsteen fan, I have had a contact over at Shore Fire for years and was even invited to the ultra-private show at the Bottom Line on May 6th, 1992 when Bruce premiered songs from both Human Touch and Lucky Town for the first time in front of a public audience -- mostly Columbia execs, staff and invited peeps.)

Sounds plausible (and the poster doesn't seem to be a troll) but who knows. Boss fans are a creative lot - there has been at least one fake press release, countless porkies and wishful thinking moments and someone even wrote an entire (fake) magazine article which discussed the new album in great detail.
:upyours

[Sydneyfan]

btw - rare circa 1975 concert footage of Bruce performing Incident on 57th Street :

w0IMRkIuBrw

[Layne]

man I hate to dis Bruce...but I'd think it would be more honorable if he'd just collect his ringtone sales and grammy nominations....and the use of his songs in commercials

I don't think my mother really cares for anything past the year '88..and she told me she used to be a die hard bruce fan...and I really don't care about anything past '85

just my output guys...don't ban me please..haha

[FrigidRoses]

His new live album is pretty hardcore. So I don't know about all that. :)

[Layne]

its okay..just understand it was an opinion.....nothing but one...'cause I know you guys love him dearly...I mean he's a worthy rock icon..I can understand that...but I just think he's gotten alot older to keep up with some of the shit people are putting out

you think everyone nowa days is proilific?..'cause i'm definitely feeling a prolific era comming on

[sipowicz]

I really did Tunnel of Love and the Rising. And Seeger Sessions is, just, amazing.

[of_the_girl]

oh man I can't wait for the new album!!

*waits patiently for news of Australian tour dates*

I hope he does eventually does come back down this way, fingers crossed!

[Sydneyfan]

oh man I can't wait for the new album!!

*waits patiently for news of Australian tour dates*

I hope he does eventually does come back down this way, fingers crossed!

So do I. What worries me is that despite the massive crowds during The Rising tour the promoter still lost money. The costs of bringing such a major act as really getting prohibitive for out of the way destinations like Australia. I expect decent tickets will be around the $200 mark, especially if it really is the ESB finale.

Did you go to the any shows on the last tour?

[of_the_girl]

no I didnt! so I really, really hope they tour haha...and yeah I'd be willing to pay a lot. Yeah we're pretty isolated, and we pay the price for it haha, literally, when it comes to ticket costs. Did you see any of the shows last time round, how were they?

[Sydneyfan]

I saw the Sydney show at Moore Park. The one that was so controversial because the sound quality was apparently shitty for anyone back in the stands.

We were lucky enough to get really good seats, right near the front in the cordoned off area that had access to the front of the stage as well. From there, the show looked and sounded fabulous. He played for over 3 hours, mainly because they had problems with the power supply for the first 20 minutes of the opening set and he wanted to make up for it. He is beyond brilliant on stage - I have never seen a better live performer.

[of_the_girl]

sounds great!! you don't hear of many artists doing the 3+ hr shows these days, that would have been fantastic!! Any highlights from it that particularly stand out?

[Sydneyfan]

sounds great!! you don't hear of many artists doing the 3+ hr shows these days, that would have been fantastic!! Any highlights from it that particularly stand out?

Oh, so many. An insanely good version of Backstreets was probably the musical highlight for me. And the times he went skidding across the stage on his knees in full rock god style. It was wonderful to see a group of top musicians really loving being on stage, having fun and wanting every single person in the audience to share that fun with them.

[of_the_girl]

Oh, so many. An insanely good version of Backstreets was probably the musical highlight for me. And the times he went skidding across the stage on his knees in full rock god style. It was wonderful to see a group of top musicians really loving being on stage, having fun and wanting every single person in the audience to share that fun with them.

and THAT right there is why I have to see him! haha

[Sydneyfan]

and THAT right there is why I have to see him! haha

:upyours Very true.

[foggy]

This was on the Rolling Stone site today: (I'll post it here since it's not too long)
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/08/16/bruce-springsteens-magic-exclusive-details-on-the-boss-new-e-street-band-lp/

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Magic’: Exclusive Details on New E Street Band Album

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/strangeways/15913121-15913125-slarge.jpg

On October 2nd Bruce Springsteen will release Magic, his first album with the E Street Band since 2002’s The Rising. “We’ve been together since 1974 and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more excited than he is right now about this record,” says Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager.

The album was cut over two months at Southern Tracks studios in Atlanta with producer Brendan O’Brien, who previously worked with Springsteen on 2005’s Devils & Dust and The Rising.

The E Street Band mostly flew down on weekends to record, while Springsteen and O’Brien spent weekdays cutting vocals and recording overdubs. “This album is E Street Band heavy,” Landau says. “Clarence [Clemons] has some great moments on it. You could say that it’s as little more sonically guitar-driven than any past Bruce album. There are a few sort of pop, romantic touches that haven’t shown up recently, but were very prominent on the very early records.”

The lead single will be “Radio Nowhere,” a track Landau says “has a real anthemic quality to it. If it doesn’t get you out of your seat, I don’t know what will.” Landau is particularly excited about “The Long Walk Home,” which was performed live (click here to listen to an audience recording) on one occasion on the Seeger Sessions tour late last year. “It’s sort of the summational song of the album,” Landau says. “I think it’s one of Bruce’s great masterpieces.” Another track, “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” Landau says has a “little bit of a Pet Sounds-type feeling mixed in with the sound of the E Street Band.” The final track, “Devil’s Arcade,” is described as one of the only songs on the album that delves into politics. “He gets some images across that are very powerful and will certainly give you a feeling of where he’s coming from, but on balance [politics] is not the primary intention of this record.”

A world tour with the E Street Band is reportedly going to kick off in early October, but Landau remains tight-lipped on the details. “As we speak, the tour has not been fully decided,” he says. Springsteen is also planning to promote the album on television, including late-night talk shows.

“What do you think about us doing American Idol?” Landau asks. “Come on, I’m kidding!”

Track Listing:

1. “Radio Nowhere”
2. “You’ll Be Comin’ Down”
3. “Livin’ in the Future”
4. “Your Own Worst Enemy”
5. “Gypsy Biker”
6. “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”
7. “I’ll Work for Your Love”
8. “Magic”
9. “Last to Die”
10. “Long Walk Home”
11. “Devil’s Arcade”

-- Andy Greene

[blueone]

Magic is a pretty shit name.......

[blueone]

1. “Radio Nowhere”
2. “You’ll Be Comin’ Down”
3. “Livin’ in the Future”
4. “Your Own Worst Enemy”
5. “Gypsy Biker”
6. “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”
7. “I’ll Work for Your Love”
8. “Magic”
9. “Last to Die”
10. “Long Walk Home”
11. “Devil’s Arcade”



Gypsy Biker! :rock

[Sydneyfan]

OMGZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!

All my rumours were wrong. Magic is a shit name. But still, I am oddly excited.

[Sydneyfan]

Also, I hope the pop, romantic touches are kept to a minimum. He's pretty crap at those. I want lots of ESB rock. :rock

[blueone]

Methinks Gypsy Biker would have been a better name for the record. :lol

[Sydneyfan]

Methinks Gypsy Biker would have been a better name for the record. :lol

Gypsy Biker - The Dead Ringer Sessions :guitarsolo
Oh look, its 1981......

[blueone]

Wowzers! Life's a gas. Check out my calculator watch!

[Sydneyfan]

Wowzers! Life's a gas. Check out my calculator watch!

:lol Shazam!

How ironic, one of the songs is called Livin' in the Future. Obviously not autobiographical.

[blueone]

http://www.gypsyleather.com/images/pic01.jpg

Gypsy bikers with decidedly 80s hair-dos. :upyours

[Sydneyfan]

http://www.gypsyleather.com/images/pic01.jpg

Gypsy bikers with decidedly 80s hair-dos. :upyours

Wow, is that the cover art for the new album? :upyours

[blueone]

You better believe it. I'd buy a record with a cover like that even if I didn't know who the band was. :rock

[blueone]

http://www.brucespringsteen.net/art/bruce_magic.jpg

Hott.

[Sydneyfan]

That looks pretty recent. I wonder if that was issued with the press release?

[blueone]

Yup. :)

[Sydneyfan]

Does that photo remind you of the BTR cover a little? B/W, guitar etc...

[blueone]

Quite a bit actually, yea. But there's a noticeable lack of the Big Man.

[Sydneyfan]

Maybe he's on the back cover :upyours

[FrigidRoses]

Bruce is a sexy beast.

[blueone]

It's a seriously awesome photo, isn't it? He hasn't looked that sharp since the 70s. :rock

[Sydneyfan]

How old is he? He must be late 50s by now. He looked superfit at the last Sydney show - ran and jumped around the stage like a madman for 3 hours.

Anyhow, more from Rolling Stone:

Late last year Bruce Springsteen invited producer Brendan O’Brien up to his New Jersey house to play him a batch of new songs he had been working on. “It was kind of surreal,” says O’Brien, who previously worked with Springsteen on 2002’s The Rising and 2005’s Devils and Dust. “We literally sat in his living room, he hands me a book of lyrics and he played me the songs on the guitar.” O’Brien then had the unenviable task of telling Bruce which songs worked, and which ones didn’t. “He gauges peoples reactions and I have to be as honest with him as I can,” O’Brien says. “Some of them had a certain voice that seemed to fit all together – and some didn’t have that same voice – so we decided which ones to pursue.” The songs that survived were taken down to Atlanta’s Southern Tracks Studios this March by O’Brien, Springsteen and the E Street Band. The resulting album, Magic, was recorded in eight weeks, and will be released on October 2nd.

The lead single will be “Radio Nowhere,” which O’Brien says changed very little from the version Springsteen played him at his house last year. “It’s a pretty straight-ahead rocker,” O’Brien says. “The most straightforward song I’ve heard him do in years.” “Long Walk Home,” which Springsteen debuted on tour last year with the Seeger Sessions Band, is an emotionally uplifting ballad that invokes 2002’s “My City In Ruins.” “That’s one of my favorite songs that he’s done in a long time,” says O’Brien. “It’s mournful, but also hopeful. It has very introspective verses and then he opens up lyrically as the song progresses. It hits me in a real great spot.” O’Brien describes the song “Living In The Future” as a “throwback to ‘Hungry Heart,’ an R&B thing.”

Recording with the E Street Band proved to be a logistical challenge, largely due to the fact that drummer Max Weinberg had to tape “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” during the week. Springsteen devoted weekdays to overdubbing and cutting vocal tracks, but each weekend a core group of E Streeters – Springsteen, Weinberg, bassist Gary Tallent and pianist Roy Bittan – would record the instrumental tracks. The other members of the E Street Band, including keyboard player Danny Federici and guitarists Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, were called in as needed to cut their parts. “It’s easier to manage the songs with less people,” O’Brien says. “Once we know what we’re doing, we brought the others in to do overdubs.”

But Springsteen insisted on being in the studio when Clarence Clemons cut his saxophone parts. “I appointed Bruce ‘senior vice president in charge of Clarence’s saxophone,’ ” O’Brien says. “There’s a whole dynamic there that spans decades. I don’t even get in the middle of it. I’m just a cheerleader.”

A world tour with the E Street Band will kick off right around the time Magic comes out, but no details have been released. “There’s songs that when we were recording them he would go, ‘I just know this song’s going to work great live,’ ” says O’Brien. “When it comes to being a bandleader and knowing what his audience wants, I think he’s one of the best ever.”

[blueone]

He's 58 on September 23rd. :eek:

[Sydneyfan]

He's 58 on September 23rd. :eek:

He's aged very well.

[blueone]

Rock N Roll defeats age. :cool:

[blueone]

I found this great site for Bruce torrents, by the way:

http://jungleland.dnsalias.com/index.php

I've been looking for some Bruce boots for a while and since I've seemingly been banned from DIME I found this. :)

[Sydneyfan]

I found this great site for Bruce torrents, by the way:

http://jungleland.dnsalias.com/index.php

I've been looking for some Bruce boots for a while and since I've seemingly been banned from DIME I found this. :)

Oh, thanks. I need to get into the boots actually. :upyours

[blueone]

Same here. I started out with a Darkness on the Edge of Town gig, 21/8/78.

[Kirsten]

Oh, thanks. I need to get into the boots actually. :upyours

I might be able to help in this department... Let me know what kind of stuff you're interested in.

[Sydneyfan]

I might be able to help in this department... Let me know what kind of stuff you're interested in.

Cheers Kirsten, much appreciated. I will PM you about it. :upyours

[Sydneyfan]

Hey ho...the only thing this thread is missing is a Magic Countdown Clock.
Well...not anymore..... :lol


http://www.highway29.net/MagicCountdown.html

[FrigidRoses]

:lol

42 days
13 hours
20 minutes

[blueone]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/dgdgdg/springsteen-magic-cover.jpg

There's a Darkness vibe going on there. That can only bode well. :upyours

[FrigidRoses]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/dgdgdg/springsteen-magic-cover.jpg

There's a Darkness vibe going on there. That can only bode well. :upyours

:upyours :upyours

[blueone]

http://www.q1043.com/pages/pp_bobbuchman.html

I just heard the lead track, "Radio Nowhere". While Bruce's music has recently been pointed ("The Seeger Sessions") or heavy on message ("The Rising"), Bruce's intent here seems to be "Let's rock n' roll!" Fun is the message (think "Out in the Streets") in a tune that gives off a Badlands vibe. Real uptempo and alittle "garage"...purposely unpolished. And to confuse you even more, we also hear a touch of The Police "Message in a Bottle" and a touch of Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper".

Gives off a Badlands vibe? Phwoar. :cool:

Although I'm not sure if we can trust this guy because he looks like a knob. :lol

[Sydneyfan]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/dgdgdg/springsteen-magic-cover.jpg

There's a Darkness vibe going on there. That can only bode well. :upyours

Is that the official cover? Looks intense. No top hat or rabbit though.

[Sydneyfan]

Although I'm not sure if we can trust this guy because he looks like a knob. :lol


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a312/cindydowling/BOB.jpg

The 80's never really ended for Bob. The song sounds good, if not a little confused...the Police and Blue Oyster Cult....

[Sydneyfan]

ooh, an early review from a listening party. SOunds promising.

I wanted to share a couple of thoughts about "Magic" while they are still top of mind.

When the "hey come over and listen to the new album" phone call comes, you go. That call came today. I'm glad I went.

I took some spotty notes, and when you can't read your own handwriting--it's sad.

So, Magic.

Seated between a pair of outstanding speakers and handed a book with the lyrics, the Magic began.

Quick observations: this album rocks...these songs will KILL in a live concert setting...lots, LOTS of rocking guitars...I still don't know why it's called Magic...nary a ballad...Clarence Clemons rocks...I can't wait to find out how the actual recording of this album played out...any crap that Brendan O'Brien took for The Rising (undeserved in my book) will be long forgotten...these songs will sound great on the radio...Bruce Springsteen "songwriter" is a national treasure.

The production is big, without getting in the way. While The Rising demanded a certain atmosphere and Devils & Dust surely came from its own place, this album is an exclamation point in the Springsteen/O'Brien studio pairing. This is a confident sounding record, made by artists who trust each other and their art.

Radio Nowhere
Coming soon to a radio near you. Great lead off song. This could easily be the guy in "Open All Night" 25 years burning down the road. This song rocks, but the whole time, the guy in the song asks "is anybody alive out there?" like his life depends on it. Classic E Street with a monster solo from C.
And as the guy drives along he sings...
I just want to hear some rhythm
I just want to hear some rhythm
I just want to feel some rhythm
I just want to feel your rhythm
Awesome and terrifying at the same time.

You'll Be Comin' Down
Another song where C shines...spotlight on the Big Man. This is one about someone getting their comeuppance--a whole "what goes around comes around" thing. Karma!

Livin' In The Future
The most "pop" song on the album. Classic E Street--Big C again and a song that would fit anywhere from Born To Run to Born In The U.S.A.

Your Own Worst Enemy
I liked this one a lot. Reminded me of the vibe of both Darkness and The River, also not unlike None But The Brave. Great harmony vocals.

Gypsy Biker
A song about a gypsy biker who is coming home. Starts with a beautiful harmonica and acoustic and ends up a flat out rocker. Very powerful lyrics. Loved it and can't wait to hear it live.

Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Hmmmm...girls in their summer clothes don't like the hero in this song. My notes for this one said "lyrics very specific, very precise." While this was not one of my favorites, the lyrics are so well written that you feel like you're on the street as "the girls in their summer clothes pass me by."

I'll Work For Your Love
CatholicSchool...CatholicSchool...CatholicSchool. Bruce has used a lot of Catholic imagery as of late, and this song certainly has that. Beautiful piano intro, and another one that I really liked.

Magic
Interesting that this is the title cut. This one could have easily been on Devils & Dust. The word "magic" does not appear in the song. I need to hear it again, I guess. : )

Last To Die
Great songwriting here. Driving drums.

Long Walk Home
Probably the best song on the album. We know how great the lyrics are, this is played with passion and tempo by Bruce and the band. Wow. Max and Garry flat out kill this song, and there is an amazing guitar solo. This song will destroy concert halls all over the world. Amazing.

Devil's Arcade
The lyrics that are posted on the web are wrong. You'll be happy, because this song is great--again with lyrics that are simply amazing. Big guitars, big strings--I really liked this one a lot.

It's easy to toss around superlatives when discussing Bruce's work (and yeah, I'm biased), but this is a great, great album. I keep coming back to the preciseness and the specific ness of the lyrics. These are streets that do have names. And the people who walk--drive--run those streets have purpose. And when the band plays...

Do you believe in Magic? I do.

[blueone]

Farrrrrrrrrrk! Have I ever been anticipating a new albumn so much? No, I don't believe I have.

Great article and fantastic avatar, C. ;)

[ewok.online]

i'm excited, to be sure.

[Sydneyfan]

Farrrrrrrrrrk! Have I ever been anticipating a new albumn so much? No, I don't believe I have.

Great article and fantastic avatar, C. ;)

I am getting pretty hyped up for this now too....and I nicked the avatar from the Stone Pony London board. I like his teeth.

[blueone]

Those are scary teeth.



Btw, I just wanna hear some rhythm. :rock

[Sydneyfan]

Those are scary teeth.



Btw, I just wanna hear some rhythm. :rock

Oh yessss..........:guitarsolo :guitarsolo

[thunderoad]

I'm very anxious for this album! Just this morning I was watching the Live in Dublin dvd and it makes me more anxious for a new Bruce tour!

[Sydneyfan]

Since the new single is pretty much everywhere (including YouTube) I was wondering what people thought of it?

To me it's a return to classic ESB rock - its a straightup, uncomplicated rock song with lots of chunky guitars and a fantastically catchy melody. If it's indicative of the rest of the album, I shall be a happy camper.

And I also think it's the most radio-friendly song he's released for quite some time.

[blueone]

I think that it's absolutely awesome. It's a catchy, heavy rocker with powerhouse drums that we haven't seen since Born In The USA. I can see it being mind-blowing when performed live.

[Sydneyfan]

The live aspect was my first thought as well. This is going to be an utterly killer live song given the full ESB treatment.

[blueone]

Did you notice the guitar solo that kinda happens "under" the sax solo?

[Sydneyfan]

Did you notice the guitar solo that kinda happens "under" the sax solo?

Yes I did. Its stellar stuff and just the sort of song you would hope he would release with the ESB in my opinion. Lyrically, its far from his most profound work, but its not meant to be another Backstreets etc. Its rock n roll and proud of it. :guitarsolo

[blueone]

It's the highest breed of rock n roll. :rock

[Sydneyfan]

Little review of the new single:

With buzz building on a tour this fall, Bruce Springsteen fans awaiting news on concert dates have in the meantime been circulating the still-unreleased first single from his upcoming album, "Magic."

"Radio Nowhere" -- like other songs on "Magic," which reunites Springsteen with his E Street Band after 2005's solo "Devils & Dust" and 2006's folk-oriented "Seeger Sessions" album -- is not yet available commercially. But an MP3 of unknown origin has been making the rounds via Internet.

On the start of the track, Springsteen is lost.

"I was trying to find my way home/But all I heard was a drone/Bouncin' off a satellite/Crushing the last long American night," he sings in the first verse of the first single.
"Is there anybody alive out there?" he wonders, and looks to rock 'n' roll for salvation, just like he did in the song's most obvious lyrical cousin - the haunting "Open All Night," from his 1982 "Nebraska" album.

"I want 1,000 guitars/I want pounding drums/I want a million different voices speaking in tongues," he sings.

The track's guitars number well short of 1,000, but they are loud and powerful. Max Weinberg's drums do indeed pound, and Clarence Clemons takes a howling, though brief, saxophone solo.

This is a back-to-basics rock song - no great artistic leap forward, but a rousing anthem that should only improve in a live setting.

[Sydneyfan]

I just realised Australia gets this album in stores on Sept 29. For once, we actually get something before everyone else. Oh yesss. :banana

Also, Amazon.com are offering a great deal on buying Magic and Patti's new disc as a combo. I thought you would all want to know this. :upyours

[foggy]

I just realised Australia gets this album in stores on Sept 29. For once, we actually get something before everyone else. Oh yesss. :banana

That's great! :upyours And, if you didn't already know, the vinyl is supposedly coming out a week before the cd on September 25th. Well, a week before according to the US release date, that is. From Billboard.com:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003630490

[Sydneyfan]

It will win the Grammy. You read it here first. :upyours I'm not sure anyone decent actually ever wins Grammy's anymore, but still. It will win.

[Rob]

:bananaBANG:bananaBANG:bananaBANG

Hopefully a tour will entail!
October 2 Hartford, CT
October 5 Philadelphia, PA
October 9-10 East Rutherford, NJ
October 14 Ottawa, ONT
October 15 Toronto, ONT
October 17-18 New York, NY
October 21 Chicago, IL
October 26 Oakland, CA
October 28 Los Angeles, CA
November 2 St Paul, MN
November 4 Cleveland, OH
November 5 Auburn Hills, MI
November 11 Washington, D.C.
November 14 Pittsburgh, PA
November 15 Albany, NY
November 18 Boston, MA

November 25 Madrid, SPAIN
November 26 Bilbao, SPAIN
November 28 Milan, ITALY
November 30 Arnhem, NETHERLANDS
December 2 Mannheim, GERMANY
December 4 Oslo, NORWAY
December 8 Copenhagen, DENMARK
December 10 Stockholm, SWEDEN
December 12 Antwerp, BELGIUM
December 13 Cologne, GERMANY
December 15 Belfast, IRELAND
December 17 Paris, FRANCE
December 19 London, UK

[FrigidRoses]

Figures. He's not coming anywhere near me.

Thanks Rob.

[blueone]

December 19th? Phwoar, that's cutting it close to Christmas!

Btw, any news on when the tickets go on sale?

[ewok.online]

iTunes is giving away Radio Nowhere.
in the US, at least.

[Sydneyfan]

December 19th? Phwoar, that's cutting it close to Christmas!

Btw, any news on when the tickets go on sale?

He might play Santa Claus Is coming to Town as an encore....

And someone tell me that the Australian dates will be announced later on...please...:\

[Kirsten]

He might play Santa Claus Is coming to Town as an encore....

And someone tell me that the Australian dates will be announced later on...please...:\

The Australian dates will be announced later on. :)

[Sydneyfan]

The Australian dates will be announced later on. :)

I believe you Kirsten, cheers. :upyours

[Sydneyfan]

Phone interview with Backstreets. Looks like reports of the death of the ESB have been premature after all.


Springsteen and the E Street Band played a brief series of dates in 2004, but their last full-scale outing was the tour for The Rising in 2002 and 2003. Since that time, Bruce has continued to tour extensively: as a solo artist in 2005, and with the Sessions Band last year, playing, as he put it at the time, everything that leads to rock music, but not rock music.

Reminded of that now, Springsteen says emphatically, "Yeah -- I'll be playing the rock music this time. " He laughs, adding, "In case anybody's wondering."

Speaking with Backstreets by phone as tour preparation gets underway, Springsteen makes it clear that he tapped his rock side for Magic, an album meant to be played live: "It's just built for it," he says. "I wrote with a lot of melody, and with a lot of hooks, and there's a lot of band power behind the stuff that I wrote this time out. So I'm excited to hear that come straight off the band."

The 2007 E Street Band line-up will be the same as in 2002-2003 -- including violinist Soozie Tyrell, a veteran of the Rising tour and of last year's Sessions Band. Though not mentioned in today's press release, Springsteen confirms, "Soozie will be with us."

He still raves about the Sessions Band -- "a tremendous discovery, and just such an amazing group of musicians" -- and says he looks forward to working with them again. But when he refers to "the band," it goes without saying that he means E Street.

"The band is the band, you know?" Springsteen says. "It's the only place where I really do the thing that I suppose that I'm most known for, which is... it's a peak experience."

For Springsteen, transition between styles is second nature. He's been doing it to a large degree since 1982's Nebraska, his stark solo record between the big E Street blasts of The River and Born in the U.S.A. As his sonic repertoire expands, his commitment to performance -- whatever the sound may be -- remains constant.

"For it to be really great, you've got to be 100 percent committed at that moment. So when you're in it, that's all there is," he explains. "I think that's what it takes to be really good. So I'll just lose myself in whatever form I'm working in at any given moment. And the other things seem distant: 'Oh yeah, I like to do that too, and I like to do that too...' But really, I'm very comfortable moving between all the different formats that I play in now."

In fact, it's much like -- and as easy as -- shifting gears. It's no surprise to hear Springsteen employ a car metaphor, with the E Street band as the hotrod, as he looks toward reconvening the band for tour rehearsals.

"First of all, we start playing just to feel the machine again," he says, describing what happens after they initially plug in. "You've gotta drive it a little bit before you push the envelope on it." While Springsteen recorded Magic with the E Street Band, the studio process had them laying down tracks individually; September rehearsals will bring them back together to work up the new material as a unit. "We may run through a few things we know, just to reacquaint ourselves with the sound and the power of the band. How it moves underneath you, and everything. That's sort of the first thing I do, I refit myself into that bucket seat. 'Oh yeah, okay, now I remember...' And that takes all of about 15 minutes."

After that? Well, it's early enough that he's not ready to say. "I don't really go in with any rigid ideas. I'm interested in seeing where the music is going to take us and where the band feels best.... I think the initial thing you try to do is to find a place for a lot of your new work. I'm excited about that. We played a lot of The Rising on the [2002-2003] tour because, once again, it was stuff that just played really well live. We've got that again in spades on this record.

"And then you've got to see what people respond to. I have a good idea, but it's still a conversation with your audience. And when they start listening, and talking back, then different things come to the front."

How about "The Price You Pay," from The River, which hasn't made a setlist since 1981?

"It's become a thing just because I haven't played it," Bruce laughs. "If I had played it, nobody would give much of a damn if they heard it or not! Just because it hasn't been played.... You know, my recollection is that it's been a while since we've played 'Crush on You.' And I'm not sure that one's going to be popping up in the set any time soon, either, you know?"

But it could, and that's one of the things that has had fans itching for the E Street Band to hit the road again -- the idea that anything can happen. "We leave the door very open, because over the course of a long tour, we end up playing so many songs.... obviously, we try to make the shows unique. I've got a lot of songs that I'm carrying around at this point, and it's fun to get to them as the tour goes along."

When Springsteen got the band back together in 1999, part of the joy of the reunion was the very fact that everyone was able to reunite. Sure, available, and arguably playing better than ever, but at a very basic level, alive. Many bands haven't been so lucky, a quarter-century down the road. Another eight years along, gearing up for the Magic tour, it's still the case.

"That's something that you become more grateful for as time passes," Bruce says. "You know, I just lost Terry [Magovern], my great friend of 23 years. That was a big loss. And so you're aware that things are finite. The band really did take care of one another over the years, and like I've always said, it's one of the things I'm proudest of. And I continue to be. I mean, there are a lot of ways that life can take you, and you never know what tomorrow brings. So to have that kind of stability -- and not only that, but also that the personal relationships remain so thoroughly enjoyable -- it's a great gift."

All things being finite, does it enter his mind that this could be the last time out? A "farewell tour"?

"Oh, I'll never do that, man -- you're only gonna know that when you don't see me no more."

Of course, no doubt -- but for the E Street Band as we know it?

"Hell, I don't know," Springsteen laughs. "I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many more years. There ain't gonna be any farewell tour. That's the only thing I know for sure."

[blueone]

Oh shit! Tickets go on sale 9am tomorrow!

[FrigidRoses]

Are you gonna go D?

[blueone]

Hell yes I am! And I'm gonna go in a Christmas Hat too. :rock

[Sydneyfan]

Oh shit! Tickets go on sale 9am tomorrow!

Good luck ....fingers crossed you get good ones!

[blueone]

To celebrate me getting tickets I made Radio Nowhere my ringtone on my phone. :)

And I vow to go in a Christmas hat since it'll be less than a week away from Christmas!

[FrigidRoses]

What is a Christmas Hat?

[blueone]

http://www.ndesign-studio.com/images/resources/tutorials/xmas_hat/final.gif

[FrigidRoses]

That's it? I was expecting some crazy British thing. Not a Santa hat. :)

[blueone]

Yup, that's it.

By the way, when we reach December it's a TBY custom to put a "Santa" hat on your avatar. ;)

[FrigidRoses]

Stephen Colbert will be rockin Christmas spirit.

[blueone]

Here's my one from last year, so you get the idea:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/dgdgdg/dataandchristmas2.jpg

[Sydneyfan]

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Columbia Records will exclusively premiere Bruce Springsteen's music video "Radio Nowhere" on www.amazon.com/music on Tuesday, September 4. For 24 hours, fans around the world will get their first and only look at the new video online at Amazon.com. "Radio Nowhere" is the first single to be released off Springsteen's upcoming album "Magic," his first album with the E Street Band since 2002's "The Rising."

:rock

[Rob]

I have Born To Run & Nebraska...where should I go next?

[Sydneyfan]

I have Born To Run & Nebraska...where should I go next?

Personally, I would try Darkness on the Edge of Town next. It's another of his albums that pretty much everyone agrees is classic.

After that, if you're still keen, I would go back and work through his catalogue in chronlogical order. Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ is his first.

[Rob]

Getting now. Thanks for the advice. I'll report back with my opinion.

[blueone]

:rock

:guitarsolo

[Sydneyfan]

:guitarsolo

D, do you find yourself playing Radio Nowhere on repeat? I don't know whether we've just been deprived of the ESB sound for too long or what, but I'm currently addicted to that song.

[blueone]

Same here, same here. I even have it as my ringtone. :lol

[Sydneyfan]

Same here, same here. I even have it as my ringtone. :lol

:lol We are losers.

[blueone]

We're only losers if we each have a Segway. :upyours

[Sydneyfan]

We're only losers if we each have a Segway. :upyours

Segways are the sex. Don't get me started. :pimp

[blueone]

http://www.humanonastick.com/images/Segway-Tour.jpg

Sexay. :pimp

[Sydneyfan]

http://www.humanonastick.com/images/Segway-Tour.jpg

Sexay. :pimp


:lol The Boss on a Segway = die happy.

[blueone]

I did a search for "Bruce Springsteen Segway" but it was fruitless. :(

[ewok.online]

i listened to it 15 consecutive times yesterday.
you are not alone.


and segways?
wtf?

[Sydneyfan]

i listened to it 15 consecutive times yesterday.
you are not alone.


and segways?
wtf?

Good, that makes me feel better. As for the Segways, its just a joke from a previous conversation D and I had.:)

[foggy]

I did a search for "Bruce Springsteen Segway" but it was fruitless. :(

Omgz look!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/strangeways/segwaybruce.jpg

[blueone]

:lol :lol

Foggy, you're awesome!

[Sydneyfan]

Omgz look!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/strangeways/segwaybruce.jpg

:lol That is avatar worthy. :upyours

[Kirsten]

Hate to interrupt the Segway fun, but you can hear samples of Magic here: http://www.musicload.de/item.ml?releaseid=2792001_2

[blueone]

Thanks!

I listened to a couple and they sound ace. But I don't want to lsiten to any more for fear of ruining it. :)

[FrigidRoses]

Hate to interrupt the Segway fun, but you can hear samples of Magic here: http://www.musicload.de/item.ml?releaseid=2792001_2

Thanks!

[Sydneyfan]

Here's the video for those who haven't seen it yet:

http://www.amazon.de/Magic-Bruce-Springsteen/dp/B000V8I2QU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/028-6281653-2599726?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1188858340&sr=8-1


I think Bruce uses the same lighting guy as Ryan Adams. :upyours

[FrigidRoses]

Thanks C.

You're always on top of things. :)

[Sydneyfan]

Thanks C.

You're always on top of things. :)

Except bread rolls.....

Actually, I stole the link from another board. But I like your explanation better. :lol

[FrigidRoses]

:lol

If I didn't love the song so much I'd say the video was :downyours.

[Sydneyfan]

:lol

If I didn't love the song so much I'd say the video was :downyours.

Yea, it's not exactly brilliant. Not enough Big Man and too much Patti. :lol

[ewok.online]

i liked it, minus the over-patti.
i'm a sucker for performance videos.

[blueone]

Man, they switch angles so damn quick in that video. And the lighting is crapola. :downyours

[The Good Society]

I guess alot of RA fans are into Springsteen, an unappreciated musician - at least with alot of the people I know. Anyways, I've seen the E street band and I don't think either time there was an opening act. But that could be worth petitioning the cardinals as an opener.

[Kirsten]

I guess alot of RA fans are into Springsteen, an unappreciated musician - at least with alot of the people I know. Anyways, I've seen the E street band and I don't think either time there was an opening act. But that could be worth petitioning the cardinals as an opener.

Never an opener at a Springsteen show... though we can dream.

[FrigidRoses]

Le@ked.

[Sydneyfan]

:rock

[thunderoad]

ahhhh, i'm stressed
the tickets for the show i'm hoping to go to
go on sale on a monday while i'm at work!!!

[Sydneyfan]

ahhhh, i'm stressed
the tickets for the show i'm hoping to go to
go on sale on a monday while i'm at work!!!

Yikes. Good luck with it!

[thunderoad]

hoping the boyfriend will skip class and try to get some tix.

anywho, can anyone lead me in the direction of the leak?

[Sydneyfan]

Early blog review of Magic:

As I write, washing over me are the sounds of “Long Walk Home,” a track from the soon-to-be-released album Magic, by Bruce Springsteen. Hey pretty darling, don’t wait for me, it’s gonna be a long walk home. It’s a throwback album, something like what he might have made after the Gary US Bonds albums of the early ‘80’s, almost. The album isn’t due out until October, but it leaked this afternoon, and it’s been some time since I’ve needed a tonic quite like this. When they built you brother, they broke the mold.

“Magic” isn’t an unqualified success for me yet, though I like it enough. “Radio Nowhere,” with its strident beat and a tune vaguely reminiscent of the Tommy Tutone hit “8675309,” gets the album off to a good start, but “You’ll Be Comin’ Down” just never seems to get off the ground, with riffs that seemed pulled from the back catalogue and a sax part that I can only describe as perfunctory. “Livin’ in the Future” is maybe my favorite track so far: Livin’ in the future and none of this has happened yet. But of course it has, the nightmare is here. But we can still dance and groove. The song is light, almost a cross between old J. Geils and Bruce’s own composition “Out of Work.”

Unfortunately, too many of the tracks that follow seem to drag. This is particularly true of “Your Own Worst Enemy,” and the Beach Boys style song “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” which had my brother commenting that “for this song half the crowd will be snoring and the other half will be sending their husbands out for beer,” and while that may add up to one half too many, it’s not yet easy for me to envision that one working live. The low point for me so far is “I’ll Work for Your Love,” in which the Catholic imagery is overdone to cringe point.


“Gypsy Biker” starts off with a harmonica wail that sounds like the studio version of “Empty Sky,” always a highlight. “Magic” is one of the few tracks that depart from the classic E Street sound, and it’s among those that work best: Leave everything you need and carry only what you fear. It reminded me a bit of “Nothing Man” and “Further On (Up the Road).” The other more topical songs – “Last to Die” and “Devil’s Arcade,” also worked well for me.

http://matt.orel.ws/blog/

[foggy]

Le@ked.

For those that have heard it, what do you think?

[FrigidRoses]

Haven't listened yet. I'm very tempted though. :\

[ewok.online]

if i had heard the album, hypothetically, i would say it's great.

[Spilled Milk]

I would say that a lot of it seems to channel "Hungry Heart," and that that's not a bad thing.

[thunderoad]

iick, not too sure that's a good thing...well at least to me!

[Sydneyfan]

For those that have heard it, what do you think?

Reading the Springsteen fan boards, it seems like the general consensus is positive. And his fans can be pretty hard to please. Apparently it's very rock-orientated and should be brilliant live.

[Sydneyfan]

But Dan Kennedy of The Guardian newspaper no likey...


Bored in the USA
Repetitive, cliched, robotic: Bruce Springsteen's latest album shows that
nostalgia's just another word for 'nothing left to say'.

Dan Kennedy

Time was when you could make a pretty good living imitating Bruce
Springsteen. In the mid-1970s, when post-Born to Run legal problems were
keeping Springsteen out of the recording studio, acts such as Southside
Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, and
even the obese yowler Meat Loaf all had some success in meeting the pent-up
demand for Boss-inspired product.
These days, sadly, the most successful Springsteen imitator is Springsteen
himself.

I've given a couple of listens this week to Radio Nowhere, the single from
Springsteen's forthcoming album, Magic*. It's eerie - it sounds just like
Springsteen. Except that the guitars are too robotic, the lyrics too cliched
and repetitive, the arrangement too simplistic. This couldn't really be
Bruce, could it? Alas, it certainly could.

As an (Almost) Original Springsteen Fan, I never thought it would come to
this. But the prospect of Bruce revving up the E Street Band for one more
wheezing journey through what he calls (I wish I were making this up) "the
last long American night" fills me with dread, not anticipation. Nostalgia
is just another word for "nothing left to say". At nearly 58 years old,
Springsteen is now wallowing in it.

....... Springsteen's image is that of a
rock-and-roller who never really lost whatever it was he had, and who has
managed to age gracefully with ever-more-mature songs and performances. But
image is one thing, and reality is another. And the reality is that he was
king of the universe through the early 1980s, but has been pretty much
sucking wind ever since, lurching back and forth with mixed results between
hard rock and acoustic-tinged pseudo-folk.

His last album with the E Street Band, The Rising (2002), a tribute to the
victims of 9/11, is such an embarrassment that it makes my skin crawl. The
one decent song, My City of Ruins, was written before the terrorist attacks.
The rest is an overly loud, overly busy mess aimed at his dumbest fans - the
ones whose only other Springsteen moment was Born in the USA, his 1984
crowd-pleaser. Last year's collection of traditional folk songs, We Shall
Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, was terrific, but mainly because they weren't his songs.

When Springsteen burst on to the scene, he was promoted as the latest "new
Dylan". He turned out to be more than that, but less, too. During the 1970s
he almost single-handedly saved rock and roll from the synth-heavy
pretensions of bands like Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer with a series of
great albums and a live show that had to be seen to be believed.

Yet Springsteen never caught up to Bob Dylan as a songwriter or an
innovator. And it's more than a little ironic that, today, Dylan himself is
all the new Dylan anyone needs: At 66, he's in the midst of a career revival
that no one would have dared predict a decade ago. Would that Springsteen
regain his own creative powers when he hits his 60s.

Give Springsteen this: he's kept his integrity and ideals, and is doing the
best he can. But the magic has diminished considerably, even as Magic is
upon us.




* Does this means he's reviewing the entire album having listened to only one song?

[taparoo]

hoping the boyfriend will skip class and try to get some tix.

anywho, can anyone lead me in the direction of the leak?
It's up on a particular torrent site right now (pm me your email and I'd be glad to send you an invite)

[Kirsten]

* Does this means he's reviewing the entire album having listened to only one song?

That's what it sounds like to me. GOD I hate the media!!!!! :mad:

[blueone]

Can someone tell me what the bloody hell 'Terry's Song' is? I haven't seen it mentioned before and yet it is labelled as track #12...

[ewok.online]

Can someone tell me what the bloody hell 'Terry's Song' is? I haven't seen it mentioned before and yet it is labelled as track #12...

it's a good song, that's what it is! ;)

[Sydneyfan]

Voice says "don't worry, I'm here
Just whisper the word tomorrow in my ear"
House on a quiet street, a home for the brave
A glorious kingdom with the sun on your face
Rising from a long night as dark as the grave
On a thin chain of next moments and something like faith
On a morning to order a breakfast to make
A bed draped in sunshine, a body that waits
For the touch of your fingers, the end of the day
The beat of your heart, the beat of her heart
The beat of your heart, the slow burning away
Of the bitter fires of the devil's arcade

The old guy can still write some beautiful lyrics when he puts his mind to it. :upyours

[Layne]

:( i'm sorry guys i'm really not hyped for it, actually I could care less for it. I think their just giving it too much hype, I mean I understand if your a hardcore Bruce fan, but i've been listening to his semi new stuff, and i'm really not that impressed

I mean of course i'll illegally download his new album just to see how it is but I won't buy until he completely sells the whole bob dylan shtick, you know how he's growing old and everything is getting diffrent


refrence though modern times was great, but I wasn't feelin' it completely either


hmmmm maybe I just need to mature more I don't know?:confused

[ewok.online]

this is not like the stuff he's been putting out for the last few years, at all.
sure, the rising was an ESB record, but it didnt have that something.

this one does.

[sipowicz]

His last album with the E Street Band, The Rising (2002), a tribute to the
victims of 9/11, is such an embarrassment that it makes my skin crawl. The
one decent song, My City of Ruins, was written before the terrorist attacks.
The rest is an overly loud, overly busy mess aimed at his dumbest fans - the
ones whose only other Springsteen moment was Born in the USA, his 1984
crowd-pleaser. Last year's collection of traditional folk songs, We Shall
Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, was terrific, but mainly because they weren't his songs.

I actually like The Rising, it was weak at parts, but this jackass is just being...a critic.

Writers like that make my skin crawl.

[Sydneyfan]

I actually like The Rising, it was weak at parts, but this jackass is just being...a critic.

Writers like that make my skin crawl.

I like The Rising as well. It manages to be tasteful, even- handed and intelligent about a highly emotional, difficult subject. I can't think of too many songwriters who could achieve that.
Let's Be Friends is the obvious weakest link on the album for me, but overall its very solid.

[Sydneyfan]

Terrific article on the new album and Springsteen's world view:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/13/bmbruce113.xml

[Sydneyfan]

:rock

The wonders of the internet now allow fans to get their mits on new material long before the official release date. With this being perhaps the most hotly anticipated new record of the autumn, it's no wonder that I've been able to listen to this before it's official release on the 1st of October.

However, my hands were trembling as I loaded the CD into my record player (we don't all listen to music through laptop speakers, you know...). I was worried because he had released some of his most original and artistic work over his last two projects, the solo work of Devils + Dust and his amazing search for the heart and soul of American music in his recordings and tour with the Seeger Sessions Band. Was this a retrograde step for the Boss? Was it merely an exercise in reminiscence?

Thankfully, Magic is neither. It's a fully fledged Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street band album that as well as alluding to the past in both it's lyrical content and musical style, is still thoroughly modern.

Opener ‘Radio Nowhere' (which was released as a free internet MP3 download - even Bruce has entered the modern age) sees guitars clash and saxophone wail as the Boss searches for the soul of rock music. He proclaims that, "I want 1000 guitars and 1000 drums". Well you make enough noise with the E-Street band's original take on this Bruce. As I've written before, this needs to be heard in a Cadillac, speeding across the desert or something. Perfect driving music. Just watch your speed limit, using this song as an excuse in court will probably not stand up.

‘Livin' in the Future' is perhaps the catchiest song on the record. Sounding like an outtake from The River, it feels as if it's a distant cousin to ‘Hungry Hearts' from the aforementioned album. The song has stood out from the first listen and it's refreshing to know that he's still prepared to write songs with such a poppy appeal. A great, great tune which sounds as if it was written in the late 1970s and not 2007. But please don't hold that against the song. This should bring the house down in a live context.

‘Your Own Worst Enemy' is brooding with a more modern take on things. It is very akin to some of his recent solo material, in my opinion with a more introspective take on things. ‘Gypsy Biker' again takes stock from Devils + Dust, although it is a more upbeat affair. Driving acoustic guitar and haunting harmonica blend well.

‘I'll Work For Your Love' has the twinkle piano trademark E-street band start and is perhaps the biggest grower on the album so far. Violin, piano and harmonica all mix well and it's perhaps the most lyrically ambiguous song on the record, " I'm just out here searching for my own piece of the cross". Well whatever Bruce, but it certainly scratched itself into my mind. ‘Magic' has a haunting, brooding feel to it with electric organ and a slow tempo start. Again, it feels like an over-produced solo Bruce song. Lyrically, it alludes to some of Springsteen's classic themes: the American dream, and searching for oneself within a crazy, crazy world.

‘Last to Die' ups the tempo and the stakes in the record. From the first chords the ears are perked. The catchy guitar gets better and better on each listen, as do the lyrics which again seem to have a dark undertone as the protagonist seems to long for a world which no longer exists:

"We took a highway 'till the road went black
We mark truth or consequences on our back
A voice drifted up from the radio
(yeah)
Some other voice from long ago"

Thematically it reminds me of ‘Racin' in the Street' or ‘Backstreets' only written by a middle-aged man looking back. Which is not really that surprising, if you think about it.

‘Long Walk Home' was premiered at the Seeger Sessions Band concert that I witnessed in November 2006. He had written it the night before he played it. It was great then and now it packs even more of a punch. It is probably the lyrical highlight on the album, a real masterpiece which is political, personal and beautiful at the same time and in all the right ways. In many respects it's an anti-dote to ‘Last to Die' and it comes as no surprise that these two tracks are juxtaposed together in the tracklisting.

‘Devil's Arcade' has an almost Pink Floydesque quality to it. A poignant wall of noise builds, intersected by a violin which is mournful and quite simply beautiful. Lyrically ambiguous, it reminds me of a number of Dylan's songs. Not musically or lyrically, just emotionally. Devil's Arcade could be a shopping arcade housed on Dylan's ‘Desolation Row'.

This masterpiece officially closes the album and will be a true experience. I expect grown men in tears as the tension builds and builds. Possibly Springsteen's best song since I can remember.

The bonus track, ‘Terry's song' could too have been written by Springsteen in the late 1970s. It's a fitting and moving tribute to a friend who has recently passed away. A lovely way to immortalise this man and his feelings towards him. In many respects this comes as no surprise that he kept this one off the official tracklisting, it is a very different song both in mood and subject matter to the other ones on the album.

However, having read all of that you'll probably be wondering what on earth is wrong with the album? There are a couple of clunkers on there, which I could have done without listening to, to be honest. ‘You'll be Coming Home' sounds like a rising outtake and is lyrically inspid and musically dull. ‘Girls in their Summer Clothes' has the most promising song title and the most disappointing final product. This dirge-like pop-ballad never really gets going for me and never does amount to much.

Overall Springsteen has managed to create an impressive piece of work. Forgetting the couple of poor songs, the album has a dark and brooding quality to it, some great rockers and emotionally charged songs. Taken as a whole, Springsteen has created an album which although taking cues from his and music's past is forward looking and thoroughly modern. If one were to compare this album to some of the other ‘oldie' albums of recent times, then it is a better and more consistent album than Dylan's Modern Times and about 1,000 times better than the Stones' A Bigger Bang which has not stood the test of time (although I completely fell in love with it on its release). Of course it's not in the league of Born to Run or Darkness on the Edge of Town but was it ever going to be?

It's early days yet, but I have a feeling that people will still be listening to most of the songs from Magic in years to come. As Springsteen fans or plain music lovers we can ask for no more. Definitely one to obtain (legally please) on the 1st of October.


James Ketchell


http://www.rockbeatstone.com/rockbeatstone-magazine/album-reviews/2007/bruce-springsteen.html

[Kirsten]

Tickets for Minneapolis (actually St. Paul) go on sale tomorrow morning. They've been selling faaaaast. I'm berry berry nervous. Holding my breath....

[Sydneyfan]

Tickets for Minneapolis (actually St. Paul) go on sale tomorrow morning. They've been selling faaaaast. I'm berry berry nervous. Holding my breath....

Very best of luck Kirsten. I'll cross my fingers and toes for you. :)

[foggy]

Tickets for Minneapolis (actually St. Paul) go on sale tomorrow morning. They've been selling faaaaast. I'm berry berry nervous. Holding my breath....

Good luck, Kirsten! :)

[blueone]

Good luck Kirsten! Just remember to start refreshing the ticket page about 10 to 15 minutes early - I did that and found out the tickets went on sale 5 minutes early!

[Sydneyfan]

Let us know how you get on.

[Kirsten]

Thanks. I'll let you know in a few hours...

[Kirsten]

Well, I'm not on the floor, but lower level third row. Wish they were on the side, but all in all not too disappointing!

[Sydneyfan]

Well, I'm not on the floor, but lower level third row. Wish they were on the side, but all in all not too disappointing!

Excellent. How big is the venue?

[ewok.online]

Excellent. How big is the venue?

hockey arena.

i saw The Police at the XCEL.
there isn't really a bad seat in that place.

[Sydneyfan]

hockey arena.

i saw The Police at the XCEL.
there isn't really a bad seat in that place.

That's good then. How where The Police, btw? I've heard some mixed reviews about their comeback shows.

[ewok.online]

i'm like a little girl for the police, and i had a great time.
sure, he cant sing 100% like he used to.
but they did tons of jamming and never got too far into "sting-ness".
stewart went nuts the whole time, so i was happy.

[Sydneyfan]

Ah, sounds good. My husband really wanted to go but I talked him out of it because I'm not such a big fan and the ticket prices were ridiculous.

[ewok.online]

i got my ticket for a 21st birthday present.
score.

[Kirsten]

i got my ticket for a 21st birthday present.
score.
Well, alright!! Your birthday wouldn't happen to be today, would it??

Oh, you were talking about The Police, weren't you?

[ewok.online]

Well, alright!! Your birthday wouldn't happen to be today, would it??

Oh, you were talking about The Police, weren't you?

yeah, haha.
i should have elaborated more.

well, if it had been a Bruce ticket, the post would have been more like...


"OSDGOKHDSKLJHGSKJFHGFKJHGFDKJ BRUCE!"

[BOZ]

Can someone tell me what the bloody hell 'Terry's Song' is? I haven't seen it mentioned before and yet it is labelled as track #12...

This will answer your query, and make you appreciate an already great song even more.

http://brucespringsteen.net/news/terrymagovern.html

Cheers.

[Kirsten]

Watching the set list from tonight's rehearsal show in Jersey is kiiiiillllllliiiiinnnng me!!

1. Radio Nowhere
2. No Surrender
3. Gypsy Biker
4. Empty Sky
5. Something in the Night
6. Girls in Their Summer Clothes
7. Night
8. Promised Land
9. Livin' in the Future
10. Devil's Arcade
11. Candy's Room
12. She's the One
13. Lonesome Day
14. My Hometown
15. The Rising
16. Last to Die
17. Long Walk Home
18. Thundercrack
19. Born to Run
20. Darlington County
21. American Land

THUNDER-freaking-CRACK!!!!!!

[Sydneyfan]

Thundercrack :rock

That is a pretty wonderful setlist.

[FrigidRoses]

Darlington County :rock

[Sydneyfan]

Darlington County :rock

He did that at the Sydney show I saw a couple of years back. Live, that song is completely brilliant. This tour is going to be spectacular I think.

[FrigidRoses]

http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/9/92/Map_of_South_Carolina_highlighting_Darlington_Coun ty.png

Darlington County is here.
South Carolina represent.

[Sydneyfan]

http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/9/92/Map_of_South_Carolina_highlighting_Darlington_Coun ty.png

Darlington County is here.
South Carolina represent.

Driving out of Darlington County
My eyes seen the glory of the coming of the lord
Driving out of Darlington County
Seen Wayne handcuffed to the bumper of a state troopers Ford

:banana

[Sydneyfan]

Tonight's rehearsal show setlist:

Town Called Heartbreak was a duet with Patti. Eh....I guess I'd need to hear it. :\


1. Radio Nowhere
2. Prove it All Night (AWESOME SECOND SONG - kicks butt over No Surrender)
3. Lonesome Day
4. Gypsy Biker
5. She's The One
6. Livin' in The Future
7. Town Called Heartbreak (Patti tune)
8. Darlington County
9. Born in the USA
10. Devil's Arcade
11. The Rising
12. Last to Die
13. Long Walk Home
14. Badlands
15. Girls in Their Summer Clothes
16. Thundercrack
17. Born To Run

[Sydneyfan]

This show is up on Dime now for those who use it.

[FrigidRoses]

How is it? I can never seem to get registered on Dime.

[Sydneyfan]

How is it? I can never seem to get registered on Dime.

Dunno. I can't get on there either. :lol If anyone has heard the show, let us know pls.

[blueone]

I've got an account on Dime. I'll download it and try and convert it to MP3s for y'all. :cool:

[Sydneyfan]

I've got an account on Dime. I'll download it and try and convert it to MP3s for y'all. :cool:

Outstanding, thanks so much. :)

[Kirsten]

I've talked to a couple people who were at both shows. The consensus is, Night One was not spectacular, they weren't geling... Night Two however was one for the history books!

[FrigidRoses]

I've got an account on Dime. I'll download it and try and convert it to MP3s for y'all. :cool:

He's lying. :downyours

He'll be busying playing Halo.

[blueone]

Hot damn, I was until you reminded me. It's downloaded so I'll do it in an hour or so. :cool:

[FrigidRoses]

Hot damn, I was until you reminded me. It's downloaded so I'll do it in an hour or so. :cool:

:worship

[blueone]

I'm uploading disc 1 as I type!!!!!!!!

[blueone]

Long Walk Home is beautiful.

The Rising is absolutely murdered by Patti's off-key and warbly vocals. Nice one Pat. :upyours

[FrigidRoses]

I'm uploading disc 1 as I type!!!!!!!!

BAN2

[Sydneyfan]

The Rising is absolutely murdered by Patti's off-key and warbly vocals. Nice one Pat. :upyours

:lol What is their duet like?

[blueone]

That's 'A Town Called Heartbreak', right?

I'm listening now. :pimp

[blueone]

Warbling is actually at an all time low at the moment. And they're harmonizing pretty well. :upyours

[Sydneyfan]

Warbling is actually at an all time low at the moment. And they're harmonizing pretty well. :upyours

Good to know, thanks. But they can probably leave it off the setlist for the Sydney show anyhow. :upyours

[blueone]

76%... damn this is slow.

I reckon I'll do disc 2 overnight. :)

[blueone]

http://download.yousendit.com/AF38BC18736B8152

Disc 1!

Disc 2 to come later!

Fun!

[FrigidRoses]

Thank you.

[ewok.online]

rock.

[blueone]

http://download.yousendit.com/79894D3A40A3BF04

Disc 2!

Fun!

[Sydneyfan]

I love you D. Yes. :upyours

[blueone]

:o

[Sydneyfan]

Just listening to this now.....love the way the whole crowd is singing along to Born to Run...it sounds like everyone is having such a great time.

[FrigidRoses]

The Boss was on The Today Show this morning, and got political on the people.

“This is a song called Livin’ In the Future. But it’s really about what’s happening now. Right now. It’s kind of about how the things we love about America, cheeseburgers, French fries, the Yankees battlin’ Boston… the Bill of Rights [holds up microphone, urging crowd to cheer] … v-twin motorcycles… Tim Russert’s haircut, trans-fats and the Jersey Shore… we love those things the way womenfolk love Matt Lauer.

But over the past six years we’ve had to add to the American picture: rendition, illegal wiretapping, voter suppression, no habeus corpus, the neglect of our great city New Orleans and its people, an attack on the Constitution. And the loss of our young best men and women in a tragic war.

This is a song about things that shouldn’t happen here—happening here.”

Here's a video of his performance for you to download...

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/09/28/bruce-springsteen-calls-out-bush-administration-this-is-a-song-about-things-that-shouldnt-happen-herehappening-here/

[Sydneyfan]

The Boss was on The Today Show this morning, and got political on the people.



Here's a video of his performance for you to download...

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/09/28/bruce-springsteen-calls-out-bush-administration-this-is-a-song-about-things-that-shouldnt-happen-herehappening-here/

Cheers for that. Listening to that rehearsal show, he gets political in his comments quite a few times. I'm surprised more hasn't been said about what an overtly political album Magic actually is.

[blueone]

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet but here's the video for Long Walk Home:

FISVkVOi2KE

He may be a man and several decades my senior but, hot damn, he's sharp.

[Sydneyfan]

And that song is all sorts of fabulous.

[Kirsten]

He may be a man and several decades my senior but, hot damn, he's sharp.
And smokin' hot.

[littleamen]

And smokin' hot.

Nothin' like that Al Franken, though, huh? :D :D

My apologies to the group for the inside joke.

[Kirsten]

Nothin' like that Al Franken, though, huh? :D :D

Werd. :lol

[FrigidRoses]

This Al Franken?

http://www.audiobooksonline.com/media/Al_Franken_Rush_Limbaugh_is_a_Big_Fat_Idiot_abridg ed_cassettes.jpg

[Kirsten]

This Al Franken?

http://www.audiobooksonline.com/media/Al_Franken_Rush_Limbaugh_is_a_Big_Fat_Idiot_abridg ed_cassettes.jpg

I'm afraid so...:rolleyes :lol

[FrigidRoses]

:guitarsolo

Love me so Al.

[foggy]

There's a very nice Bruce interview at the Times Online today...

It's too long to post, here's the link:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2541249.ece

[Sydneyfan]

“My take on the whole thing is, by the time you’re my age, the race is over; these are the victory laps.

So true.

Fantastic article, thanks very much for posting P.

[Sydneyfan]

Billboard likes it:


ARTIST: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
ALBUM: MAGIC

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Somewhere between "The River" and "The Rising" falls "Magic," Bruce Springsteen's first rock record since 2002 and a sleek machine that's practically pleading to be taken out on the highway.

Fully resettled on E Street after two solo projects, Springsteen has injected the taut "Magic" with a fierce purpose you can almost taste. The first eight songs play like a joyous E Street history lesson: "Radio Nowhere" is an arena-ready call to arms, the winking "Livin' in the Future" hails from the "Hungry Heart" school of Clarence Clemons-powered Motown-rock, and "Gypsy Biker" is a wide-open epic-in-waiting about, well, roads. Yet there is more to "Magic" than meets the eye: "Livin' in the Future" and "Long Walk Home" drop in some sneaky politics, while "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" finds Springsteen indulging an inner "Pet Sounds," purposefully trying on different vocal styles and keys. In all, a pretty great return to form.

[Sydneyfan]

One more review and then I'll stop, promise. I just really love this album.


There comes a point in most believers' lives where faith transforms from an inevitability to a choice. Something alters life's usual patterns -- a personal tragedy, perhaps, or an intellectual realization -- and what seemed so true suddenly can't be trusted. This isn't true just for God-fearing people; any creed is vulnerable to such a crisis. Getting past it can feel like an accomplishment or a sneaking betrayal, depending on whether you genuinely renew your convictions or just decide that credulity is the best way to survive.

Few artists must feel the obligation to keep the faith as heavily as Bruce Springsteen. For nearly 40 years, he's relentlessly returned to one great subject: that moment when an ordinary person confronts some higher power, whether it's love or death or the state patrol, and makes an ennobling if sometimes fatally wrongheaded commitment to act.

Springsteen's fascination with these personal epiphanies has earned him a massive cult, and why not? His lyrics blend religious and secular scenarios to des