Bruce Is Livin’ In The Future
Don’t worry darling, we’re living in the future and none of this has happened yet – Bruce Springsteen, Livin’ In The Future, Magic
Bruce Springsteen has been relevant as a musician and cultural icon since he hit the scene with Greetings From Asbury Park thirty-five years ago. That’s an awfully long time to be at the top of the game.
There’s been a few periods where I thought he might be losing it. Most of his work in the 90s is forgettable in my book. But The Rising brought him back and he’s been pretty solid in this decade, his fourth.
His new record, due out in early October, is called Magic. And he still has the magic. It’s a terrific record. Tom Watson emailed me this morning and said:
“The thing feels like a sequel to his early stuff, written specifically for anybody who’s been along for the whole ride. And the band’s in great form.”
Tom’s right. Magic takes from each of Bruce’s various periods
Gypsy Biker reminds me of his real early stuff
The opening piano of Terry’s Song takes you back to Born To Run
I’ll Work For Your Love (the best song on the record) could have been on Darkness
Long Walk Home has the sound of The River
Magic would fit right in on Nebraska
Radio Nowhere has the guitar rock sound of Born In The USA
Livin’ In The Future makes me want to listen to The Rising
Click to listen to I’ll Work For Your Love
And then there is the song Jason posted about last night, Girls In Their Summer Clothes, which sounds like it could have been on The Rising, but also has something new that I haven’t heard in a Bruce song before.
It’s quite a piece of work for a man who will be 60 in a couple years. Now it could be, like The Stones’ Tattoo You, that Magic is a collection of outtakes that Bruce culled together in order to have a record to tour on this year. Somehow I doubt it.
There are a few weak songs on the record, but that’s par for the course in the day and age when artists feel compelled to put fourteen songs on a record.
Born To Run had eight songs, Darkness and Nebraska had ten. I have a hard time thinking of a brilliant record, other than Exile, that has more than ten songs on it.
I am certain that any fan of Bruce is going to enjoy this record and many will put it up there along with his best. It’s a great listen. And it ends so well. The song is called Terry’s Song. He could have written about himself.
Just like when they built you brother, they broke the mold