Call me crazy, but Magic <\/i>sure sounds like Bruce Springsteen sat down to make a Bruce Springsteen record for the first time since\u2026 well, let\u2019s just say it\u2019s been a while. <\/p>\n
Please don\u2019t consider that remark to be a slight against albums like The Rising <\/i>and We Shall Overcome<\/i>; I consider them to be among his finest works. However, both of those records require a specific context; the former is Springsteen\u2019s response to 9\/11, the latter The Boss\u2019s first cover album, of protest songs performed by Pete Seeger. Magic<\/i>, on the other hand, is an unabashed attempt to reclaim the glory of those magnificent mid 70s recordings that made Springsteen a household name. <\/p>\n
Thankfully for the Springsteen fan, Bruce reaches out in multiple instances and is able to grasp what made albums like Born To Run<\/i> so special. It helps of course to have the magnificent E Street Band at one\u2019s side; the classic elements are there. Clemons and his sax, Bittan and his piano, and Mighty Max Weinberg behind the drum kit. Tie a blindfold to a Springsteen fan and get them a little drunk, and they might just confuse \u201cLivin\u2019 In The Future\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll Work For Your Love\u201d with something off Darkness At The Edge Of Town <\/i>or Born To Run<\/i>. <\/p>\n
The Spectorian wall of sound that Springsteen once utilized actually doesn\u2019t make many appearances on Magic.<\/i> Instead, the clean and sparkling production of Brendan O\u2019Brien reigns supreme. I\u2019ll be honest; it worked for The Rising<\/i>, but it doesn\u2019t here. Maybe it\u2019s just the digital age in which we live, but it feels like there\u2019s something missing. Those moments where the vocals, instruments swell up to reach 11 on the amps\u2026.they get to 10. Now, that\u2019s not bad, but I genuinely feel this record was robbed of a few more peaks. <\/p>\n
And then there are the numbers that are decidedly un-Springsteen. \u201cYour Own Worst Enemy\u201d and \u201cGirls In Their Summer Clothes,\u201d are bathed in strings, bells, and other trappings. Springsteen also reins in his voice and delivers some, dare I say, melodic vocals? I\u2019d take his work on these songs over his Devil & Dust<\/i> gymnastics any day. <\/p>\n
Much as I\u2019d love to come out, slap an \u201cA\u201d on this puppy and call it a night, I can\u2019t. There are a number of songs that come off as uninspired. The title track offers some lovely Steve Van Zandt mandolin, but other than that I don\u2019t get it. \u201cLast To Die\u201d attempts to be the \u201cbig\u201d \u2013 i.e. most overwrought and exaggerated — track on the record, but never takes off. \u201cGypsy Biker\u201d follows suit, as Springsteen attempts to capture \u201cthe road\u201d once again. This time, it doesn\u2019t work. <\/p>\n
Bruce Springsteen is an icon; any album he releases these days is usually hailed as genius. And the truth is that Magic<\/i> is far from an average record — for anyone else it would be a career highlight. For The Boss, though, this only reaches the second tier. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":29017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5832],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-40528","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bruce-springsteen","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40528"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}