Presto!

Bruce's latest release, "Magic" (in twenty minutes).

A great, rippin' rock and roll sounding record that is as complex and confusing as The Rising. Already, reviews are torn between those listing it as his greatest since "U.S.A." and those that claim that the music and the message convey different messages. I'm a little in the middle there, but first, a breakdown of each tune?

Radio Nowhere - opening rocker of alienation and detachment, with an alternating minor-/major chord progression reminiscent of Tommy TuTone's 867- song. Pop rock to the max; this will make a dynamic opening number.

You'll Be Comin' Down - the album's "Lucky Town" cousin. More lyrically thoughtful and musically rich than the opener. Great backing vocals from Steve and its slow but solid tempo gives the melancholic lyric power.

Livin' In the Future - the album's "Tenth Avenue/Hungry Heart" number with catchy r&b riffs and Clarence aplenty. First overtly political number of the album that tongue-in-cheek summarizes the Bush Era, as this whole album is about and against. "Hungry Heart" in more than one way; musically, yes but conflicted as well. The classic 1980 song, with its Phil Spector-Top 40 sound with some of the most depressing lyrics in the opening line (sung sing-songy with audience participation and all!): "Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack/I went out for a ride and I never went back." Still good to hear the band rocking. This will be the song with the "public service announcement" that Bruce has become famous over the last couple of tours for.

Your Own Worst Enemy - not sure if this is about Bush or Americans that voted for and supported him. Either way, it's a song of shame and embarrassment. One of the album's many "classic" Spector/Wall of Sound/Born To Run/70s-without-sounding-cliched-or-derivitive songs.

Gypsy Biker - the cousin to The Rising's "Countin' On A Miracle". Song about a family losing a soldier in Iraq and so much more. I haven't quite grasped the power of the metaphor but the album's first short story.

Girls In Their Summer Clothes - possibly my favorite song on the album. This song is "Thunder Road" thirty years later, with an old man still seeking potency and meaning in his life while understanding that he is no longer the king of the hill. Wistful and sad yet hopeful and determined. Typical Bruce. Production and recording make this totally 1961. The only thing missing is Ronnie Spector singing backing vocals. What if Phil Spector recorded a Beach Boys' tune? Well, this is it, except with the master lyricist capturing every aging man's fears and wisdom.

I'll Work For Your Love - the album's most Catholic song (lyrically) with a very cool nod to "Incident on 57th Street". Beautiful piano, chorus vocals and yearning in the main character's voice seeking connection with the object of his heart. Bruce's secular Catholicism reappearing in the fourth consecutive album, this song is a true keeper though some of the lyrics aren't his strongest.

Magic - still working this song out. Who is the con-man magician here? I think it's Bush. Powerful, if so, in that all the audience needs to do is follow the illusionist blindly devoted and unquestioningly. All will work in the end, even as I saw you in half as you smile from ear to ear. Quite powerful, even as the music is near-funeral dirge. A hint of "I'm On Fire" and "Secret Garden".

Last To Die - Quoting Senator John Kerry's presidential position on Iraq. Painful song with contrasting metaphors - the killing of people and the mistaken reason for doing so next to a family driving through the American desert lost and nowhere near its destination.

Long Walk Home - the album's best song and one of Bruce's strongest. Directed at the Bush Administration's deception of the American people and the nation's failure to represent the ideals of what millions (possibly billions) of people see in the nation. The words on the base of the new colossus are betrayed by those in search of empire and control; where can the concepts and precepts of truth, justice, faith and freedom be found in a nation that has chosen to abandon them for bloodlust? The most powerful verse of the entire album: "You know that flag flying over the courthouse/means certain things are set in stone/who we are, what we'll do and what we won't." Powerful rocker with powerful emotion. Maybe a national "Backstreets"?

Devil's Arcade - still trying to figure out this metaphor as well, but references to sand and the desert don't put this story in Biblical times. There's certainly no redemption at this point, no promised land. Bruce saves that for another song from another time in his career.

Terry's Song (hidden track) - simple elegy for a fallen friend. Not meant to be a classic but a goodbye love letter. One of this song's strongest suits is the lack of heavy handed production from Brendan O'Brien. I've just about had it with him. Go and make some more 90s grunge records and give me a producer that can make Bruce's vocals intelligible. "Girls" is nearly garbled in the Wall of Sound, which shows that only a few choice producers know how to capture the sound. O'Brien gave us multi-layered The Rising, Devils and Dust and now this album, which have defined Bruce's album sound for this decade. Time to move on, Bruce, and give Steve a chance to produce the next one.

This album is not an E Street Band record, though all of the musicians play on the tracks. This is Tunnel of Love on E Street; a solo record with Bruce on the majority of instruments and the boys as hired hands. Patti only sings backup and yet can barely be heard on most of the tracks that include her. Lyrically, this is "Lucky Town", an album too often ignored but for the right reasons; the intense emotional outpouring of a man and not a storyteller. What we get here is an angry but personal Bruce. With that, either listeners "get it" or they don't; I do, therefore I love the songs. Others might not grasp the message of the songs or their meanings. That's what brings so many comparisons to "U.S.A." as well; great pop-rock but songs that could possibly be miscontrued as either lazy or meaningless. Go and relisten to "Dancing In the Dark" or "Glory Days" and wonder why we felt so good listening to those songs nearly twenty-five years ago. We were happy then like we're confused now: both albums perfectly capture the national mood. Ol' Ronnie in the 80s made us feel good, whether we understood what the hell we were doing; "U.S.A." questioned that lyrically but we be-bopped along with smiles on our faces and fists in the air. Not that the record lacked its anthemic hope. It did, just against all that we thought it represented. "Magic" captures the paradoxes and hypocrisies of the Bush Era: this is a great and terrible nation both for its symbolism and actions. Whether that terrible greatness this nation projects is benign or malignant is yet to be settled. This nation used to be Luke, Han and Obi-Wan fighting the evil empire; now, we seem to be Darth Sidious propping up his seconds in the form of misguided or puppet leaders for the sake of the nation's post-Soviet one-world superpower status. The smell of sulfur may just be traceable.

Must go to tend to Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Love "Magic". I once said that "Devils and Dust" was a minor record and months later came to regret that statement. I'm leaving final judgment for later. I can't help but play this new one several times a day. It's a great record. I truly love this. How great? Who cares at this point. It's simply another record by our generation's Walt Whitman and even Bruce's weakest material is better than most of what's out there.

Here are my thoughts two and a half weeks before I (hopefully) get into the pit for the Oakland show:
Bruce is still full of fire. He's got another, better record in him for the E Streeters.
Patti's new record, in light of "Magic" is even better than I first thought. Bruce should take note.
Little Steven's strong presence is much appreciated and greatly missed.
The next album needs to be recorded live in Bruce's barn and full of burners that (meaningful or not) show that rock and roll isn't about age.
The band is a collective one hundred pounds heavier than The Rising.
The band will have found its footing by the time of my show.
I won't get into the pit but can at least jump around like an idiot. I haven't had floor seats in an arena show in over a decade.
I've been pretty negative on the production value of the last few records. I hold to that position. Bruce, grab Steven and Jon and cut the next record like "Darkness" or "The River".
Last night's '60 Minutes' stunk in failing to present the latest album in its historical context, both for the band and Bush Era. Maybe the media is just tired of artistic protest or reporting about the hatred of the Bush Administration. Maybe I'm so fed up with things that I can't see the forest for the trees myself. Or maybe, just maybe, what I see is truth about our times. Darkness on the edge of our shining city?