Magic

• Magic

Amazon.co.uk His career currently on a roll, Magic reunites the Boss with employees, the E Street Band and it is terrific--a highlight in a long and illustrious catalogue. Brash and noisy and a lot of fun, Magic is packed with great, thoughtful songs. The stately "Your Own Worst Enemy" sounds full yet eschews histrionics, the atmospheric "Gypsy Biker’ has a strong melody to match, first single "Radio Nowhere" is an unlikely country-rock thrash and "Livin’ in the Future" has all the swing of "Cover Me", but without the drawback of dated production. In fact much of Magic nails that old Phil Spector trick of cramming a lot of blokes (and birds) into a small room, and getting them to play simultaneously. Given that the E Street Band are big blokes these days, the effect is magnified. Not only does Springsteen successfully recapture a sound that once seemed exotic, the same can be said of lyrics such as "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" and "Long Walk Home", rueful and distant and all the more believable than the evocative yet lifeless mini-film scenarios he once specialised in. The Sopranos has redefined the image of New Jersey over the last decade (Bruce and band even pose like a mob in their clubhouse, especially Steve Van Zandt), but Springsteen has reclaimed local pre-eminence with this excellent collection. Pulling off the rare combination of excitement and maturity, the grown-ups are really having a good time. --Steve Jelbert Product Description a music cd. classical rock Magic, Bruce Springsteen's new studio recording and his first with the E Street Band in five years, is set for release by Columbia records on October 2, 2007. Produced and mixed by Brendan O'Brien, the album features eleven new Springsteen songs and was recorded at southern tracks recording studio in Atlanta, Ga.