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Rock Art Rock
The Decemberists
September 19, 2009
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April 4, 2009
Webster Hall, New York City, NY
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Florence and the Machine
October 28, 2009
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By Amanda Hatfield "Florence Welsh and her backing band delighted and mesmerized a sold-out crowd at Bowery in her first official NY headlining show..."
Dirty Projectors
July 19, 2009
Williamsburg Waterfront (Brooklyn, NY)
By Amanda Hatfield "I was skeptical about how well Dirty Projectors' gorgeous, complex vocal harmonies would carry over outdoors, standing under hot sunshine..."
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Bruce Springsteen: Magic
Bruce Springsteen
Magic
(Sony Records, 2007)
The title of this album would be immodest, since it is indeed a magical accomplishment, achieved mostly through skillful songwriting and band leading, were it not that, in a pop music/rock ‘n’ roll tradition that goes back more than 50 years now, it is named after one of the tracks included on the album. The track is explicitly about magic as a performance in front of a live audience (such as sawing a volunteer in half): “Trust none of what you hear and less of what you see,” he sings, and “you” is clearly the audience, the listeners. “This is what will be,” he repeats, claiming (immodestly?) a certain power as a creator. It is a very good album, demonstrating on a recording some of the power the man has as a live performer. This power can indeed be referred to as “magic,” though the tricks (of language and of music-making) are self-evident.
“YOU DON’T KNOW HIM—BUT YOU WILL!” thundered the front-page headline of the weekly New York newspaper, The SoHo Weekly News, that published (in 1974) my first article about seeing Springsteen live. The publisher, who wrote the headline, had also recently seen Bruce live. This album does justice to that experience. Bravo.
Marvelously, as you follow the songs on this album along with the lyrics printed in the enclosed booklet, you discover there are no printed lyrics for the hidden track (probably called “They Broke the Mold”). On the inside back cover of the enclosed booklet, instead of lyrics there’s a photo of the guy being sung about and a dedication to him, Terry Magovern. Springsteen grew up and came of age in the 1960s, and what he’s done with this album and this song and the ones contiguous to it is an homage to the Masters of that era, Marshall McCluhan (who said, “The medium is the message”) and the Beatles, who proved him right with their every action (such as messing with the last vinyl track of their Sgt. Pepper album, so that it goes on forever).
Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]
» Previously: What’s the Buzz: Paul McCartney
2 Comments
The hidden track on this album is called “Terry’s Song”.
On “Magic,” Mr. Springsteen picks up the political messages he left on the “Vote Change Tour” he organized in early October, 2004.
Mr Springsteen received intense criticism for his anti-war views, which the Right claimed were unpatriotic and anti-American. However Springsteen had openly opposed the Iraq war since well before the invasion and occupation, has never waivered, even when the Bush/Chaney regime attempted to turn dissent into treachery.
Almost every song on “Magic” has a political message. In concert, he has been introducing the title track by saying it’s not really about Magic, but rather is about “tricks” – we’ve been tricked to the point that a lie seems like the truth and the truth seems like a lie. Who the tricksters are is left unsaid, but it’s not tough to guess.
Although no song is didactically antiwar, and Bush is never mentioned, with varying degrees of subtly, almost every song expresses critical views of both.
Springsteen has said that “Long Walk Home” summaries the album’s message. We have changed fundamentally and for the worse. Who we are, what we’ll do, and what we won’t has changed, and it’s going to be a “long walk home,” to right the wrongs committed by this administration government.
Springsteen, himself, tricks the listener with the song, “Girls in their Summer Clothes.” The catchy, pop melody disguises the deeply melancholy lyrics. The song reminds me of “Glory Days,” the singer now old and left with only memories, and no chance of even having a conversation with those girls in their summer clothes.
How good is “Magic,” the album. Well, it’s certainly not in a league with “Born to Run,” Darkness on the Edge of Town, “The River,” or “Nebraska.” However, comparing Springsteen to Springsteen is amore than a little unfair.
His first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, was released over 35 years ago. He has never rested on his laurels. Each of his 15 albums have been different from every other.
Failure, or mediocrity, is an inherent risk that comes with change. Looking at Bruce Springsteen’s body of work, I don’t think any other song writer/singer has maintained his level of excellence, in the studio, and on stage, over this period.
Giving him points for having the courage to write his first “political” album, inviting a continuation of some vicious criticism, I rank “Magic” somewhere in the middle of those fifteen albums, and that makes it one of the best albums of 2007 by anyone.