After recording his last album, Bruce Springsteen still had momentum so his longtime producer, the great Brendan O'Brien, encouraged him to keep right on going. The result,
Working on a Dream, is a moving, often nostalgic record, every bit as strong, if not stronger than 2007's
Magic.
On
his website Springsteen says that he hopes "
Working on a Dream has caught the energy of the band fresh off the road from some of the most exciting shows we've ever done." It does. The songs, for the most part, are straightforward, yet lush, rockers with just enough nuance and surprises to keep a seasoned group like the E-Street Band engaged.
The album opens with "Outlaw Pete," a gorgeous Western epic that serves notice from the beginning that this is going to be a different kind of Springsteen record. The song ends with the signature melodic E-street jam. The title track, "Working on a dream," is vintage Springsteen. If you don't get the album, you will hear this song anyway in a bar, on the radio, in a movie or on a TV show. The production works expressly for the purpose of framing Bruce's vocals in this song. The song, complete with a whistling solo and
doo-wop-style background vocals, feels like it could be a b-side from "Born in the U.S.A." The album peaks with the scorching "Good Eye". The song's dirty harmonica darts in and out between Springsteen's distorted preacher blues vocals.
The last two songs, "The Last Carnival" and "The Wrestler" wind down the record with a couple of intense ballads. On "Carnival" Springsteen recreates his
Nebraska sound briefly before turning the song over to a lush choir. Again both songs are packed with themes of mortality and endings.
In the pantheon of aging superstars, Bruce Springsteen still gets the highest resale value and this album is every bit the classic that
Rolling Stone says it is. The tour
starts in April, if the recession isn't hitting you too hard, you should get out to an arena near you and catch this tour.
A UK rag produced a photograph of Olympic hero Michael Phelps smoking from a bong. The only thing more annoying than someone who swims well being anointed a celebrity worth millions of dollars is the condescending tone of this insipid article about how he's throwing it all away. Seriously, why should Phelps be penalized for taking the opposite of a performance enhancing drug?
