Magic

When the release of Bruce Springsteen's new album, Magic was announced, the advance publicity promised some "high energy rock." Much of it lives up to its billing, but, as is always the case with the Boss, there are pointed lyrical messages, regardless of style and tempo.

Springsteen has been successful because he stays connected to his audience -- average folks like you and me who live and love and work and play and pay taxes and try to be good citizens out here in the real world. This empathy is always evident in his lyrics, which tend to reflect the mood, the emotions and the issues of the moment in time when they're written.

Such is the case with Magic, Springsteen's recording reunion with the E Street Band after a five year hiatus. Thus, while there is much "high energy rock" in evidence, this is by no means a feel-good album. The lyrics deal with the moodier side of modern life -- war, disillusionment, failed romances, growing old.

It's not that the music is morose, but Springsteen's catchy hook lines and the (mostly) rock tempo tend to get your attention before the real meaning of the words sinks in. His most recent albums have put the emphasis on the lyrical themes, but the music is allowed to come to the forefront on Magic. And I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.

Maybe it's just because absence makes the heart grow fonder, but Clarence Clemons' sax, and the guitar work of Nils Lofgren and Little Steven Van Zandt, have never sounded better. But then again, maybe it's just because they're top flight musicians who get better as they age.

Speaking of which, at 58, Springsteen's vocal delivery is just as strong, just as confident as it has ever been. While the lyrical themes here tend to be introspective, he can still belt it out with fire and passion.

As my cyberpal Barbara eloquently wrote recently in her Layla's Classic Rock Faves blog, "the reason I started listening to Bruce back in the mid-70's was because he spoke to the lonely, passionate girl inside me that longed to run away from the mundane mediocrity of middle-class suburbia. His songs were all about that. As I grew and matured so did his music."

And that, in a nutshell, describes Magic and the reason it went to #1 on the album chart almost instantly on its release.

If I have a gripe (and you know I always do) it would be that it's hard to get a handle on what message we should take away from this album. That is perhaps due, at least in part, to the fact that Springsteen's last three albums have been very clearly themed.

The post-9/11 emotions of The Rising, the antiwar message of Devils and Dust and the homage to the godfather of protest music, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions sent clear lyrical messages.

Maybe, as the re-emergence of the E Street Band suggests, this album is purposely more about the music than the message. The fact that I wonder about it makes it seem that there's a loose end hanging out there.

But even that concern isn't a deal breaker. Springsteen is one of the largest looming musical presences of a generation. That, and the virtuosity of the E Street Band, are enough to make Magic something you should listen to (but not over-analyze!)