Springsteen, band create new masterpieceIn 1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band practically defined the term "anthemic" with their landmark album, "Born To Run." The band's latest, "Working On A Dream" is a
throwback to that album in many ways,
including its masterpiece status.
The second track on the record, "My Lucky Day" sets the pace for the album's predominant "Born to Run" feel. It's hard-hitting. It's kind of messy. It makes you want to sing along with every word at the top of your lungs.
"In a room where fortune falls," The Boss belts out at the beginning. "On a day when chance is all / In the dark of this exile / I felt the grace of your smile / Honey you're my lucky day / Baby you're my lucky day / When I lost all the other bets I've made / Honey you're my lucky day."
Just like much of "Born To Run," Clarence Clemons' jubilant saxophone and Roy Bittan's pounding piano are at the forefront of "My Lucky Day."
The epic "Outlaw Pete" is filled with urgency as Springsteen paints a lyrical picture of a Wild West outlaw to the tune of crashing drums, violin crescendos and organ flourishes. At more than eight minutes it runs the risk of overstaying its welcome but "Outlaw Pete" manages to pull us all along for a galloping ride across the countryside.
With Bittan's piano again leading the melodic charge, Springsteen unleashes every weapon in his anthemic arsenal for "Kingdom of Days." Soozie Tyrell's violin crescendos are back. Garry Tallent's bass and Max Weinberg's drums keep the propulsive rhythm surging forward.
It's about the kind of love that lasts through the years: "And I count my blessings that you're mine for always / We laugh beneath the covers and count the wrinkles and the grays."
Springsteen has always had an everyman vibe to his lyrics, and even the sound of his music. That vibe continues in the title track - a new anthem for the working class pursuing the American Dream. In a time of economic hardship it's a song of hope for those toiling to make ends meet.
"Queen of the Supermarket" is a
larger-than-life love song of yearning for a grocery bagger. It would almost be funny if it weren't filled with such melodic beauty and sincere desire: "With my shopping cart I move through the heart / Of a sea of fools so blissfully unaware / That they're in the presence of something wonderful and rare."
However, Springsteen's love songs reach higher than the supermarket.
On the beautiful "This Life" he sings of the universe, a million suns and reaching for starlight backed by a heavenly choir and Clemons' sweetly singing sax.
Coming after the epic beauty of "This Life," the bluesy "Good Eye" might sound out of place at first. It's something you might hear during a backyard jam session in the South. It's full of harmonica and rough vocals.
After a few times through the album you start to enjoy the recess it brings to the pervasive sound.
"Tomorrow Never Knows" continues the rootsy feel. It may sound like the title of a James Bond movie but it's just Springsteen musing about a place "where the cold wind blows" and the "green grass grows."
A couple of the tracks take the anthemic sound down a darker path. Steve Van Zandt's screaming guitar electrifies "What Love Can Do" with its intense riffing. Similarly, "Life Itself" has a darker, almost mystical resonance. There's a frightening sound churning in the background as Springsteen sings of the valley where the "wine of love and destruction flowed."
Although there are dark moments on "Working On A Dream," it's ultimately an album of hope. None are more upbeat that "Surprise, Surprise" as The Boss sings of letting "your love shine down" over a fury of guitars courtesy of Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren.
However, it ends with a fairly sad note. If you don't count the theme song from "The Wrestler" tacked on the end as a bonus track, the album finishes with "The Last Carnival," a subtle tribute to E Street Band organist Danny Federici, who passed away last year during the recording of the album. Federici's son, Jason, plays accordion on the track, adding to the mournful sound.
However, "The Wrestler" isn't your average, throwaway bonus track. It doesn't even detract from the somber tone created by "The Last Carnival."
In many ways it's even more sad.
Springsteen honors Federici in both song and written word via the album's liner notes, but the forlorn character he sings about in "The Wrestler" will never receive a tribute of that kind.
Quelle