Working On A Dream
Bruce Springsteen has it both ways here. He manages to speak for the tenor of the nation with the album\'s title track and attempts a western epic with the eight-minute \"Outlaw Pete,\" but elsewhere dials down the drama with short, compact pop songs that enjoy their modest surroundings. Producer Brendan O\'Brien keeps the band on a tight leash, marshaling a wall of sound that\'s dense with ringing guitars and stealth keyboards. Springsteen yearns for his younger days with the pangs of simple infatuation on \"Queen Of the Supermarket\" and offers basic platitudes for \"What Love Can Do.\" In his desire to turn an album around quicker than he has in some time, he\'s left his lyrics a bit ragged, but makes up for it with an immediacy of tone. His confident vocals identify every track from the jaunty roadhouse jam of \"Good Eye\" to the somber crawl of \"The Wrestler,\" featured in the Mickey Rourke film of the same name. \"My Lucky Day,\" \"Kingdom Of Days\" and \"Surprise, Surprise\" sing out with a sincerity that recalls the AM guitar pop of the mid-\'60s with Bruce looking back and figuring that some old- fashioned musical values might vault him ahead into the future.
Bruce Springsteen's work this decade first played up to listeners' notions of post-9/11 recovery, then conjured up bleak visions of Bush-era America; here the Boss settles into some sense of contentment on Working on a Dream, as if that Dream had already been achieved.
Just a decade ago, Bruce Springsteen seemed on the verge of ossifying, and becoming the kind of gassy elder statesman trotted out on Grammy night to espouse some musical ideal that his own work had long since abandoned. But from 2002's The Rising onward, Springsteen has been revitalized, recording in different styles…
Check out our album review of Bruce Springsteen's 'Working On A Dream' by Brian Hiatt.
From its bright, brittle production to its tossed-off postage stamp cover art, Working on a Dream is in every respect a companion piece to Magic, an album that's merely a set of songs, both sprawling and deliberately small, songs that don't necessarily tackle any one major theme but all add up to a portrait of their time.
<p>On his 24th album, Springsteen reaches for the simple power and unabashed romanticism of early pop, says <strong>Neil Spencer</strong></p>
Working on a Dream is a toothless album whose fascination with good vibes leaves it feeling soft and expressionless.
By now, the story is famous. Bruce Springsteen, driving down the road after 9/11, pulled up at a stoplight, only to be accosted by a fan
<p>For hard times, the Boss gives us an album that's easy to enjoy, says <strong>Richard Williams</strong></p>
Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream review: I turn back for a moment to catch a smile
CD CHOICE: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Working on a dream SONYBMG **** Cometh the hour cometh the man