Magic

When I grow up, I want to be able to write songs as good as Bruce Springsteen. The boy is pushin' 60, and gets better every year. (Disclaimer: I'm not THAT much younger, and my songs are pretty darn good too, but not that good).

It takes real chops to write a topical album that'll stand up on its own. The Dixie Chicks managed it with The Long Way Home. Neil Young failed miserably with Living with War. On his latest album Bruce pulls it off, and pulls it off with such slight-of-hand -- such magic -- that it doesn't hit you until later just what you were rockin' down to.

His latest album, Magic, is as good as the buzz says. Musically, it's a Bruce Springsteen album that sounds suspiciously like, say, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Lyrically, Bruce just keeps getting stronger. Bruce's patter at his concerts makes his opinion of our so-called leaders clear, and the lyrics of these songs makes it even clearer... but without bashing your head in. You have to listen, and think. These are grown-up's lyrics, with all the complexity that comes with getting older and maybe a little wiser. These lyrics are the spiritual descendent of songs like Candy's Room and Born in the USA -- songs that at first glance seem to be great rockers, but then you realize that they're about something altogether darker. But these songs, in my opinion, are better. More mature. More subtle. More willing to take chances. Not every song succeeds, but enough do to make this a must-have for this music season.

-- Badtux the Music Penguin