HuffPost Review: Bruce Springsteen -- Working On A Dream

The old westerns mostly played as struggles between good and evil, and in the first few minutes, through overly-caricatured heroes and villains, dreary, angular sets and backdrops, and bizarrely-tilted camera angles, we were clued-in to what was about to go down on the streets of Direville. From the opening chords and orchestration of "Outlaw Pete," the first track of Bruce Springsteen's new album, Working on a Dream, we're set-up for one wild ride over the course of thirteen tracks about your average hombre and his everyday life and challenges. Though "Outlaw Pete" gets off to a humorous start ("...at six months old, he'd done three months in jail"), this Jessie James on crack folk story immediately shifts into full cinematic drama, musically merging the Rolling Stones' "Paint it Black" with a touch of Aaron Copeland via Billy Joel's "Billy the Kid" and a sliver of Ennio Morricone. It's pretty surreal stuff for his first "dream," and it digs its spurs deeply into the essence of what makes a man. Is it evil? If it is, can he change? Is this an adolescent fantasy, a man's destiny, or just a warning to keep us on the straight and narrow? Springsteen's approach to the story is so wonderfully heavy-handed that you hope the rest of the album maintains this level of macho. Good news, it mostly does, and, at least from a musical perspective, it's The Boss' most melodic and possibly his best since Tunnel of Love.

Clearly, this is a collection of songs about Springsteen's favorite topic, the everyman aka working man trying to catch a break, whether it be with that "Queen of the Supermarket" ("where aisles and aisles of dreams await you"), or with that someone who is his "lucky day" when he's "seen strong hearts give way...to the weary hands of time." This theme repeats, such as in the title track in which he's working on that dream, again pounding away with that famous Springsteen hammer that now seems more like the metaphor of Peter, Paul & Mary's "If I Had a Hammer" than the tool employed in Born in the USA's "Working on the Highway."

In "Life Itself," Springsteen asks, "Why do things we treasure most slip away in time," though the answer concerns that awful aging process we hate to think about. The song's somber tone and rhythm evokes Thomas Dolby's "I Love You, Goodbye," and is our first major reveal on what powers this album -- guys not only working on their dreams, but their now being too old to attain them. In the cosmic love song, "This Life," with its Turtles-ish and Billy Joel's Four Seasons-esque "Uptown Girl" background vocals, faces facts with the line, "We reached for starlight all night long, but gravity's too strong, chained to this earth, we go on and on and on..." Oy, can't any of these mugs have a happy ending? Yes, of course they can, and that bright spot comes in "Tomorrow Never Knows," a light country-rocker that drives a little like John Hiatt's "Memphis in the Meantime" as it delivers not-so-subtle lines such as "He who waits for the day's riches will be lost." Okay, happiness comes with a fortune cookie lesson, we can deal with that. But more importantly, like we always knew, love makes the difference between winning and losing, and we're assured of that in "What Love Can Do." With all its creepy, foreboding religious references regarding what's wrong with the world ("blood for blood," "eye for an eye," "we bear the mark of Cain"), Springsteen -- jangling away like a Tom Petty "Refugee" -- wants to show us... you get the point.

Still, one should never forget to rock out with a bar band (like "Good Eye"'s track implies), no matter how apocalyptic things get. To a blues-rock chord pattern, we're told, "I had my earthly riches, I had each and every one, but I had my good eye to the dark and my blind eye to the sun." (God, it's tough being a dude in the Springsteen universe!) But who could be gloomy when someone is singing, "Surprise, Surprise," many, many times to a backing track that's akin to The Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn." And palookas do get their dreams once in a while, such as in "Kingdom of Days," a big string-drenched, retro-gem of a reminiscence. "My jacket around your shoulders, the falling leaves, the wet grass on our backs as the Autumn breeze drifts through the trees," may not sound all that machismo-like, but Springsteen delivers it in honest, confessional Boss-mode, placing it into that extremely believable "I'm on Fire" territory where he can still kick your ass while singing triplets.

The last track, "The Last Carnival," kind of references our pal from "Wild Billy's Circus Story" and, just like in westerns and as anyone who's watched HBO's Carnivale knows, there has to be tragedy. In this case, the piece was written for the late E Street player, Danny Federici, making the lyrics "Sundown, sundown, empty are the fairgrounds, where are you now my handsome Billy?" that much more touching. But the album doesn't really stop there, because its bonus track, "The Wrestler" (theme of Darren Aronofsky's flick starring Mickey Rourke, winner of a Golden Globe for Best Original Song) serves as the poignant closer to ...Dream. "If you've ever seen a one-trick pony, then you've seen me," pretty much describes most of the characters of this album, from Pete to Billy. Still, every one of them is working on his dream, successful or not, and it's the "working on," not "the dream" part that's important. On an album that often emulates Phil Spector's Walls of Sound (that backed some of the best and most-cherished oldies), Bruce Springsteen, arm-in-arm with his old E Street gang (plus Nils Lofgren, and wife Patti), seems to be working on his own dream of growing old, not just gracefully, but significantly.

Tracklist:

1. Outlaw Pete
2. My Lucky Day
3. Working on a Dream
4. Queen of the Supermarket
5. What Love Can Do
6. This Life
7. Good Eye
8. Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Life Itself
10. Kingdom of Days
11. Surprise, Surprise
12. The Last Carnival
bonus track:
13. The Wrestler

Bruce Springsteen's 16th studio album, Working on a Dream, will be released Tuesday, January 27th. The CD/DVD version contains 30 minutes of studio footage on the making of the album.

Comments

[TuneOutTheMedia]

As always, one has an immediate reaction upon hearing a new album by a favorite artist... And then, upon hearing the album for a 2nd and 3rd and 4th time, you finally start to hear what the album IS, rather than what it ISN'T.

"Working on a Dream" is a brilliant, eclectic album; a compendium of many of the influences that have informed Bruce's work - Phil Spector and Woody Guthrie and Roy Orbison. It has much of the lush "wall-of-sound" vibe that "Magic" possessed, but this is a very different album.

While his last two E Street albums - "The Rising" and "Magic" (even "Devils and Dust") - had overt political and societal overtones, "Working on a Dream" seems to be mostly about life and love, issues of the head and the heart, issues about closure.

"Magic" closed with "Terry's Song" which was in honor of his close friend, Terry Magovern, who had recently passed away. And then E Street Band member Danny Federici died while this album was recorded, inspiring the closing elegy - "The Last Carnival". Bruce will turn 60 this year and he seems to be starting to add it all up as he travels the back half of his journey. "Sundown, sundown...­"

Though I'm a decade younger than Bruce, this album WRECKED ME! There is so much to wrap your head and your heart around and I am so grateful that he was willing to share it all with me and the rest of his

[ragz2008]

Very cool, I'm so glad you had that experience, it was similar t the one I had.

[Sportswoman]

I loved Working On a Dream the first time I heard it--which was not my Tunnel of Love reaction.
Probably, I feel the message after a year of volunteering for Obama and still amazed when I hear network newscasters say, "President Obama said today..."
It reverses something sadly tragic from my childhood. When JFK was killed I could not bear to hear the term "President Johnson." Hearing "President Nixon" made me queasy. After that the term meant nothing, really, although I was glad Clinton won.
Now it feels like a dream realized. Ending poverty, war, creating a decent standard of living, health care--finally I recognize decency in a President!
Bruce's songs underscore hope and compassion. I hope he is likewise blessed with Pete Seeger's longevity.

[ragz2008]

Yeah, Sportswoman, it seems like, in some ways, Bruce already has become one of our folk heroes, much like Pete Seeger, and they do share a similar vision of the world.

[elr50]

I am very proud that Bruce has almost never lost his roots (except for a brief marriage to a "California Girl") and he remains in Monmouth County, NJ where he contributes to public efforts and charities. We are very proud of him here. I grew up in the same town, he was two years behind me in school.
He is a great guy.

[ragz2008]

You know, the folks who don't agree with my review and don't like this album are voicing that because they care for the artist and his music and we all have different expectations of his works. It's pretty impossible to say anything awful about the guy, he's such a decent human.

[jerrypl]

There are Springsteen devotees and there are those who really don't like the music he makes. I personally believe he is a true American legendary songwriter and musician. He is the Woody Guthrie of Rock and Roll.

He has his good, bad, ugly and terrific songs within his playlist stretching back decades. I am a big fan, and always have his music in my car. I will give it a try, and will very likely enjoy what he has produced. I believe he is not stagnant. His music evolves. He evolves. He tries to stay relevant in a world which moves very fast.

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[ragz2008]

I totally agree, he also gets to evolve, he gets to mature and even revisit the musical styles of his youth (like the Spector-esque productions on this album) in the process. It's his project sculpted from his choices, and whatever they are from album to album, regardless of what we think, they're almost all engaging in some way.

[ktano0]

As a long-time Bruce fan, I was less-than-­enthralled by this effort. Didn't care for "Outlaw Pete" at all, it sounded as if it needed a re-write, as does most of the album, and it certainly did not need to be the first song. Very over-produced (everything can't be "Born to Run", after all), none of the songs knocked me out , like some of "Magic" did. Granted, I only listened once, and history shows that some of the albums that don't sound that great at first take can turn out to be one of your faves. I seriously doubt this one will. Comparing it to "Tunnel of Love" even makes the contrast sharper between the love-at-fi­rst-listen albums and this one.

[ragz2008]

I dunno, I think it at least deserves another listen. He's in a different space now, he's older and has less to over-prove. I'm kind of enjoying his subtleties now, and the reason why I mention Tunnel Of Love is because I feel that it was the album where he relaxed about what he was writing, it wasn't as self-conscious. "One Step Up" is the example. That's what I'm appreciating here, his understatement, though the western-noir overture of "Outlaw Pete" sets up the psyche of his characters throughout the rest of the project. They're all that character in various degrees without big over-written descriptives or pronouncem­ents...lik­e this big long answer to you! ;)

[stoke2]

Mike, The Last Carnival is Bruce's tribute to Danny Federici, the organ player/keyboardist for the E Street Band. Bruce always attributed the 'boardwalk' sound of the band to Danny and wrote this song for him after he passed this last year.

[ragz2008]

...so I amended the paragraph, thanks to your alert, thank you. It now reads:

The last track, "The Last Carnival," kind of references our pal from "Wild Billy's Circus Story" and, just like in westerns and as anyone who's watched HBO's Carnivale knows, there has to be tragedy. In this case, the piece was written for the late E Street player, Danny Federici, making the lyrics "Sundown, sundown, empty are the fairgrounds, where are you now my handsome Billy?" that much more touching.

Thanks again for the extra insight...

[Tunghoy]

Quite appropriate. Danny was a regular guy, very unassuming, and never forgot his hometown roots in Flemington.

[ragz2008]

I'm grateful to you guys for that info, I never caught up with it til now.

[Pantelleria01]

Worst album I have heard in many years. My wife is a big Bruce S fan. I like some of his work. Well we bought this album and after listening to it twice, it seems like a dead thing, without life or purpose. How another seemingly intelligent person can praise this turkey is beyond me. I think it is the most tired and boring album I have ever purchased. If being a fan means the artist can do no wrong, then I guess I am not a fan. This album is DOA. Every track sounds exactly the same. Every chord sounds exactly the same. Sprinsteen has made some bad albums, but this is at least the worst of the worst he has ever made in my view.

[ragz2008]

I guess thanks for the complement that I'm a seemingly intelligent person though you don't agree with my review. ;) But give it another try, take into consideration that it's Springsteen's "I'm growing older, this is me acknowledging styles of my youth" project. And "Outlaw Pete"--lyrics, production, his vocals--this is really good stuff! I've been following him since childhood, and I haven't felt him this attached to his own music or this melodic for quite some time. I'd try it again, I bet you like a song or two more each time you listen...

[normathumb]

Is there any kinship beyond title between the Beatles, "Tomorrow Never knows" and Springsteen's?

[ragz2008]

Huh. Never thought of that, but I'm thinking no. Good one!

[David Finger]

Speaking of the Beatles, Bruce makes a direct reference to the Beatles song "From Me To You" in the song "What Love Can Do." Listen to the riff in the instrumental break (repeated at the end), and Bruce's use of harmonica and guitar playingg the same line. A direct tribute (conscious or not).

[EllieDee]

The man can do no wrong! I can't wait for the tour....

[ragz2008]

The tour, as always, will be amazing. A friend of mine just pointed out that he's getting a little tired of Bruce's ever-widening southern/western accent. Personally, I think it goes along with the storytelling, but there might be a valid point here. How do you feel about that?

[Estreet1964]

Starting with the Magic album and tour, the accent or "twang" as some of us refer to it, has been less pronounced. He even used to have a bit of a twang when he sang Thunder Road sometimes, and that REALLY turned me off.

He seems to be singing with his full voice again and I, for one, am glad. The twang works best with Nebraska and Tom Joad type material.

This is my least favorite album of his, however. Not to say that I don't like it -- I do. I just don't love it.