The Boss’ previous album, Magic, was one of my favorite albums of 2007. Magic revitalized Bruce in my eyes after over a decade of irrelevance. At one time, I considered Springsteen obsolete, his best work (Born To Run, “Thunder Road,” etc.) long past him. I filed him away with Billy Joel, Tom Petty and John “Cougar” Mellencamp as icons of a bygone era. But then came Magic and my hopes were restored! And then came Working on a Dream and my hopes were dashed upon the rocks of cast-off tracks rejected from Magic.
“Working on a Dream” and “Outlaw Pete” were the only half-good songs on the album, and even then they were retreads of ideas Springsteen already brought up. Also, “Outlaw Pete” is at least three minutes too long. Springsteen tried to synthesize his (read as: Bob Dylan’s) brand of folk rock with Petty/Skynyrd-style songwriting. And he failed. Plus, I kept picturing ‘Outlaw Pete’ looking like the brutish cartoon antagonist of ancient Mickey Mouse cartoons, and it's difficult to feel compassion for that big, ugly brute.
The rest of the tracks were entirely forgettable, samey-sounding songs that contributed nothing of substance to the album. It’s possible that “The Wrestler” worked well in context with the film of the same name, but hearing it alone didn’t do anything for me.
The reason Working on a Dream tops the list of disappointing albums is that 1) It was musically and lyrically unimpressive and forgettable compared to it’s predecessor, Magic; 2) it didn’t add anything to Springsteen’s philosophy; 3) and between the first time I heard it and this writing, the album hasn’t grown on me at all. I dislike it as much now as I did then; hearing the other albums again changed my opinions of them. Not so here. Sorry, Bruce.
Disney image source: http://mmfolliesbw.blogspot.com/2007/10/steamboat-willie-november-18-1928.html
What's next? The best music of 2009!
Must agree! Forgettable stuff that was certainly left-overs from Magic. Too bad.
ReplyDelete