Magic (Bruce Springsteen album)

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Magic
Magic cover
Studio album by Bruce Springsteen
Released Flag of the United States September 25, 2007 (vinyl record)
October 2, 2007 (CD)
Flag of the United Kingdom October 1, 2007
Flag of Australia October 8, 2007
Flag of Thailand October 11, 2007[1]
Recorded March - April/May 2007
Southern Tracks Recording Studio, Atlanta, Georgia
Genre Rock
Length 50:48
Label Columbia Records
Producer Brendan O'Brien
Professional reviews
Bruce Springsteen chronology
Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin
(2007)		 Magic
(2007)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology
Hammersmith Odeon London '75
(2006)		 Magic
(2007)
Singles from Magic
  1. "Radio Nowhere"
    Released: August 28, 2007
  2. "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
    Released: January 2008

Magic is the 15th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 2007. It is his first with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002. This album was #2 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

The album was announced on August 16, 2007,[3] following months of fevered recording speculation, and weeks of equally fevered release speculation, among the Springsteen faithful.

Of the album's tracks, "Long Walk Home" had been previously heard once, late on the 2006 Sessions Band Tour; the rest were new. Most of those were written by the end of 2006;[4] Springsteen allowed producer Brendan O'Brien (returning for a role he had for The Rising and 2005's Devils & Dust) to pick the ones that worked the best.[5] Recording began at Southern Tracks Recording Studio in Atlanta[3] over a period of two months beginning March 2007.[4][5] It was complicated by the band members' schedules, and especially drummer Max Weinberg's weekday commitments to taping Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[5] The band did not record as a unit:[6] rather, during the week Springsteen worked on vocal tracks and production; on weekends the core band of Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, and pianist Roy Bittan flew down to cut the basic tracks with Springsteen; and then periodically the other band members were called in as needed to overdub their parts under producer O'Brien's watch.[5] Only saxophonist and longtime foil Clarence Clemons was given different treatment, with O'Brien handing the studio over to Springsteen for recording of sax parts due to "a whole dynamic [between the two of them] that spans decades."[5]

Upon its announcement, Magic was characterized by Springsteen's manager Jon Landau as a "high energy rock" album,[3] with a "heavy E Street Band" sound[7] and with (in a departure from Springsteen's stances since the 2004 Vote for Change tour) a lessened emphasis on politics.[7] The initial track, "Radio Nowhere", was slated as the album's first single,[7] for release to radio on September 4, 2007;[8] however, it leaked to the Internet on August 22, 2007.[8] The release of the CD form of the album on October 2, 2007 was preceded by a September 25, 2007 release on vinyl record, in order to qualify the album for the Grammy Awards of 2008 before the end-of-September cutoff.[9][8]

The album became available for pre-order on iTunes on August 28, 2007, with a promotion featuring the release of "Radio Nowhere" as a free downloadable single;[10] the first legs of the accompanying Magic Tour were announced as well.[10] The entire album began leaking to the Internet on September 6, 2007. The following day, 93.3 The Wolf's Fast Freddy in Youngstown, Ohio got a leaked copy and played the whole album over the air. In the following days tracks became available in more visible places, such as YouTube. On September 25, with the vinyl release being made, New York radio station Q1043 posted the entire album via Sneak Peek. Magic became available for purchase in Ireland, Belgium, and Germany on September 28.

The album was #2 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007 and "Long Walk Home" was #8 on the magazine's list of 100 Best Songs 0f 2007 [11] Magic was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album but failed to win, losing to the Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.

[edit] Track listing

All songs were written by Bruce Springsteen.

  1. "Radio Nowhere" – 3:21
  2. "You'll Be Comin' Down" – 3:46
  3. "Livin' in the Future" – 3:56
  4. "Your Own Worst Enemy" – 3:19
  5. "Gypsy Biker" – 4:32
  6. "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" – 4:20
  7. "I'll Work for Your Love" – 3:35
  8. "Magic" – 2:46
  9. "Last to Die" – 4:17
  10. "Long Walk Home" – 4:35
  11. "Devil's Arcade" – 5:20
  12. "Terry's Song" – 4:11 (hidden track)

Two weeks after the album's initial announcement, which included an 11-song track listing, it became apparent that "Terry's Song" had been added. It is a memorial song for Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died on July 30, 2007.[12][13] Some pressings of the CD pre-ordered through Sony Music or other channels did not contain the extra track.

[edit] Album themes

Several songs in Magic express disillusionment with the state of American society in 2007 in particular; others, such as the title track (with its lyrics of "I got a shiny saw blade / All I need’s a volunteer / I’ll cut you in half / While you’re smilin’ ear to ear”), convey a more general sense of foreboding. "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" has been cited as a singularly "breezy" song on the album,[12] though A. O. Scott of The New York Times notes that not even this track is "untouched by melancholy. Its narrator, after all, stands and watches as the girls of the title 'pass me by.'"[14]

Several sources have postulated that the track "Last to Die", with its chorus of "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake / Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break," was inspired by Vietnam Veterans Against the War representative (and future senator and presidential candidate) John Kerry's 1971 testimony to the U.S. Senate, in which he asked "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"[12][15]

"Gypsy Biker" concerns the homecoming of a U.S. soldier killed in action in Iraq, and Springsteen has said that "Livin' in the Future" references extraordinary rendition and illegal wiretapping.[15] "Long Walk Home" is a metaphorical account of the narrator's sense that, in the artist's words, those people living at home "he thought he knew, whose ideals he had something in common with, are like strangers."[14] The recurring lyric "It’s gonna be a long walk home" is a response to the violation of "certain things", such as "what we'll do and what we won't", in spite of these codes having been (in the words of the narrator's father) "set in stone" by the characters' "flag flyin' over the courthouse."

[edit] Album charts and sales

According to MusicWeek, Magic was Springsteen's seventh number-one in the UK, with first week sales of 77,692, making it his fastest-starting release of the 21st century. The second week Bruce Springsteen’s Magic dipped 1-4 on sales of 28,348.

Magic debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, becoming Springsteen's eighth number one album in the U.S. and selling about 335,000 copies in its first week.[16] After falling to number two for one week, the album rose again to number one, selling about 77,000 copies that week.[17] In its fourth week, the album fell down to number 12. By February 19 of 2008, the album's worldwide sales were 2,374,675 copies.[18] The album received a small boost from publicity surrounding the February 2008 Grammy Awards: after 19 weeks on the chart, the album went from number 137 on the Top 200 to number 103, with a sales increase from 5,000 copies to 8,000 copies for the week.

What sales Magic gained in the United States was done despite receiving very little radio airplay.[19] Fox News reported that media conglomerate Clear Channel had instructed its classic rock format stations not to play any tracks from Magic, even though they continued to play Springsteen songs from the 1970s and 1980s.[19] Clear Channel responded by saying that "in the first days after the CD's release," its stations played the record more than other stations did,[20] which did not directly address Fox News's report.

In contrast, by late November 2007 in the UK, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" and "Long Walk Home" had been frequently played on adult contemporary stations, despite not being released as singles.

Chart (2007) Peak
position		 Certification
Europe [21] 1 (3w) Platinum
Austria [22] 1 Gold
Canada [23] 1 Platinum
Denmark [24] 1 Platinum
Ireland [22] 1 (4w) 3x Platinum
Italy [25] 1 (2w) Platinum
Norway [22] 1 (2w) 3x Platinum
Spain [26] 1 (3w) Platinum
Sweden [22] 1 2x Platinum
UK Albums Chart [22] 1 Platinum
U.S. Billboard 200 [27] 1 (2w) Platinum
Australia [22] 2 Gold
Netherlands [22] 2 Platinum
New Zealand [22] 2 Gold
Belgium [22] 3 Gold
France [22] 3
Germany [22] 3 Gold
Finland [22] 4
Switzerland [22] 4 Gold

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The E Street Band

[edit] Additional musicians

  • Soozie Tyrell - violin on "Livin' in the Future", "I'll Work for Your Love", "Magic", "Last to Die"
  • Jeremy Chatzky - upright bass on "Magic"
  • Daniel Laufer - cello on "Devil's Arcade"
  • Patrick Warren - Chamberlin, tack piano on "Your Own Worst Enemy", "Girls in Their Summer Clothes", "Magic", "Long Walk Home", "Devil's Arcade"
  • String section on "Your Own Worst Enemy" and "Girls in Their Summer Clothes":
    • Kenn Wagner, Jay Christy, Justin Bruns, William Pu, Cristopher Pulgram, John Meisner, Olga Shpitko, Sheela Lyengar - violins
    • Tania Maxwell Clements, Amy Chang, Lachlan McBane - viola
    • Karen Freer, Daniel Laufer, Charae Kruege - cello

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bruce Springsteen - Magic (Thai). Sony Music. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  2. ^ ROBERT CHRISTGAU, DAVID FRICKE, CHRISTIAN HOARD, ROB SHEFFIELD (December 17, 2007). "The Top 50 Albums of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
  3. ^ a b c "Bruce Springsteen's 'Magic' Set for October 2 Release on Columbia Records", Shore Fire Media press release, August 16, 2007. Accessed August 16, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Larry McShane, "Springsteen, E Street Band to reunite for a bit of 'Magic’", Associated Press, August 16, 2007. Accessed August 16, 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d e Andy Greene, "More On New Bruce Springsteen Album: Producer Brendan O’Brien Reveals All", Rolling Stone, August 17, 2007. Accessed August 18, 2007.
  6. ^ "Dates are set; Bruce revs up E Street Machine for Fall", Backstreets.com, August 28, 2007. Accessed August 28, 2007.
  7. ^ a b c Andy Greene, "Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Magic’: Exclusive Details on New E Street Band Album", Rolling Stone, August 16, 2007. Accessed August 16, 2007.
  8. ^ a b c Jonathan Cohen, "Billboard Bits: Bruce Springsteen", Billboard, August 23, 2007. Accessed August 23, 2007.
  9. ^ Phil Gallo, "Springsteen's 'Magic' Sitting Outside Grammy's Window: Might A Back Door Plot Be Devised?", Variety The Set List column, August 16, 2007. Accessed August 21, 2007.
  10. ^ a b "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND ANNOUNCE FIRST FULL SCALE TOUR OF US & EUROPE SINCE 2003", Brucespringsteen.com, August 28, 2007. Accessed August 28, 2007.
  11. ^ ROBERT CHRISTGAU, DAVID FRICKE, CHRISTIAN HOARD, ROB SHEFFIELD (December 17, 2007). "The Top 50 Albums of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
  12. ^ a b c Levine, Stuart. Springsteen’s ‘Magic’ is a rockin’ good time, MSNBC.com, Sept. 25, 2007. Accessed November 5, 2007.
  13. ^ "Terry Magovern, Rest in Peace", Backstreets.com, August 1, 2007. Accessed August 28, 2007.
  14. ^ a b Scott, A. O. In Love With Pop, Uneasy With the World, The New York Times, September 30, 2007. Accessed November 5, 2007.
  15. ^ a b Quillen, Shay. Springsteen's 'Magic' ends with a political wallop, The San Jose Mercury News, October 6, 2007. Accessed November 5, 2007.
  16. ^ Katie Hasty, "Springsteen Is Boss Of Album Chart With 'Magic'", Billboard.com, October 10, 2007.
  17. ^ Katie Hasty, "Springsteen Returns To No. 1 In Slow Sales Week", Billboard.com, October 24, 2007.
  18. ^ United World Chart.
  19. ^ a b Roger Friedman. "Bruce: Magic Refused Radio Play", D-Day for Britney Spears: New CD 'Blackout' Drops, Fox News, 2007-10-30. Retrieved on 2007-11-01. 
  20. ^ Know the Facts. Clear Channel Communications. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  21. ^ IFPI Platinum Europe Awards Q4 2007
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Worldwide Charts". aCharts.us. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
  23. ^ Top 100 Albums in Canada.
  24. ^ Danish Albums Chart.
  25. ^ Italian FIMI Album Chart.
  26. ^ Spain Top 100 Albums Chart.
  27. ^ Billboard News - Springsteen Returns To No. 1.
Preceded by
Still Feels Good by Rascal Flatts		 Billboard 200 number-one album
October 20 - October 26, 2007
November 3 - November 9, 2007		 Succeeded by
Rock N Roll Jesus by Kid Rock
Preceded by
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace by Foo Fighters		 UK Albums Chart Number-one album
7 October 2007		 Succeeded by
Change by Sugababes
Preceded by
Still Feels Good by Rascal Flatts		 United World Chart number-one album
October 20, 2007 - November 3, 2007		 Succeeded by
Carnival Ride by Carrie Underwood
v • d • e
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Bruce Springsteen • Roy Bittan • Clarence Clemons • Nils Lofgren • Patti Scialfa • Garry Tallent • Soozie Tyrell • Steven Van Zandt • Max Weinberg
Danny Federici • Ernest "Boom" Carter • Suki Lahav • Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez • David Sancious
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