Springsteen Reportedly Readying New Album For January

Well this is always cause for optimism and rejoicing-- though my enthusiasm will be significantly dampened if it turns out to be very much like Magic.

The album has a title (Workin' on a Dream), a release date (January 27), and a tracklisting.

Magic was my favorite record of last year, so I won't be upset if this one turns out to be similar to Magic, as it looks like it will be. As the Paste article mentioned, Springsteen worked with Brendan O'Brien again, and this project is basically a continuation of the sessions from Magic.

Today, I met the guy who has written the string arrangements for the Boss's last couple albums, and he said he wrote a couple charts for this one recently. He confirmed that the songs are in the same vein as the last album. One story he told is that there is one long track on the new CD, about 7 minutes long. He flew to Jersey to meet with Springsteen and find out what he wanted from the orchestrations, and when they were talking about this long track, the arranger asked Springsteen what else was going to be going on during a middle section where there was just bass and drums. Springsteen's reply was, "You put some shit here." So there should be some good orchestral lines on this. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

For the next two days, you can download the title song from this album for free.

Kinda weak

It starts off promisingly enough, but the chorus doesn't go anywhere, and the whole thing just seems to fizzle out before it ever takes off.

Yeah, pretty weak. It also suffers from Generic Springsteen Song Title syndrome, which also takes in Born to Drive All Night, Workin' in the U.S.A., and Dancin' in the Darkness at the Edge of Jungleland.

Agreed with all of the above. I feel like O'Brien's shiny production doesn't help either; it feels like it could play at the end of a movie about the loves and losses of NASCAR drivers.

Much more intereswting to me is the live Boss and company's cover of Suicide's "Dream Baby," newly available on Blast First! recorded as a salutation to Alan Vega on his 70th birthday. Yes, 70th.

I agree with the charges of "weak." And, to be honest, as much as I love Bruce, I feel like everything that Brendan O'Brien has done very, very little for him. His production doesn't fit Bruce's writing -- too glossy, too slick, etc., with the exception of The Rising, but even then I feel like no producer could have gotten in the way of The Rising.

I'm a bit scared of the new record, too. Bruce does best when he takes his time, and I'm afraid -- particularly given the title track -- that he's hurried this one. I seriously hope I'm wrong, though.

I have another track from the upcoming Aronofsky film, The Wrestler, with Mickey Rourke. It's from the trailer if you want to hear at least parts of it and it sounds a bit more promising than the title track:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/thewrestler/

Bruce's MySpace has another new track, and it's much, much better than "Workin' on a Dream." (Man, I hate that title.)

Also worth noting: Bruce has the Hold Steady among his top MySpace friends. Oddly, the Hold Steady does not have Bruce in the same place.

It is much better... but that's still very relative.

Here's another new song.

It might be my favorite of the three, but it's not good enough to keep my expectations for the album from dwindling to zero. These tunes all sound very generic and lackluster to my ears. Even Magic-- an album I didn't particularly care for-- had more energy and personality than these three songs exhibit. But maybe hearing the full set will change my mind.