Magic (Bruce Springsteen album)

Did You Know?

• Two weeks after the album's initial announcement, Terry's Song was added as a memorial for Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died on July 30, 2007.
• Some pressings of the CD pre-ordered through Sony Music or other channels did not contain the extra track Terry's Song.
• The album became available for pre-order on iTunes on August 28, with a promotion featuring Radio Nowhere as a free downloadable single.

Background

Magic was announced on August 16, 2007, after months of speculation. Springsteen's manager Jon Landau described it as a high energy rock album with a heavy E Street Band sound. Most songs were written by the end of 2006, and Springsteen let producer Brendan O'Brien select the best tracks. Recording began in March at Southern Tracks Recording Studio in Atlanta and took two months.

The process was complicated by band members' schedules, particularly drummer Max Weinberg's weekday commitments to taping Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The musicians did not record as a unit; Springsteen worked on vocals and production during the week, and on weekends the core band of Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, and pianist Roy Bittan recorded basic tracks. Other band members overdubbed their parts under O'Brien's supervision, except saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who worked directly with Springsteen.

The lead-off single, Radio Nowhere, was slated for a September 4 release but leaked on August 22. The CD release on October 2 was preceded by a vinyl release on September 25 to qualify for the Grammy Awards.

Themes

Several songs on Magic express disillusionment with American society. The title track conveys a general sense of foreboding, with lyrics such as 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. Girls in Their Summer Clothes is described as a breezy song, though critic A. O. Scott noted it is touched by melancholy, as the narrator watches the girls pass him by. Last to Die was inspired by John Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony, in which he asked how to ask a man to be the last to die for a mistake. Gypsy Biker concerns the homecoming of a US soldier killed in Iraq. Springsteen said Livin' in the Future references extraordinary rendition and illegal wiretapping. Long Walk Home is a metaphorical account of the narrator feeling that people he thought he knew have become strangers.

Release and sales

Magic became Bruce Springsteen’s seventh UK number one, shifting 77,692 copies in its debut week—his fastest start of the 2000s. In the US, it hit number one on the Billboard 200, his eighth album to do so, with first-week sales around 335,000. After dropping to second place for a week, it reclaimed the top spot, selling about 77,000 copies that week. The album’s US success came despite minimal radio play. Fox News reported that Clear Channel told its classic rock stations to skip tracks from Magic, though Clear Channel countered that its stations played the album more than other outlets did right after release. By January 2009, Magic had sold one million copies in the US.

Critical reception

Critics generally responded positively to Magic. Pitchfork described it as a surprisingly complex album that hides its disillusionment within its music, mingling it with a weary optimism. In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, Magic ranked No. 9. Rolling Stone placed it No. 2 on its list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007, and Long Walk Home was No. 8 on its list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album but lost to the Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.