They're Back

The first Bruce Springsteen album to feature the E.Street Band since 2002's The Rising is released tomorrow. I've heard it already and hear dear reader are my thoughts, first observations, comments etc.

I don't agree with some reviewers that he sounds tired I think his voice has actually mellowed and he doesn't sound so 'shouty'.

Clarence sounds great on 'You'll Be Coming Down' and 'Livin in The Future' - the latter sounds like classic Brooce!.

I'd loved to know where he got the musical idea for 'Your Own Worst Enemy' it's quite extraordinary, perhaps he's an Arcade Fire fan - all those chiming bells, string section, percussion rich harmonies, timpani drums(?) - the whole thing works even though it shouldn't. I love this track.

Harmonica intro into Gypsy Biker, very clever lyrics, some great harmonica work on this track and some serious rocking out on the old guitar by Bruce and Stevie.

Girls in Their Summer Clothes - most un- Springsteen like track I've heard in years, in the days of LP's this would have closed Side One.

The thing that hits you about this album is how rich the production sounds, its a band playing at the top of their powers, a unit that has grown together over nearly forty years.

I'll Work For Your Love gives all the band the chance to show off. Is this a love poem for Patti or a paean to a lost ideology and dream?Last to Die won't be misconstrued by any politicians, unlike Born in the USA. 'Stacking the bodies outside the door' isn't going to feature in anybody's Election videos.

Long Walk Home will become a fav at those Stadium gigs, it's the flipside to My Hometown, it's about things that refuse to change or is it? And just when you think that's a Clarence solo coming near the end what happens? A Clarence solo of course!

Devils Arcade is the last track before, excluding the hidden 'Terry's Song'. It's beautiful, acoustic guitar, Bruce's voice, the band come in gradually and it's a full two and a quarter minutes in before all of the band are on board. This is the only track that on first listening that could have been on The Rising.There's a sense in the lyrics of a number of the songs on the album that Bruce is tired of the promises that everything will be okay, he may be 58 and a millionaire but he's still angry and fed up with being lied to.

Terry's Song is from the same lineage as Tom Joad or Nebraska. It's the least complicated track musically on the album, acoustic guitars, piano and the album closes with the sound of a harmonica fading out.I can't see this album converting the unconvertible but it's so rich in production, lyrics and musicianship it will please millions of fans.

A version of this appeared on the BBC Radio Two My Music Board