Bruce Springsteen dreams up this exciting 16th studio album that features tales of an outlaw, a supermarket queen, a heartbroken carny, and a hapless wrestler as a special added bonus.
WORKING ON A DREAM opens with an eight minute epic titled “Outlaw Pete,” which is the longest and the most dynamic of all songs on the record. The complex orchestration will please old school fans of the classic work heard on The River.
Shorter tracks, such as “My Lucky Day” contain hard hitting drums, roaring bass lines, and the signature heavy strummed acoustic guitars.
The title track, “Working on a Dream,” is a highly repetitive tune that would have been a better fit on the previous album, Magic, but does contain a strong message making it an ideal album title, serving as a suitable reflection of America today.
Springsteen offers a psychedelic funk rock party in “What Love Can Do” that features lead guitar riffs that would make Austin Powers proud. If you use your imagination you may find it reminiscent of the Springsteen classic “The Promised Land” from Darkness on the Edge of Town.
The beginning of “This Life” sounds as if a jukebox is about to break into Sinatra’s “New York, New York” before turning into an acoustic rocker.
“Good Eye” is a harmonica infused heavy blues track with a distorted vocal effect similar to “A Night With The Jersey Devil.”
A raking acoustic guitar and a Willie Nelson drum beat, combined with beautiful orchestration in “Tomorrow Never Knows” will bring a smile to the purist’s face.
Other solid tracks include “Kingdom of Days” and “Surprise Surprise,” and of course the Golden Globe Award winning “The Wrestler” which makes for an album highlight as a bonus tune.
This is by far the Boss’s best work since The Rising and should not be overlooked during your next visit to the music shop. Almost every tune on Working is superior to the work heard on 2007’s Magic. B+