America's Troubadour: Bruce Springsteen, 'Working on a Dream'

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN IS a rock 'n' roll god — just listen to the new "Working on a Dream" for proof.

There are a lot of people that shouldn't ever get on that rock-god list. Nickelback will never have that honor. Scott Stapp would be delusional to even dream of it. Bono might have a shot, but that latest U2 single, "Get On Your Boots," doesn't seem too promising — and Eddie Vedder could get in there, if Pearl Jam releases that new album already. Emo bands, we won't even start on you guys.

But Springsteen belongs up there for the albums "Born to Run," "Born in the U.S.A." and "The Rising," alone, and now he further strengthens his case with "Working on a Dream." The CD plugs into that whole hope thing, which seems perfectly timely, given our new president, and nearly every track on "Working on a Dream" has that patented Springsteen charm — a mix of grandeur and glory and joy in the face of despair. All together, it makes for nearly 52 minutes of feel-good rock 'n' roll, the kind of stuff dreams are made of (well, Springsteen's, at least).

That's not to say there aren't too many character studies (would it be a Springsteen album without them, though?), and that's not to say the lyrics don't (yet again) reflect the hardship of the American experience, Springsteen's favorite subject. If The Boss is one thing, it's reliable.

But there's a mastery and ease here that few other musicians possess, and as always, Springsteen enjoyably takes all the obstacles and challenges of our daily lives, turns them on their heads and finds something good in all of it, from becoming enamored with a graceful, in-her-own-world supermarket cashier ("Though her company cap covers her hair / Nothing can hide the beauty waiting there," from the lilting "Queen of the Supermarket") to pulling a Rafiki by offering his usual pearls of wisdom ("Well, he who waits for the day's riches will be lost / In the whispering tide / Where the river flows," from "Tomorrow Never Knows").

And Springsteen has been solid in his choice of singles, as the comfortably familiar-sounding "My Lucky Day" and "Working on a Dream" go over well, and reinforce his love-cures-all message. The straightforward "My Lucky Day" may be slightly repetitive (the line "Honey, you're my lucky day" both opens and closes the chorus), but it works as a Springsteen reference point, a reminder of the kind of big-band sound The Boss does best. And "Working on a Dream" opens almost like something from Death Cab for Cutie, all layered and pretty-like, before Springsteen's gravelly voice kicks in and defends love yet again, attesting to its power in the face of adversity: "Though trouble can feel like it's here to stay / I'm working on a dream / Well, our love will chase trouble away." Whatever you say, sir.

Though the majority of this album isn't entirely infused with the bombastic sound that drives "My Lucky Day" and so much of the rest of Springsteen's musical resume, there's a kind of honesty in the simpler, quieter tracks, such as the Tom Waits-channeling and poetically somber "The Last Carnival" ("A million stars shining above us, like every soul living and dead / Has been gathered together by God to sing a hymn/ Over the old bones"). And the album standout, the bare-as-bones and Golden Globe-winning "The Wrestler," which Springsteen specifically wrote for the Darren Aronofsky film starring a masterful (and similarly Golden Globe-winning Mickey Rourke) oozes the kind of intimacy of tracks such as "Secret Garden" and his "The Ghost of Tom Joad" cover: An intensely gripping portrait of a life gone wrong.

No, it's not perfect: "Outlaw Pete" is a 8-minute compilation of every hard-working, stereotypical American Springsteen has ever crooned about (seriously, the line "at 6 months old, he'd done three months in jail" may be clever, but it doesn't change the fact that the song is almost a parody of Springsteen himself); "This Life" kind of meanders in a roundabout fashion for a bit, not really developing into anything; and though "Good Eye" starts off intriguingly with a very down-home blues feel, the song gets lost in Springsteen's distorted vocal delivery and its own dirty grittiness. You wouldn't have a clue what the song is about without reading the lyrics, and there isn't much there, anyway; the exactly 3-minute song basically employs the same four lines over and over: "I had all of the riches / I had each and every one / I had my good eye to the dark / And my blind eye to the sun." Mmkay.

Yet overall, Springsteen proves with "Working on a Dream" why he's America's troubadour, as he continues to roll with the times and transforms the reflection of "The Raising" and the darkness of "Magic" into hope and love for our future. As cliche as it may sound, he's still the voice of the people; Bono, Vedder — you've got a lot of catching up to do. Here's looking forward to Super Bowl Sunday.

Written by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi

» Listen to clips from the whole CD here.

» "Born to Write: Bruce Springsteen's Top 20 Character Studies" [Express]

Photos courtesy Columbia Records