Detailed item info | Track listing | 1. Outlaw Pete
2. My Lucky Day
3. Working On a Dream
4. Queen of the Supermarket
5. What Love Can Do
6. This Life
7. Good Eye
8. Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Life Itself
10. Kingdom of Days
11. Surprise, Surprise
12. Last Carnival, The
13. Wrestler, The
| | Details | | Producer: | Brendan O'Brien | | Distributor: | Sony Music Entertainment | | Recording type: | Studio | | Recording mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
| | Album notes | Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, keyboards, glockenspiel, percussion); Nils Lofgren, Steve Van Zandt (vocals, guitars); Soozie Tyrell (vocals, violin); Clarence Clemons (vocals, saxophone); Patti Scialfa (vocals); Roy Bittan (accordion, piano); Garry Tallent (bass guitar); Max Weinberg (drums); Danny Federici.
Audio Mixer: Brendan O'Brien.
Audio Remasterer: Bob Ludwig.
Recording information: Thrill Hill Recording., N.J.
Bruce Springsteen's not known for pumping out new material at a rapid clip, but he was seemingly so energized by his 2007 album, MAGIC, that he wrote and recorded the songs on WORKING ON A DREAM in a creative flurry and had it out 15 months after its predecessor. The feel of the album is accordingly urgent; there's little here that bears the epic qualities of his more deliberately wrought work, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Overall, this is probably as close as The Boss gets to a pop album. While the somewhat anomalous "The Wrestler," the spare, acoustic-based theme from the celebrated film of the same name, is a trenchant look inside a troubled soul, a more light-hearted feel prevails throughout most of WORKING ON A DREAM. Muscular production emphasizes Springsteen's classic-rock leanings, but these simple songs of love and hope also bear bright pop hooks, and they wind up being nicely offset by a couple of raw, bluesy tunes before it's all over.
| | Editorial reviews | 3 stars out of 5 -- The classic pop- and folk-derived melodies of 'Life Itself' and the title track sound almost sacred when borne aloft by the E Street Band's majestic thrust.
Spin
[T]he warm, bright music blasting away behind him reminds fans what they've know for ages: It's hard to stay downbeat for very long when the E Street Band is playing. -- Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly
5 stars out of 5 -- Springsteen has mastered the key sounds of rock's golden age, and he deploys them at will on this album, diving deep into influences that he's only hinted at before on record.
Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 5 -- The best songs are pledges in the style of '60s rock that draw from Springsteen's 18-year marriage to singer Patti Scialfa.
Blender
4 stars out of 5 -- [A] spontaneous-sounding yet painstakingly arranged Springsteen album with flashes of rococo strings and no little positivity. Take hear and enjoy The Boss's galvanizing newie -- Mr. Motivator is back.
Mojo
While not sentimental, WORKING ON A DREAM does draw attention to the romantic side of Springsteen, and rays of optimism shine through across the record.
Clash
Bruce Springsteen's latest is a grab bag of everything we've come to love about The Boss -- anthemic rock, exhausted Americana, raunchy blues shuffles, orchestral ballads, testifying gospel rave-ups and gripping lyrical narratives about working-class America.
Paste
4 stars out of 5 -- [I]t's certainly his most positive and uplifting album for some time....A celebration of the history of great American popular music.
Record Collector
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