I’m a little (okay a lotta) late to Bruce Springsteen’s new record, Magic, which came out a year ago. But better late than never. On first listen, I like it better than either of his last two studio records (excepting the Seeger album). It’s a mostly bright album and a nice hodgepodge of his career styles. In that sense, Magic reminds me of The River. I especially dig this tune, “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” which on first listen struck me dumb: “Hey, this could be a Magnetic Fields song!” I suppose that’s as much Bruce dipping into the Phil Spector well as anything else, but it’s also the synthetic strings and the simple acoustic guitar coupled with reverbed electric, and most importantly Springsteen’s vocal melody on both the verse and chorus, which to me just oozes Stephin Merritt (different register, but same approach). Of course, Merritt would never go for the la-la-las at the close of the song, but still — good stuff.
Bruce Springsteen — “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”
The Noiseboy Online 