Springsteen, band reunite for a bit of ‘Magic’

New album with E Street crew billed as return to rock ’n’ roll

Mark J. Terrill / AP file

Bruce Springsteen said last year he’d already written a “whole book of songs for the E Street Band.” He assembled the band earlier this year and they finished the album in two months.

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updated 8:22 p.m. ET Aug. 16, 2007

NEW YORK - Bruce Springsteen is back with the E Street Band — and a bit of “Magic.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer returns Oct. 2 with a new album, titled “Magic,” his first collaboration with his longtime New Jersey mates since the Sept. 11-inspired “The Rising” in 2002, Springsteen announced through his publicist Thursday.

The album, other than its atmospheric title track, is billed as Springsteen’s return to rock ’n’ roll after his solo “Devils & Dust” and the folk-inspired “The Seeger Sessions.” Fans can expect Clarence Clemons’ familiar saxophone, Danny Federici’s soaring keyboards and Max Weinberg’s pounding drums — along with a lot of guitars.

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The 11-song album is Springsteen’s first of all-new material since April 2005, when he released the acoustic “Devils & Dust.” Springsteen’s 15th studio album follows last year’s “The Seeger Sessions,” where the Boss and a 17-piece backing band played reconjured versions of songs associated with folkie Pete Seeger.

For this album, recorded with producer Brendan O’Brien in Atlanta, Springsteen reunited with the full E Street Band to recreate its Garden State wall of sound: guitarists Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Weinberg, keyboardists Federici and Roy Bittan, sax man Clemons, violinist Soozie Tyrell and vocalist Patti Scialfa.

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Last year, Springsteen said he’d already written a “whole book of songs for the E Street Band.” He assembled the band earlier this year and they finished the album in two months, about the same amount of time spent recording the multiplatinum “The Rising.”

Songs include the title track, the album opener “Radio Nowhere,” “You’ll Be Comin’ Down,” “Livin’ in the Future,” “Your Own Worst Enemy,” “Gypsy Biker,” “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” “I’ll Work for Your Love,” “Last to Die,” “Long Walk Home” and “Devil’s Arcade.”

Details on a worldwide tour featuring the band were expected to follow. Springsteen and the E Street Band sold out arenas and stadiums around the globe during a 15-month tour behind “The Rising.”