Bruce Springsteen: "My Lucky Day"

Back in the early 80’s, Bruce Springsteen began recording solo demos of his songs before trying them with the E Street Band. The reasoning? Well, besides it being too time consuming in the studio the way they were writing, recording and the deciding on which songs to use, Bruce saw a potential danger with working with the E Street Band: The band could sound so good, he realized, they could fool him into thinking he had a great song when he really didn’t. (The first result of the solo-demoing process that Springsteen implemented was Nebraska, which originally were the demos for an E Street Band album.)

I can’t help but be reminded of that while listening to “My Lucky Day,” the second released track from the upcoming Working on a Dream album, to be released in late January. The band sounds great, especially the rhythm section of Garry Tallent (who fires like the cylinders in a ‘61 Pontiac) and Max Weinberg, who careen wonderfully throughout the song. Charles Giordano finds some great spots to peek out with his organ and Roy Bittan’s piano continues to be a bedrock of the E Street Band’s sound. Bruce’s vocals (and Steve Van Zandt's backgrounds) are ebullient and there’s a lovely vibe throughout.

But the song itself is underwhelming, feeling like a rehash of other Springsteen songs, especially some of the underrated material from 1992’s Lucky Town, a poorly produced album filled with some excellent songs, with lyrics that sound like they were mixed in a blender. And rather than feeling gloriously unself-conscious, “My Lucky Day” just sounds slight, another nice ditty, but lacking depth, which Bruce’s best “pop” material (“Hungry Heart,” “Dancing In The Dark,” “Cover Me,” “Glory Days,” “Girls In Their Summer Clothes,”) has had in spades. If the point of these two song releases is to build excitement for the album, then I have to admit that so far, it's not working for me. The E Street Band sounds great, but "My Lucky Day" is not a match for their greatness.