Bona fides: I’m a Jersey boy, and a fan. I’ve got more than 50 Springsteen concerts under my belt. I’ve even met him once or twice, and no, I never call him The Boss. Now on with the show.

Someone on Twitter (follow us @popdose) recently wrote that Bruce Springsteen’s Oscar snub by the Motion Picture Academy was his punishment for “Outlaw Pete.” Maybe. I do know that the failure of the Academy to include Springsteen’s title song from The Wrestler in the Best Song category is one of the most egregious oversights I’ve ever seen in my years of following the Oscars. Are the Academy voters allowed to write in their choices?

I do understand the sentiment about “Outlaw Pete,” though. The song’s placement as the leadoff track on Working on a Dream (Columbia) is one of he most curious decisions in rock history. First of all, the thing is more than eight minutes long. Second, the story doesn’t make much sense. I suppose, based on his acknowledged respect for the iconic western films of John Ford, Springsteen was trying to create a widescreen western epic of his own. What he ended up with is more akin to the spaghetti variety.

I tell you this as someone who has listened to the track over and over in an attempt to understand its significance. I’ve done this because the balance of the album contains some of the best work that Springsteen has done in years. The E Street Band is in great form, despite the very noticeable lack of input from Clarence Clemons (wouldn’t a sax solo have been preferable to the whistling verse on the title track?), and producer Brendan O’Brien, working with Springsteen for the fourth time, has tamed most of his impulses toward the murky sound that nearly destroyed Magic for me. (more…)