60 Minutes

Sign of the Times: Scott Peley’s 60 Minutes interview with Bruce Springsteen approaches his anti-war stance so gingerly: “You know some people are going to say Bruce Springsteen is no patriot…” How different is that from O’Reilly saying “Why do you hate America?” It may be a tad more polite, but it’s basically the same lame-ass question. As if poll after poll hasn’t revealed that anti-war sentiment is at an all-time high, that the public rates Congress even lower than the President for refusing to put a stop to it. As though this anti-war stuff, whew, that’s taking a BIG CHANCE with your audience, right Bruce? This is plain silliness, and if half the Democrats responded with the confidence and aplomb that Bruce did we’d be in a lot better shape.
Magic has grown on me: I can’t stop listening to “Girls In Their Summer Clothes,” and the retro touches only make it more endearing — those bells, those tom-toms. “Your Own Worst Enemy” starts to sound like the voice inside Bush’s own head. Stephen Deusner maps most of the references, but I even like how the album starts by quoting Blue Oyster Cult’s “Reaper” and then works in “Mystery Train,” or how all that radio candy production is so ironic since it won’t get played, and even if it does, it won’t get heard.