Springsteen’s new ‘Dream’ rings hollow

For "Working On A Dream," Bruce Springsteen whistles, sings the blues, plays the glockenspiel and drops an f-bomb, as if desperate to disguise the album's lyrical deficiencies.

Springsteen says he wrote these songs quickly, and it shows. The rich characters who populate his best work are largely missing, and instead he rocks out to simple sentiments built on first- and second-person pronouns. "With you I have been blessed," he sings. And, "You're my lucky day." And, "Let me show you what love can do."

"Surprise, Surprise" ranks among the lamest songs Springsteen ever released, thanks in part to this observation: "When the sun comes out tomorrow, it'll be the start of a brand new day."

While too many lines ring hollow, and the E-Street Band arrangements tend toward a "Hungry Heart"-style sameness, the Boss does at least crank out the kind of fetching melodies that filled his last album, "Magic." Some of the biggest hooks save the bizarre "Queen Of The Supermarket," which finds our hero stalking a woman (girl?) at the checkout counter to accompaniment worthy of Meat Loaf. It's bloated, dumb and creepy — quality rock 'n' roll, in other words.

The strongest candidate for Springsteen's Super Bowl playlist is "My Lucky Day," which rides a groove carved out by Garry Tallent's niftiest bass line ever. Even better are the encores, always a Springsteen strength. He pulls out his acoustic guitar for the final two cuts: "The Last Carnival" pays eloquent tribute to his band's late keyboardist, Danny Federici, and "The Wrestler" is a heart-tugging ballad from the Mickey Rourke movie.

Check it out: No lyrics are necessary when "The Last Carnival" dissolves into a beautiful coda of wrenching wails.