In 2007, Springsteen released Magic, the follow up to two tough albums. The first, We Shall Overcome was a covers album, and the second, Devils & Dust was a folk album, something which he'd had widely varied success with in the past, so the audience was intrigued as to which direction the Boss was going to take with this release. What we got was an example of Springsteen's finest writing style: politically charged and fairly angry. Songs such as Radio Nowhere and Long Walk Home in particular emphasised Springsteen's disgust with the culmination of the Bush presidency, with bluntness throughout the lyrical content. It was a fairly loud, guitar driven effort, but it also took in some of the softer moments from the folk albums which preceded it, forming a nice bridge between his older styles and his angrier stuff. Seemingly the only criticism offered towards the album came from big fans of the band, pointing towards an unfamiliar style of production on this record. The production was different in that it seemed to merge the band together, making it more difficult to identify when particular members of the band were playing, a feature popularly found on their other records.
