Working on a Dream
E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt said that Working on a Dream completed a trilogy which started with The Rising (2002) and continued with Magic (2007), all of which were produced by Brendan O'Brien."[7] As with Magic, most of the tracks were first recorded with a core band comprising Springsteen, drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, and pianist Roy Bittan; other members' contributions were added later."[4] Springsteen first performed the title track, accompanied by Patti Scialfa, on November 2, 2008, in Cleveland during a show for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.[16] The last of these went awry when, in what Rolling Stone termed "shocking news," "The Wrestler"—for which Springsteen had supplied the main song—was snubbed by the Academy and failed to gain a nomination.[33][34] The release of the initial tracks prompted The New York Times to welcome a "more hopeful, less bleak" Springsteen who had adopted "the voice of an honest striver redeemed by love and hard work".[35] While Rolling Stone gave it a five-star rating and compared it to Born to Run in scale and ambition,[36] Los Angeles Times writer Ann Powers suggested that the best that could be said of the album "is that it's boisterously scatterbrained, exhilaratingly bad."[37] Greg Kot of The Chicago Tribune said it was at times a "silly" self-parody, but praised "the exuberant "My Lucky Day" and the gently uplifting title track"."[38] Pitchfork shared Van Zandt's assessment of the album being "the final installment of a trilogy [Springsteen] began with The Rising in 2002 and continued with Magic in 2007".Includes the full CD plus a DVD featuring: In November 2014, Springsteen released a graphic novel titled Outlaw Pete which is based on the opening track from Working on a Dream.