How the Springsteen Touch Fares With Rock Critics

It’s not all glory days anymore for Bruce Springsteen, who since the mid-’70s has been a rock critics’ favorite.

While most reviews for Springsteen’s new pair of albums--”Human Touch” and “Lucky Town”--have been favorable, the unanimity of opinion has certainly been broken.

Springsteen has gone through a lot of changes since his last album, 1987’s “Tunnel of Love”: He’s turned 40, been divorced and remarried, moved into a Beverly Hills estate, fathered two children and--perhaps most significantly to Boss-lovers--fired his old musical comrades the E Street Band.

Virtually all 12 of the key national reviews reviewed by Pop Eye addressed these changes and their effect on his music. The judgments ranged from all-out raves (Time, Rolling Stone, Musician and the Los Angeles Times),to enthusiastic (USA Today, Washington Post, Newsweek) to mildly favorable (New York Times) to one real drubbing (Entertainment Weekly).

Here are some summary judgments--in order of enthusiasm.

* Rolling Stone’s Anthony DeCurtis, giving “Human Touch” a four-star rating (out of five) and “Lucky Town” a 4 1/2: “Taken together the two albums chart the fascinating progress of one of the most compelling artists of our time, a man who has found what he was looking for and who is searching still.”

* Time’s Jay Cocks, who wrote the famous breakthrough cover story on Springsteen way back in 1975: “Wonderful . . . twin testaments to the power of redemptive love, to the resilience of Springsteen’s gifts and to the restless spirit.”

* Musician magazine’s Bill Flanagan, rejecting the debate over what Springsteen’s fatherhood and move from New Jersey mean to his art: “His better days are right here and now. At this point I don’t care whether Springsteen fades as a cultural icon or what his business dealings are like or if he lives in Beverly Hills. I’m just grateful for this real world music, and glad he’s on board for the whole trip.”

* Richard Harrington, Washington Post: “(Springsteen) reinvents and repositions himself as an adult artist. . . . What dominates the albums are reflection, self-awareness, maturity, contentment and redirected passion. . . . Springsteen is asking his fans to ride with him a little farther than they have before, under a sky whose dark clouds he’s been busy chasing away. When the ride’s over, it’s been worth everyone’s while.”

* Jon Pareles, New York Times: “It’s easy to like and respect Springsteen. His songs invariably sound hard-won and homemade, every drumbeat and guitar solo making its point. . . . In the end, ‘Human Touch’ and ‘Lucky Town’ offer the twanging, stomping, pensive, troubled, well-crafted sound of retreat.”

* Which leaves Entertainment Weekly’s David Browne delivering the pan, calling the albums “strained and verbose” and Springsteen’s “most confused albums” since his 1973 debut. But he applauded the singing and cited several songs that linger after the record ends. Despite all the scolding, he assigned “Human Touch” a B-minus and “Lucky Town” a B.