Certainly not local to Cape Town, but without doubt, the hidden gem of the year so far is Bruce Springsteen’s Magic. I picked it up recently and although slightly sceptical, since the dreariness albeit effectiveness of Springsteen’s last couple of albums (We shall overcome and Devils and dust), I was excited, after all, the Boss is The Boss and on this album, he shows why.

Half the reason for this success is that it’s his first collaboration with the E Street Band in roughly five years and you can hear the difference. This is the band Springsteen was meant to play in front of. Every one of the members is an artist and the perfect complement to Springsteen.

Magic starts with “Radio Nowhere” and like Boss says “I want a thousand guitars, I want pounding drums” and he gets it in this perfect opener that makes your ears bleed, in the good way. From here the album moves through many future classics. “You’ll be coming down”, “Girls in their summer clothes”, “I’ll work for your love” and “Last to die” are all just that and all reminiscent of Springsteen of years gone by. An unmissable highlight is the closer, “Terry’s song”, which was written for a late friend and is filled with acoustics and harmonica in a way only Boss can do.

One of the lyrics is “when they made you brother, they broke the mould” and as far as I’m concerned, this statement has never been more apt.