Grade: D

CD » Bruce Springsteen's "Working on a Dream" suffers from the same flaws of his rightfully reviled early 1990s albums, "Human Touch," and "Lucky Town." That is, when the Boss is happy, he seems to have nothing interesting to say. Instead of desperately pining for something that will take him to his promised land, here, in the embarrassing "Queen of the Supermarket," he longs for a pretty grocery bagger and "a dream [that] awaits in aisle number two." (This drivel comes from the same man who wrote "Thunder Road"? How?) Worse is that Springsteen and the E Street Band follow an ill-advised formula that was established with 2007's disappointing "Magic," where Springtseen aims to inject a 1960s pop sensibility to his working man's rock. What results is neither pop nor rock, but a middle-of-the-road, mid-tempo bore. This new material suggests a lackluster Super Bowl half-time show.

-- David Burger