Also available as a
Special Edition Collector's Box
Set with Lyric Cards.
Jubilee Offer: Patriot Classics for £2.50 |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Track Listings
| 1. Stranded |
| 2. Celtic New Year |
| 3. Keep Mediocrity At Bay |
| 4. Evening Train |
| 5. This Love Of Mine |
| 6. I'm Confessin |
| 7. Just Like Greta |
| 8. Gypsy In My Soul |
| 9. Lonely And Blue |
| 10. The Lion This Time |
| 11. Magic Time |
| 12. They Sold Me Out |
| 13. Carry On Regardless |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Gifted but apocryphally bereft of chuckles, Van Morrison tends not to conclude his albums with a list of "Carry On" film comedies, a whoops-a-daisy have-a-go yodel and a self-contented chortle of "I'm havin' too much fun". Until now. Magic Time has been touted as Van Morrison's best album in aeons. While this may be gilding the lily just a tad it's safe to assume - given the laughing-in-the-face-of adversity antics of "Carry On Regardless" and the jazz footsie of "I'm Confessin'" - that's he's mellowed to the point of miserable bliss. Every man's home is his castle and - as the passive blues solitude of "I'm Stranded" and the reclusive desires of "Just Like Greta Garbo" attest - Van pulled up the drawbridge some time ago. He sure aint working to anyone else's expectations (see the boogie of "Keep Mediocrity At Bay") but while Magic Time operates well within Van's comfort zone, tracks like "Celtic New Year" (imagine a folk soul "Midnight Train to Georgia") and the Latino cogitations of "Gypsy In My Soul" show that Van still has time for magic. -- Kevin Maidment
Album Description
Four decades on from enjoying his first hits with Them, Van "The Man" Morrison returns to the fold with Magic Time, a brand-new studio album featuring thirteen songs - ten of them brand-new Van Morrison compositions and a further three, interpretations of classic jazz standards.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
How many Van the Man fans stuck this in their CD player, listened with joy and astonishment to the first two tracks and then groaned out loud when the third came on? My guess is quite a few. Including yours truly. After a decade stuck in a creative downward spiral, Morrison here pens some of his best songs since the eighties; indeed half a dozen could easily have come from the twin masterpieces 'No Guru No Method No Teacher' and 'Poetic Champions Compose'. Unfortunately, interspersing these jewels are another half dozen bog-standard jazz and blues tracks, one of which (yep, the dreaded track 3) is ironically entitled 'Keep Mediocrity At Bay'. The Master can pen such forgettable ditties with his ears closed, and they curdle with the older, 'Celtic' sound. Taking the best two or three tracks from his last few albums and adding them to the new gems would basically create one great record. Surely the days have passed when this particular artist needs to put out a record a year. If he took a leaf out of Dylan's book and just recorded when truly inspired, he might yet generate a bona fide classic. As it is, 'Magic Time' is a flawed jewel.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As with most of Van's output since the early 1990's this album contains a few gems - the two openers 'Stranded' and 'Celtic New Year' and the space-wishing ' Just like Greta' - I know what he means there. But as with recent offerings there is a lot of going through the motions. No one can doubt the quality of the musicianship on many of the tracks but somehow several seem to be lacking any real emotion. And surely emotion is what makes great music rise above the ordinary. I wish Van would lay off the obligatory - 'ripped off by the music business' tracks as after a while this just gets repetitive. Half the output but twice the quality would be nice. Don't get me wrong, Van is one of my all time music greats with much of his 70s and 80s output featuring in my top 50 list.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Three and a half stars really. Magic Time opens with the mellow Stranded that sets the tone for the album. The next one, Celtic New Year is a meandering ballad with jazzy touches. The tempo changes for the rhythmic and lilting Keep Mediocrity At Bay, a powerful message song.
Evening Train is a mild uptempo rock number with a jerky beat and engaging saxophone flourishes, whilst both This Love Of Mine and Gypsy In My Soul are lounge jazzy excursions, as is his rendition of the standard Lonely And Blue. Just Like Greta is a soulful ballad that expresses the yearning for solitude and The Lion This Time is a sad slow song with a melancholy undertone.
The title track, a relaxed ballad, is a celebration of happy memories, simple but moving. There is a mood of resignation in the face of betrayal in the bluesy piece They Sold Me Out. The album concludes with Carry On Regardless, a tuneful and rhythmic attack on the music business and the media.
Measured against Van Morrison's own brilliance, I suppose this album deserves three stars. But compared to a lot of other music, it merits four. Overall, I would say it lacks real passion. But then again, the lyrics and the melodies are good. The songs just don't grab you like his best work does. Still, Magic Time is essential for fans.
Evening Train is a mild uptempo rock number with a jerky beat and engaging saxophone flourishes, whilst both This Love Of Mine and Gypsy In My Soul are lounge jazzy excursions, as is his rendition of the standard Lonely And Blue. Just Like Greta is a soulful ballad that expresses the yearning for solitude and The Lion This Time is a sad slow song with a melancholy undertone.
The title track, a relaxed ballad, is a celebration of happy memories, simple but moving. There is a mood of resignation in the face of betrayal in the bluesy piece They Sold Me Out. The album concludes with Carry On Regardless, a tuneful and rhythmic attack on the music business and the media.
Measured against Van Morrison's own brilliance, I suppose this album deserves three stars. But compared to a lot of other music, it merits four. Overall, I would say it lacks real passion. But then again, the lyrics and the melodies are good. The songs just don't grab you like his best work does. Still, Magic Time is essential for fans.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
See you through the window (if you haven't left after track 3...)
Herein lies the problem. If you can open an album with 2 of the finest tracks you have put out for a long time, tracks of such quality and class and then follow it up with "Keep... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Merry Terry
A very Magic Time
I am not a must have every album fan of Van Morrison, however I do have greatest hits 2. I bought Magic Time on a whim really. On first play I was impressed. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2008 by R. G. Philpott
Still Patchy After All These Years
This is Morrison's best album in many years thanks to a handful of strong songs, which indicate some of the old fire still burns. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2006 by malbecco
Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart
I have waited until the next release from Van Morriston before I review the last one even though I love Magic Time. Readers might wonder why I chose to do so. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2006 by Junglies
Buy ! Don't Buy !
You might want to listen first.
If you listen , the spell will be caste because it's the voice and the passion and the soul that does the damage. Read more
If you listen , the spell will be caste because it's the voice and the passion and the soul that does the damage. Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2005 by Mr. P. J. Whimster
Magic Van - back to the good times
Excellent album, with some stand out tracks more reminiscent of his early 70s work than recent jazz influenced output. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2005 by Mr. Dafydd Edwards
Disappointment
We were over in Kerry last week and I sat in the car in Cahersiveen (in the rain!) listening to the radio whilst my wife popped into one of the shops. Read more
Published on 31 July 2005 by A Van Fan
Stranded on the edge of the world
Van Morrison has written and sung a CD worthy of his most accomplished accolades. This music sings out for feet tapping and heads swaying with the beat. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2005 by prisrob
Celtic Cool
It appears to be open season on Van Morrison but I say stop taking cheap shots at an endangered species, a class act. Van remains the man and Magic Time proves it. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2005 by "paul_cairnie"
marking time
sorry, but almost every album Van releases is hailed as his best for ages, and these days they rarely are. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2005 by Kim Bodkin
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
