Product Description

38th solo studio album from a man who is unarguably one of the most respected and recognizable figures in the whole of popular music. Following 2003's Blue Note oddity 'What's Wrong With This Picture', this record marks 40 years since Morrison's first hits with Them and is being hailed by many critics as his strongest set for years. Features ten new originals as well as interpretations of three jazz standards.

Track Listing

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 Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20690 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 59 minutes

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.

Customer Reviews

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. "Stranded" is just super music and vocals, The sax is the best I have heard. All other tracks are good. Van has many styles of expressing his feeling in his music, this for me is the best of Van.
Buy it !

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. Alas, there are also some merely fair, sometimes mediocre songs. It would be great if he could follow Dylan's lead and come back with something that genuinely intrigues and surprises. This is a tantalizing release, better than his last few solo records but he's capable of better.

Some gems, some filler - a patchy affair
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.