Track Listing

1. Mornings Eleven
2. Forever Lost
3. The Mule
4. Long Legs
5. Love Me Like You
6. Which Way To Happy
7. I See You, You See Me
8. Don't Give Up The Fight
9. This Love
10. Wheels On Fire
11. Love is A Game
12. Try

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4107 in Music
• Released on: 2005-06-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
In an age of vigorously-marketed rag-trade clothes horses, Trinidad/New York/London collective The Magic Numbers are an anomaly; a word-of-mouth phenomenon whose affable live shows have been compared to happy clappy religious experiences and whose music - an unfashionable blend of soft country pop with Fifties and Sixties inflections - is evidently more important to them than the intercession of style gurus and hairdressers. The "kids" are converted and the band's self-titled debut album The Magic Numbers may prove to be the most surprising success story of the year. Comprising two pairs of siblings, the Stodarts (singer and songwriter Romeo; the girth of a bear, the hair and beard of a friendly fairy-tale giant and the voice of a mouse; sister Michelle on bass, keyboards, vocals) and the Gannons (the equally hirsute Sean on drums; sister Angela on vocals, melodica and percussion) the familial ties shine through in the wholesome, harmonious nature of it all, from the skiffle of "Long Legs" and the upbeat Undertones-flavoured pop of "Love Me Like You" to the melting, dreamy teen frustration dialogues of "Love's a Game" and "I See You, You See Me". The Magic Numbers offers conclusive proof that maths isn't boring. --Kevin Maidment

CD Description
This is the self-titled debut album from UK based outfit The Magic Numbers. Inspired by the likes of sixties singer/songwriters and harmony outfits like Mamas And The Papas, the album sees the band perfect their mix of dreamy indie pop. The UK top twenty single 'Forever Lost' is also included.

Customer Reviews

Great first half!
The Magic Numbers have created here some of the jauntiest and catchiest pop-rock tunes heard this year, and are giving a rebirth to the style last heard in the 1970s from the likes of the Mamas and the Papas. They could quite easily be the Beach Boys' hairier redneck cousins from Memphis. The only problem for me is that they lose steam around track 8, and, after some great upbeat and original tunes (long legs, , they lose their way, with a number of quite aimless and frankly poor ballads. Still the first half does enough to justify the four-star rating. Definitely this year's Thrills, only much better!

Come On Feel The Magic Numbers
We need groups like this! The world is full of wired pop stars so thin they slip down the plug hole in the shower and have to be rescued from the S bend. Then on amble The Magic Numbers, four gentle outsized teddy bears in clothes that even the charity shop couldn't charge money for.

If all you have heard is the single Forever Lost then be warned, it is one of the least imaginative songs here. It is simply four minutes of perfect jangly guitar pop with gorgeous melodies and harmonies. It hardly scratches the surface of what's here.

First track Morning's Eleven shows what the band are capable of. Its not just a great song, its a whole 5 minute Rock Opera complete with all the mood swings and time signature changes you would expect. But it aint Jim Steinman's latest over the top epic for Meatloaf. No, this group understand that less is more and they fuse The Velvet Underground and the Shangri Las to weave their magic. Oh there's plenty more thrown in the pot, from bar room Country and Western to 70's soul. Cook it up and what have we got? What's served up is something from further down the road Evan Dando was driving down when he wanted us to Come And Feel his Lemonheads. Mind you, he was never as good as this mob, who know how to make every note tell and vary each arrangement in eight different ways to bring every possibility out of it.

So, it time to meet Romeo (is that really his name?) Stoddard, honey monster of a lead singer, who is here to tell us how love done him wrong. On third track The Mule he's got it bad and he takes T Rex to Texas to lets us in on every last twist and turn of his agony. Recovering he plays with his girls affections hillbilly style on Long Legs. On Love Me Like You the poor mountain of a lad is like the fast food junkie of love who finds that choosing between two ladies is harder than choosing between a burger and fries, "Don't fail me now" his girl implores towards the end. Fat chance.

I See You, You See Me comes on and the world stops as the faltering heartbeat of a trademark Velvet Underground slow three legged drum beat sets the scene. This is a tender, gorgeous jewl of a song. After the soul inflections of "Don't give up the fight" the album trips out into a dry lovelorn wasteland of unapproachable beauty until the chiming music box xylophone rallies the end of Hymn to Her to a driving guitars Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield moment. Then all goes quiet as the song plays out, nothing more to say, nothing more need be said.

Magic, magic numbers
One of the most original albums that I have heard for a long time. I find myself smiling when I hear it and I couldn't pick a favourite track as all of them are just completely and utterly right- even my husband who is in his "greatest hits" phase ( you know when a guy reaches a certain age!!) loves the album. I say go on, buy it, if you never another other album all year buy this one YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY I promise. A complete and utter joy.