Van Morrison Magic Time CD

The album includes thirteen songs, ten original Van Morrison compositions and three classic interpretations of the jazz standards, "I'm Confessin", "This Love Of Mine" and "Lonely & Blue". "Magic Time" is the first release from Van Morrison since "What's Wrong With This Picture?" in 2003 and marks the 40th anniversary of his first hits with his then band Them. With songs such as "Stranded", the title track "Magic Time", "Celtic New Year" and "Gypsy In My Soul", Van Morrison has created some of his most powerful songs to date, with every emotion seemingly having its place within the fabric of what many will view as one of his most important albums of the past twenty years.

Considering that the ever-restless Van Morrison did a shocking amount of label-hopping between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, he managed to establish a remarkably consistent sound during that period. MAGIC TIME, Morrison's first album for Geffen and fifth label switch in the span of five releases, finds the Belfast Cowboy still nestled comfortably in the format he established around 1993's TOO LONG IN EXILE--a smoldering mix of jazz, blues, R&B, and pop, with Van's occasional patented mystic Celtic touch. As ever, he proves himself one of the most soulful singers on the planet, overflowing with casually swinging gravitas. No one can raise a willfully cranky axe like Van, and both the perseverance message "Carry On Regardless" and the more explicit "They Sold Me Out" stand firmly in his long line of "Why I Hate the Music Business" plaints, getting through as much on cathartic quality as on sheer personality. A number of mellow, original jazz/blues compositions find Morrison in a laid-back/reflective mode, but there's still plenty of grit amid the grooves on MAGIC TIME, even if the ill-advised cover photo inexplicably suggests some New Age album gone astray.

Personnel: Van Morrison (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, alto saxophone); Mick Green, Foggy Lyttle (guitar); Michael Fields (Spanish guitar, lute); Martin Winning (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Myles Drennan (piano, Hammond b-3 organ); Brian Connor (piano, electric keyboard); Dave Lewis (piano); Jerome Rimson (bass instrument, background vocals); David Hayes (bass instrument); Liam Bradley (drums, background vocals); Noel Bridgeman, Johnathan Mele, Bobby Irwin (drums); Johnny Scott, Siobhan Pettit, Olwin Bell, Aine Whelan, Karen Hamill (background vocals).

Rolling Stone (p.74) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "[S]ome seriously astral Irish blues poetry, tributes to his pop-culture heroes and a lot of mellow, easy-rolling folk-jazz numbers..."
Uncut (p.114) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Two songs into this latest album and there's reason to be optimistic that Van's genius might yet return to full roar."