Magic Time (Van Morrison album)
| Magic Time | ||||
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| Studio album by Van Morrison | ||||
| Released | 17 May 2005 | |||
| Recorded | November 2000 and 2003 at The Wool Hall and Windmill Lane | |||
| Genre | Celtic rock, Blues, R&B | |||
| Length | 58:45 | |||
| Label | Geffen | |||
| Producer | Van Morrison for Exile Productions | |||
| Van Morrison chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Magic Time | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| BC Music | (unrated) |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− |
| Music Box | |
| Paste | (unrated) |
| Rolling Stone |  |
Magic Time is the thirty-first studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 17 May 2005 (see 2005 in music) by Geffen Records. The album debuted at #25 on the US Billboard charts and #3 on the UK charts—his best ever showing on a studio album. By the end of 2005, Magic Time had sold 252,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Rolling Stone Magazine listed it as #17 on their list of The Top 50 Records of 2005.
The album covers a variety of styles ranging from Celtic rock to R&B and the blues. "Just Like Greta" was recorded in 2000 and originally intended for 2002's Down the Road (when the album was tentatively titled Choppin' Wood), but it was ultimately dropped and used for this album. The rest of the songs were recorded in 2003.
The title song is about a nostalgic searching of the past in order to capture a magic moment almost lost in memory. "The Lion This Time" is a continuation over thirty years later of "Listen to the Lion" that first appeared on his album Saint Dominic's Preview. There is a nursery rhyme quality to it as with its predecessor and a delicate use of a classical string arrangement. Thom Jurek with Allmusic says: "The acoustic 'The Lion This Time' is one of the finest ballads Morrison has cut in decades. Period." "Gypsy In My Soul" is also reminiscent of a song "Gypsy" from Saint Dominic's Preview. "Just Like Greta" and "Stranded" have similar themes of being lost in an alien world with only oneself to rely on. "Celtic New Year" is reminiscent of Irish Heartbeat, an album with The Chieftains. An Allmusic review calls it "trademark Morrison; the long, loping, repetitive line that is his trademark fuels this one. It's carried by the interplay between Morrison's acoustic and Foggy Lyttle's electric guitar fills, and aided by Chieftain Paddy Moloney's whistle." "Carry On Regardless" is a singing list of "Carry On Films" that Morrison seemed to have a special fondness for.
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