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Van Morrison
MAGIC TIME
(Geffen)
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Van Morrison is a lot like Woody Allen these days — both turn out new works each year without fail, but though they seem dedicated to their craft, you wish they weren’t so damn prolific. I could name — and quote from — Woody’s best films from the ’70s and ’80s, but I’d be hard-pressed to recall much of what he’s done in the past decade. And though I think I’ve bought (or at least listened to) everything Van Morrison ever released, after, say, 1991’s Hymns to the Silence, my mind goes a bit blank. Van has been tilling the same patch of land for so long — the same descending chord sequences, the same solid but never inspired backing musicians, the same gripes against the music industry — that it all runs together. Magic Time is no different. Yes, he still has that amazingly expressive and malleable voice, and when he pours it like syrup over the opening "Stranded," you recall what it was that made you love him to begin with. But mostly, Magic Time is a pu-pu platter of Morrison doing blues ("Keep Mediocrity at Bay"), big-band swing ("This Love of Mine"), old-school jazz ("I’m Confessin’"), and grump ("They Sold Me Out"). "The Lion This Time" is so gorgeous and filled with yearning, it stoned me to my soul. The rest is all perfectly competent.
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