Magic and Loss
I promised a review of Van Morrison’s latest album, Magic Time, back in the late spring, but haven’t managed to deliver until now. I’ve had some pretty serious health problems and a disastrous work situation to deal with; add that to the fact that Magic Time isn’t all that great, and that’s why I haven’t bothered to write about it until now.
Magic Time, isn’t all that bad either. It fits in well with his last two albums (Down the Road [2002] and What’s Wrong With This Picture? [2003]), which a lot of people seem to like quite a bit, but they all sound merely OK to me. In fact, these three discs could be condensed into one great one that leaves behind the “I hate being famous” songs and throwaway jump blues stuff.
It’s pretty clear that Van’s art, both live and in the studio, is suffering from the absence of saxophonist/bandleader Pee Wee Ellis and Hammond organist/vocalist Georgie Fame who helped Van make tough, taut albums like the very good Back on Top (1999) and the excellent The Healing Game (1997).
But I’m being too harsh, I think, by comparing Van to himself. He’s still one of the best singer-songwriters on record, who still has, more than any other artist, the ability to fill me with pure, unadulterated hope and happiness, if only for a few moments.
Which brings us back to Magic Time, and it’s best track, “Celtic New Year.” The lyrics are nothing special when they’re just on the page, but the arrangement is the first clue that something great is happening. The simple acoustic strum, then Van’s voice above his electric guitar noodling, then light bass and drums, then a swell of strings before the second verse with the incomparable vocal phrasing.
The instant when Van sings the word “Louisiana.”
I just can’t describe how beautiful that moment is, or why I think that it is, or why the whole song makes me feel like a boy again, sitting in my bedroom window with the 3 o’clock sun shining through the trees and through the window and onto my face, but, really, it ain’t why, it just is.
Just listen to this:
