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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
The Magic Position
Universal acclaim
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 54 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Universal
Release Date: 01 May 2007
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Quirky, flamboyant, and young, English multi-instrumentalist Wolf makes his major-label debut with this third album of electro-folk-glam-rock. Marianne Faithfull guests.
Also By This Artist: The Bachelor Wind In The Wires
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site PW @ MySpace
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Playlouder
Akin to Bowie's 'Hunky Dory', in its senseless but brilliant eclecticism.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
The Magic Position is a euphoric listening experience not even being a critic can spoil.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
For anyone who has enjoyed even the briefest of flirtations with pop music, The Magic Position is as bold and captivating a record as you will surely hear all year.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
These tracks... show an entirely new side of Wolf: one that finally puts impeccable pop songcraft ahead of lachrymose keening.
Read Full Review >Filter
Fey, agonized chamber pop at its most tortuously fetching. [#25, p.90]
Urb
His best full-length. [May 2007, p.98]
Sputnikmusic
Ranging from dense electronica to stark piano ballads to an amalgamation of indie pop, electronica, and concert orchestra, The Magic Position envisions a magical world where Wolf has everything he could ever want at his disposal.
Read Full Review >Uncut
The third outstanding album of his career. [Mar 2007, p.103]
Under The Radar
The only missteps are when he tries to conjure the more dour sensibilities of his older works.... But they're tiny mistakes on an otherwise irrepressible and delightfully inventive pop album. [#17, p.88]
Q Magazine
Worth investigating. [Mar 2007, p.115]
Dot Music
Even at his laziest, Wolf sounds vastly more intelligent, committed and interesting than his supposed rivals, and "The Magic Position" is full of heart, warmth and beauty.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
It’s easy to overlook a few fizzles in an album stuffed with fireworks.
Read Full Review >Hot Press
But so what if The Magic Position ends up creaking slightly under the weight of its own ambition – surely that’s better than settling for the norm?
Read Full Review >Mojo
A lot of artists are creatively bankrupt by their third album. But being still only 23, you suspect Patrick Wolf is just coming into his own. [Mar 2007, p.99]
New Musical Express
If you were looking for a new Bowie, Patrick Wolf is proving himself the Thin White Duke's successor in more than just his extravagant dress sense.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
While there aren't any downright bad tracks on The Magic Position, it does have several places where it seems to lose a bit of focus before honing back in on things again.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
The Magic Position loses a little focus near the end, but flashes of inspired lunacy like the jarring arrival of a spectral Marianne Faithfull on the spooky "Magpie" help to make this unpredictable collection of Victorian-peaked electro/folk-pop so hard to dislike.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
Complex yet catchy, lush yet groomed, and organically digital, The Magic Position is how pop radio must sound to the brutally insane. [May 2007, p.63]
Rolling Stone
Wolf's joy is contagious, and there's nothing remotely not awesome about him. [22 Mar 2007, p.80]
The Guardian
The Magic Position sounds laboured by the end. However, it's difficult not to respond to such delirious joie de vivre.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
Wolf sometimes succeeds in emulating Kate Bush’s knack for combining the utterly bizarre with godlike musicianship, but sometimes he falls short.
Read Full Review >Observer Music Monthly
Detractors will complain that there's nothing to rival the brutal impact of his earlier recordings, but only towards the end does the new-found positivism grate.
Read Full Review >Spin
The songs are about love and sex, but a hint of nihilism still lingers in Wolf's melodramatic vibrato. [May 2007, p.91]
Prefix Magazine
The Magic Position feel[s] more like a missed opportunity than a legitimate breakthrough album.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 54 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Scott S gave it a10:
The best album released in 2007. Some exceptional singles, but it's real genius is how the entire enterprise unfolds, with songs flowing into each other.
b junior gave it an8:
Amazing production, instrumentation, and i've never heard damon albarn sound so beautiful on nearly every track. All in all a great vintage mellow pop album with hints of herman's hermits, specials - ghost town sound, & maybe some stone roses, and classic blur ballads.
sean d gave it a7:
starts off with some of the best songs of the year and energy to match then just kind of peters off around the middle and picks up slightly at the end
P Wolf gave it a0:
I'm sorry I made such a shit record
Nikki G gave it a10:
Fun when it wants to be... yet convincingly serious when it wants to be as well. Very enjoyable to listen to!
Anders wwww gave it a10:
Simpli the best album ever in history!
Jesse S. gave it a4:
It's difficult to get over the cover artwork: reminds me of that sketch-character on MAD T.V. (the tall guy playing a little boy). You can't judge a record by its cover; I'm not doing that. I just find the music too boring and derivative to write about. Even Marianne Faithful as a magpie (or whatever) sounds dull and obtuse to me. Blah.
