Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
70
AFI
65
Air
71
Alice In Chains
77
Amerie
85
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
75
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
56
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
72
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Brendan Benson
72
The Big Pink
96
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
51
Black Mold
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
77
A.A. Bondy
73
The Bottle Rockets
63
Box Elders
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
87
Brother Ali
70
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
78
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
79
Califone
68
Mariah Carey
84
Brandi Carlile
73
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
69
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
84
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
68
The Clean
84
The Clientele
71
Cobra Starship
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
80
Cymbals Eat Guitars
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
88
Destroyer
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
66
Bob Dylan
44
The Entrance Band
67
Esser
69
Fanfarlo
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
78
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
66
Hockey
69
Whitney Houston
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
73
Jessie James
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
69
Daniel Johnston
76
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
65
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
76
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
84
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
75
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
73
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
73
Lyle Lovett
66
Lovvers
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
62
Maps
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
77
Malcolm Middleton
77
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
76
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
62
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
78
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
78
Nirvana
97
Nirvana
72
Nisennenmondai
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
73
Osso
81
Owen
76
Paramore
76
Pastels And Tenniscoats
51
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
66
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
66
Robert Pollard
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
80
Q-Tip
80
R.E.M.
89
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
75
The Raveonettes
76
Jay Reatard
82
Reigning Sound
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79
Russian Circles
69
Buffy Sainte-Marie
73
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
69
Slaughterhouse
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
62
Mindy Smith
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
73
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
65
Joss Stone
75
George Strait
83
Barbra Streisand
76
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78
The Swell Season
76
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
78
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
67
Third Eye Blind
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
71
The Twilight Sad
58
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
70
Various Artists
74
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
71
Kurt Vile
67
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
76
Rufus Wainwright
59
Weezer
80
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59
Andrew W.K.
71
Patrick Wolf
67
Wolfmother
84
The xx
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
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.
