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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

The Magic Position
by Patrick Wolf


9.0

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 54 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Wind In The Wires

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.

LABEL:	Universal
RELEASE DATE:	01 May 2007
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock

NOTES: Original UK release 26 Feb 2007.

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...

100

Stylus Magazine

A wild and beautiful ride.

100

Playlouder

Akin to Bowie's 'Hunky Dory', in its senseless but brilliant eclecticism.

Slant Magazine

The Magic Position is a euphoric listening experience not even being a critic can spoil.

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.

Pitchfork

These tracks... show an entirely new side of Wolf: one that finally puts impeccable pop songcraft ahead of lachrymose keening.

Filter

Fey, agonized chamber pop at its most tortuously fetching. [#25, p.90]

Boston Globe

Rarely has spilling one's heart been such a colorful affair.

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.

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.

Drowned In Sound

It’s easy to overlook a few fizzles in an album stuffed with fireworks.

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?

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]

musicOMH.com

A true work of genius by a true eccentric.

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.

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.

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.

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.

No Ripcord

Wolf sometimes succeeds in emulating Kate Bush’s knack for combining the utterly bizarre with godlike musicianship, but sometimes he falls short.

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.

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.

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.

The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf

The Magic Position
by Patrick Wolf