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Magic is bright and punchy, a digital-age production through and through, right down to how each track feels as if it were crafted according to its own needs instead of the record as a whole.
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Chalk up at least some of this disconnect to Brendan O’Brien’s production, which is often so slicked down and smooshed together that it doesn’t just airbrush the band’s jagged edges, it sandblasts them.
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Though his voice is strong and sincere throughout the album, most of the material has a certain karaoke-like vibe.
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Producer Brendan O'Brien expands the band's basic sound, applying a contemporary gloss that may not always be to the music's advantage, since it permits only occasional unobstructed glimpses of the individual musicians.
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Setting a song called 'Livin' In The Future' to the tune of 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out' indicates that Springsteen's sense of humour may be returning, but the fact that Miami Steve didn't tell him 'Girls In Their Summer Clothes' sounds a little too much like 'The Kids Are Alright' suggests it's not quite back to the good old days yet.
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Six years on he sounds like a man not getting nearly enough cuddles.
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Sometimes it's almost too much "classic Springsteen"; too many songs seem like retreads.
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Q MagazineMagic's problem is that the two Bruces don't sit together comfortably. [Nov 2007, p.132]
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Magic manages to creep into a flat din, and tact is lost to nostalgia.
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Little on Magic outright falters, which is why it's hard at first to explain how unappealing it is.
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Magic, a maddeningly uneven record that often sounds like legends coasting, most apparently on 'Living in the Future' and 'Last to Die.'
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Magic still, mundane, too.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 101 out of 115
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Mixed: 9 out of 115
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Negative: 5 out of 115
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May 1, 2018
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Oct 17, 2016
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Apr 4, 2016