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Rating: Throughout their history, Bel Canto have often resorted to the element of surprise, and their fourth album, "Magic Box" from 1996, is the best and clearest example of this: it opens and closes with a dreamy lullaby accompanied by the tinkling sound of a music box, and the nocturnal and shaded colors of its beautiful cover might make one think of an album in the vein of "Shimmering, Warm And Bright", but appearances can be deceiving: there's not much room for ethereal and contemplative atmospheres in the magic box, and above all, it's an album that marks a clear break from the past. Nils and Anneli had probably already sensed that continuing in the same vein as the excellent SW&B would lead to a slow but certain artistic death (did someone say Enya?), and it was time for bold and radical choices: crossing the Rubicon, almost completely revolutionizing their sound, opening a new cycle. In the end, the result is "Magic Box", an album that launches bass and electric guitar, practically never used before by the Tromso duo, opening up to funk and soul influences; a lively work, the brightest and most outgoing, as well as the most immediate and easily accessible for a casual listener.
However, it is not a total leap into the unknown; "Magic Box" is a Bel Canto record 100%, and it feels so, the folk bases and the imaginative aura that have always been the trademark of the Drecker & Johansen duo are still there, but the musical approach is decidedly more direct, more "concrete" compared to the past. The energetic funk contaminated by Middle Eastern harmonies of "Freelunch In The Jungle" and "Didn't You Know It?" is perhaps the most emblematic example of this new course, expressing an almost unprecedented dynamism, a positive energy that also finds one of its best expressions in a more folk musicality piece like "Kiss Of Spring", idyllic and carefree, with the always splendid Anneli delighting in joyful and bubbling vocalizations. Another important feature of "Magic Box" is the heavy use of Oriental sounds, particularly with the evocative "Bombay" and "In Zenith", which starts quietly before exploding into a majestic triumph of strings and refined vocal interplays, strengthening the link with the more visionary and spiritual component of Bel Canto, thus ensuring an ideal bridge with the past even in an album of clear change like this. A wise choice especially in hindsight, given that when, two years later, they choose the path of total discontinuity, it will truly be a struggle for Nils and Anneli.
Not only the sumptuous ceremony of "In Zenith" but also more introspective and philosophical tones like those of "Sleepwalker", a soft and minimalist march that floats hypnotically over a slow and lingering tempo, punctuated by the bass and accompanied by a sitar, comparable in approach and musicality to some episodes of early Joni Mitchell. Even in terms of slow songs, "Magic Box" operates on very high levels and offers many noteworthy passages, such as reiterating the importance of black music influences with "Rumour", an elegant and reflective soul/R'n'B midtempo that, with some minor arrangement modifications, could seem like a classic by Sade. From an emotional standpoint, the peak is reached in "Paradise" and "Big Belly Butterflies": the former has strength and a great emotional impact; it focuses entirely on electronics accompanied by a few simple guitar phrases, resulting in an intense, deep, and poignant love song, crowned by an interpretation rich in pathos and lyricism, among the best and most evocative of the more "pop" Anneli Drecker, while the latter focuses on a more candid, almost childlike approach; it dances on a lulling and delicate rhythm, rising in intensity in a theatrical crescendo of vocalizations and offering sensations balancing between euphoria and fragility.
After "Birds Of Passage", Bel Canto once again achieve perfection with a record that (deliberately) does not reach the unattainable peaks of the 1989 masterpiece, positioning itself in a completely different perspective: immediacy and ease of listening but no compromise on quality, a winning and inspired combination that makes "Magic Box" an exciting, eclectic, and captivating listening experience, with a consistently high level and freshness that renders it superior to the previous "Shimmering, Warm & Bright". Unfortunately, the phase following this new masterpiece will not be managed as wisely and prudently as happened in the post-BOP, with destabilizing effects that will undermine the harmony between Nils and Anneli, eventually leading to the breakup of the duo after a few years, but that is another story, one that has nothing to do with "Magic Box".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Freelunch in the Jungle (04:15)
I know I'm alive And I do love lovely dos, do you? Oh yeah, I guess you do I love being alive And I hope that love will see me through In all the things I do I like the spice in me, I like the spice in you I've seen it twice in me and I've seen it twice in you I know I'm alive Until all my dreams are all come true And some things are blue I know I'm alive, I know I am 'Cause if I was not, I would be damned And, so I guess, would you Yeah I like the spice in me, I like the spice in you So throw a dice for me and I'll throw a dice for you Oh, we all cling on tight to pine-tree tops Oh, we are the lucky stars, lucky stars Oh, we all cling on tight to pine-tree tops Oh, we're just a little bit too excited Little bit too excited for me X2 Je vis avec baloo l?bas Je vis bien l?bas Oui on mange ... ... Understand? I know I'm alive 'cause I do love lovely dos, do you? Oh yeah, I know you do Bien sur Yo! I'm in love with life, I know I am and I'll try to keep it spick and span To let my love shine through I like the spice in me, I like the spice in you He put the eyes in me, a little bit the eyes in you Oh, there's a crocodile beneath the mud It wants a little snack, a little snack There's a crocodile beneath the mud It is a little bit too excited Little bit too excited for me X2 Je vis avec baloo l?bas Je vis bien l?bas Little bit too excited for me This is too excited for me Oui on mange ... Bien s鹯 pas loin de moi Oh, when you cling on tight to pine-tree tops I'd say shake and bend, shake and bend Oh, when you cling on tight to pine-tree tops You'll feel a little bit too excited Little bit too excited for me X2 Ecoute, j'ai deja dit tout �?� Je vis bien l?bas Little bit too excited for me This is too excited for me Oui on mange ... Pourquoi pas loin de moi ? Little bit too excited for me This is too excited for me Ecoute, j'ai deja dit tout �?� Je vais bien l?bas Little bit too excited for me This is too excited for me Je vis avec baloo l?bas, bas, bas ...
04 Rumour (05:25)
This is the morning
When our feelings rise together with the sun
There are the feelings that are yet to be awoken
How many wishes fade to nothing
Once they face reality?
How many wishes turn to grief?
How many wishes going on and on and on and on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Ouh, hey, hey
I bless the sunshine
With my love-disease and all my knees and more
I bless the sunshine and no shadows haunt my walls
Blue is a state of mind
Blue makes you colourblind
Beware of it, beware of it
You talk about a rumour
You talk about dead-end streets
About this rumour
Its not the way to think
Talk about a rumour
Then talk about a higher love
You know it won't
It won't satisfy my needs
It won't satisfy my needs
Say ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne
Talk about a rumour
No one expected this
That I should falter in a maudlin sky
No one expected this
But I misjudged and aimed to high
Blue is a sacred place
Where shattered dreams find shelter, well
Blue is a state of mind
Blue makes you colour-blind
You talk about a rumour
You talk about dead-end streets
About this rumour
It's God in me
So, if you talk about a rumour
Then talk about a higher love
You talk about a rumour
When all it takes is simple love
And love and love and love and love
Simple love
And love and love and love and love
You're too high
Blue makes you colour-blind, yeah
Yeah hehe, love ....
06 Bombay (03:52)
I've been to Bombay
I've seen what a man can do
He climbs up a straight rope
Right up to the clear full-moon
And "boom", he is gone
Yeah, heaven is not that far
And limbs from a body are falling down on the ground
Gee! It must be hard to do
Yes, it is true, yes, it is true
I think the limbs belonged to an orang-outang,
Orang-outang, orang-outang
I've been to Bombay
I've seen what a man can do
He climbs up a straight rope
A monkey is with him too
And "boom", he's gone to heaven
He's mighty daring, mighty,
Right he must be some kind'a guru
He's out of orbit, out of orb...
It seems as if the rope was held by one of the Gods,
One of the Gods
So tight! Not like elephants' trunks
They wobbly-wob, wobbly-wob, wobbly-wob
I've been to Bombay
I've been to Bombay
In my youth
I've been to Bombay
I've been to Bombay
In my youth
YaYaeeaoouth!
And "boom", he's gone to heaven
He's mighty daring, mighty right
He must be some kind'a guru
He's out of orbit, out of orbit
The crowd went hurly-hurly
( No, I would never lie to you )
He never came downn, never came down
(Yes, it is true )
He must have gone to heaven
(yes, it is true )
And out of orbit, out of orbit
07 Paradise (05:13)
Only for this moment, let me be the one to hold you tight
I'll hush the anguish and the fear with a lullaby
If the stormy waters seize you in your restless sleep, I will safely
pull you out of the deep
Don't ask me why, don't ask me if
Can't you see, you're my blood?
Say you'll put your trust in me although it aches
We'll make the demons go without a trace
Mary, don't go
We'll find paradise in the end
Maybe
Hol on to paradise baby
In a whisper I once heard you vaguely: "I'm in a boat alone in the
raging sea"
We could calm those waves, you and I
We could row the other side
Mary
Hold on
Mary, don't go
We'll find paradise in the end
Maybe
Hold on
It will be paradise one day
Mary, my blood
I will be your side till the end
Marry me my blood and I will be your side till the end, till the end
We could row the other side
Mary
08 Didn't You Know It? (04:21)
Hey, sibling souls, are you out there? Children of the earth, where are we going from here? 'Cause it hurts the young to live in the open with so much love to give But too little to spare Yeah, yeah, yeah, the moves we make, the moves we make We stumble and we hesitate Yeah, yeah, yeah, the moves we make, the moves we make She said I was not to worry Hadn't seen her since, but was totally convinced 'Till I heard them say; "Didn't you know it? Mary, poor child, was alone When she died" Yeah, yeah, yeah, the moves we make, the moves we make The promises we disengage Yeah, yeah, yeah, the moves we make, the moves we make Time for the unfree Time to rejuvenate the elderly Time for the unfree Time to lend a hand Time to lend a hand Time to make a stand So many things I don't want to know Told a freind one day but he says I'm o.k 'Cause we're born within the x-geberation Virtually real with a planet to heal Yeah, yeah, yeah, the moves we make, the moves we make We fumble and we hesitate Yeah, yeah, yeah, the moves we make, the moves we make Time for the unseen Time to eliminate tomorrow's fears Time for the unseen Time to make a stand Do you follow me? No? Well, it's time to move on and to set our wills free Fantasy, it's here in me
11 The Magic Box II (03:54)
Fly, fly fly with the gale to where the four winds blow
Rise and rise until you've found it
If man got no hopes, then man got no love
Please Mr. Sage, keeper of dreams
Is it somewhere beyond the last sea?
Say it is so and bring it to me
Iconized, though slightly slouched he.
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