The Magic Door

Rating

Album: The Magic Door
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go	More Info...
2)	Someday Past the Sunset	More Info...
3)	Appaloosa	More Info...
4)	Vibration & Light Suite	More Info...
5)	Little Lizzie Mae	More Info...
6)	Sorrows of a Blue Eyed Liar	More Info...
7)	Wheel Don't Roll	More Info...

Album: The Magic Door

Song Title

Time

Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go

More Info...

Someday Past the Sunset

More Info...

Appaloosa

More Info...

Vibration & Light Suite

More Info...

Little Lizzie Mae

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Sorrows of a Blue Eyed Liar

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Wheel Don't Roll

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Performer Notes

Personnel: Chris Robinson, Neal Casal (vocals, guitar); Adam MacDougall (vocals, keyboards); Mark Dutton (vocals); George Sluppick (drums).
Audio Mixer: Thom Monahan.
Recording information: Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, CA.
A companion piece to June's Big Moon Ritual, September's Magic Door finds the Chris Robinson Brotherhood in perhaps a rowdier mood than a few months prior, rocking harder from the get-go with a nicely shambolic reading of Hank Ballard's "Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go," and following it up with an earthy blues shuffle "Someday Past the Sunset." Soon afterward, the CRB slides into purple paisley territory, reviving the Black Crowes' trippy western ballad "Appaloosa" and stretching out for a long 14 minutes on "Vibration & Light Suite," signs that Robinson's second band are cheerfully unwashed hippies, happy to follow the groove wherever it may lead them. Generally, Magic Door runs a little shorter than Big Moon Ritual, and it does have a bit more of a rollicking blues vibe -- "Little Lizzie Mae" picks up on the thread left from "Someday Past the Sunset" and "Wheel Don't Roll" has a nicely boozy gait -- but this ain't rock & roll, this is cosmic American music, a trippy celebration of everything the Dead meant. If you're ready to get on the bus, Magic Door will surely take you further. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Professional Reviews

Q (Magazine) (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[W]ith Robinson's congregation producing a warm-hearted hybrid of The Allman Brothers Band and '70s junk-shop prog, but with its own singular twist."