True, the arrangements and lyrics of the songs on
Magic sometimes suffer from overused clichés, but the brightness of the players and
Stewart's delivery are quite buoyant and uplifting, easily overshadowing the predictability. The pace is a consistently mid-tempo one, with the first side concentrating on R&B- and club-oriented grooves and the second utilizing slight rock and blues nuances. Especially grabbing are "Fly on the Wall" and "Now That We're Here"; however, it's the closing number, "Le Storie Lunghe," that truly wreaks emotion. Here,
Stewart belts for a change -- and proves that she chooses only the best times to do it. She also makes her debut as producer here, working with David Romani to craft a cohesive sound. The only inexcusable fallacy is "There Has Got to Be a Way," an obvious rip-off of
Mariah Carey's 1990 tune of the same name. ~ Justin M. Kantor