(Psychedelic Rock) Magic - Enclosed - 1969 (1998), MP3, 320 kbps

The Michigan band which released their classic "Enclosed " LP in 1969. The full reissue from the Master Tapes, plus their Armadillo and Monster 45s AND 5 previously unreleased tracks from the Enclosed sessions never before heard!
(Gear Fab site)
#777"Enclosed" is mainstreamish hippierock sounds with a westcoast groove and soul/funk moves, reminiscent of a mellow Hendrix and the later-day Bay Area bands -- when it's good, it's on level with Kak, but personally I find the blue-eyed soul Sons Of Champlin-type material tough to swallow. The 12-minute Kak/QMS guitarjammer "Play" has plenty of admirers and rightly so, but overall I'm not as impressed with this LP as others seem to be. Check it out and decide for yourself. Recorded in Florida, where the band was joined by a member of popular band the Birdwatchers. CD has plenty of bonus tracks for all you soulrock fans out there.
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The debut features dual-lead psych rock, fine popish vocals, and the superb side-long "Play". Joey Murcia later played with Joe Walsh.
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This seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it album, with one side of soulful rock songs and one that’s simply an extended guitar solo with bits and pieces of songs appearing at odd moments. Side one is OK, but the long solo is what makes this album essential. The way it’s structured into what isn’t exactly a song gives it a certain kind of intrigue and depth, and the playing is diverse and fascinating... certainly one of the best long guitar solos anywhere. The CD adds a bunch of more mainstream bonus tracks that aren’t very good, marring the listening experience to those who only know it by that reissue.
(Acid Archives)
Enclosed was the title of Magic's debut album released in 1969, and this Gear Fab reissue by the same name includes the entirety of that debut, but also adds a 1968 single from the original lineup and songs from the 1971 sessions on Motown imprint Rare Earth that culminated in their second self-titled album, so it really can be considered the definitive document of the band. On the original single, the band leaned toward rock & roll that was very much informed by black music -- one side was a cover of the Otis Redding classic "That's How Strong My Love Is," the other a Duane King original that Sam & Dave could have easily torn into; in fact, Magic, and particularly its most talented songwriter, King, displayed an almost magic knack for penning songs that sound like lost Southern soul classics. King's lead vocals could be strikingly bluesy, and the band cooks throughout the album, moving from the loping country-rock & soul of the opening track "Keep on Movin' On" to the electric blues of "Who Am I to Say?" to the sunny country-rock of "California" to the Stax-styled ballad, "You Must Believe She's Gone." Stax is, in fact, a good reference point for the entire debut album. The rhythm section consistently locks into a transcendent groove, and Joey Murcia's fabulous guitar work is slightly busier than Steve Cropper's but approaches the work of that legend, with a proper grit to it that is never wasted. It is surprising that Magic never quite found a wider audience. The final track from the first album, "Sound of the Tears Is Silent," sounds as if it could have come from the pen of Smokey Robinson, and it leads perfectly into the band's subsequent stint on Motown's Rare Earth label. Most of the songs from that period that show up on the Gear Fab reissue, however, seem to veer closer to streamlinened, hard blues-rocking territory (with a couple of country-ish cuts) and are, as a result, not quite as appealing as the previous soulful material. Still, the early Magic songs alone make this a welcome reissue, especially for lovers of Stax and Southern soul music.
~ Stanton Swihart