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Geffen
What, you expected a screwed-and-chopped album? This is Van the Man, and he doesn't mess around with fashion on Magic Time -- he just sticks to the turf he knows, which is the steady-rolling Celtic folk soul that makes his Irish heart beat. As always, his voice is pure gold, and the songs are worthy as well, with a new Van theme song in "Keep Mediocrity at Bay." He sings the curmudgeonly pleasures of isolation ("Just Like Greta"), but he can't resist the call of true love in "Lonely and Blue," one of his most gorgeous R&B ballads.