LP Review: It Must Be Magic
Released: 1981
LP Charts: #2 R&B, #23 Pop
Teena Marie was feeling herself on this one and rightfully so. After the magnificent Irons in the Fire (A), Marie had an even more self-assured and ambitious album with It Must Be Magic. The LP woulda been the dominant R&B album of the summer of 1981, if not for Rick James’s Street Songs (A+). Marie’s album peaked at #2 R&B for eight weeks behind Street Songs which was at #1 for an insane 20 weeks that year.
Well, the good news is that Marie was featured on James’s LP and James was featured on hers, so the two had the summer of ‘81 on total lock.
It Must Be Magic’s opener is, gasp, “It Must Be Magic”, which is an outstanding homage to the classic Motown sound.
The Temptations provide backing vocals; overall, the lyrics recall the Smokey Robinson-penned Marvelettes hit “My Baby Must Be A Magician”; particularly, Temptations’ bass singer Melvin Franklin reprises his intro word-for-word from the Marvelettes’ hit to this song; and the female backing vocalists are in pure girl group mode.
The one misstep here is around the 4:00 mark where the backing vocals suddenly sound like chipmunks. I guess it was supposed to be magic that had everyone’s vocals suddenly filled with helium. That only lasts but a moment and the song goes back to being a fucking jam quite quickly.
And I do want to emphasize Marie’s vocals on this song. THEY ARE GREAT. Flirtatious, coy, sassy, assertive, she’s got it working. I ain’t sittin’ still when Marie demands “it must be magic, cuz it feels so good to me” or when she bites all the way into “gotttt me love, gotttt me love, gotttt me love, gotttt me lovin’ you” or when she spits “gonna take it to the TOP, don’t you let the magic STOP”.
Oh my God, the bass guitar too. Sweet Jesus, the bass guitar is on fire. As are the horns. As is the drumming. As is the whole song. It may be an homage to the classic Motown Sound, but it is definitely updated in all the right places.
Marie has two other classic ‘60s R&B tributes up her sleeve. “365” also beautifully updates the Motown Sound for the early ‘80s, but it’s a bit more faithful than the title track in being a catchy pop song instead of dance floor workout. Our friend Melvin Franklin is back again with valley-deep bass vocals. The hook here is incredible, which it’d better be, if you’re trying to channel Motown…
Three… sixty-five *clap… clap clap*
Three-sixty-five days a year
And this band is about as close to the Funk Brothers as you’ll get. The part where Marie shouts, “gonna break it down, break it down, break it on down, I love you” is augmented by bass, drums, and strings all breaking it down in unison with her vocals. Much like the classic Motor City hits, there’s also a brief blazing sax solo.
Pure pop awesomeness that would make Holland-Dozier-Holland jealous.
The final homage, “The Ballad Of Cradle Rob And Me”, now has Marie giving respect to street corner doo wop. Franklin once more provides indispensable bass vocals. While the instrumentation here is very good, the harmonizing is the focus and naturally so given it is indeed a doo wop appreciation track.
Marie has one final homage, but instead of being dedicated to a musical style, it is to a musical icon. “Revolution” is a rockin’ tribute to the recently murdered John Lennon. The song touches on a few of Lennon’s hits with the Beatles and is a fine rockin’ song.
SQUARE BIZ!!!!
Thus far I’ve talked about Marie doing homages. There is a danger there in being a collection of pastiche or worse, being completely derivative. I don’t think any of the songs above suffer from that, but I could see the argument, particularly if she didn’t stretch out to do totally “original” material.
Well, thank goodness for “Square Biz”, which puts to rest any of those worries.
Find you a song that effortlessly mixes disco, funk, and hip-hop like “Square Biz”. Marie had a better flow than many rappers of this era and she’s able to pull of a Johann Sebastian Bach rhyme after spittin’ about cornbread. Go on, girl.
And even the parts of the song where she’s technically singing, she’s singing in a way that’s flowin’ a bit like rappin’. All the blending of R&B and rap in later years owes a great debt to this track, which also has an OUTSTANDING bass guitar.
A couple idiosyncratic things on “Square Biz” before we move on.
The way Marie bites into the phrase “gonna talk about it, gonna talk about my love” just cannot be topped. You hear that toward the end of the song and that’s when you can tell a soul singer from any other type of singer.
Lastly, the song fades out with Marie slyly singing and ad libbing, “What’s the T? Uh, y’know that’s me! Flashback, who’s that? Flashback! Flashback, who’s that?” And the parts where Rick James and a bunch of children are singing “Everybody’s dancing on the T!” just keeps the party rockin’. Unsurprisingly, this song is a blast performed live.
So after all that uptempo material, I gotta admit that the ballads are the weak spot on this album.
Well the ballads not named “Portuguese Love”. This song is like part two of “You Make Love Like Springtime” from Irons in the Fire. Except this sequel is more dramatic and sexy. Plus there’s a breathless section from 4:50 to 5:30 where the drums, percussion, strings, bass, and saxophone go into overdrive and you need to be tangoing with somebody. After that burst of passion, the song softly meanders for another two minutes with Marie’s then love interest Rick James whispering words of love. It’s a trip.
Okay, the lesser ballads are “Where’s California” and “Yes Indeed”. Each are overblown, but “Where’s California” less so. It has a solid structure and Marie’s vocals are pretty good. The backing vocalists get a little too much in her space as they try for some sassified Muscle Shoals soul vibes. Meanwhile, “Yes Indeed” is solely Marie on vocals and she oversings on that one. Although it’s above average, it coulda been much better if someone had been able to get her to dial back the melisma a bit.
Those complaints in the end are minor. I’m just trying to find stuff to complain about.
ALBUM GRADE: A-
More highs than Irons in the Fire, but a couple lower lows. Also it doesn’t flow quite as easily as Irons in the Fire. IMO, the tracks on the previous album flowed into each other seamlessly, while the pieces here are a bit rougher fits when put together than when they stand on their own.
So in the end, they have to split the title as best Teena Marie album. It Must Be Magic does stand alone as her best-selling album though. Certified gold, baby.
Song Scores
It Must Be Magic: 8/10
Revolution: 8/10
Where’s California: 6.5/10
365: 8/10
Square Biz: 9/10
The Ballad Of Cradle Rob And Me: 7.5/10
Portuguese Love: 9/10
Yes Indeed: 6/10