| Black Magic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by
Magic Sam Blues Band
| ||||
| Released | November 1969 (1969-11) | |||
| Recorded | October 23 & November 6, 1968 | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 39:04 | |||
| Label | Delmark | |||
| Producer | Robert G. Koester | |||
| Magic Sam chronology | ||||
| ||||
Black Magic is a studio album by Chicago blues musician Magic Sam. Delmark Records released it under the name of "Magic Sam Blues Band" in November 1969, shortly before his death.[1] The album was a follow-up to Magic Sam's highly influential studio debut, West Side Soul (1968), and also includes a mix of originals with songs written by his contemporaries.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings |  [3] |
Bill Dahl, in a retrospective review for AllMusic, gave the album its highest rating – five out of five stars. He called it "another instant classic" and noted some R&B-style influenced songs.[4]
Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft commented that the album, along with West Side Soul, "brought unanimous praise from the critics. Today [1996], they are considered classics of the Chicago blues".[5]
In 1990, Black Magic was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame as a classic of blues recording. The induction statement includes:
Black Magic follows in the same vein as Magic Sam's first Delmark LP (and first Hall of Fame album), West Side Soul, combining burning West Side blues with heartfelt touches of soul. Again, most of the songs are covers (Little Milton, Otis Rush, Lowell Fulson, Freddie King, et al, with the more obscure Andrew Brown cut "Stop! You're Hurting Me" a definite highlight) and there a couple remakes of Sam's 45s, but again, it all sounds vital and up-to-the-minute.[6]
Side A
Side B
