The Magic Shop was an American independent recording studio located at 49 Crosby Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Established in 1988 by Steve Rosenthal, The Magic Shop hosted projects by David Bowie, Lou Reed, Foo Fighters, and others.
Musician and engineer Steve Rosenthal, who had worked with Herb Abramson at A-1 Sound Studios prior to co-founding Dreamland studios, established the Larry Carswell-designed studio in a loft space at 49 Crosby Street in SoHo in 1988. Roselthal obtained a 32-input Neve mixing console originally commissioned for the BBC's Maida Vale Studios, which was later combined with a 24-input version of the same console to create a custom 56-input console in a project overseen by Rupert Neve himself. [1]
In 1992, the studio gained notoriety with a string of notable album projects from Suzanne Vega, Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, and the Ramones. Producers Dave Sardy, Mitchell Froom, Tchad Blake, and John Agnello discovered the studio, leading to a steady stream of album projects. [2]
In the early 2000s, Magic Shop expanded to add the Blue Room, which offered transfer, restoration, and mastering services, and Rosenthal was hired to remaster the first 22 Rolling Stones album releases. [3] [4]
In 2007, three projects that had been recorded at the Magic Shop, Keane's "Is It Any Wonder?", The Klezmatics Wonder Wheel , and Pink's "Stupid Girls", were nominated for Grammy Awards, reinforcing the studio's success. The following year, the studio expanded the services of the Blue Room by adding a second mastering facility, the Red Room, which Rosenthal shared with Elliot Mazer. [2] In 2009, the studio restored over 100 recordings for a Rounder Records 100-disc reissue series compiled by musicologist Alan Lomax, the collection comprised recordings as old as 1938 from artists including Jelly Roll Morton, Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, Woody Guthrie, and many others. [5] [6]
On May 2, 2011, David Bowie and producer Tony Visconti began recording what would become the artist's album The Next Day (2014). Recording took place in secret; all personnel signed non-disclosure agreements. [7]
In 2014, the Magic Shop and Steve Rosenthal were included in the final episode of Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways American rockumentary miniseries directed by Dave Grohl. [8] At the time, the studio was struggling financially due to rapidly rising rent and outstanding debt. In 2015, David Bowie returned to the studio to record what would be his final studio album, Blackstar .
A dispute with the studio's landlord exacerbated its financial problems. In an effort to help Rosenthal keep the studio afloat, David Grohl contributed approximately $50,000 and even unsuccessfully bid to buy the building, [9] but these efforts failed, and the Magic Shop closed on March 16, 2016. [10] [11] [12]
David Eric Grohl is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, for which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of the grunge band Nirvana from 1990 to 1994.
Lewis Allan Reed was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground came to be regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career.
Cibo Matto was an American alternative rock band formed by Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori in New York City in 1994. Their first album, Viva! La Woman (1996), had lyrics primarily concerned with food. For their second album, Stereo Type A (1999), they expanded into broader subject matter and recruited Sean Lennon, Timo Ellis, and Duma Love.
Transformer is the second solo studio album by American recording artist Lou Reed. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, the album was released on November 8, 1972 by RCA Records. It is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side", which touched on controversial topics of sexual orientation, gender identity, prostitution and drug use. Although Reed's self-titled debut solo album had been unsuccessful, Bowie had been an early fan of Reed's former band The Velvet Underground and used his fame to promote Reed, who had not yet achieved mainstream success.
Stereo Type A is the second studio album by Cibo Matto released in 1999. As the group disbanded in 2001, it was their last studio album prior to their 2011 reunion. The album peaked at number 171 on the Billboard 200, and also reached the top spot of CMJ's College charts.
Viva! La Woman is the debut studio album by the band Cibo Matto, released on January 16, 1996, by Warner Bros. Records.
Ken Scott is an English record producer and engineer known for being one of the five main engineers for the Beatles, as well as engineering Elton John, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, David Bowie, Duran Duran, the Jeff Beck Group, Supertramp, and many more.
Chuck Hammer is an American guitarist and soundtrack composer, known for textural guitar work with Lou Reed, David Bowie, and Guitarchitecture. As an artist, Hammer is best known for his Guitarchitecture recordings, though he is also widely regarded as a leading New York City based soundtrack composer, having scored approximately 300 documentary films. He is currently developing a series of improvisational textural guitar recordings.
"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground. Written by Lou Reed, it was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. The lyrics describe a man's efforts to obtain heroin in Harlem.
Magic and Loss is the sixteenth solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released on January 14, 1992, by Sire Records. A concept album, it was Reed's highest-charting album on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at No. 6.
A Date with the Smithereens is the fifth album by the New Jersey rock band The Smithereens, released in 1994. It is seen as a stylistically consistent with the melodic pop sensibilities of their earliest albums, along with the more rock-driven sound and production of their most commercially successful releases.
The Lodge is an audio mastering facility located in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by Emily Lazar in 1997. Over the years The Lodge has mastered recordings for many well known musicians, including David Bowie, The Subways, Foo Fighters, Lou Reed, Paul McCartney, Sinéad O'Connor, Natalie Merchant, Marianne Faithfull, and Madonna. The engineers have also mastered sound tracks for movies such as American Psycho and Thievery Corporation.
Emily B. Lazar is an American mastering engineer. She is the founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, an audio mastering facility that has operated in New York City's Greenwich Village since 1997. She won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for Beck's album Colors, becoming the first female mastering engineer to win in this category.
Sonic Highways is a 2014 American documentary miniseries directed by Dave Grohl and written by Mark Monroe. The documentary was made concurrently with Foo Fighters' eighth album, Sonic Highways, and was broadcast on HBO. Grohl described the project as "a love letter to the history of American music". Each of the eight episodes is presented as an exploration of the musical history of a different American city through a series of interviews by Grohl. The group is also shown incorporating what they learned from the interviews into the writing and recording of a new song in or near that city. The series debuted on October 17, 2014.
"Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" is a song by English musician David Bowie released on 17 November 2014 as the lead single from the 2014 compilation album Nothing Has Changed. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, the song originated after the two saw bandleader and composer Maria Schneider perform with her orchestra in May 2014. They began collaborating on Bowie's first major project since The Next Day (2013). Following workshop sessions in mid-June, the track was recorded officially at Avatar Studios in New York on 24 July 2014, with contributions from Schneider's orchestra.
"Blackstar" is a song by English rock musician David Bowie. It was released as the lead single from his twenty-sixth and final studio album of the same name on 19 November 2015. "Blackstar" peaked at number 61 on the UK Singles Chart, number 70 on the French Singles Chart and number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Blackstar" received both the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song and the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance at the 59th Grammy Awards. At 9:57, it was the longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 charts, overtaking Harry Chapin's "A Better Place to Be", until Tool broke the record in 2019 with "Fear Inoculum".
★ is the 26th and final studio album by the English musician David Bowie. Released on 8 January 2016, Bowie's 69th birthday, the album was recorded in secret in New York City with his longtime co-producer Tony Visconti and a group of local jazz musicians: Donny McCaslin, Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre and Mark Guiliana. The album contains re-recorded versions of two songs, "Sue " and "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore", both of which were originally released in 2014. More experimental than its predecessor The Next Day (2013), the music on Blackstar combines atmospheric art rock with various styles of jazz. Bowie took inspiration from artists including Kendrick Lamar and Death Grips, listening to them during the album's production. The cover art, designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, features a large black star with five star segments at the bottom that spell out the word "BOWIE".
"Dollar Days" is a song by English musician David Bowie. It is the sixth track on Bowie's twenty-sixth and final studio album, Blackstar, which was released on 8 January 2016. The track was written by Bowie, and it was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti. "Dollar Days" charted in multiple countries, including Bowie's home country of the United Kingdom, in which the song peaked at number 138.
"'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released on 17 November 2014 as the B-side of "Sue ". Taking influence from John Ford's 1633 play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, the art rock song pits dark and violent lyrics against a rhythmic beat. Bowie recorded the track as a demo in mid-2014 at his home studio in New York City. The song, along with "Sue", was re-recorded for Bowie's twenty-sixth and final studio album, Blackstar (2016). The new version features the backing band from those sessions: saxophonist Donny McCaslin, pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Mark Guiliana. Unlike the original, the remake is influenced by hip hop while reviewers compared Bowie's vocal performance to various 1970s tracks. The remake was positively received, with many highlighting the performances of the backing musicians. In the wake of Bowie's death, two days after Blackstar's release, "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" charted in multiple countries, including number 107 in the UK.
ChangesNowBowie is an album composed of material recorded in live sessions in 1996 by English musician David Bowie. Initially released for streaming on 17 April 2020, the album also had a limited release for Record Store Day, 29 August 2020, as both an LP and CD. The album contains a set of recordings initially recorded for a BBC broadcast for Bowie's 50th birthday.