February 1984
Reviewed by VegaNova
Segment 1
"Magic Night Intro Skit"
"Magic Medley" (Magical Mystery Tour, Black Magic Woman, Magic Carpet Ride)
Segment 2
"Fatz's Witch Story"
"That Old Black Magic"
Segment 3
"Letters To Looney Bird #1"
"Little Arrows"
Segment 4
"Magic Medley Intro"
"Dook's Magical Medley" (Abracadabra, You Can Do Magic)
Segment 5
"Multiple Voice Syndrome"
"Puff the Magic Dragon"
Segment 6
"Ambiance Skit"
"Magic" (From Xanadu)
Segment 7
"Letters to Looney Bird #2"
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
Segment 8
"Michael Jackson Intro"
"Michael Jackson Medley" (Beat It, Thriller, Wanna Be Starting Something (Dialogue), The Love you Save, Beat It)
This is an all around fun showtape filled with great songs all joined by the theme "magic". A wide variety of old and new songs makes for a nice combination of music. Many of the introductions in this showtape go above and beyond the tradional ones, and many are very funny and inventive. Overall a nice, tight, showtape!
Letters to Looney Bird #1 - The very first Letters to Looney Bird debuts here. The Looney Bird mech was retroffited to include a pair of hands that popped-up holding a piece of paper for him to read.
Michael Jackson Tribute - The last known Rock-afire vinyl record was the Michael Jackson Medley (#13) which came from this showtape. It wasn't originally slated to be part of this showtape, but was added at the last minute to the set list.
Magic Night - A later 'cut' of this showtape is known to exist, with part of the MJ Intro removed, and the MJ Medley reduced to only "Beat It". The MJ show doesn't flow together as well after this cut, but the dated material is removed making this tape playable post-1983. Which is most likey the reasoning for the alterations.
The Magic Touch - The original set list and script for this show included "The Magic Touch" by the Platters. This was to appear before "Little Arrows" but was removed and became an outtake, which never appeared on later showtapes. Since Dook was supposed to sing the song, the intro involved Dook, Fatz, and Beach Bear aruging about who should get to sing the song - all claiming that they had the most magic hands. The skit ends with a pause as everyone looks around, then Mitzi throws in "I won Double-Up Bingo a Winn Dixie".
Multiple Voice Syndrome - The original intro to this show was to be much longer - where Rolfe and Earl argue about the theme of the song and how rediculous it was to sing about a magic dragon who didn't perform magic tricks. Also the song was supposed to be performed by Rolfe and Earl and not Billy Bob and the Rock-afire. They ended up recording a very short intro about Multiple Voice which works better, and decided to use Billy Bob's more innocent voice for the song which also works much better.
-5 out of 5 Tokens-
When you ask fans which Rock-afire Explosion showtape is the very best, it's likely you'll hear them say "Magic Night". To many hardcore fans, this is the Rock-afire's Magnum opus, the gold-standard by which all other tapes are judged by. Even Duke Chauppetta (the voice of Dook LaRue) has been quoted as stating that Magic Night was the best tape they produced.
Many of the songs are powerful renditions and several of them I consider to be much better than the originals ("Magical Mystery Tour", "Magic", and the songs in Dook's "Magical Medly" to name a few). The Michael Jackson segment adds a nice spice to the showtape. However even though the MJ intro is absolutely great, the medley itself falls flat. Beach Bear comments about paying tribute to him by slaughtering some of his songs - he wasn't kidding. Not very many Rock-afire songs miss the mark in my book, but this one does - and really I think it would have been wise to have left in "The Magic Touch" instead. Overall though, the rest of this tape is strong enough to make up for the MJ segment, and still ranks as one of the best Rock-afire Explosion tapes of all time.
"Magic Night Intro Skit"
"Magic Medley" (Magical Mystery Tour, Black Magic Woman, Magic Carpet Ride)
Segment 2
"Fatz's Witch Story"
"That Old Black Magic"
Segment 3
"Letters To Looney Bird #1"
"Little Arrows"
Segment 4
"Magic Medley Intro"
"Dook's Magical Medley" (Abracadabra, You Can Do Magic)
Segment 5
"Multiple Voice Syndrome"
"Puff the Magic Dragon"
Segment 6
"Ambiance Skit"
"Magic" (From Xanadu)
Segment 7
"Letters to Looney Bird #2"
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
Segment 8
"Michael Jackson Intro"
"Michael Jackson Medley" (Beat It, Thriller, Wanna Be Starting Something (Dialogue), The Love you Save, Beat It)
This is an all around fun showtape filled with great songs all joined by the theme "magic". A wide variety of old and new songs makes for a nice combination of music. Many of the introductions in this showtape go above and beyond the tradional ones, and many are very funny and inventive. Overall a nice, tight, showtape!
Letters to Looney Bird #1 - The very first Letters to Looney Bird debuts here. The Looney Bird mech was retroffited to include a pair of hands that popped-up holding a piece of paper for him to read.
Michael Jackson Tribute - The last known Rock-afire vinyl record was the Michael Jackson Medley (#13) which came from this showtape. It wasn't originally slated to be part of this showtape, but was added at the last minute to the set list.
Magic Night - A later 'cut' of this showtape is known to exist, with part of the MJ Intro removed, and the MJ Medley reduced to only "Beat It". The MJ show doesn't flow together as well after this cut, but the dated material is removed making this tape playable post-1983. Which is most likey the reasoning for the alterations.
The Magic Touch - The original set list and script for this show included "The Magic Touch" by the Platters. This was to appear before "Little Arrows" but was removed and became an outtake, which never appeared on later showtapes. Since Dook was supposed to sing the song, the intro involved Dook, Fatz, and Beach Bear aruging about who should get to sing the song - all claiming that they had the most magic hands. The skit ends with a pause as everyone looks around, then Mitzi throws in "I won Double-Up Bingo a Winn Dixie".
Multiple Voice Syndrome - The original intro to this show was to be much longer - where Rolfe and Earl argue about the theme of the song and how rediculous it was to sing about a magic dragon who didn't perform magic tricks. Also the song was supposed to be performed by Rolfe and Earl and not Billy Bob and the Rock-afire. They ended up recording a very short intro about Multiple Voice which works better, and decided to use Billy Bob's more innocent voice for the song which also works much better.
-5 out of 5 Tokens-
When you ask fans which Rock-afire Explosion showtape is the very best, it's likely you'll hear them say "Magic Night". To many hardcore fans, this is the Rock-afire's Magnum opus, the gold-standard by which all other tapes are judged by. Even Duke Chauppetta (the voice of Dook LaRue) has been quoted as stating that Magic Night was the best tape they produced.
Many of the songs are powerful renditions and several of them I consider to be much better than the originals ("Magical Mystery Tour", "Magic", and the songs in Dook's "Magical Medly" to name a few). The Michael Jackson segment adds a nice spice to the showtape. However even though the MJ intro is absolutely great, the medley itself falls flat. Beach Bear comments about paying tribute to him by slaughtering some of his songs - he wasn't kidding. Not very many Rock-afire songs miss the mark in my book, but this one does - and really I think it would have been wise to have left in "The Magic Touch" instead. Overall though, the rest of this tape is strong enough to make up for the MJ segment, and still ranks as one of the best Rock-afire Explosion tapes of all time.