You Aughta Know: The Magic Numbers, THE MAGIC NUMBERS

Welcome back to our recurring column about albums released during the “Aughties,” the terribly-named period between 2000 and 2009, and prepare to either revisit or get an introduction to the debut album by a band from Hanwell, West London who managed to sell out a venue that held 2,000+ people after releasing just one single.

Never heard of The Magic Numbers? Well, you aughta...

Recorded at London’s Metropolis Studios, THE MAGIC NUMBERS featured a dozen songs, almost all of which were written solely by Romeo Stodart, although his sister Michele did co-write two of them: “Mornings Eleven,” which opens the album, and “Wheels on Fire,” which appears a few tracks from the album’s conclusion. Described as “soft, gentle sunshine pop with vaguely rootsy underpinnings” by AllMusic.com, the album proved to be a huge hit in the UK, as one might expect from the attendance at that early show: it climbed all the way to #7 on the UK Albums chart, spawning three top-20 UK singles: “Love Me Like You” (#12), “Forever Lost” (#15), and “I See You, You See Me” (#20).

As is so often the case, however, the UK success of THE MAGIC NUMBERS failed to translate into any significant US sales, but the Anglophiles on these shores loved it – your humble author can attest to this fact, as he is most decidedly part of said demographic – and if you count yourself among their number and you’ve yet to hear it for yourself... Well, just do the math: you’ll love it.