Abracadabra charted in nine countries, including Germany where the record reached No. 1 for a week.[6] Four
singles were released from the album in various countries: the
title track, "Cool Magic" (#57 on the
Billboard Hot 100),[7] "Keeps Me Wondering Why", and "Give It Up", with the title song charting the highest at #1 on the pop chart.
Unlike most of the band's previous efforts, most of the album was not composed by lead singer/guitarist
Steve Miller. Drummer
Gary Mallaber had brought in a handful of demos from another band he was in called Tracker (which other Steve Miller Band members John Massaro and Byron Allred were also a part of, along with ex-members Lonnie Turner and Greg Douglass) in hopes that one of them would be used for the album. Miller ultimately opted to use all of the demos, resulting in Mallaber receiving an impressive eight co-writing credits.[8] Miller, meanwhile, produced two of his own songs; the title track and the "
Heart Like a Wheel"-soundalike "Give It Up".
Billboard said of "Cool Magic" that it's a "catchy midtempo pop tune that takes dead aim at car radios everywhere."[12]Billboard also described it as being "harder rocking" than the title track.[12]Cash Box called it "a light, straightahead pop/rocker that, in places, brings to mind the
Beach Boys or the
Beatles."[13]
^Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992: 23 years of hit singles & albums from the top 100 charts. St Ives, N.S.W, Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 201.
ISBN0-646-11917-6.
