OT: New Magnum Album

[youkeepmewaiting]

What a shame this is. Once again there is not one song that I want to to go back and listen to, at all! Tonys writing now is so stale its ridiculous. He has wrote some amazing songs over the years but now I think that the candle is burnt out. The whole album is drab, nothing exciting at all. The drums are boring (considering what a great drummer the guy is) and the bass is just ugh! This band serisouly needs to bring in an outside writer but I'm sure Tony is too long in the tooth for that now, which is unfortunite because I'm sure with a bit of help he could still pull something out. The mix of the album is terrible aswell. After 20 seconds of every song you know what it is going to be like all the way through every time!

This really was an amazing band.. and they still are live. But they have not brought out one great song since 1994 and to be honest this album doesnt even have anything near good on it. Shame

Anyone else got it?

[kgdjpubs]

What a shame this is. Once again there is not one song that I want to to go back and listen to, at all! Tonys writing now is so stale its ridiculous. He has wrote some amazing songs over the years but now I think that the candle is burnt out. The whole album is drab, nothing exciting at all. The drums are boring (considering what a great drummer the guy is) and the bass is just ugh! This band serisouly needs to bring in an outside writer but I'm sure Tony is too long in the tooth for that now, which is unfortunite because I'm sure with a bit of help he could still pull something out. The mix of the album is terrible aswell. After 20 seconds of every song you know what it is going to be like all the way through every time!

This really was an amazing band.. and they still are live. But they have not brought out one great song since 1994 and to be honest this album doesnt even have anything near good on it. Shame

Anyone else got it?

Interesting. I have the album--and enjoy it. I don't think it is all that commercial, and not much that stands out as "hit single", but it is a grower--as have most of the recent albums have. All My Bridges, The Moonking and Feels Like Treason are very good songs to my ears, and all pretty much "classic Magnum". Personally, I think All My Bridges would have sounded right in place on Vigilante or maybe even Wings of Heaven. I'd love to hear "Wings of Heaven 2", but with Magnum that was never an option. They never repeated themselves before, and I doubt they are going to start now.

That said, Magnum is somewhat a different band post-reformation. For whatever reason, Tony Clarkin DID change his style of songwriting around Goodnight LA, and from Sleepwalking on, he started trying to cram more words into the available space. Then, he lost interest in Magnum in general.

I've somewhat critical of both Breath of Life and especially Brand New Morning, even though both albums have some good songs on them. A lot of the first half of Princess Alice suffered the same thing, but the second half of that album (especially the last 4 songs) was pretty much pure Magnum to my ears. Thank You for the Day, to my ears, stood up against anything they had done, and possibly is the best song they have done since Sleepwalking--which is really underrated. I hear a lot of pre-Storyteller's Night Magnum on Moonking, and I hear "Magnum" all over the album.

Now, as far as production goes, they DO need to bring in an outside producer, or at least let someone else master it. Tony Clarkin is ok as a producer, but I have only really liked the production on Rock Art, maybe Hard Rain #2, and Sleepwalking--though a bit of power is missing in the production of that album, whether intentional or not. I don't think any of the post-reformation cds have sounded all that good, and I don't think the recording of vocals has been done very well at all, as Bob Catley has sounded much better on his solo cds (in general, discounting Spirit of Man which shouldn't have been released....). When you have one of the best vocalists in rock--who has done a very good job of keeping his voice for his age--it's a crime to bury him in the mix.

As far as drumming goes, this may be somewhat controversial, but I don't think Harry James is a good fit for Magnum. He's a good straight-forward rock drummer, and sounded very good with Thunder. Magnum is much more complicated musically than Thunder is, and you need someone with an ability to create drum rhythms like jazz for the songs to work. Mickey Barker was excellent, and Jimmy Copley (on Princess Alice...) was good as well. When you get outside of the pure rock drumbeats though, I think you are outside of Harry James' comfort zone. Pick something like Feels Like Treason and Harry sounds good--less so on The Moonking or All My Bridges. He seems to be a personal friend of the band, and with Copley ill and Thunder disbanding, I doubt he is going to go away, but I just don't think his style is the right fit for the band.

Sorry for the epitaph, you just managed to hit on one of my favorite bands in the world...

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

I dont have but I have heard a couple of tracks at ARfm- one today in fact.

the music sounds typical of the genre. i haven't heard their earlier stuff. i like his voice tho!

sorry- i am no help at all. :-/

[stevew2]

you mean like this ??

[kgdjpubs]

I dont have but I have heard a couple of tracks at ARfm- one today in fact.

the music sounds typical of the genre. i haven't heard their earlier stuff.

The earlier stuff is somewhat different. Magnum always had their own sound. Go check out On a Storyteller's Night or Wings of Heaven. It isn't Journey by any stretch, but some wonderful songwriting. Tony Clarkin is one of the best songwriters around.

i like his voice tho!

Considering how much Bob Catley has said that Perry was an influence on his singing (especially with Magnum as compared to the solo stuff), I'm not surprised. The guy is an extremely underrated singer. He may not do the vocal acrobatics that some people try, but as far as hitting the emotional core of the song, he's one of the best.

That being said, heaven forbid you ever hear his appearance from The Gods several years ago where he did the na-na vocals on Lovin'... backing Terry Brock. Give him lead vocals on the right Journey song and he might do it very well, but that performance sounded pretty awful. Nothing against him, but his voice just did NOT work on that. Terry Brock, of course, sounded wonderful.

[youkeepmewaiting]

What a shame this is. Once again there is not one song that I want to to go back and listen to, at all! Tonys writing now is so stale its ridiculous. He has wrote some amazing songs over the years but now I think that the candle is burnt out. The whole album is drab, nothing exciting at all. The drums are boring (considering what a great drummer the guy is) and the bass is just ugh! This band serisouly needs to bring in an outside writer but I'm sure Tony is too long in the tooth for that now, which is unfortunite because I'm sure with a bit of help he could still pull something out. The mix of the album is terrible aswell. After 20 seconds of every song you know what it is going to be like all the way through every time!

This really was an amazing band.. and they still are live. But they have not brought out one great song since 1994 and to be honest this album doesnt even have anything near good on it. Shame

Anyone else got it?

Interesting. I have the album--and enjoy it. I don't think it is all that commercial, and not much that stands out as "hit single", but it is a grower--as have most of the recent albums have. All My Bridges, The Moonking and Feels Like Treason are very good songs to my ears, and all pretty much "classic Magnum". Personally, I think All My Bridges would have sounded right in place on Vigilante or maybe even Wings of Heaven. I'd love to hear "Wings of Heaven 2", but with Magnum that was never an option. They never repeated themselves before, and I doubt they are going to start now.

That said, Magnum is somewhat a different band post-reformation. For whatever reason, Tony Clarkin DID change his style of songwriting around Goodnight LA, and from Sleepwalking on, he started trying to cram more words into the available space. Then, he lost interest in Magnum in general.

I've somewhat critical of both Breath of Life and especially Brand New Morning, even though both albums have some good songs on them. A lot of the first half of Princess Alice suffered the same thing, but the second half of that album (especially the last 4 songs) was pretty much pure Magnum to my ears. Thank You for the Day, to my ears, stood up against anything they had done, and possibly is the best song they have done since Sleepwalking--which is really underrated. I hear a lot of pre-Storyteller's Night Magnum on Moonking, and I hear "Magnum" all over the album.

Now, as far as production goes, they DO need to bring in an outside producer, or at least let someone else master it. Tony Clarkin is ok as a producer, but I have only really liked the production on Rock Art, maybe Hard Rain #2, and Sleepwalking--though a bit of power is missing in the production of that album, whether intentional or not. I don't think any of the post-reformation cds have sounded all that good, and I don't think the recording of vocals has been done very well at all, as Bob Catley has sounded much better on his solo cds (in general, discounting Spirit of Man which shouldn't have been released....). When you have one of the best vocalists in rock--who has done a very good job of keeping his voice for his age--it's a crime to bury him in the mix.

As far as drumming goes, this may be somewhat controversial, but I don't think Harry James is a good fit for Magnum. He's a good straight-forward rock drummer, and sounded very good with Thunder. Magnum is much more complicated musically than Thunder is, and you need someone with an ability to create drum rhythms like jazz for the songs to work. Mickey Barker was excellent, and Jimmy Copley (on Princess Alice...) was good as well. When you get outside of the pure rock drumbeats though, I think you are outside of Harry James' comfort zone. Pick something like Feels Like Treason and Harry sounds good--less so on The Moonking or All My Bridges. He seems to be a personal friend of the band, and with Copley ill and Thunder disbanding, I doubt he is going to go away, but I just don't think his style is the right fit for the band.

Sorry for the epitaph, you just managed to hit on one of my favorite bands in the world...

Yeah I LOVE Magnum believe me, they have some of my favourite tracks ever, some incredible stuff, especially things like Les More Dasant (I'm to lazy to look up the actual spelling), it's just once again I'm dissapointed. Nowadays no Magnum album seems to produce Bobs vocals very well. He's got a very powerful voice but always sounds a bit flat and lost in the mix on Magnum stuff now.

Dont get me wrong there are some ok songs on this.. but not one makes me want to put the CD back in. And some of the tracks just go on for too long for what there is.

Oh and another thing... where did they find the keyboard sound? The 1981? It sounds like a cheap Casio keyboard. I', a big lover of the old 80s music but come on! It sounds terrible. Go out and buy some 300quid software please!

Anways... Love Magnum!