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British hard rock legends
MAGNUM
will release their new album
‘Here Comes The Rain’
track-list:
Run Into The Shadows
Here Comes The Rain
Some Kind Of Treachery
After The Silence
Blue Tango
The Day He Lied
The Seventh Darkness
Broken City
I Wanna Live
Borderline
There are few great bands on our planet that you can infallibly identify within the first few bars of one of their songs.
Their unique melodic skill, their tasteful instrumentation, the right balance of depth and catchiness and then of course that charismatic voice:
Magnum are Magnum!
The same can be said of their latest studio album ‘Here Comes The Rain’, which will be out on Steamhammer/SPV from 12 January 2024 on CD + DVD, double vinyl LP, as a box set and for digital download, proving once again that classic rock music could hardly sound more atmospheric.
The band surrounding frontman Bob Catley and guitarist/songwriter Tony Clarkin have also released the lead singles: ‘Blue Tango’ on 22. November 2023 and will release single ‘The Seventh Darkness’ on 3. January 2024 and a tour has been scheduled to kick off in early April 2024.
The question where songwriter Tony Clarkin continues to find motivation and ideas for new material after more than fifty years in music is easily answered:
“At the end of the day there’s not much that’s more satisfying for a musician than to come up with new number that you yourself really like.”
Clarkin draws inspiration from a wide range of different areas:
“You never quite know where or how an idea originates, but the many different countries we’ve travelled, our decades of artistic experience and also our interest in what’s happening on our planet have definitely all played a part.”
He says:
“When I start to write the songs, I don´t have any fixed ideas in my head. I probably play a bit of guitar or mess around on a keyboard, sometimes I read a book and usually this gives me a place to start. But to put this into words that people can understand I just fiddle about for hours hoping something inspires me. Being a musician can be a very isolating life in that you don´t live and work like normal people do. But then I start writing and that´s MY world, that´s where I belong.”
Clarkin spent more time writing this album because the tour getting delayed due to Covid split his normal writing time into two sections.
“I thought this would give me more time to do it, but I found it harder to get into a writing mindset when I was being interrupted by preparing for live shows.”
As far as subject matter is concerned, he doesn´t have a hangup with any particular topic but takes inspiration from all sorts of places.
Clarkin:
“Over the years hearing maybe some records that were my favourite songs at the time and then only much later did I ever discover that the meaning of the song was totally different to what I thought it was. So I´m sort of protective about explaining the meaning of songs that I´ve written because it can actually spoil a person´s enjoyment of the song, better that they find their own meaning in it.”
The album’s highly inspired artwork again is designed by the great Rodney Matthews, who has already created a number of Magnum sleeves to support the band’s atmospherically dense music.
Says Clarkin:
“The back of the cover features a kind of avian battalion in attack mode, which I think is a great allegory!”
Apart from Magnum’s typical trademarks, ‘Here Comes The Rain’ also holds a number of thoroughly pleasant surprises in store, such as ‘Blue Tango’, which is a real riff-rock number that makes you want to move your feet.
Or ‘The Seventh Darkness’ with some awesome brass sections courtesy of guest musicians Chris ‘BeeBe’ Aldridge (saxophone) and Nick Dewhurst (trumpet), which lend the song brilliance and shape.
Clarkin adds:
“The recordings were great fun, especially the moment when Chris’s sax took the lead and my guitar responded. A real highlight on this album!”
There can be no doubt about it:
‘Here Comes The Rain’ sees the Magnum line-up consisting of Catley, Clarkin, keyboardist Rick Benton, bassist Dennis Ward and drummer Lee Morris once again succeed in creating an outstandingly colourful, varied and inspired new studio album.
“Everyone played their part without me dictating anything,”
Clarkin enthuses,
“everyone just instinctively played what their inspiration told them.”
It’s a good thing that these superb musicians can rely on their intuition!
MAGNUM
will release their new album
‘The Monster Roars’
track-list:
The Monster Roars
Remember
All You Believe In
I Won’t Let You Down
The Present Not The Past
No Steppin’ Stones
That Freedom Word
Your Blood Is Violence
Walk The Silent Hours
The Day After The Night Before
Come Holy Men
Can’t Buy Yourself Heaven
line-up:
Tony Clarkin – Guitar
Bob Catley – Vocals
Rick Benton – Keyboards
Dennis Ward – Bass
Lee Morris – Drums
It’s a sign of definite quality when a band can look back at a career which started as early as 1972 (!) and are still capable of thoroughly awing their fans with every new album.
Magnum deliver this kind of quality on a regular basis and are set to prove their outstanding position once again with their latest studio offering ‘The Monster Roars’.
Even after difficult months marked by pandemic-related concert cancellations, contact restrictions and uncertain perspectives for the whole music industry, the English rock act have succeeded in creating a vibrant, homogeneous work that impresses its listeners from the first to the last note and includes a number of surprises.
‘The Monster Roars’ kicks off with a real bang:
opening with the title track, Magnum make it unmistakably clear that the group’s current line-up consisting of Bob Catley (vocals), Tony Clarkin (guitar), Rick Benton (keyboards), Dennis Ward (bass) and Lee Morris (drums) is bursting with enthusiasm.
Especially the signing of American bassist Dennis Ward (ex-Pink Cream 69, Unisonic, Place Vendome) has proved to be an absolute stroke of luck.
“Unfortunately, we havent been able to play live with Dennis yet as all concerts had to be cancelled or postponed due to the lockdown. But we’ve already rehearsed intensively with him and were delighted to discover that he not only plays a first-rate bass but also provides fantastic backing vocals,”
explains Tony Clarkin and adds:
“Dennis has catapulted the band to another level in a number of ways. Were looking forward to our first live shows with him and are certain that our fans will be as excited about Dennis as we are.”
The title track, however, is only the prelude to a recording that features solid rock numbers such as ‘Remember’, ‘The Present Not The Past’, ‘The Day After The Night Before’ and ‘That Freedom Word’ as well as atmospheric ballad track ‘Walk The Silent Hours’ and midtempo ‘Can’t Buy Yourself Heaven’, with the anthemic ‘All You Believe In’ bringing to mind Queen and ‘No Steppin’ Stones’ sparkling with an amazing brass section.
Magnum’s lyrics are also (almost) all about the present, as song titles such as ‘Your Blood Is Violence’, ‘Come Holy Men’ or ‘Cant Buy Yourself Heaven’ prove.
Clarkin:
“This album is more about social subjects, including political issues.”
No doubt about it:
‘The Monster Roars’ is a well tempered mixture of typical Magnum trademarks, contemporary influences and trailblazing approaches which are guaranteed to win the band lots of new fans.
‘The Monster Roars’ will be available from 14 January 2022 as a CD DigiPak, 2-LP gatefold, limited box set and – exclusively from the Steamhammer online shop – CD/LP and T-shirt bundle.
The first single (including lyric video) ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ has been released on 12 November 2021.
The second single ‘No Steppin’ Stones’, also supported by a lyric video, is scheduled to follow five weeks later, on 17 December 2021.
The cover artwork, which is rather unusual for Magnum, was photographed by Rob Barrow, brother of former Magnum bassist Al Barrow, and is continued in the conceptual booklet.
And last but not least: In addition to the twelve songs on the regular album, Magnum offer three bonus tracks as part of a limited box set, including a new version of ‘Days Of No Trust’, the opener of their 1988 album classic ‘Wings Of Heaven’, and new remastered version of ‘Sweets For My Sweet’, their very first single release from 1975, as well as a previously unreleased track from the same era.
So theres lots of exciting stuff to be discovered on ‘The Monster Roars’.
As we’ve come to expect from this exceptionally creative band!
MAGNUM
‘Dance Of The Black Tattoo’
track-list:
Black Skies (live)
Freedom Day (live)
All My Bridges (live)
On A Storyteller’s Night (live)
Dance Of The Black Tattoo (live)
On Christmas Day (radio edit)
Born To Be King
Phantom Of Paradise Circus
No God Or Saviour
Your Dreams Won’t Die (live)
Twelve Men Wise And Just (live)
Show Me Your Hands (radio edit)
Not Forgiven (radio edit)
Madman or Messiah (radio edit)
It’s been three years since Magnum brought out The Valley Of Tears – The Ballads, a compilation that focused on the British rock act’s quiet, more otherworldly and dreamy side.
Three years during which the idea matured to follow this successful release (top 100 of the German album charts) with a companion piece.
Dance Of The Black Tattoo has turned into exactly that:
a collection of songs that present Magnum exclusively as tough-as-nails rocking and extremely vibrant musicians.
What makes this album, available from 8 January 2021 on Steamhammer/SPV on CD, double LP and for digital download, so special is the fact that Magnum have gone through their impressive archive, looking for rare live cuts and outstanding radio versions and have come up with spirited live recordings and edits that concentrate on the essential components of some of their most accomplished rock numbers.
Naturally, guitarist and band mastermind Tony Clarkin has used this opportunity to remaster and update all 14 tracks so that they comply with the state-of-the-art of (sound) technology.
Says Clarkin:
“There have always been two aspects to Magnum: a slightly more tender and lyrical facet, but first and foremost of course our powerful, rocking side. And that’s the element that Dance Of The Black Tattoo documents impressively.”
The album kicks off with live versions of ‘Black Skies’ and ‘Freedom Day’, previously available exclusively as DVD bonus tracks on Escape From The Shadow Garden.
“The perfect launch of this compilation because they present Magnum musically and lyrically from our familiar raw side. The subsequent ‘All My Bridges’ is a little different in that the music is still heavy, but the lyrics are more poetic,”
explains Clarkin, whose dynamic guitar style has harmonized perfectly with Magnum vocalist Bob Catley’s warm and charismatic voice for almost fifty (!) years.
‘On A Storyteller’s Night’, the title track of their 1985 masterpiece, and ‘Dance Of The Black Tattoo’ are another two rare live tracks from the bonus section of Escape From The Shadow Garden, followed by radio edits of their seasonal anti-war number ‘On Christmas Day’ and the fan favourite ‘Born To Be King’ off their classic Goodnight L.A., previously only available on vinyl or for digital download, followed by ‘Phantom Of Paradise Circus’ and ‘No God Or Saviour’, both bonus tracks from Sacred Blood – Divine Lies.
Clarkin:
“To be honest, when I started going through those old masters, I didn’t even have ‘Phantom Of Paradise Circus’ on my radar. I usually start working on new material about four weeks after the release of an album, so occasionally a song may sink into oblivion although it has a lot of substance and class. Such as ‘Phantom Of Paradise Circus’. I really love that number and am happy that it is getting the attention it deserves at last.”
‘Your Dreams Won’t Die’ and ‘Twelve Men Wise And Just’ are two live bonus tracks which first featured on Lost On The Road To Eternity, before ‘Show Me Your Hands’, ‘Not Forgiven’ and ‘Madman Or Messiah’ – three previously unreleased radio edits from the still topical studio recordings Lost On The Road To Eternity (2018) and The Serpent Rings (2020) – round off the new release.
“Sometimes it’s not easy to shorten a carefully balanced composition for the radio, but in these three cases it worked really well,”
reckons Clarkin.
Talking of working well:
Naturally the artwork of Dance Of The Black Tattoo was designed by Magnum‘s tried-and-tested cover artist Rodney Matthews, who always succeeds in translating the special ambience of the British rock group’s albums into atmospheric images and colours.
Clarkin:
“This time it was easy really: I called Rodney, told him the album title and he sent me this absolutely fascinating artwork. I bet our fans will love his little masterpiece.”
Having said that, Clarkin is sure to win this kind of bet for the whole of ‘Dance Of The Black Tattoo’.