Album Review: Magnum, "The Spirit"

With a recording career that dates back to 1978, it really is about time those MAGNUM chappies released a decent live album. And now that The Spirit is here, the burning question is of course, has it been worth the wait?

Now, before all you people out there in "readerland" claim my opinion has been biased, bear in mind that, as a long-time Magnum fan. I am a good deal more demanding than the average post-"On-a-Storyteller's-Night" follower. Yet The Spirit has worked its magic, and I can confidently say that, yes, the waiting has been worthwhile.

What this two-album set actually brings is approximately 70 minutes and 14 songs worth of Magnum in all their "reach-for-the-stars-and-make-sure-our-audience-has-as-good-a-time-as-we-do" glory. The tracks have clearly been selected to span the bands entire career, from "Kingdom of Madness" to date, and, without doubt. provide a fair representation of the musical developments and progressions they have made over the years. No "Arrow" (always a crowd pleaser), no "Wild Swan" (hey guys, you missed out my favourite song) but plenty else besides.

Though largely recorded during the European leg of 1990s goodnight LA tour, the spirit's finest moments originated within the walls of London's Hammersmith Odeon during last December. Audience reaction to the title track is heart-stopping, whilst "Sacred Hours" keyboard intro is pure on-the-night nostalgia. As Bob Catley used to say, "this is our song." Magic.

If I am to criticise anything, cutting the crowd noise to a bare minimum does, at times, destroy any live atmosphere; though the performances aired have a damn sight more guts than their studio counterparts and the overall production is both clear and sparkling as the finest champagne. So, I'll cut the nitpicking and merely proclaim... Buy the album, see the show. It will be worth every penny.

Grade A-

Lyn Guy
Riff Raff
September, 1991

Revenge...?

Riff Raff was a legendary rock magazine based in London in the late 1980s and 1990s. Edited by the ultimate music biz insider, Mark Crampton, and employing such talents as Mark Blake, Jerry Ewing, Mike Harris, Paul Smith, Chris Collingwood, Alan McCrorie, Simon Robinson, Lyn Guy, Anna Marx, Nick Douglas, Marion Garden, Peter "Grunty" Grant, Joe "The Crow" Mackett, Billy "The Kluck" Kulke, and, lastest and mostest, the incredible Liddell Brothers, Mark (a.k.a. "El Perro") and Colin (a.k.a. "Der Fly"). Unfortunately, Riff Raff was just too R n' R for its own good. A genuine working class rock mag, written, edited, and translated into 16 European languages in a drug-N-Jack-D-fuelled haze, often on the back of motorbikes, with spell checking by our staff of attentive rock bimbos (chosen purely for their blondeness and big knockers), it soon fell behind more trainspotterly, nerdish, and politically correct publications like Q, Kerrang, Mojo, Metal Hammer, and Horse & Hound. This website is an archive and kind of shrine dedicated to the writing of its greatest writers, some of whom, luckily for the Rock Kosmos, still continue to write about music. This is the REVENGE of Riff Raff...Rock on!