Description

All bands that manage to enjoy longevity will at some point produce that one defining piece of work that sums up the essence of the band and acts as a benchmark for the rest of their music. Led Zeppelin had ‘4’, Pink Floyd had ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, and for many people Magnums finest hour was 1982s ‘Chase The Dragon’, the distillation of everything they were about. After a string of albums that resulted in only moderate success, ‘Chase The Dragon’ put the band on the map, a combination of the improved song writing that comes from experience and hard work and the inclusion of new boy Mark Stanway and his grandiose keyboard sound made this the most successful album to date and one of the best loved to this day. This was also their first major success in their native England and the album made the Top 20 on the British album charts. The overall sound of the band is a mix of melodic guitars, progressive structures, glorious harmonies, big keyboards and straight forward heavy rock, the lyrics in places do sound a bit dated but manage to stay just out of the category of clich, that many bands succumbed to in this the golden era of "the new wave of British heavy metal" as it was known. Above all Magnum are a very English sounding band and it was only their move to USA to record in the later part of their career that hastened their demise. On this album you hear the sound of a band coming of age and entering a golden period that would result in three classic albums, but this is where it all began. So if you want to treat yourself to one of the quintessentially English rock albums of the eighties then this is for you, in these days of extreme sounding unmelodic, industrial grinder rock, it is often refreshing to be able to take a journey back to a time when music was more innocent and this album is a good place to head for. This is the 1999 re-master with four bonus tracks. These where originally released as a two single vinyl package and gives you three live tracks (Back To Earth, Hold Back Your Love and Soldier of the Line) and Long Days Black Nights. Track listing: 1. Soldier Of The Line 2. On The Edge Of The World 3. The Spirit 4. Sacred Hour 5. Walking The Straight Line 6. We All Play The Game 7. The Teacher 8. The Lights Burned Out 9. Back To Earth-live 10. Hold Back Your Love-live 11. Soldier Of The Line-live 12. Sacred Hour-live 13. Long Days Black Nights