Following on from great albums such as ‘On A Storytellers Night’ and ‘Vigilante’, Magnum remained a European band that never quite cracked the US market.
Written by: Veneto
ARTIST: Magnum
ALBUM: Sleepwalking
LABEL: Music For Nations
SERIAL: CDMFN 143
YEAR: 1992
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Bob Catley – vocals * Tony Clarkin – guitars * Mark Stanway – keyboards * Wally Lowe – bass * Mickey Barker – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Stormy Weather * 02 Too Much To Ask * 03 Your The One * 04 The Flood * 05 Broken Wheel * 06 Just One More Heartbreak * 07 Every Woman Every Man * 08 Only In America * 09 Sleepwalking * 10 Prayer For A Stranger * 11 The Long Ride
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
I always felt that a band like Magnum must find it so hard to make another album, they have made so many great tracks and so much good music across three decades that making more great music must be an added challenge.
Following on from great albums such as ‘On A Storytellers Night’ and ‘Vigilante’, Magnum remained a European band that never quite cracked the US market and never really achieved that mega-group status they deserved, though they still continued to produce quality music.
The Songs
Sadly this is a rehash of previous albums, where the rich keyboards, great lyrics, and quality music only sparkle on a few tracks. The title track ‘Stormy Weather’ and ‘You’re The One’ are vintage Magnum. But a few wishy washy tracks that are un-subtley aimed at the American market like ‘Only In America’ leaves this album short of it’s true potential.
In Summary
If you are new to Magnum and enjoy good melodic rock with quality musicianship, a strong keyboard influence supported by quality vocals, guitar and the rest, you won’t be disappointed.
You should also be encouraged to seek out some of their earlier works, such as the aforementioned but superb ‘On A Storytellers Night’ from 1985, ‘Vigilante’ from 1986, and the grandiose ‘Wings Of Heaven’ from 1988. But if you knew Magnum and were looking for that next step, you would have been left feeling that you were still waiting.
In hindsight, the band never really recovered from their heady heights of the late 80’s, and broke up, though they moved on to other projects during the latter part of the 90’s, namely the band Hard Rain, as well as Bob Catley‘s solo project ‘The Tower’ supported by UK heavy metal (?) band Ten.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
