BRAND NEW MORNING

Some facts about British mega rockers, Magnum. Never heard of Magnum? Read on! Magnum's first album Kingdom of Madness was released in 1978. This album, Brand New Morning, was released two years ago. That's twenty-nine years folks. Obviously there's a lot of history behind this band, which one could probably write a book about but here's the condensed version.

They say that timing is everything and I believe it. I've seen it my whole life. Humanity is a mass of trends, some short term, some intermediate and some long term. Magnum formed in 1975 and Kingdom of Madness was released in 1978, about the time when punk rock was taking off. Nevertheless, everyone didn't gravitate to punk and Magnum was good enough to keep churning out albums. A visit to their website reveals the listing of forty-six albums not counting the new release, Princess Alice and the Broken Record, slated for release next month. If it's as good as Brand New Morning, I'm a buyer.

Brand New Morning

If despite their thirty-two years in existence, Magnum is new to you, let me make an admission, they are new to me as well. I started about three months ago with the acquisition of Brand New Morning and from subsequent acquisitions and downloads I have made since; I may have started with if not their best, probably their most consistent album.

Magnum music is essentially rock. The tempos run from medium to medium slow. Their strength seems to be in their memorable catchy choruses and extraordinary musicianship.

This twenty-first century version of Magnum finds them updating their music somewhat but overall it is very much like their pre new millennium music. Magnum's lead singer is Bob Catley has a gravely Sammy Hagar/Bob Segar voice

Conclusion

I like this album. My first inclination was to rate all songs five stars, but after further review I decided only four songs were truly five stars. Of the nine songs on the album, all were at least four stars. Four were bonafide five star songs one, Immigrant Song was four and a half with the remaining four - four stars.

The title track, Brand New Morning, with a solid hard rock feel, not unlike Def Leppard, vied with We All Run, a soft, head bopping number with an ultra catchy chorus; The Last Goodbye, a strong rock number with a great piano intro and another great chorus and Scarecrow, a medium slow tempo, feel good, ten minute number all seem to vie equally for the album's best song