ON A STORYTELLER'S NIGHT

1985's On A Story Teller's Night is by many considered to be Magnum's peak. One must point out immediately that this sounds different from the band's four first albums. More mature and confident, but also more streamlined and linear. While those earlier albums were recorded between 1976 and 1983, they were musically pretty much rooted on the 70's. On A Story Teller's Night, on the other hand, has more of an 80's sound. I would say that it is less progressive than the first four Magnum albums, but this does not mean that it is less good. While having somewhat less to do with Prog at this point in their career, it is hard to deny that this album features a very strong set of melodic Rock tunes. Many songs from this album understandably went on to become mainstays of the band's live show and are played live even today. Indeed, the band has recently performed the album live in its entirety! This indicated just how important this album was for the band, even if one might argue that Chase The Dragon and Wings Of Heaven have a similar importance.

The first five tracks are excellent, but after that it tends to feel like just more of the same until the superb closer The Last Dance. There are no bad songs here, but I think that there are too many songs that sound too similar to each other. The sound, tone, and mood are basically the same throughout.

Overall, this is definitely a good Magnum album. It is certainly better than previous The Eleventh Hour and the following Vigilante, but it is not as good, in my opinion, and not as progressive, as Chase The Dragon or Wings Of Heaven.

Recommended, but maybe a little bit overrated

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