Magnum – Evolution

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After a thoroughly well-received new album earlier in 2011, The Visitation, and successful touring to support it, British rockers Magnum are now releasing a retrospective of sorts, covering the “comeback” albums from 2002 to 2011. The question is why? The likely answer is contractual obligation. All of the albums represented here are on SPV/Steamhammer, as is this compilation, and besides the two unreleased recordings tacked onto the end, it serves no sensible purpose at all. To try to make it sound worthwhile, all of the tracks (two each from Breath of Life, Brand New Morning, Princess Alice & The Broken Arrow and Into The Valley of The Moonking) have had the bass guitars re-recorded, plus the drums on five of them, the guitars on five, and some vocals on three. They have all also been remixed. Ther are then two tracks from The Visitation, which are untouched. But these are all recent recordings, there was nothing wrong with them to begin with, so what’s the point in remixing and partially re-recording a couple of tracks from each one, especially from something as recent as 2009? None, except to try to present this CD as something Magnum fans need to own. The only value here is in new songs The Fall and Do You Know Who You Are?, which are both similarly upbeat rockers, and nothing more. They both lack the conviction of the best works from the records this set represents, and really just come across as Magnum-by-numbers. For the couple of new tracks here, Magnum completists will want this while they wait for the next proper album, which this release would suggest now looks likely to arrive via a new label. Everyone else needn’t bother. Just go to Magnum’s official MySpace page or website to listen to sample cuts from their albums and use those to make a decision on buying them instead of wasting money on this to reach the same conclusion.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Compilation Albums, Hard Rock, Quick.Play Reviews, Magnum