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You have to offer your fans something to dream along to, something that they can submerge themselves in, if you want them to continue following you”, explained Tony Clarkin in their recent press release. Tony goes on to say that the inspiration for the album actually came from outside the band: “The release of this album was originally inspired by my daughter. A few months ago she asked me: ´Magnum have so many beautiful quiet numbers, why don’t you put together a compilation highlighting some of the most powerful tracks?` Steamhammer/SPV were immediately taken by the concept, so I set down to work on it.” From a short-list of 16 tracks, Magnum finally settled on the ten that appear on this compilation. While every track here will be familiar to long-term Magnum fans, three of the songs have been freshly recorded. We have one new live version of ‘When the World Comes Down’, and the rest have been remixed, remastered, or both. After comparing these tracks to the originals, I have to say, to my ear, the newly remixed/remastered versions sound much more vibrant, louder, and crisper than the original recordings. This is most noticeable on the older material. I enjoyed the improved quality of the remixed/remastered versions, although I’m sure much of this process was just to produce a cohesive sound across the whole album. While many fans will probably quibble over which tracks should have been included, and which left out, we’ll all have our own favourites. Magnum have done a decent job of picking a good range of songs from as far back as the ‘Vigilante’ album, with ‘When The World Comes Down’, right up to present day recordings, such as my personal favourite on the album, ‘Your Dreams Won’t Die’ from their last studio album. Having said that, it would have been nice to have had songs such as ‘The Word’, ‘Les Mort Dansant’, ‘Midnight (You Won’t be Sleeping)’, or ‘Need a lot of Love’ on here. Each song is enjoyable in it’s own right, and within the context of their original studio albums, they’re all great tracks, but personally, I find an entire album made up only of ballads a bit heavy going, and find myself longing for some rockier tracks. So who is this album aimed at? I wouldn’t recommend this album to anyone completely new to Magnum, as an album full of ballads isn’t really representative of what they really are, although non-rock fans may find these lighter tracks appealing. The completists out there, who have to own everything Magnum has ever released, will buy this, and it is nice to hear the improved sound quality on the tracks offered. While not being an essential purchase (I don’t think compilation albums generally are), and if I’m honest I’m not sure how many spins I’ll give this album, these are however all classic Magnum tracks, but it’s just a bit too much of a ballad overload for me. I look forward to hearing their next studio album. Track-listing: 01 Dream About You (remastered) 02 Back in Your Arms Again (newly re-recorded) 03 The Valley of Tears (remixed, remastered) 04 Broken Wheel (newly re-recorded) 05 A Face in the Crowd (remixed, remastered) 06 Your Dreams Won’t Die (remastered) 07 Lonely Night (acoustic version, newly re-recorded) 08 The Last Frontier (remixed, remastered) 09 Putting Things In Place (remixed, remastered) 10 When The World Comes Down (new live version) Review: Martin Patterson
