Review: Magnum – Here Comes the Rain

Steamhammer/SPV (January 12^th 2024)

Reviewer: David Mark Pearce

I fully intended to write this review after Christmas, as it would’ve given me a couple weeks to be with it and properly absorb it etc. What I, and I dare say no one else expected was the day I sit down to do it I hear the absolutely devastating news that the backbone of Magnum itself, Tony Clarkin had passed away aged 78. It had never crossed my mind to find out how old he was as to me he had always looked a certain age.

You see I came to the band on the ‘Chase The Dragon’ album which I used to hire from my local library. Now before I review this album I’d like to briefly speak about that.

First of all like this one, I was drawn to the stunning artwork by Rodney Matthews and then when I played the album the first song ‘Soldier Of The Line’ just blew me away, as did the rest of the album. Of course, like many back then, I copied it on to cassette to save money hiring it out. I told Bob Catley and his wife at Oliver Wakeman’s wedding that story. He was glad I listened but she wasn’t as I hadn’t paid for the album! Obviously she was not taking into account I was a boy and broke.

Anyway……. In recent years I managed to see Magnum play Winterstorm up here in Scotland and they were brilliant, playing many fan favourites including ‘Vigilante!’. I remember saying online that it was a bucket list moment for me but yeah I got criticised for saying that because they’d played it on every tour since that album. That’s great if you live down the road from a venue on the circuit, but when you’re in the back crack in deepest Cornwall, things get a little tricky! Ok that’s my Magnum stories out the way for those that care and I ought to talk about this fantastic new album.

So if I imagine I’m back in my local library then the first thing that needs to be spoken about is the artwork by Rodney Matthews. What do you say about this amazing artist that hasn’t been said? He is just brilliant! And here we have a boy with a catapult, a dog and a wizard with an umbrella protecting them from the coming rain all against the backdrop of an orange moon stood on a rocky outcropping, I mean who else would come up with that? Brilliant! There aren’t many bands that you can recognise within the first few bars of their songs, but you can with Magnum. The album starts off with a great foot tapper, ‘Run Into The Shadows’. Sir Bob sounds great, as he does on the rest of the album! All the elements have been cooking away in a pot over the stove for decades now, and when the recipe is poured out in to the songs that make up the albums, then you can’t miss! The title track is a pure slab of creative and atmospheric enjoyment! It’s a massive song with a chorus to die for! So many songs off this album could’ve been singles as they’re that good, but ‘Blue Tango‘ & ‘The Seventh Darkness’ were the ones that were chosen for release!

‘Blue Tango‘ is a proper sort of rock n roll boogie song, again another good tapper! Sadly …. Ish this song brings my only criticism, and it’s of Tony. It’s the first time that he solos on the album and it’s only sad because I want more, much more. But I guess that’s also the charm of Tony, as he’s always done really short solos that are packed, and I mean packed, with melody. I just wanted more, so I guess it’s a nice criticism!

The only other notable solos from Tony are on the other single ‘The Seventh Darkness’ where he does a really cool trade off with some great sax from Christian Aldridge and Nick Dewhurst on trumpet!

But aside from Tony’s solos, his song-writing is second to none and that is what we now have as his legacy due to his untimely passing! Everyone played and sang so well on this, their now final album! A truly fitting standing to an amazing band!! Rest in Peace Mr Clarkin. You will be remembered forever!

Tracklist:

01 Run Into The Shadows

02 Here Comes The Rain

03 Some Kind Of Treachery

04 After The Silence

05 Blue Tango

06 The Day He Lied

07 The Seventh Darkness

08 Broken City

09 I Wanna Live

10 Borderline