SLEEPWALKING

Magnum appear to be somnambulating through tepid pop songs and half-baked efforts at restoring their Prog credentials here and the results are inconclusive. Uncharacteristically but perhaps fitting for the concept, the album opens with the slow burning brooding pop of 'Stormy Weather' (not the jazz standard) followed by some lightweight rockers before stumbling on one of its few highlights 'The Flood'- a song that builds into a crescendo of thudding drums and heavy guitar. 'Broken Wheel' is another ballad but has some charm about it while 'Just One More Heartbreak' perhaps not consciously channels a riff from the Midnight Oil song 'Brave Faces' (was Clarkin an Oils fan at that point I wonder?).

Elsewhere 'Only In America' offers a cynical view of the band's time trying to court the coveted US market and it does all this with a reasonable funk groove and a chorus that sounds like Asia.

Where is Magnum in all of this you may ask? The title track is one of the few songs that comes to life before it falls to sleep again in a haze of keyboard ambience, leaving only the catchy, melodic 'Prayer For A Stranger' and the lukewarm but agreeable groove of 'The Long Ride' where singer Bob Catley deepens his range to a chilled Bowie or Icehouse warble.

Perhaps most significantly for this album, Rodney Mathews has been commissioned for the cover art again for the first time since 1985. I dare say however, that more depth can be found in the artwork than most of the music contained therein.

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