GOODNIGHT L.A.

For me, the previous Magnum release "Wings of heaven" was both their best and their most progressive release. Two years on, and "Goodnight L.A." finds the band rather treading water, while reverting to a generally simpler approach. Possibly as a result of pressure from their record label, here Magnum remove the relatively few vestiges of prog which have been scattered across their previous albums, moving solidly into the hairspray heaven arena with which they have always been familiar. To record this album, the band relocated to Los Angeles, to the Goodnight LA studios hence the album name.

Tony Clarkin dominates the song-writing as usual, but here he is joined on three tracks by former Argent front man, Russ Ballard. Ballard's distinctive style of writing is immediately apparent on these tracks, the best of which is "No way out", an ASIA like mid-paced pop rock song. "No way out" is one of a trio of consecutive tracks of a similar style and structure, which are the highlights of the album. "Shoot" is a power ballad which passionately pleads the case against blood sports, while "Cry for you", co-written with Sue Shiffron, is lyrically more prosaic but melodically above average.

Of the other tracks, the closing "Born to be king" has a slightly more adventurous structure, but unfortunately sounds fragmented and incoherent. At seven minutes, "Only a memory" is the longest track. The track builds through a basic repeating melody with fine harmonies while telling a developing story.

And that's about it really. Bob Catley does a passable impersonation of Robert Plant on "Mama", and Deric Dyer adds some decent sax to "Heartbroke and busted" but, like so many of the tracks here, the song is average, poorly developed, and largely anonymous. Much of this album could be by KISS, or REO SPEEDWAGON, or FOREIGNER, or any of the many bands who have ploughed the furrow of melodic hard rock over the years.

Although the album sold reasonably well, it was to be the band's last studio album and they eventually split in the mid 1990's. That of course was not the end of the story, and they reformed in the noughties, releasing a new studio album "Brand new morning" in 2004.

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