THE RIVER SESSIONS

There have been quite a few Magnum live albums released over the years. Some of these are better than others and this is one of the good ones. In some ways, it features perhaps the definitive version of the On A Story Teller's Night album, being performed (almost) in its entirety here (only one song absent and you will hardly miss it!). I have always felt that this particular studio album consisted of too many songs that sounded a bit too similar to each other. This problem is partly remedied here by mixing the song order around and breaking it up with songs from their earlier albums. With older classics like The Spirit, Kingdom Of Madness, Sacred Hour, and Soldier Of The Line rubbing shoulders with the new (at the time) classics like How Far Jerusalem, Les Morts Dansant, The Last Dance, and On A Story Teller's Night (the title track). This makes this live CD a very good experience.

Some songs are slightly longer here than their studio counterparts and a bit more instrumental workout is allowed, but nothing too exceptional. The sound quality is pretty good and the performance is energetic. Obviously, there are the normal problems with live albums, but this is a very honest recording without obvious studio tinkering and the end result is quite satisfying. The material involved is, of course, not really progressive. If you don't know Magnum, I would say that they are similar to late 70's/early 80's Uriah Heep in some respects, and also to some American AOR bands like Styx and Journey, but more Metal, and with a bit more substance, and above all, very British.

A good live disc, but some others are even better

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