2. MAGNUM - T(w)oo Good For Success?
As the release of the first album had been postponed for such a long time, the next album was more or less finished before the first one was released. It was called
“Magnum II“ and the cover fitted the pretty simple title. It sported the MAGNUM logo with a Roman II added in black on a plain grey cover. It came out in November 1979, not even a year after
“Kingdom Of Madness“. The producer was TEN YEARS AFTER bassist Leo Lyons, who had already worked with bands like U.F.O. before, so he was considered as fitting for MAGNUM's style.
“Magnum II“ contained ten tracks: “Great Adventure“, “Changes“, “The Battle“, “If I Could Live Forever“, “Reborn“, “So Cold The Night“, “Foolish Heart“, “Stayin'
Alive“, “Firebird“ and “All Of My Life“.
The album didn't sell too well but they had two top-ten-singles in the British Heavy-Metal-Charts. The first one was “Changes“, a classic mid-tempo song with a very
melodic keyboard line. It describes the changes two people undergo during their relationship. The B-side was “Lonesome Star“, a bonus track which was not on the album. This single came in a
silver picture sleeve.
The second single was “Foolish Heart“, a song about a man who has just split up with his girlfriend. This single was backed by “Baby Rock Me“ from the
first album. “Foolish Heart“ was a rather sad song and considerably slower than the first singles.
The new fame earned the band the support-slots of the then much-acclaimed BLUE ÖYSTER CULT and KROKUS, who took MAGNUM with them on their UK tour. Right after that
they got another big chance, which was to support U.F.O. on a full European tour. So MAGNUM became known in many European countries, which was the basis for a loyal followership of many fans
right up to the present day.
Despite the single's chart positions the album was no hit. Success still hesitated to reward the band for their hard work.
Danny Herbert (Mittwoch, 17 April 2024 17:23)
Danke Sehr for all your hard work on this. Fascinating and I will definitely return to spend more time.
Johan (Montag, 18 Januar 2021 13:57)
Thanks for a great read through Magnum history.
Howeve, it looks like something has happened with the link to chapter 17 Bob Catley's Towering Solo Efforts. It points towards the prologue instead of chapter 17.
Glenn Gibson (Freitag, 20 November 2020 19:35)
THANK YOU for this site, you need to turn this into a book. I'd buy it!
Colin (Montag, 06 Januar 2020 23:41)
Good reading and very interesting. Just one small point, Magnum played at the Birmingham Odeon on the March 87 tour. They didn’t play the NEC until the Wings of Heaven tour...
William (Freitag, 30 März 2018 18:19)
One small error - KTNLB does count as a studio album, and LOTRTE is album #20 counting KTNLB (if skipping it, it's album #19). Otherwise great article!
Dave Millward (Montag, 05 März 2018 10:00)
I saw the band on the last date in Wolverhampton on their darewell tour in 1995. Was there a concert programme for the gig?
AustrianMagnumFan (Montag, 05 Februar 2018 10:47)
Hi there,thank you for this wonderful Page.. is it possible to put this informations together to One .Pdf maybe to read it offline ? Regards
Kevol (Dienstag, 08 März 2016 00:54)
Just want to say thank you for this site. It's amazing. Spent there more than hour already :)
Birgit (Montag, 23 März 2015 15:54)
This is a great site. Thanks so much for putting all those facts together. Just a wee amendment on the double headliner shows: At least in Munich they played all three songs which you marked as dropped for double headline purposes... :-)
Chris Beddall (Sonntag, 29 Juni 2014 17:10)
Excellent info, really well done mate!
Jordi Joan (Sonntag, 14 Oktober 2012 21:01)
my tribut to magnum, from catalonia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWtBkqx7bhM&list=UUPHUosYb-b3D6LsGuMsuscQ&index=6&feature=plcp
Lin O'Connor (Montag, 01 Oktober 2012 16:23)
Was the Archive album available on vinyl? If not is the cd quite rare cant find it anywhere!
Fred (Mittwoch, 01 Februar 2012 21:22)
Amazing site!