Throughout the 80s, Magnum were one of the great hopes of British AOR. Their mid 80s releases ‘On A Storytellers Night’ and the Roger Taylor produced ‘Vigilante’ gained the band critical acclaim, and remain beloed by fans. 1988’s ‘Wings of Heaven’, arguably, represented a career peak, and a show from Hammersmith captured on that tour formed an essential VHS release. Unfortunately ‘On The Wings of Heaven Live’ languishes in a VHS limbo, now unlikely to gain an official DVD release.
Tag Archives: aor
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #148
With new tracks from a couple of the indie scene’s UK/Irish leading lights and a Bristol based guitar driven band who’ve already attained cult status, this visit to the Singles Bar feels rather weighted towards jangly material and swirly shoegaze sounds, but with a very retro sounding track that fuses blues rock with prog flourishes and a dreamy number from a French singer-songwriter, there’s a sharp contrast too, helping to keep the usual love of shining a light upon the most cult of artists. Bolstered by an unexpected reissue from the 80s and a lo-fi workout that could split opinion, it’s certainly an interesting selection this time around. As always, of course, we hope you find something new to enjoy!
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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #140
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting tracks that have been submitted over the previous few weeks. This time around, there’s some perfect dream pop/indie sounds, a huge stoner friendly piece of deep psych with a heavy edge, some AOR, a superb track with a jazz influenced vocal…and more besides. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!
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THE BIG DEAL – Electrified
Serbian band The Big Deal released a very confident debut in 2022’s ‘First Bite’. Although their music wasn’t particularly original, the album’s best tracks showcased talented musicians, capable of sharing a huge sound, and whose brand of melodic rock and metal consistently hit the mark with strong callbacks to Pretty Maids and other Euro fare.
Following the album’s release, guitarist Srdjan Brankovic made a great contribution to Ronnie Romero’s ‘Raised On Radio’, but then seemed to disappear. Considering he guested on a number of albums up to this point, his relative quietness came as a surprise, but his fans will certainly welcome his return here, and find plenty to enjoy within his work on this second release from The Big Deal. Much like before, the best material places Brankovic’s guitar playing rather highly in the end mix, but there’s very much the feeling that this is a genuine band project, rather than merely just being the Srdjan show with a few in-house hired hands.
MAGNUM – Live At KK’s Steel Mill
In January 2024, much loved British rockers Magnum released their twenty third studio album ‘Here Comes The Rain’. The record captured a typical sound for the veteran band, but mixed the huge pomp sounds of later releases like ‘The Serpent Rings’ with more of the commercial AOR elements of their late 80s work, making it feel a little more well rounded than some of the latter day Magnum releases. The record, although hugely enjoyable, was surrounded by sadness: just a few days before release, founding guitarist and songwriter Tony Clarkin passed away, effectively making ‘Rain’ a poignant swansong.
The deluxe edition of the album was packaged with a full length live DVD – ‘Live At KK’s Steel Mill’ – featuring what was to be Clarkin’s final gig with the band. Fans, naturally, loved this show, but many hoped for an audio release to fill out their already extensive collections. In January 2025, they would get their wish.