MAGNUM: Sleepwalking CD. 1st press original. Music For Nations. Check audio

Description

Sleepwalking = Studio album by Magnum
Released: October 1992
Recorded: Zella Studios Birmingham United Kingdom 1992
Genre: Rock, Melodic rock, Progressive rock
Length: 52:56
Label: Music For Nations
Producer: Tony Clarkin

Sleepwalking is the ninth studio album by British melodic rock band Magnum, released in 1992.
Following the decision to leave Polydor, Sleepwalking was recorded within six months, and is the first self-produced album by Magnum since The Eleventh Hour. Tony Clarkin was much happier acting as producer, following his working relationship with Keith Olsen on Goodnight L.A.. Learning from Keith Olsen, Tony had enough experience to produce Magnums records on his own, also being the best option to cut production costs for future albums.

All songs written and composed by Tony Clarkin.
Original 1992 Release
No. Title Length
1. “Stormy Weather” 4:42
2. “Too Much To Ask” 5:00
3. “You’re The One” 3:45
4. “The Flood (Red Clouds War)” 6:03
5. “Broken Wheel” 3:59
6. “Just One More Heartbreak” 4:10
7. “Every Woman, Every Man” 4:07
8. “Only In America” 4:01
9. “Sleepwalking” 5:39
10. “Prayer For A Stranger” 4:21
11. “The Long Ride” 6:55

The cover art was designed by Rodney Matthews.
“In true Magnum tradition, Tony Clarkin sketched out the essence of what he wanted for the Sleepwalking album, and in true Matthews tradition I made a few additions. The mirror shows Tony shaven headed as he is now, besides a wig to remind people of how he used to look. The suggestion that he ever did wear a wig is purely my own little joke. Other of my inclusions are the jets from The Eleventh Hour, the bag and stick from On A Storytellers Night, certain book titles, the Lords Prayer scroll, Birmingham City football socks and the nose boil ointment as used by Bob Catley when we discussed the cover (sorry Bob).
“I seem to remember this illustration taking me twenty-six days and, while this is not typical of my style of illustration, it was a challenge I enjoyed. Also enjoyable were the several trips made to the Magnum studio where I was able to hear some of the tracks being laid down. This and the Aqua album [by Asia] were among the last of my designs to appear on the LP format.” Rodney Matthews
“Until the eleventh hour the Sleepwalking album was to be called Nightwatch, which was the title given it in my calendar in 1993. A section of the design was isolated for the single Only In America, my favourite track on the album.” Rodney Matthews

Tony Clarkin: Guitar
Bob Catley: Vocals [also on Gary Hughes’ Once and Future King CD] for sale here in Yperano
Wally Lowe: Bass
Mark Stanway: Keyboards [also on the great LP “Dangerous Music” by Robin George] for sale here in Yperano
Additional Musicians:
York Gibson: Keyboard Programming
Wesley Magoogan: Saxophone on “Every Woman, Every Man” and “The Long Ride”
Pritam Singh: Tabla on “Prayer For A Stranger”
Gary Sanders: Harmonica on “The Long Ride”

This is one of Magnums finest efforts, in my opinion. Very artsy, Bob Catleys vocals have never sounded better, great guitar work, interesting hooks, bridges, and lyrics. Great harmonies on “Only in America”. Great studio version of the Magnum classic, “The Flood”. A real keeper! This is one of those rare albums that you don’t have to skip songs. The whole thing is worth listening to, cover to cover.

5.0 out of 5 stars LOOKS LIKE STORMY WEATHER!!!,
After Goodnight L.A. there was a shake up at Polydor and Magnum would ultimately part company with the record company. Rather than sign to another big label, the band signed to heavy metal music based label, Music For Nations, stripped down their sound and recorded this little cracker.
Sleepwalking shows Magnum removing some of the frills and window dressing and just getting on with it. Tony Clarkins songs bristle with a raw energy and the individual musicianship has probably never been at a higher level than this.
The album has a variety of different tracks, ranging from commercial numbers, hard rockers and traditional Magnum staples. As a result, its one of the bands most genuinely entertaining records.
Too Much To Ask, You’re The One, Just One More Heartbreak and the Yes-like Only In America provide that commercial appeal now expected on Magnum albums post The Eleventh Hour, and both Broken Wheel and Every Woman, Every Man are decent ballads.
For me though, the more traditional tracks shine the most here. Stormy Weather is a superbly low key album opener, The Flood sees the band coming close to musical savagery, the title track is wonderfully overblown and the moody Long Ride closes the album brilliantly.
Worth noting is Mickey Barkers drumming on this album. Anyone aspiring to be a top rock tub thumper needs to listen to his work here, especially on The Flood. Hes on fantastic form right throughout the record and his general performance raises the bar for everyone else concerned.
Its also good to see Rodney Matthews providing some cover artwork after a considerable absence.

The band made the U.K. top thirty with Sleepwalking,which was a respectable effort, but after the top ten successes of Wings Of Heaven and Goodnight L.A., Magnum could be forgiven for feeling a little disappointed.
It wouldn’t get easier for the band as they would once again find themselves being carelessly pigeonholed. This time the band would be catalogued with the kind of bands that a certain Mr. Cobain and his grunge movement would seek to eradicate. However, Magnum would continue to survive, for the time being at least.
For now though, enjoy British melodic rock at its absolute finest. The listener could never moan about a lack of value for money. Invest at once!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars A vastly under-rated masterpiece,
To me this is one of Magnums best, done at around the time when they were at their peak. I’m not sure whether its possible to better the magnificent and cleverly written “Wings of Heaven” but this one certainly comes up close behind it. Although I am still very much a fan of all Magnums stuff, todays albums don’t quite cut it like they used to in my humble opinion. The late 80s and early nineties albums are definitely the ones to track down and buy if you want to experience Magnum at their best. This album of course is hard to find but its well worth the hunt. The album has some instantly likeable tracks with Magnums “rock melody” appeal (Only in a America and Sleepwalking are excellent) as well as some grow on you after a few listens leaving you hooked for good and wanting to coming back to it time after time. Oh.. and the cover, which has got to be one of best of all on the magnum albums and done by the great Rodney Matthews.

One of my Favourite ever Magnum albums and for me, this shows them at the peak of their creativity songwise, although at the beginning of their decline commercially. This one is Extra silky smooth, as with the last album ‘Goodnight L.A’, but this is so much better songwise. The fantastic ‘Just One More Heartache’ comes top of the pile amidst this set of melodic beauties, but ‘You’re The One’, ‘Only In America’, stormy Weather’ and ‘The Flood’ are top class songs aswell. If this isn’t in your collection of British melodic rock albums, then it certainly should be, as it is up their amongst some of the best in the genre.

This album has a very relaxed feel to it…not too many rock numbers but quiet ones instead!..Bob Catley and Tony Clarkin are leading the ship as usual with that unique formula and obviously also good credits to the rest of the boys too!…Bobs singing pleasantly,comfortable but at the same time powerful and strong when it was required!…my fave tracks were “Stormy Weather” smooth,”Too Much To Ask” is a highlight,”You’re The One” nice and catchy,”Just One More Hearbreak” rocks very good,”Every Woman,Every Man” is a very good soft AOR track, liked it a lot,”Only In America” has some very cool lyrics and “Sleepwalking” is another goodie song…maybe this album is for real Magnum fans and not occasional ones…you decide!.99/100.

The album had taken six months to record and was finished a long time before the band could get a new record deal. Music For Nations would distribute it in Great Britain, Polydor would still cover Sweden and EMI got the rights for Germany and the rest of Europe.

”Sleepwalking“ came out on the 12th of October 1992 and went up to Nr. 27 in Britain. The new album had been recorded in Tony’s Zella-studios within six months, twice the usual time. It was the first self-produced one since “Eleventh Hour“, a collection of eleven songs which were: “Stormy Weather“, “Too Much To Ask“, “You’re The One“, “The Flood“, “Broken Wheel“, “Just One More Heartbreak“, “Every Woman, Every Man“, “Only In America“, “Sleepwalking“, “Prayer For A Stranger“ and “The Long Ride“. “The Flood“ was a song about the futile struggle for the Red Indian’s independence in America, “Broken Wheel” was inspired by the book “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee”.

“Sleepwalking“ was an autobiographical song of Tony’s in which he reflects several things he has witnessed in his life, e.g. the end of the cold war. Nuns caring for wounded soldiers on a battlefield were the subject of “Prayer For A Stranger“. Tony had hired an Indian tabla player, Pritam Singh, who gave that song a very special flair. EMI and Music For Nations published “Only In America“ as a CD single, which also featured “Sleepwalking“ and two tracks that hadn’t made the album, “Just A Little Bit“ and “Caught In Love“. The 12“ contained the same tracks, but the 7“ left out “Caught In Love“. There was also a video of  “Only In America“, that combined scenes of everyday life in the U.S.A. with some pictures of MAGNUM on and behind the stage during the “Spirit“-tour. A second single ,“You’re The One“ was announced to contain even more bonus tracks, but due to poor sales figures of the first single it was cancelled. There is, however, one more song which was presumably recorded to be one of these bonus tracks. EMI published a mini-album with six songs in December 1992 called “Metal Morphosis” which contained six Christmas songs of different bands. One of these songs was “On Christmas Day” by MAGNUM and had been recorded on 27.11.1992 in Munich (in one take, as stated on the cover sticker). This mini-album was not sold but given away as a Christmas gift of the record company. It is therefore hard to find these days.

The cover was indeed the reason for finally calling the album “Sleepwalking“. There was an alternative title, “Nightwatch“, which was discussed because a Stephen King film called “Sleepwalkers“ was successful at the cinema right at that time. However, Tony had already asked Rodney Matthews to do the cover again and he had designed it according to the original title. It shows an untidy bedroom, but on taking a second look you can find many lovely MAGNUM details. The bed is engraved with a unicorn, a half moon and the Sword of Chaos, which also appears on the hands of the huge clock and on the blanket. The carpet on the floor shows the cover of the “Spirit“-album. The “Wings of Heaven“ and the “Magnum II“-covers are lying on the carpet (Matthews had meanwhile designed new covers for “Kingdom of Madness“ and “Magnum II“, when they were reissued by FM Records). Tony’s head is looking at you from inside a mirror, whereas his old haircut is dangling from a stand on a dressing table. The covers of “On A Storyteller’s Night“ and two compilations decorate the walls alongside parts of the “Eleventh Hour“-cover. The “Chase The Dragon“-dragon is sitting next to the window; the drawer handles of the dressing table are MAGNUM-“M“s. Some “Wings Of Heaven“-birds are hanging down from the ceiling. The Storyteller’s walking stick and the little sack are standing between the dressing table and the  big clock can be found on the “On A Storyteller’s Night“-cover, too. In the corner there is a little black toy car that was on Matthew’s original cover design for “Vigilante“ which was not realized. The books on the shelf carry the song titles of the album. Finally there are some coins and cards flying through the room and a jack-in -the-box in the foreground, which was to become the symbol of this album. Matthews also designed a new MAGNUM-logo that differed very much from those of the last years. So the message was clear: back to the roots!

There was a serious misprint in the booklet, though. The lyrics of “The Flood“ were scattered over several pages and partly even included in other songs!

Another connection between Tony And Rodney Matthews was that Tony agreed to play  on a little music project that Rodney recorded with Rudi Dobson that year. It was a three-track-CD inspired by three of Rodney’s paintings for his 1993 calendar. The CD was Called “The House On The Rock” and contained the tracks “Sanctuary”, “Almost Home” and the title track “The House On The Rock”. Rudi played the keyboards, Rodney the drums and Tony the guitar. The CD was recorded in the Zella-Studios (where else!) and is a nice collector’s item today.

Bob and Tony stated in several interviews that this was “a typical MAGNUM album“, a return to the good old (and successful) style. The press didn’t like the album particularly, though. Most critics wrote that MAGNUM’s style had become too pop-rock like and foretold hard times for the band.

The first warm-up gigs for the next tour were in Russia as part of a big open air festival in St Petersburg and in Latvia with MARILLION. In October the real tour started, which led them from the UK, supported by MAMA’S BOYS, to the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland (home to the second support act, GOTTHARD), France, Spain, Scandinavia, Ireland and back to England, where they also performed a special Christmas show. The show in Bremen/Germany was featured on TV in an MTV MAGNUM special, in which Bob and Tony were also interviewed.

On the tour the band performed the following songs: “Intro“/ „The Flood“/ „All England’s Eyes“/

”Vigilante“/ „Sleepwalking“/ „Pray For The Day“/Les Morts Dansant“/ „You’re The One“/ „On A Storyteller’s Night“/ „Only In America“/ „Rockin’ Chair“/ „How Far Jerusalem“/ „The Spirit/“Days Of No Trust“/ „Kingdom Of Madness“/ „Drum Solo“/ „Midnight“/ „When The World Comes Down“/

“Sacred Hour“/ „The Last Dance“. Occasionally, they also played “Stormy Weather“ or “Too Much To Ask“. The venues were mostly smaller now as the band had definitely lost the “Wings Of Heaven“ superstar status. The equipment couldn’t match the last ones either, but the band tried to make up for that by giving their best on stage. While they played “Kingdom Of Madness“ Bob had himself carried round the audience on the shoulders of Big Shawn, Tony’s guitar roadie.

The band then parted company with their manager Keith Baker, reportedly because he had meanwhile been mainly managing himself and his purse instead of the band. It is said that he still gets a lot of money from the band’s back catalogue whereas the musicians earn hardly anything with that. After a short time with a professional management company Mark took over most of the band’s managing work.