Magnum: Kingdom Of Madness (1978)

 One of the things I most love about music is that, 40+ years into my obsession, I am still finding longstanding bands with enormous catalogues who totally knock me out. Most are ones I’ve always known about but never did the deep dive - Focus and Meat Puppets are two of my more recent “discoveries”. My latest, however, is Magnum, which is a band I’d heard of for years but never actually checked out (for some reason I always assumed they were just a dumb-rock band like April Wine or something). I guess it’s better to be late to the party than to not show at all, because this band kicks ass. They rock, they prog, they don’t sing about dumb shit, and Tony Clarkin (RIP) can totally shred. After the usual YouTube dive, I came across a copy of their 1978 debut out in the wild, so I took that as a two-fold sign - it was time to give them a go & I would do so in chronological order (their next few albums are en route). I will reserve my usual verbose review until I get to know this band better but I look very forward to continuing on the path.

Steve Hackett: Voyage Of The Acolyte (1975)

 I’ve had this record for at least thirty years but never really paid it any mind until now. I dig it. A lot. I’ve been meaning to look into Hackett’s work….might as well start at the beginning.

Phish: Round Room (2002)

 In late 2002, Phish came roaring back from their first split with this sprawling album, which came as a surprise. Essentially culled from rehearsals, these recordings capture these brand new songs in a raw, loose, fresh, unpolished presentation.

While Round Room provided several future big guns such as “Pebbles & Marbles”, “Waves”, “Walls Of The Cave”, “Seven Below”, and the instant mega-classic, “46 Days”, this album (as with most of their post-Farmhouse releases) is chocked full of filler that very rarely gets played live - lots of pleasant, mid tempo numbers, some better than others. “All Of These Dreams” is a cool tune, and both of Mike Gordon’s contributions - “Mock Song” and the title track - are clever and fun (and criminally neglected on stage). “Friday” holds the distinction as the worst song to appear on a Phish album, and fortunately has long vanished from rotation (seriously, it’s so bad…cool end jam tho), and “Mexican Cousin”, while a fun party song, is pretty dumb and has not stood the test of time. “Anything But Me” is a nice enough song, but finds Phish at their most lukewarm, while “Thunderhead” mostly serves as an odd extended intro to the epic “Waves” (itself the springboard for many a mighty jam on stage). 

Given that these tracks are derived from rehearsal recordings (in The Barn) there is an intimacy that could never be replicated and it’s fun to hear these tunes - especially “46 Days”, one of their most versatile live songs - in such an embryonic state, with none of their eventual flourishes and no studio gloss. It’s almost like eavesdropping….and I love it. 

This album marked the dawn of the 2.0 era, which lasted precisely 20 months and two albums before the band split again. This was Phish’s “difficult” period, and there was a lot of darkness surrounding Phish (and its scene) at this time, lots of demons doing lots of damage. Fortunately they gave it another reat and, after almost five years, Phish returned mightily, and are still going strong today. 

***For those who really want to eavesdrop, several additional songs were recorded but never released or given much/any attention on stage such as “Discern” and “Spices” (both of which are brilliantly complex), “Birthday Boys” (which had already appeared on Oysterhead’s album), a version of Jon Fishman’s “Tomorrow’s Song” that far surpasses the one from Undermind, a couple of killer Mike Gordon tunes - “Couch Lady” and the criminally neglected “Gatekeeper” - as well as several others . These tracks basically make up an entire bonus album and while they do not exist on vinyl it is well worth seeking these tracks out.

The Monkees: Changes (1970)

 The questionable 1970 contractual obligation album, featuring only half of the Monkees, and none of the charm of those early singles. After spending the previous three years as a self-produced entity, The Monkees handed over the production reins to Jeff Barry, who wrote most of the songs as well. And so really this is more a Jeff Barry album featuring Dolenz & Jones than it is a Monkees record. When you consider it that way, this is actually a pretty decent album. The songs are bubblegum, but a bit more grown up, and even Davy’s tracks are solid. Barry was primarily doing the Archies at the time and so much of this sounds like that, except with more recognizable voices. 

By this point, the Monkee era was clearly over. The show had been kaput for two years (but was in reruns), their movie career stalled, half of the lineup was long gone, and their fanbase had outgrown them. They weren’t even touring. It really was just a formality. And so Changes was totally ignored (rarely mentioned even now) and never really given a fair shake. 

They did one more single and then stuck a pin in it, closing out their initial run and leaving this poor record in the “nadir” column. It’s worth a reassessment.

Katzenjammer: Rockland (2015)

 Of all the great broken-up bands to ever exist, were I given the power to resurrect one and one only, it would almost certainly be Katzenjammer (my second favorite Norwegian band). Their split was way premature, and did not need to happen. They could have gone off and made solo albums while still keeping the band on track. They really were on the way to becoming a pretty big deal. Fortunately they left three phenomenal albums behind. 

This is their third and it finds them moving away from what my sister refers to as “psycho circus music” and exploring Appalachian vibes, among others (folk, pop, indie, etc).  Similar to bands like Sloan, all four members wrote and sang their own songs, and performed them on a wide variety of instruments (watching them shift between songs was one of the best parts of their live shows….virtuosos on everything, they).

Every song on this album is great but (as was often the case) the most compelling material came from Sol Heilo. “Oh My God” and “Bad Girl” are super cool but it’s “Shine Like Neon Rays”, with its toy piano riff, that stands at the top, possibly the best song this band ever played.

Hopefully one day this band will get its shit together and reform. Until then, at least we have the records.