This isn't the easiest of Magnum albums to get your head around.

Word from Magnum Central was that this album sees them return to their "Rockier" sound. I wasn't aware that they had actually left it behind. What I think was meant was that this album is less ballad-overload and more heads down stuff. The opening title track is classic, old-style Magnum with a strong chorus. I was unsure what the lyrics were about, but 'Crazy Old Mothers' seems to encourage grannies to riot, featuring some nice keyboards from Mark Stanway.

With 'Gypsy Queen' I was starting to think that, lyrically, this was lining up to be a pretty dark album, while 'Princess In Rags (The Cult)' explains how some people can mess with our heads and change our whole lives. Starting up-tempo, it quickly calms down before coming back with a bit of a stomp for the chorus. There is also some nifty guitar work on here from Tony Clarkin.

'Your Dreams Won't Die' is one of those songs that Magnum do so well; easy on the ears and pops into your head hours later, yet once again the darkness is there with the line "that cold assassin the passing of time", which, with the passing of so many music icons in such a short space of time recently, is probably quite prophetic. 'Afraid Of The Night' contains something I have never heard in a Magnum song before: a Waltz for the middle eight. 'Quiet Rhapsody' starts with a moody synth and a cool drum intro but the tempo quickly beefs up and, strangely, the lyrics are probably the least dark on here.

I feel 'Twelve Men Wise And Just' will become a live classic. A slow and melodic starter that really opens out, and with a nice tempo change part way through, reprised at the end. 'Don't Cry Baby' is the album closer, a ballad with a hint of an African drum beat; another "happy" song about people parting company (I think).

This isn't the easiest of Magnum albums to get your head around. Clarkin obviously had a theme, but it is not all that easy to keep up with. The songs will probably mean different things to different people, and maybe they were written to make people think. Maybe it's just me being a little dim, and missing something that's obvious, or maybe not, as I am still thinking.

Andy Brailsford