12. Opening The Chapter & Verse-Archives

In early 1993 there were talks between MAGNUM and their first record label Jet Records who wanted to issue a compilation of older songs. When the band had stormed the charts there had already been compilations galore. All former record companies were busily issuing them or selling the rights to other labels without the band being involved at any stage. None of these was really interesting for the fans because they didn't offer anything new. However, this time the band agreed to cooperate with Jet and supplied rare and previously unreleased songs.
   The CD/LP was released on 13th April 1993 under the title “Archive“ and contained twelve songs: “Sea Bird“, “Stormbringer“, “Slipping Away“, “Captain America“, “Master Of Disguise“, “Without Your Love“, “Find The Time“, “Everybody Needs“, “Kingdom Of Madness“, “Lights Burned Out“, “The Word“ and “True Fine Love“.
   The first four tracks were those from the first demo of 1974. The following four were the songs dropped during the “Kingdom Of Madness“-sessions. The versions of “Kingdom Of Madness“ and “Lights Burned Out“ dated from 1979,“The Word“ and “True Fine Love“ were recorded in 1982.“The Word“ was a version involving the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Louis Clarke, who is well known for some “Stars on 45“ records and work with the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA and ASIA. It was originally released as B-side of the “Just Like An Arrow“ 12“.“True Fine Love“ hadn't made it onto the “Eleventh Hour“ album because, according to Tony it was “too rock'n'roll“ for the album. The cover was a Rodney Matthews picture that showed peace pigeons breeding in the gun barrels of a rusty tank.
   The other compilation, which came out on May 10th was called “Chapter & Verse“ and was a Polydor release. This one was also put together in cooperation with the band as they wanted to avoid a fan rip-off with yet another collection of all-too-well-known material. It contained fifteen songs: “Rockin' Chair“, “Vigilante“, “C’est La Vie“, “Heartbroke & Busted“, “On A Storyteller's Night“, “Start Talking Love“, “Mama“, “Lonely Night“, “Crying Time“, “Midnight (Remix)“,“It Must Have Been Love“, “Days Of No Trust“, “Don't Wake The Lion“, “Just Like An Arrow“, and “When The World Comes Down“.
   Most songs were the normal studio album versions or taken from the “Spirit“ live album. “C’est La Vie“ had been the B-side of “Start Talking Love“, “Crying Time“ had backed “It Must Have Been Love“. The “Midnight“-remix was the former 12“-version and the live version of “Just Like An Arrow“ had originally been a bonus track on the “It Must Have Been Love“ 12“. The cover showed the symbols of the Polydor albums, a giant Sword of Chaos is in the centre and orders shaped like pentagrams are hanging down from the top. All around the picture there is smoke in front of a purple background.
   Polydor also published a video under the same title that contained all clips that had been on the “From Midnight To L.A.“ video plus some live footage from the “On The Wings Of Heaven Live“ video. The only new item was the “Heartbroke & Busted“ clip.
   MAGNUM staged a little UK tour to promote the album. This was followed by a gig in Bad Wörishofen/Germany in summer. They revived some old songs for the set and even used the Prokoviev intro. The setlist was: “Intro“/ „Back To Earth“/ „All England's eyes“/ „Sleepwalking“/
“Guitar Solo“/ „C’est La Vie“/ „Soldier Of The Line“/ „On A Storyteller's Night“/ „Sometime Love“/
“Les Morts Dansant“/ „How Far Jerusalem“/ „Only In America/“Days Of No Trust“/ „Vigilante“/
“Kingdom Of Madness“/ „Drum Solo“/ „Midnight“/ „Sacred Hour“ and “When The World Comes Down“. At some gigs “Sleepwalking“ and “C’est La Vie“ were dropped.
   The support act was LIONSHEART. The fans were grateful for MAGNUM playing small venues in places they didn't normally come to, so the audience didn't have to travel to bigger cities this time. The choice of the songs was pretty unusual, especially “Sometime Love“ from the “Vigilante“ album, which had never been a single and “C’est La Vie“, which had originally been a B-side track. “Soldier Of The Line“ got a new piano part.
   The stage decoration consisted of some red banners that had the logos of most of the older albums on them. Remarkable was that, if “Sleepwalking“ was dropped, only one song (“Only In America“) from the last studio album was rendered. This created rumours that MAGNUM themselves didn't believe in the quality of their latest efforts anymore.