Wise Blood

The music on this three-CD set (released in 1997) won a Pulitzer Prize, but it's not without its faults. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis tells the story of two Africans (singers Miles Griffith and Cassandra Wilson) who are captured, brought to the United States and sold as slaves. Because the male had formerly been a prince while the female had been a commoner, he considers himself to be her superior. He asks for but then ignores the advice of a wise man (Jon Hendricks), gets caught trying to escape, discovers what "soul" is, finally accepts the female as his equal and eventually escapes with her to freedom. Marsalis wrote a dramatic, episodic and generally thought-provoking three-hour work, utilizing the three singers plus 15 other musicians (all of whom have significant musical parts to play) in a massive 27-part suite.

For a musician like Tony Clarkin who composes constantly, viewing and selecting the material he has written is always one of the most significant moments during the creation process of a new Magnum album. On the one hand it s a luxury to have the opportunity to separate the wheat from the chaff and to be in a position to use only the strongest numbers. On the other hand it's also a difficult process, because after all the creator of those songs has grown fond of every single one of them. I usually start composing for our next album immediately after the release of the previous one, Clarkin explains. When Escape From The Shadow Garden arrived at the stores in March 2014, my thoughts had already turned to our next recording.

AC/DC was fast becoming one of rock's top live acts by the late '70s. Few others could match the band's electrifying live performances: Angus Young's never-ending energy and wise-ass antics, Bon Scott's whiskey-soaked vocals, and the rest of the band's penchant for nailing simple, yet extremely effective and memorable, riffs and grooves…