ARVAN'S PAGE

The first Magnum record I bought was the Magnum Live EP. My reason for buying it, well, I was into ELO at the time and they were on Jet records, I liked rock music and I knew Magnum played rock, and I was quite taken with the mailed fist on the cover (check out the scan on the Index Page), so I parted with my £1.15 and brought home the two seven inch discs. I remember to this day, 20 years later, the thrill I got when I heard Kingdom of Madness for the first time, this 1979 Live version still remains one of my favourite Magnum tracks.

I first went to see Magnum in 1985, Bob, Tony & Wally, Jim Simpson on Drums and Eddie George on Keyboards. Tony in those days was sporting long hair, muttonchop sideburns and the black hat, from then on the beard and hair grew longer and longer each time I went to see the band. I remember being quite shocked on the Sleepwalking tour in 1992 when Tony appeared with no hat, a shaven head and a goatee beard. I saw Magnum regularly from 1985 until their finish in 1995 after that I saw Hard Rain and Bob's solo tour. They were and are always excellent in concert.

This site came about because when I got connected up to the internet I found a few Magnum sites with Discographies - but from them I had trouble working out what Magnum songs I didn't already have in my collection.

I decided that what I would like was a list of all the Magnum songs ever recorded and the different versions of them and the albums, singles etc that they could be found on - and that became the Song List. From there it was an obvious step to create the complete Magnum Discography, the Album List, Singles List and Video List. From creating the Song List it was a small step to start to collect all the tracks I didn't already have, so over the last few months I have become a Magnum Record Collector.

My philosophy on Collecting is that it should be a pleasurable thing, collecting has become a hobby. In these days of On-Line shopping it would actually be quite easy to just buy almost every recording Magnum ever did - at a high price. I go to charity shops, car boot sales, jumble sales, junk shops, second hand record shops and scour through the stock in the hope of finding an elusive Magnum record - and this way is cheap. I will not pay a lot of money except where there is a rarity value to be considered. 7" singles - pay up to a £1, 12" and CD singles up to £2, vinyl albums up to £4. almost all the Magnum catalogue is still available on new CD's - but some of the older compilation albums are out of print - but can be picked up for £5 or £6. There are 108 items listed on the Album List (different record companies / Catalogue numbers) and 72 items on the Singles List. Thats 180 items to collect without starting on Overseas Catalogue numbers. My collection is still in its infancy, out of the 180 items I have 49. Just over one quarter - it will take me a long time to get the other three quarters ! ! Out of the 242 different song versions I have all but 27. The priority for my collection has to be to get hold of the 'missing' songs.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my Magnum site, I hope you found it interesting. If you have any comments please E-mail me. This is my first attempt at a web site, so don't be too critical please ! This site was uploaded on 28 January 2000.

Projects planned for future site updates - the Magnum Rock family tree, - a full Magnum tourdate listing, - completing the discography pictures, - full Song Lyrics linked to each song title, - adding more details to the individual album pages..

Site Update March 4th 2000

Since the site first went on line I have been busy building up my collection, searching the second hand record shops, buying stuff from on-line auctions etc. Highlights I have found lately are the autographed copy of 'Goodnight L.A.' and the 'Foundation' box set. I have managed to get hold of copies of some of the rarer compilation albums which have let me I also have been seeking out the records made by all the past members of Magnum, One day I will get a complete list of recordings by every member of Magnum up on this site

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