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I haven't followed Magnum's work much over recent decades, but I did really like some of the early stuff.
RIP
I remember Magnum posing in Portmerion for The Tube and they were on the line up of my one trip to Monsters of Rock (appalling live sound meant they didn’t really take the place by storm). Magnum were very much local heroes (in later years headlining the Civic in Wolverhampton when they were basically a club band elsewhere) and Tony was the main writer and guitar hero, very much one of those players who was happy not to have endless solos and ‘play for the song.’ He didn’t appear a lot in guitar magazines or get many mentions elsewhere maybe but top musician and every story about him was ‘what a nice man.’
I'm absolutely crushed by this news, Tony was one of my heroes. I know no-one lives forever, and he did remarkably well considering he had a heart attack in 1983, but when the person that wrote the soundtrack to your adult life passes it cuts deep.
Sublime songwriter, classy, tasteful, understated guitarist with terrific tone, and an all round thoroughly decent person.
I think the best description I ever read of his guitar style was from Simon Bradley, who used to roadie for Magnum before entering journalism, calling it 'a steel fist in a velvet glove'.
RIP Tony.
I know that's very superficial but the music did seem to get slicker, more polished around the same time so that was a factor as well.
I was struck by the volume of Heavy Pettin; at the start all I could hear was noise for the first few tracks until my ears got used to it. They were probably playing way louder than any permitted volume limit today! Ah Heavy Pettin... they had a good look and some decent songs but although singer Hamie had big hair is singing voice was IMHO dreadful - an octave above peak Geddy Lee that had dog's barking 10 miles away.
I enjoyed Magnum and even then could see that they were polished from a LOT of live gigs. They were coming to the peak of their UK popularity. They had good songs, Bob Catley has a good voice, and the guitars were tasteful. Probably not glamourous enough to make it big time but I was always pleased to see they could make a living from music for 50 years.