BOB CATLEY – Far Away Live in concert (Recorded In Holland)
CD is numbered 1 -1000 - numbers sent will be anywhere between those two numbers
Release date: 24th April, 2026
CD Catalogue: ESM411
CD Barcode: 5 03128100411 6
TRACK LISTING
1. The Light 8:37
2. The Pain 5:52
3. Dreams 6:42
4. Scream 7:13
5. Far Away 6:21
6. Too Late 5:35
7. Start Talking Love* 4:33
8. Lonely Night* 4:04
9. Storyteller’s Night* 4:44
10. Fear Of The Dark 8:08
11. Les Morts Dansant* 4:42
12. Just Like An Arrow* 3:27
13. A Beautiful Night For Love 5:35
All songs by Gary Hughes (except * by Tony Clarkin)
THE BAND
Bob Catley: Lead vocals
Paul Hodson: Keyboards
Connor Emms: Lead guitar
Chris Walton: Rhythm guitar
Dez Wooton: Drums
Jon Hayward: Bass
Executive producers: Bruce Mee & Khalil Turk
Audio restoration and mastering: Mark Ayres, additional mastering by Fredrik Folkare
Remastered by: Fredrik Folkare
Live photos: Jeff Price
Born in
Aldershot on 11 September 1947,
Catley's family moved to the Tile Cross area of
Birmingham when he was young.
Whilst at college he joined several bands, such as The Smokestacks (Jeff Clark-guitar, Ron Savage-guitar, Derek Danks-bass & Brian Worrell-drums, Life and Clearwater). His first professional band was when he joined local outfit The Capitol Systems. The initial line-up was
Bob Catley (vocals) Paul Sargent (guitar) Paul Whitehouse (bass), Dave Bailey (keyboards) and
Bob Moore (drums). Shortly afterward they changed their name to Paradox, inspired by a science-fiction novel. A one-off deal was arranged with Mercury after Paradox had come to the attention of
Francis Rossi and
Rick Parfitt. The tracks were "Ever Since I Can Remember", backed with "Goodbye Mary". In addition, they recorded "Mary Colinto" and "Somebody Save Me". All of these songs were written by Dave Morgan. Paradox played festivals in the Netherlands and Italy before splitting up upon their return to the UK in 1970.
Formed in 1972, Magnum throughout the next 16 years consisted mainly of
Bob Catley on vocals and Tony Clarkin on guitar. Magnum began as the
house band at
Birmingham's famous
Rum Runner night club (later the home of
Duran Duran). They began to develop their own style by playing Clarkin's songs at a residency at The Railway Inn, in Birmingham's Curzon Street, in 1976. Joining Clarkin and
Catley were drummer
Kex Gorin and bassist
Dave Morgan (later a member of
ELO). Their most notable success during these early years was the
Jeff Glixman produced
Chase The Dragon (1982) which reached No. 17 in the UK, and included several songs that would be mainstays of the band's
live set, notably ‘Soldier of the Line’, ‘Sacred Hour’ and ‘The Spirit’.
Subsequently, Clarkin decided to maintain a tighter control, and after their initial mainstream success, the band lost their major label backing and returned to a more personal level of production.
This finally found the band splitting and the formation of Hard Rain in 1995, which saw Clarkin pursue a more Pop orientated direction with a band that included Sue McCloskey on lead vocals. This new direction didn’t sit well with Catley, and after a headline performance at The Gods in the late 90s, a conversation with Bruce Mee of Now & Then Records saw Catley agree with a decision which eventually led to his debut solo album, ‘The Tower’. This release was completely written by Gary Hughes of Ten, with the writing completely decided to be in the vein of classic Magnum. The album itself was recorded by various members of Ten, including the amazing Vinny Burns (Dare) on guitar. On release, the many positive reviews concluded that the release of ‘The Tower’ had succeeded beyond its wildest imagination…..and Bob Catley’s solo career had been launched with amazing success!!
After the great success of ‘The Tower’, Bob and Gary got together again for the follow-up – ‘Legends’. While not a full-blown concept album, each track was written about legendary figures from literature, mythology and real-life. Where else would one see songs about Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe standing should to shoulder with tales of Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera, Medusa and the Hydra amongst others.
It was during the tour to support ‘Legends’ that Bob played at the renowned Lokerse Festival in Belgium, using members from Native Cain, along with Paul Hodson (Hard Rain/Ten) on keyboards, as his backing band. With a set consisting of tracks from his first two solo albums, as well as a fair amount of Magnum classics, this was a show to go down is history – and the fervent crowd certainly added to the spectacle!!
The release is on both CD and also double vinyl, adorned with artwork by the legendary Rodney Matthews.
As a fitting end to our collection of Bob Catley albums, this is one release that fans of Magnum, and quality Melodic Rock, should certainly add to their collection!