September sees the release of ‘A Strange Inheritance’, Nick Magnus’ highly unusual, nautically themed, concept album, concerning itself with the tale behind an unusual inheritance. This being a chest full of artefacts received anonymously from an unknown relative, the artefacts taken together telling a story of bureaucratic incompetence, harsh decisions taken without much, if any, compassion or sense of fairness and certainly not in the best interests of the victims.
The opening track, An Almost Silent Witness, sets the scene for what follows and is enlivened by the fine harmonica playing of one Steve Hackett, who began his musical life voyage playing this very instrument having been greatly impressed and inspired by the playing of Lou Adler and Paul Butterfield, along with Britain’s very own John Mayall, all players who brought the humble mouth organ to a whole new slew of musicians on their early recordings. This opening track has a lot of interesting things going on during its ten plus minute running time. What makes it unusual is that the teller of the story appears to be the brightly coloured bird who appears to have seen the entire story as it unfolded. He is a most reliable narrator as he tells his sad tale. The great orchestrations and the splendid harmonica solo adding to this nautically themed song admirably and with a certain panache. It really does an excellent job of scene setting as the tale unfolds with observations on the nature of man and his insatiable greed.
Blood Money features the wonderful vocal skills of Tony Patterson of Re-Genesis. It is a tale of greed and how the local people in the Caribbean are ripped off by the marauding interlopers, who take their silver and gold and leave them wooden crosses, not a very fair exchange at all! The song is greatly enlivened by the dextrous acoustic guitar of the talented John Greenwood of Unitopia. In Philadelphia we learn of how young couples are forcibly torn apart and ostracised with devastating consequences. It’s a very moving song with excellent orchestrations and sounds that convey the deep sadness contained in the lyrics.
This album is one that will touch your heart and cause you to wonder and rail against the injustice of our world and how our history is littered with tales of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, something that lies adjacent to greed and the lust for gold. The next track, At Sea At Night, concerns itself with our heroine’s travels to the colonies and how she feels lost lonely and adrift. It’s a rather mournful track with suitably downbeat music and performances but still manages to convey its emotions exceedingly well. Four Winds is a lengthy instrumental that portrays the four winds and their character and how they interact with the world today. It is in four parts each signifying a wind and its behaviour. This superb track is heavily orchestral in tone with massed choirs and orchestrations featured heavily. It is an excellent listen as you can sense the malevolence that is characterised in the various winds and it also acts as a good break before we take our tale further into cannibalism and piracy before we reach a kind of conclusion.
Welcome To The Island introduces us to the very different way of life the island offers, not all of which is healthy or even sane! Black And Scarlet concerns itself with piracy and how our two heroes find themselves on the wrong side of the law, becoming pirates and outcasts as a result. To Whom It May Concern brings this brilliantly involving tale to its conclusion, drawing together the disparate threads of our story. We see our heroine reveals that the life she has lived has not bought happiness but rather has caused hurt and pain for those around her and she ends it with a plea that we live by reason and not by fear. A cautionary tale if ever there was one!
‘A Strange Inheritance’ is a highly enjoyable and compelling album from Nick Magnus and one that is a bit different from the norm. Like a lot of the best albums, it repays repeated listens as herein lies a real treasure trove of delights for the brave hearted to discover as they take a journey through uncharted waters. I highly recommended it and thoroughly enjoyed it, the artwork is also really strong and the production is clear and well defined.
Released 16th September, 2024.
Pre-order direct from the artist’s website here:
Nick Magnus, Keyboards, Composer, Producer (magnus-music.com)
Watch the video for Blood Money, featuring John Greenwood and Tony Patterson: