Jsntgm 025 The Magnificent – Bad Lucky CD

1. 1981 02:15
2. Foreign Legion 02:06
3. Song For Lauren 03:03
4. Working Men’s Club 01:50
5. Hold My Head Up High 03:18
6. BBQ & Grasshoppers 02:31
7. Longshot 02:40
8. Buy More Crap 02:08
9. Walk A Mile In My Jeans 02:42
10. King Of The Denim Jackets 02:25

released April 23, 2012

REVIEWS

By Street Voice – Steve DIY submitted
Bad Lucky: Where have these guys been hiding? What a cracking band! I really got off on this album as it´s just packed with great tunes from start to finish. From the opening moments of ´1981´ this album just got more enjoyable by the track and there´s not been that many punk albums that have made me feel like this in recent times.

Its great to see a socially aware band have good tunes as it sure beats listening to ´D-Beat´ bands. Tracks that did it for me include ´Foreign Legion´, ´1990´, ´Hold My Drink Up High´ and ´Buy More Crap´. As well as great music there´s also a top production. If you love catchy punk rock then the Magnificent are well worth checking out. 9/10

Rich 27 on PunkNews.org
After the “1981” single last year and the recent split with Noise By Numbers, the Magnificent’s follow-up to their first album Pay The Crimes quickly became a must have no-brainer for me given the band’s propensity for being able to write good, honest punk rock tuneage that almost always hits the mark.
Opening the album is that aforementioned single, looking back just over 30 years now to the events of the day, many which had quite an impact on the world and others that really shouldn’t have but did. This is a good choice to commence proceedings with its rollicking sing-along quality and is followed by “Foreign Legion,” which begins with a Pinhead Gunpowder-style guitar, some Ali McMordie (Stiff Little Fingers) bass lines and more of the catchiness one attributes to this trio. When you’ve got one song named after a year in the last millennium why not have another, so next up is “1990,” and with the refrain “My head’s still moving on but my heart’s in 1990″ it’s a nostalgia trip of sorts. There are some brief but nicely placed female vocals towards the end of this track which I like.
Working Mens Club (Part 3)” is a more upbeat, thrashier affair with quite a bouncy bass (reminding me of Rancid a bit), giving you a chance to punch the air and sing-along for a whole one minute and 48 seconds–the shortest song on the record. “Hold My Drink Up High” has a riff at the start which reminds me of something I’ve heard before but for the life of me I cannot recall what. Still, it grabs my attention and once again provides the chance to get those fists in the air as the Magnificent does what it does so well.
“BBQ & Grasshoppers” slows things down a bit and has a real anthemic quality to it, reminding me that it’s not all about leaping around like a 46-year-old idiot in your kitchen and I thank the band for giving me that breather. “Longshot” is delivered with slightly gruffer vocals and has a rockier feel to it which adds something different to the album.
“Buy More Crap” resonates with me especially as a lot of the Western world has just come out of the annual spending festival of Christmas. This addresses the homogenous nature of the world and how so many people are almost programmed like robots to just buy crap constantly. The positive message in the song is that we should all try to grab back our towns and make them more than revolving around shopping centers and those temples of greed that people flock to purchase more useless items.
“Walk A Mile In My Jeans” has a Jawbreaker feel at times and there are some similarities between the sound of the two bands but not enough for anyone to consider that the Brits are just copying their Trans-Atlantic cousins.
The final track, “King of the Denim Jacket,” is also featured on the split with Noise By Numbers and really by now all you need to know is that this is a Magnificent song so it’s going to be good: I’ve been singing “This is My Hollywood” for days now as it’s got stuck in my head and doesn’t want to come out, and to be honest I’m not looking to eject it any time soon.
The Magnificent trades in punk rock tunes of the highest order and does so seemingly with ease, creating a body of work that is fresh and relevant to the 21st century whilst not forgetting the past. You can ignore the comparisons to bands like the Clash and Leatherface (or anyone I might have mentioned), the Magnificent needs to be accepted for being themselves. A final thing that cannot be overlooked it that they also have one of the best guitar sounds I’ve heard in years–it’s a total joy to hear.
This is a joint release between Drunken Sailor Records in the U.K., Dirt Cult Records in the U.S.A. and Eager Beaver Records in Japan.

Underground Communique Disco
The new 10 song album from the Magnificent, from the North of England.
Sometimes compared to the Replacements, the Clash, or Billy Bragg…all we know is that we like what they do. The songs have a way of sinking their teeth into you and never letting go.
These are a part of a small batch of 65 handmade CDr’s, put together to help the band out on tour in the US to have something to sell at shows (bands get taxed big time if they bring merch)!!
http://undercomm.storenvy.com/products/178992-the-magnificent-bad-lucky-cd

Punktastic.com
One of the best bands in the UK release their 2nd LP, Bad Lucky.
Like a mix of The Clash/ Billy Bragg and Leatherface, one of the best albums I have heard for ages and I’m so stoked for this to be finally released.
Wentywoo
http://www.punktastic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=112449&start=0

Moon and Back Music
Let me pose a question: If you were to take the poetic, typically English, story telling of The Clash and combine that with the angst-ridden, raw, pop-punk of (old) Green Day, what would you get? The answer to that is The Magnificent and, In a nutshell, their latest offering sounds like the bastard child of the aforementioned.

http://moonandbackmusic.com/archives/6666

Whilst Bad Lucky does nothing especially groundbreaking, it is a really solid punk record. Opener, ‘1981″² sets the tone right from the off. It shows that the band aren’t afraid of delving into territories unknown. I mean, how often have you heard a song about a royal wedding with such awesome guitar work? The semi-dystopian world view carries on throughout the entire album, setting it apart from anything else. I mean, there’s thousands of punk bands out there proclaiming their town is the shittest, but no one does it quite as well as The Mags.

Of course, not all of these songs are about decaying towns. ‘Working Mens Club (Part 2)’ “a song that might well be my favourite on the record “focuses on the monotony of the ‘nine to five’ and, presumably, the overall hatred of having to work in a job you hate. This track also offers a change of pace not heard elsewhere on the record, introducing a hard, fast, Descendents-esque sound that would’ve been welcome more than just this once.

There’s also some real good sing-along songs on here too. ‘King Of The Denim Jackets’ springs to mind with it’s catchy opening verse and plethora of ‘woah-ing’ and ‘oh-ing’. Though a resounding cheer of “1990″³ emanating from the crowd at the next Mags show is a safe bet too.

Honestly, there’s very little wrong with Bad Lucky. Alright, there’s a few sketchy lyrics here and there but, more than any record I’ve heard recently, Bad Lucky has a real old school punk swagger about it. A real nostalgia, not all of which is derived from those songs with dates for titles.

Upstarter.com
About once a year I will come across a band that at first listen I don’t love, but I keep goiing back to, then I try to resist buying the album because I am not sure I like it, but then I just bite the bullet and get it anyway. The next thing I know I am waking up with the songs in my head although I may not have listened to it for a while. Then the love affair truly begins. This year’s album that has had that effect on me is Bad Lucky by The Magnificent.

Looking at the album cover I can’t help but be reminded of The Ramones self titled debut album. Then I am reminded of a quote from The Magnificent’s webpage that said “ If you are American, the music sounds English. If you are English, you have never heard of this band.” From there I can’t help but think that just as The Ramones’ debut introduced the world to the now legendary group, it would be nice if Bad Lucky were able to do the same type of thing for The Magnificent.

At times the last statement may seem like wishful thinking, but when I listen I start to think that maybe it is not so far fetched. Bad Lucky has everything that allows punk albums to endure for generations. Not only does it contain slick guitar driven melodies and sing along choruses, the lyrics speak to a generation that doesn’t quite know how to make it’s way in the world. All qualities which allow music to trascend time.

Now only time will tell if this particular album will be considered great 30 + years later (plus they may need to become known in their homeland first too), but if you take the time to listen, it will be something that you keep coming back to for some time to come.

http://upstarter.com/reviews/punk-reviews/the-magnificent-bad-lucky.html

Collective Fanzine
This is the second album from Huddersfield and Leeds punk rockers, The Magnificent. Having not heard their first album yet, I was keen to find out whether they could emulate the high standards they have set on the 7inches I have heard across a whole album. The answer is a resounding “yes – they can!” as this is quite a fine collection of their brand of old school, mid-tempo punk rock. Lyrically the album concentrates on politics, issues and things from modern day life which have affected the band. You know – like squash, coal mining and cutting down trees. Things get off to a good start with previous single “1981” “mid-tempo punk rock about the events of that year. They get quite anthemic at times – see the slower “1990″ and the boisterous “Working Men’s Club (Part 3)” for good examples of fists-in-the-air, anthemic punk rock. If you like that kind of music then you can’t go far wrong with this album. The next song “Hold My Drink Up High” is similarly rowdy. There is a fair amount of trading vocals on the album and both singers get their fair share of lead time which helps to keep it varied. I have to say that “BBQ & Grasshoppers” is an absolute corker too. It starts off with some nice work on the bass and then the guitars, drums and vocals kick in with some nice breakdowns later on “great song! They have an obvious knack for writing catchy punk rock and, clocking in at less than 25 minutes long for 10 songs, this doesn’t outstay its welcome. A word about the production on this album as it’s ideally suited to this type of music. I’m off to check out that first album now…

Punk News . org
After the “1981” single last year and the recent split with Noise By Numbers, the Magnificent’s follow-up to their first album Pay The Crimes quickly became a must have no-brainer for me given the band’s propensity for being able to write good, honest punk rock tuneage that almost always hits the mark.

Opening the album is that aforementioned single, looking back just over 30 years now to the events of the day, many which had quite an impact on the world and others that really shouldn’t have but did. This is a good choice to commence proceedings with its rollicking sing-along quality and is followed by “Foreign Legion,” which begins with a Pinhead Gunpowder-style guitar, some Ali McMordie (Stiff Little Fingers) bass lines and more of the catchiness one attributes to this trio. When you’ve got one song named after a year in the last millennium why not have another, so next up is “1990,” and with the refrain “My head’s still moving on but my heart’s in 1990″ it’s a nostalgia trip of sorts. There are some brief but nicely placed female vocals towards the end of this track which I like.

“Working Mens Club (Part 3)” is a more upbeat, thrashier affair with quite a bouncy bass (reminding me of Rancid a bit), giving you a chance to punch the air and sing-along for a whole one minute and 48 seconds–the shortest song on the record. “Hold My Drink Up High” has a riff at the start which reminds me of something I’ve heard before but for the life of me I cannot recall what. Still, it grabs my attention and once again provides the chance to get those fists in the air as the Magnificent does what it does so well.

“BBQ & Grasshoppers” slows things down a bit and has a real anthemic quality to it, reminding me that it’s not all about leaping around like a 46-year-old idiot in your kitchen and I thank the band for giving me that breather. “Longshot” is delivered with slightly gruffer vocals and has a rockier feel to it which adds something different to the album.

“Buy More Crap” resonates with me especially as a lot of the Western world has just come out of the annual spending festival of Christmas. This addresses the homogenous nature of the world and how so many people are almost programmed like robots to just buy crap constantly. The positive message in the song is that we should all try to grab back our towns and make them more than revolving around shopping centers and those temples of greed that people flock to purchase more useless items.

“Walk A Mile In My Jeans” has a Jawbreaker feel at times and there are some similarities between the sound of the two bands but not enough for anyone to consider that the Brits are just copying their Trans-Atlantic cousins.

The final track, “King of the Denim Jacket,” is also featured on the split with Noise By Numbers and really by now all you need to know is that this is a Magnificent song so it’s going to be good: I’ve been singing “This is My Hollywood” for days now as it’s got stuck in my head and doesn’t want to come out, and to be honest I’m not looking to eject it any time soon.

The Magnificent trades in punk rock tunes of the highest order and does so seemingly with ease, creating a body of work that is fresh and relevant to the 21st century whilst not forgetting the past. You can ignore the comparisons to bands like the Clash and Leatherface (or anyone I might have mentioned), the Magnificent needs to be accepted for being themselves. A final thing that cannot be overlooked it that they also have one of the best guitar sounds I’ve heard in years–it’s a total joy to hear.

This is a joint release between Drunken Sailor Records in the U.K., Dirt Cult Records in the U.S.A. and Eager Beaver Records in Japan.

Oklahoma Lefty
The Magnificent “Bad Lucky CD (JSNTGM)
Although Leeds punkers The Magnificent have been around a while this is my first encounter with the trio. I usually trust my initial impressions when hearing a band for the first time, and this impression is definitely a winner. Kicking the album off with a swagger and a lick straight from the pages of the rock n roll history books, opening tune “1981″³ sets the lads off on a winning course right from the start, with a really powerful anthem. It kind of reminds me of Liverpool’s own Down & Outs so no surprise when I saw in the liner notes that Mark from the said act adds his backing vocals to a couple of tracks on here as well as co-writing the opener! On further inspection the name Jeff Pezzati as one of the backing vocalists also jumped out from the page, blimey how can you go wrong when you’ve got the singer of Naked Raygun/ The Bomb on your album?! But enough namedropping, as The Magnificent more than hold their own in terms of songwriting, sound and style.

If there’s one thing I would like to have seen here it would be a more comprehensive packaging “especially with cd sales being in a sorry state, but it’s a minor gripe.
I believe they started out with more than just a nod in Rancid’s direction, but they have definitely outgrown this and their style is much more melodic and straight forward “you could easily see these fellas rocking alongside Dillinger Four or Snuff for example. There is a streetpunk touch on a couple of songs, and all in all this is a really solid album that is proud to wear the punk badge on its sleeve.

Steve Scanner
MAGNIFICENT, THE – Bad Lucky {JSNTGM} This, ladies and gents, could well be Album of the Year. If not, it’s clearly Top 5 material. Picking up where the band’s debut ‘Pay The Crimes’ left off, this features 10 scintillating tracks that fuse OFF WITH THEIR HEADS Punk, SNUFF circa ‘Reach’ and the song writing prowess of THE JAM. It’s a tad unfair saying the best tracks are opener ‘1981’ and closer ‘King Of The Denim Jackets’ as that’s really detrimental to the other eight tracks in between. If that was so, I wouldn’t be telling you about the excellent chorus in both ‘Hold My Drink Up High’ (featuring Jeff Pezzati and Jeff Dean of NAKED RAYGUN/ THE BOMB) and ‘Buy More Crap’. Nor would I be telling you about the groove and lyrical greatness of ‘1990’. Ultimately, I wouldn’t be telling you that on most other albums, any of those eight tracks would be an undisputed highlight. There is no filler here; just solid, well-constructed and intelligent Punk Rock. Only real negative (as with the debut album in fact), is the rather sparse packaging; while the vocals have a resoundingly clear delivery, a lyric sheet would be appreciated. Bar that – already a classic here in the House Of Scanner. (12.08.12)

Activate The Pit
So, you’re approaching thirty and instead of growing up and getting on with being an adult, you’re still playing in a punk band and working in Primark. By the time your parents were your age, they were married with 2.4 kids and holidaying in Bognor Regis. They had a property boom to look forward to, a secure job and a generous pension scheme. Their destinies were all but written.

‘Bad Lucky’, the new album from Leeds three-pieceTHE MAGNIFICENT, is largely a reaction to being born at the wrong point in history. Beginning with ‘1981’, which is effectively a musical pastiche of the newspaper headlines of that year, it reminds us of the kind of Britain that they and their peers grew up in, evoking the Toxteth and Brixton riots of that year. Nine years later, the biggest problem in their lives was England crashing out of the World Cup Finals. Third track ‘1990’, with its rousing chorus “my head’s still moving on but my heart’s still in 1990″, may deal with trivial matters, but for many of us, that heartbreaking moment is one of our earliest memories and worthy of a mention.

Just in case you’re wondering, not all of the tracks are named after years. Clocking in under two minutes, the jacked-up hardcore flurry of ‘Working Men’s Club’ could have been written in Thatcherite Britain, while ‘Buy More Crap’, with its empowering refrain “it’s about time you made this town your own”, attacks 21st century materialism.

A slightly weak album closer in ‘King of the Denim Jackets’ is the only criticism of an album which is both reflective and poignant, while retaining a youthful spirit and positive outlook throughout.

Across the pond, Pittsburgh punks Anti-Flag have released their own protest album ‘he General Strike’ which tackles similar themes to that of ‘Bad Lucky’ but where their American peers rely heavily on using tired old adages, such as “get up, get up, your voices are needed, become the pulse of the revolution”, THE MAGNIFICENT have taken a long hard look at the collective chagrin of a disillusioned generation and decided that to identify with people in their music, all they had to do was say what everyone was thinking:

“Tell me, tell me what will I grow up to be, tell me when will I stop trying to make ends meet.”