(02 September 2007) The British progressive band and Musical Discoveries featured artist Magenta were selected to play at NEARfest 2007. Just prior to the festival, the band produced an album with some of their most sought after material. The Singles (Tigermoth Productions (UK) TMR002, 2007) is the first release on the band's own label.

Says Rob Reed about the album, "The first reason for doing the album was to get definitive versions of the songs recorded. We'd been playing some of the songs live for three years and we now had Dan [Fry] on bass, and he'd brought his own character to the songs as they'd developed. Also, the original versions had been recorded quite quickly and we wanted to get high quality versions of the songs down, as we'd done with "Speechless." It was great to take a bit more time with them and record them properly. Also a lot of prog fans don’t like buying singles, they’d much rather have the album format, and at 79 minutes we certainly have an album's worth of material. We can delete the singles now."

Reed continues, "When we recorded them the first time around, it was all quite rushed. We'd write a song and record it straight away, and people would learn their parts as we were recording. Now we've done these versions and I’m really pleased with the way they've come out. We've always done shorter tunes, so it's been great to do an album of shorter songs. We were doing the "Speechless" track for the single, and that inspired us to go back and look at the other songs, particularly as we had some new gear--new microphones, for instance, and new drums, so we had a great sound."

"We finished the "Speechless" songs (see review), then we recorded the rest of the album over about three weeks. It was a bit of a rush, as is usual in the Magenta camp and I gave myself a ridiculous deadline of one of the gigs to get it all finished. We'd rehearse the live set then I'd grab people to do various bits while we were having a tea break. Some of the songs do contain parts of the original recordings, though. I kept a few of the best bits, but the drums, bass, vocals and keyboards are all pretty much completely re-done."

About the album as a whole, Reed added, "We've bent over backwards to make sure the album stands up on its own. A lot of work has gone into giving people value for money, and making sure the new versions were as good as possible without being total rehashes of the previous version. Looking back at it now, I think it actually sounds like a band album in its own right, so I’m very happy with it."

The Singles is comprised of Magenta and Trippa classics, including: "Speechless" (originally a Trippa track popularized by Magenta), "Anger," "Broken," "Lemminkainen's Lament" (originally released only as a bonus track outside the UK), "I'm Alive," "Cold," "King of the Skies," "Call Me," "Night and Day," "Essence of Love" and "Sunshine Saviour." The CD also includes original Magenta bonus tracks: "Opus 3," "Pride" (full version), and "Sloth" (Orchestral Mix). The album runs 79 minutes and, despite being made up of "singles" works as a cohesive whole.

The Singles is a tremendous collection for Magenta enthusiasts whether newcomers to the band or longtime fans. The fourteen tracks capture the sound of the current lineup and have been recorded with the oustanding production quality expected from the band with Christina's vocals right up front where our readers like them. Watch for the Trippa album Sorry this autumn!