Acoustic immortality for Bob Catley

Mention the name Bob Catley to rock fans of a certain age and you tend to get one of two reactions – 'What a voice' and 'What a showman', writes Ian Harvey.

The Magnum frontman spent his musical youth in and around Birmingham but lives these days in Staffordshire.

And he's enthused about a busy year which has seen him release his sixth solo album, Immortal, record Magnum's forthcoming album, Into the Valley of the Moon King, and embark on a solo acoustic tour which has taken him around Europe and which arrives in Wolverhampton on May 23.

Magnum can normally be guaranteed to pack out the Wulfrun Hall but Catley acknowledges that an acoustic show is more of a niche prospect and so is delighted that the original plan to play the Little Civic has now been moved to the larger Civic bar.

"I've been promoted to the bar in the Civic," he says. "It holds roughly 300 people. That's not bad for an acoustic gig because it's an acquired taste.

"So it's a smaller crowd than with Magnum but they're very enthusiastic."

The gig was originally scheduled for April 4, but had to be put back after Bob's original guitarist, Wolverhampton-based Vince O'Regan, had to withdraw.

Luckily Catley was able to call on the help of Vinny Burns, the guitarist who played on his first three solo albums. After frantic rehearsals and a quick reshuffle of dates the tour was saved, and has been a great success.

The night after the Wolverhampton gig Catley and Burns will also appear at the Acoustic Festival Of Britain at Catton Hall on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border.

Catley says: "Vince made himself unavailable so I rang Vinny and said would you be interested, because Vince can't do it. We've just come back from Europe and it's been brilliant."

He is delighted to be working with Burns again, declaring: "I want to work with him now on anything solo."

But he is happy with the results on Immortal which was recorded with a guitarist the singer has never actually met.

Immortal's 13 tracks are typical Catley, epic, melodic and uplifting, and were all written by young Swedish hotshot Magnus Karlsonn of melodic rockers Starbreaker, who communicated with the singer by phone, honing the recordings until Catley was ready to add his vocals.

"I'm very pleased with it," he says. "The only involvement I had on it was my vocals, everything else was done while I wasn't there.

"I never actually met Magnus Karlsonn but I spoke to him on the phone. He kept asking what direction I wanted the songs to go in and he kept sending them to me and they got better and better. I never met the guy. Maybe I will one day."

Fans at Wolverhampton can look forward to a set which takes in material from all of Catley's solo albums, plus a couple of songs which Vinny Burns has links to from his varied musical past which includes playing with the likes of Ten, Dare, and Asia.

But there won't be any Magnum songs in the set.

"I don't do any Magnum songs, I like to keep Magnum separate, they belong with the Magnum crowd.

"Once the acoustic festival is over the new Magnum album comes out June 15 and then I'll turn into a Magnum person."

Into the Valley of the Moon King follows on in much the same vein at the critically-acclaimed Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow and we share a laugh about the elaborate album titles dreamed up by Magnum's guitarist and songwriter Tony Clarkin.

"Yeah, where did he get that from?" laughs the singer.

"We don't do little titles, they get longer and longer. Vigilante was the shortest one we ever did . . . and that's four syllables!"

Catley and Clarkin's musical partnership goes back to the early 70s and includes a long and varied career which has seen them release a string of classic albums including On A Storyteller's Night, Chase The Dragon and Wings Of Heaven.

They even broke into the singles charts (and on to Top Of The Pops) in the late 80s with the singles Days of No Trust, Start Talking Love and It Must Have Been Love.

Catley describes Clarkin as "the most underrated songwriter in the world ever", adding: "I couldn't hope to work with a better guy.

"All those songs he's written over the years and all the albums are completely different. That's because of the quality of the songwriting . . . and my voice of course!"

* Bob Catley and Vinny Burns play the bar at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Saturday May 23, 2009. Tickets cost £10. Support comes from Lost Weekend.

Catley and Burns appear at the Acoustic Festival Of Britain at Catton Hall on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border on Sunday May 24. Click here for festival details.