May 01, 2006

F2 Prog Rock News

MAGENTA - F2 Music is delighted to announce details of the much anticipated third studio album by Magenta. 'Home' will be officially released on 1st June, and copies will be available at the album launch concert at the Herringthorpe Leisure Centre, Rotherham on 13 May 2006. Also, all pre-orders for the CD placed at www.progrock.co.uk will be supplied as soon as the stock is available.

The album is a concept piece and tells the story of a woman who emigrates from Liverpool in the early 1970's to "find herself" in the USA. The CD is 68 minutes long and includes contributions from a variety of guests including Magenta regular Martin Shellard on guitar and Troy Donockley (Iona, Mostly Autumn) on Uilleann Pipes and whistles. Once again, the album has been written and produced by Rob Reed, with lyrics by Steve Reed.

Musically, 'Home' represents a further development for the band, combining the Magenta sound established on 'Revolutions', 'Seven' and the two singles 'Broken' and 'I'm Alive', with one or two surprises! The album also marks Christina's finest vocal performance with the band to date.

'Home' will be released in two separate versions. The first will be a single CD edition, with slipcase, and a 16-page booklet. The CD is available for pre-order NOW and costs GBP 10.00 (including postage to anywhere in the world) from www.progrock.co.uk and the full track listing
is shown below:

1. This Life
2. Hurt
3. Moving On
4. My Home Town (Far Away)
5. Brave New Land
6. The Journey
7. Towers of Hope
8. Demons
9. Morning Sunlight
10. Joe
11. The Dream
12. The Visionary
13. Journey's End
14. The Traveller's Lament
15. Home

The second version will be a special limited 2 CD slipcase edition. This is a double CD release that includes the 'Home' CD, plus a second CD entitled 'The New York Suite' containing over 40 minutes of music. Complete with an 8 page booklet, this second CD features a further 5 tracks which examine the experiences of the main character of 'Home' during her stay in Manhattan. This two CD special edition is available for pre-order NOW for GBP 15.00 from www.progrock.co.uk, and will be available for a limited period only. The 'New York Suite' CD will be released in its own right later in the year. The track listing is:

1. Arrival
2. Home From Home
3. White Lies
4. Truth
5. This Life (Reprise)

You can hear sound clips from both CD's on the Magenta web site at www.magenta-web.com, including TWO complete tracks, 'The Visionary' from 'Home' and 'White Lies' from 'New York Suite'. By visiting www.progrock.co.uk you can also hear a third full track from 'Home' very
soon! Further details about 'Home' will be added to Magenta's web site over the next few weeks.

MAGENTA - TOUR DATES
13/05/2006 - Herringthorpe Leisure Centre, Rotherham ('Home' launch gig)

20/05/2006 - De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
27/05/2006 - Folken (Stavanger) Norway
18/06/2006 - Mr Kyps, Poole
15/07/2006 - Gillingham Festival, Dorset. Magenta onstage 4pm, approx 1

hour set
27/07/2006 - Club Riga, Southend
29/07/2006 - Vizela, Portugal
08/09/2006 - The Borderline, London
09/09/2006 - Spirit of 66, Vervier, Belgium
24/11/2006 - The Point, Cardiff
26/11/2006 - The Robin 2, Bilston - F2 Night with Magenta plus special

guests Credo and Ezra. Doors 6pm


F2 NIGHT - As mentioned above, we are proud to announce details of the first F2 Night featuring 3 great artists from the F2 Music label. It is at The Robin 2, Bilston, West Midlands on 26/11/06 and opens with Ezra, followed by Credo and headlined by Magenta. We expect one or two surprises during the course of the evening! We hope you can make it.

ANNIE HASLAM CD SINGLE - We can at last announce that F2 Music will release a single by Annie Haslam (ex-Renaissance) with Magenta called 'Night & Day'. This is an exciting prospect for many music fans out there, and it really is as good as you would hope!

The single (catalogue number 200604S) will be released in July 2006 and will be available to pre-order soon on www.progrock.co.uk. Artwork for the CD single has been created especially for this release by Annie. The full track listing is:

1. Night & Day
2. Night & Day (Evening Mix)
3. Essence Of Love
4. Night & Day (duet with Christina)

So how did Annie Haslam meet Magenta and come to perform on this single? This is what Annie had to say:

"In 2004 I received an inquiry about a painting through my web site. It was a young woman from Wales called Christina. She wanted to buy one of my paintings 'Daybreak'. When she first wrote she also told me she was a singer in Welsh band called Magenta and proceeded to send me a CD. I was really impressed!

We stayed in touch and when the band were invited to perform at the ROSFest Prog Festival, USA in the Spring of 2005, it was a perfect opportunity to meet and see the band perform 'live'. Pheonixville was not too far from where I live in Pennsylvania and so I decided to go. I even introduced the band on stage, which was fun! While I was watching the band it reminded me
of when one goes to a great movie and it seems like its over in half an hour, because it is so gripping. This is how I felt about the band. I really wasn't surprise, as the CD I had heard was impressive, but the show was a whole different kettle of fish! I was 'floored'! The music was great, the band were very tight. Great musicians and a great singer! There was a great feeling of camaraderie within the band and it emanated from the stage. This is a rare thing that I have not seen all that often.

After that show we stayed in touch and I had mentioned that I would love to do a duet with Christina some time and before I knew it Rob had written a new song called 'Night and Day'. Christina wrote the words and I found it reminiscent of the Renaissance song 'Northern Lights'. It was very comfortable for me to sing!

I recorded my vocals here in PA and with the wonder of modern technology sent it back to Wales to be finished. I was also inspired to paint a vision of Christina's words and so this became the cover art called 'Essence of Love'. Now this is represented by another piece of instrumental music written by Rob that was inspired by the painting, which is also on the single.

Hopefully one day I will get to perform the song at a concert with Magenta, until then I shall keep playing their music and will keep spreading the word!

Love and Peace Annie Haslam"

EZRA - The new CD by Ezra is now in stock and available to order on www.progrock.co.uk. This is Ezra's third CD release and combines the styles of both their previous releases with a more laid back feel. Andy Edwards, vocalist and guitarist with Ezra, is also the vocalist with The Fyreworks! Think Rush, It Bites, David Gilmour and you get a feeling for what this album is like. A great soundtrack for the summer! We will have samples from the CD available soon.

CREDO - Credo continue the touring schedule with the following dates. The band have been getting great reviews for their latest CD 'Rhetoric' and their live performance. Their recent gig supporting Kino at the Classic Rock Society was a particular highlight.

12/05/2006 - Stripes Bar - Brentford FC - Braemer Road Brentford (with
Landmarq)
26/05/2006 - Club Riga - Southend (with Landmarq)
07/07/2006 - Riffs Bar - Hook - Nr Swindon (with Landmarq)
09/07/2006 - Cartoon Club - Croydon (with Landmarq)
29/09/2006 - Stripes Bar - Brentford FC - Braemer Road Brentford (with
Quidam)
01/10/2006 - Riffs Bar - Hook - Nr Swindon (with Quidam)
26/11/2006 - The Robin 2, Bilston - F2 Night with Magenta plus special
guests Credo and Ezra. Doors 6pm

More dates being added all the time - check the Credo web site at www.credo.gb.com for more details.

COMING SOON - We have a great new release scheduled for July / August 2006 - it's a Rob Reed project with a difference! You won't be disappointed!

David Robinson (F2 Music Ltd)
F2 Music Ltd, Festival House, 2 Goldfinch Close, Loughborough,
Leicestershire, LE11 3HG, UK
http://www.f2music.co.uk
http://www.progrock.co.uk
http://www.magenta-web.com

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