When Tony Clarkin brought Magnum to an end at least Mr Catley had a new home in Clarkin’s Hard Rain project. Catley had only ever performed songs written by the pen of Guitarist, Clarkin. He needed to perform but how, he must have been full of trepidation and uncertainty but enter Gary Hughes from Ten.

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Hughes encouraged Catley and crafted 3 albums in the Magnum style which he would be comfortable with. This began in 1998 with the release of 'Tower', it really was a natural progression and kept the Clarkin style and imagery.

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Legends followed in 1999 and continued in the same melodic splendour. In 2001 'Middle Earth', an album written and based around Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R Tolkien hit the racks. Catley toured these albums extensively as well as fronting Hard Rain.

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Catley quickly came to terms with his solo career and performed the songs in the same dramatic manner that he had with Magnum. The record label of the time, Now And Then Records released a live album called Live At The Gods which came from a gig in 1999. Why am I telling you all this you may ask, well Far Away is something of a mystery and puzzling.

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It is claimed that the album is from a concert in Holland but it is actually a document of a performance in Lokerse Festival in Belgium 2000 in support of the Legends release. It appeared then on VHS, it has now been transferred to CD without, for some strange reason a DVD to accompany it!

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As you might expect this release sees magnificent artwork from Rodney Mathews. But is the music within up to scratch? The answer to that my friend is the affirmative. It has 14 tracks 5 of which are Magnum standards, 'Start Talking Love', 'Lonely Night', 'Storytellers Night', 'Les Morts Dansant' & 'Just Like An Arrow'.

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These clearly demonstrate that for Bob Catley there was unfinished business with his former bandmate whom he had spent 25 years plus with. Luckily for him Clarkin had something of an epiphany and brought Magnum back together in 2001, releasing 'Breath Of Life' in 2002.

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Back to this live record, Bob seems to be at his best encouraging his stalwart fans with gestures and words of encouragement. The Magnum songs are demonstrably the high points with everyone swaying and singing, Vinny Burns from Ten does a great job on guitar, while Paul Hodson plays the part of Mark Stanway to good effect. All the other songs have the Magnum feel but lack of familiarity makes them lose impact.

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Sound wise the album is excellent and it captures the occasion well, it is something that all Magnum, Catley and Matthews fans will need to add to their collection, there will be no escaping that.