Exactly 40 years ago today, on the 9th of March 1981, the band released their second album ‘Magnets’, a mere nine months after their debut ‘New Clear Days’. The 11 track album was produced by David Tickle, who was best known at that time for his work with Split Enz. The album featured two singles, firstly ‘Spiders’ which had failed to chart and the soon-to-be-released ‘Jimmie Jones’.
The album’s feel was generally darker and less poppy than its predecessor and the lyrics dealt with a range of bleak topics such as mental health, presidential assassinations and a mass murdering cult leader. Sadly, following scant promotion by their new record label Liberty, the album didn’t chart in the UK. The band went out on the road on a huge tour throughout that month under the name ‘Mad March tour’!
As with ‘New Clear Days’, ‘Magnets’ is packed with classic Vapors tracks including ‘Silver Machines’, ‘Live At The Marquee’, Ed & Steve’s ‘Isolated Case’ and the epic title track itself. So, sit back and listen to the album in all its glory on Spotify here
Read what the British music papers thought about the album below (and try to keep calm with the NME one!)
Magnets release advert
Mad March tour
