Bernie Marsden’s “STAGE” live album gets release date

The fifth and final installment in Bernie Marsden’s Inspirations Series, STAGE, will be released on August 21 through Conquest Music.

Available as a limited edition 2LP gatefold set and a deluxe 2CD digipack featuring a 16-page booklet, STAGE showcases four live performances spanning more than two decades of Marsden’s career.

Each side of the vinyl is dedicated to a different concert, highlighting the variety of Marsden’s live performances. The collection includes an acoustic performance with strings from The Radcliffe Centre in Buckingham in 2008, an electric set with a brass section from Keeping The Blues Alive at Sea in 2019, a 1996 performance at Norway’s Notodden Blues Festival featuring Snowy White, Tony Ashton, David Levy and Henry Spinetti, and a 2020 concert at Under The Bridge in London with a six-piece band and special guest Joe Bonamassa.

Ahead of the album’s release, a digital EP is now available featuring a live version of “Walking By Myself” from the Under The Bridge performance. Bonamassa joins Marsden on the track for an extended guitar duet. The EP also includes four additional live recordings that do not appear on STAGE: “Wheels Within Wheels,” “Hold On (I Feel Our Love Is Changing),” “Working For The CSA,” and “Funny People.” A crowd-shot performance video for “Walking By Myself” has also been released.

Following Marsden’s passing in 2023 at the age of 72, several musicians paid tribute to the legendary guitarist.

Nicky Wire (Manic Street Preachers):

“He really was a master of his art”

Steve Lukather:

“Tone and touch and taste. That was Bernie.”

Joe Bonamassa:

“He was a superstar in every imaginable way.”

Marsden’s Inspirations Series began in 2021 with KINGS, followed by CHESS, TRIOS, and ICONS, each paying tribute to artists who influenced his guitar playing and songwriting. The series followed the release of his 2023 album of original material, WORKING MAN.

Conquest Music’s Alan Bambrough said the label felt the series would not have been complete without documenting Marsden’s abilities as a live performer.

“Bernie Marsden was such a charismatic and witty person. In his understated way, he would manage to have any audience engaged and involved within a couple of songs.

We felt that his Inspirations Series would be incomplete without including a glimpse of that magic that he conjured up on stage.

There were so many great live recordings in his archive that it was tough to limit the album to just two discs sampling four different shows.”

The accompanying booklet also features sleeve notes from Steelhouse Festival founders Mikey and Max, including the following excerpt:

“A true master of his craft, a lover of music, a Steelhouse legend and above all, the most genuine and gracious of men, Bernie was responsible for making some amazing moments happen on the stage as well as providing humour, encouragement and perspective off it…Thanks so much, Bernie…Your name will always echo across that mountain.”

TRACK LISTING

LP Side A

1. Till the Day I Die
2. The Time Is Right for Love
3. Out On The Western Plains
4. Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City

LP Side B

1. Boss of the Blues
2. Reconsider Baby
3. Watch Out
4. Worried Life Blues

LP Side C

1. Down Home Blues
2. I’m Tore Down
3. Love That Burns
4. Oh Well

LP Side D

1. Walking in the Shadow of the Blues
2. I’ll Play the Blues For You
3. Walking By Myself