Magna Carta is a well know UK Psychedelic/folk rock band released their most populair work during the Golden Era. Their debut album was released on the “Mercury” label which was part op Philips. Another known and highly wanted release on this album was “Ancient Grease”. Their second and third
studio album were released on the mighty “Vertigo” label, also part of Philips. Magna Carta was born in April 1969 in London, UK. On May the 10th in that year, “Magna Carta” did their first live performance. The band is still active today but with a different line-up. In progressive rock circles, Magna Carta are a bit like the Little Engine That Could -- from relatively modest beginnings in 1969, they've endured across 36 years and counting, even as their louder, more heavily amplified rivals from the same era have long since been consigned to history. Acts such as King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer may be better (and much more widely) known, but Magna Carta have stayed together, making music decades longer.
The group was founded in 1969 by Chris Simpson (who also sang) and Lyell Tranter on acoustic
Gibson guitars and Glen Stuart singing harmony. Formed in London, they made their debut at the Coalhole Folk Club in Cambridge, and coming off of the enthusiastic response to the ten songs they did that night, Magna Carta were rolling. They were not, strictly speaking, a pure folk group even then, but utilized folk and traditional elements very heavily in their songwriting and sound, in a manner similar to that adopted by John David Gladwin and Terry Wincott of the Amazing Blondel at approximately the same time.
They were signed to Mercury Records' British division and debuted with a self-titled LP. They were then shifted over to the related Vertigo label -- which was more specifically devoted to progressive rock
acts -- for their second album, Seasons. By that time, their sound had solidified around Simpson's singing, songwriting, and steel-strung Martin D18; Tranter's arrangements and nylon-strung Gibson; and Stuart's vocal arrangements and his five-octave harmony range. Seasons, produced by Gus Dudgeon, featured as its centerpiece the side-long title work, and also a much larger contingent of musicians, among them Tony Visconti on bass, Rick Wakeman on keyboards, Tim Renwick on flute, and Davey Johnstone on guitar; it was also the group's first record to be released in America, under license to Dunhill Records, though it made virtually no impact on the U.S. side of the Atlantic.
When Tranter decided to return to his native Australia, Johnstone, a virtuoso-level guitarist fluent in several styles, replaced him in Magna Carta, leading to the core lineup that recorded Songs from
Wasties Orchard and the live album In Concert before Johnstone was stolen away -- with help from Dudgeon, who used him on his sessions -- by Elton John and, later, Kiki Dee. Johnstone's replacement was guitarist Stan Gordon, who worked on Lord of the Ages (1974) and was joined by bassist Graham Smith. By 1975, however, the group was down to one member -- Gordon and Smith left in 1974, and a disagreement about their sound and future direction led to Stuart's exit in 1975 after the release of Martin's Cafe (the latter also marked their final release on Vertigo).
When the appropriately titled Putting It Back Together was released in 1976 -- featuring Simpson, guitarist Tommy Hoy (late of the Natural Acoustic Band), and bassist Nigel Smith, with Chris Karan and Pick Withers on drums -- the group was on Polydor (the parent label of Vertigo) in Europe and Ariola in the United States. Withers later became an official member of the group for a short time,
before joining Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, and John Illsley in what became Dire Straits, and other new members from this period included Robin Thyne and Lee Abbott, who ultimately took over the bassist spot. Thyne and Hoy only lasted a couple of years, and for the next three years the membership in Magna Carta became rather fluid, with Alistair Fenn, George Norris, and future Albion Band member Doug Morter passing through on guitars, along with several drummers, including future Icicle Works alumnus Paul Burgess. They enjoyed an unexpected radio hit during this period with "Highway to Spain" off of the 1981 LP Midnight Blue, and Simpson also released his first solo album, Listen to the Man, around this same time.
The turning point for Magna Carta and Simpson, both professionally and personally, came the next year when he met Linda Taylor, a Yorkshire-born singer and guitarist. At the time, Simpson was promoting his solo single "Sting of the Gin," and she was recording a material of her own. He ended up playing on some of her sides, and she appeared on some of his new songs, and by 1983 she'd joined the group. Her
arrival reinvigorated Simpson's work, and through 1984 -- a point where virtually all of the other progressive rock bands with which they'd started had long since ceased working -- Magna Carta kept performing and recording, with Simpson and Taylor, supported by Abbott, at the core of the lineup. The middle of the decade, however, saw the pair withdraw from performing -- instead, for two years they ran a music club in the Middle East. It was in 1986 that they revived the group, with Abbott once more joining them in the core lineup and a considerably expanded sound, including a keyboard player (Gwyn Jones) and lead guitarist (Simon Carlton).
In 1990 Simpson and Taylor married, and since 1992 with Abbott's exit, they've comprised the core of Magna Carta, which continued to tour Europe, where the band had a large audience, regularly. In keeping with their appeal as a live act, most of their releases since the early '80s (with the notable
exception of 2001's Seasons in the Tide) have been concert recordings. Polygram reissued the group's early Vertigo albums at the end of the 1990s, and in 2004 Repertoire Records re-released Seasons in a mini-LP gatefold edition re-creating its original packaging format in miniature. Although some critics, embarrassed by the more pretentiously "arty" and fey sides of progressive rock (especially in its folk division) have expressed disdain for Magna Carta, that reissue and the periodic release of anthologies of the group's work testify to the existence of an audience for their work, even 40 years into their history.
By Bruce Eder.
MAGNA CARTA 1969
Label:HTD Records – HTDCD68
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered 1996
Country: UK
Released: 1969
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Folk, Country
TRACKS
01. Times Of Change 2:46
02. Daughter Daughter 4:04
03. Old John Parker 2:42
04. I Am No More 4:09
05. Ballad Of Francis Alabadalejo 5:17
06. Spinnings Wheels Of Time 3:19
07. Romeo Jack 3:34
08. Mid Winter 3:32
09. Shades Of Grey 3:09
10. Emily Thru' The Window Pane 3:26
11. Sea And Sand (The Isle Of Pabay) 3:20
12. Seven O'Clock Hymn 6:13
Bonus Track
13. Seven O'Clock Hymn / Mid Winter (Live) 12:20
MP3 @ 320 Size: 135 MB
Flac Size: 310 MB
SEASONS 1970 + SONGS FROM WASTIES ORCHARD 1971
Label: Mercury – 538 812-2
Format: CD, Compilation, Reissue, Remastered 1999
Country: Europe
Released: 1970 - 1971
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Folk, Prog Rock, Country
SEASONS 1970
01. Seasons 22:21
1a. Prologue
1b. Winter Song
1c. Spring Poem
1d. Spring Song
1e. Summer Poem
1f. Summer Song
1g. Autumn Song
1h. Epilogue
1i. Winter Song (Reprise)
02. Goin' My Way (Road Song) 02:55
03. Elizabethan 02:38
04. Give Me No Goodbye 03:09
05. Ring Of Stones 03:50
06. Scarecrow 02:17
07. Airport Song 03:48
SONGS FROM WASTIES ORCHARD 1971
08. Time For The Leaving 04:08
09. Isle Of Skye 02:53
10. Sponge 02:23
11. Sunday On The River 03:33
12. Good Morning Sun 02:43
13. Home Groan 02:28
14. The Bridge At Knaresborough Town 05:00
15. White Snow Dove 02:11
16. Parliament Hill 02:46
17. Wayfarin' 03:49
18. Down Along Up 02:11
19. Country Jam 01:50
MP3 @ 320 Size: 177 MB
Flac Size: 426 MB
LORD OF THE AGES 1973 + MARTIN'S CAFE 1977
Label:Mercury – 538 813-2
Format: CD, Remasred 1999
Country: Europe
Released: 1973 - 1977
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Folk, Prog Rock, Country
LORD OF THE AGES 1973
01. Wish It Was
02. Two Old Friends
03. Lord Of The Ages
04. Isn't It Funny (And Not A Little Bit Strange)
05. Song Of Evening
06. Father John
07. That Was Yesterday
08. Falkland Grene
MARTIN'S CAFE 1977
09. Easy If You Try
10. Tomorrow's Up For Sale
11. Mixed Up Sensations
12. Old Man
13. All Part Of The Game
14. Roll On
15. You Are Only What You Are
16. People's Friend
17. Won't Set The World On Fire
18. I'm Gonna Take You Down
19. Martin's Cafe
Except for Martin's Cafe (thanks for this) i have all of them. Instead i still have the 76 took a long time. GREAT!!
ReplyDeleteAn hour ago i made an interesting discovery. KEEF HARTLEY BAND - on air - most complete bbc tracks all in ECX SBD 3cds. An unofficial.
I hope i can get them as FLAC or at least MP@320. For all those interested in this ECX blues rock band.
This week a 7 cd box of this band 1969-1973 will released by Cherry Red Records. I only have the first three and these only as a copy.
A great band. Saw them live in Portugal 40 years ago. Thanks
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Kostas.
ReplyDeleteA great post and so few comments !
ReplyDeleteI told you before my friend. I have 3500-5000 visitors every day and nobody leaves a comment about the post, except some of my followers, but I don't care.
DeleteIf you don't care, that's ok of course.
DeleteI know this is not right. I do a lot of work in the blog, but what would you do if you were in my position?
DeleteKostas i'm afraid you can't change it.
DeleteBut it's annoying. So much work and so little appreciation! It's easy to lose interesting in it. But don't let that irritate you (or me). There are some people who really appreciate that.
I can't understand myself at all.
If you don't have anything to say thank you would be the least !
There are 2 things I could do. Should I continue as if nothing is happening, or stop the blog and send it all to hell. What would you do? The second seems more correct to me. I will think about it, because i'm feeling tired after all these years.
DeleteDear friend,i (unfortunately) cannot make this decission for you. Only should you really break up you have to know that i would be a real shame not only for me, i think for many people.
DeleteYo're going on vacation for a few days soon, ideally for 14 days or more. You're recovering well and can than go back to it with renewed strength.
Speaking for myself obviously, but often I just read the interesting post with the carefully selected photos and postpone downloading for later and listening to the downloads for even later. The reason is life and there's no easy way to go around this. There are too many obligations and our mind can't be in the right state to listen to music. Just think of ΕΝΦΙΑ, ΔΕΗ, ΤΑΠ, whatever they come up each time. You are looking at your musical instruments and don't feel like touching them, do you know the feeling? Sometimes I am familiar with the group and I can comment, other times not. It's not for lack of appreciation for the work put into the blog.
DeleteΚι εσύ δίκιο έχεις κι εγώ δίκιο έχω, έχουμε και τα γαμημενα προβλήματα που μας πνίγουν, όλοι δίκιο έχουμε τελικά. ... Και δεν πάνε στο διάολο και τα comments; Σιγά μη κάτσω να σκάσω. Η ματαιοδοξία δεν ήταν ποτέ το Φόρτε μου.
DeleteActually the situation is absurd. I probably benefit the least from it because i don't do any downloads. For me it is a source of unknown. But i am omnipresent here. I often thought to myself that i should take a back seat with my comment. But i can't and for me it's a form of injustice that there is so little feedback. I can't stand it and i'm trying to compensate for it a little.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I feel happy with people like you, Jack Bond, Il Commendatore, and a few others. I never understood why can't download files. If you are using a tablet you can download what you like and then put them in an external hard Drive . It is very easy. I really don't understand it.
DeleteThat is a long story. ONLY BRIEFLEY.
DeleteI really have a big and i think very good collection. I don't need to do a lot of downloads because i own so much. It's
not really paying off for me anymore. I also love rhings in the "original". Yo too have 89% as you wrote me as the original.
Okay my friend, as you want. Be connected for the tomorrow post. First USA pressing LP from a band that I am sure you have it and you know very well. I did a very careful recording from vinyl to CD, and I think that is very difficult to find them, in the internet, with the sound quality that I will offer.
DeleteI'm very (!) excited !!!
DeleteA tip from me: ( i think i mentioned it before, but maybe you missed it)
FINE ART - SAME USA 1980
really very very unknown what a mess it. I still have unreleased studio (maybe even better) on a cassette and a live recording of 55 min sbd.
If you want more tips, i'm always ready.
I stand in front of my record shelf.
I was in contact with the people at FINE ART
ReplyDeleteat the time. I tried to find a record for their tapes in Austria and Germany. Unfortunately not interested.
AMAZING !
The lp is 1978 not 80. My tapes are from the early 80's.
ReplyDeleteGreat Band, didn't know them...thanks for uploading these fine albums!
ReplyDeleteThanks for another great post!!!
ReplyDeleteI know it's a pity that there are so few comments for one of the best blogs around (sincerely!!!).
I would also like to be more extensive in my comments and not write a simple 'thank you' as I usually do. I think you deserve more, to tell the truth, but please don't even think about leaving the blog. This decision would do a lot of damage to many, including me of course. Because you have many followers who love your work.
Best regards!!! Cheers
Thanks Il Commendatore for your comment.
ReplyDeleteKostas should continue for our but also for his (despite a lot of effort) happiness.
Great Band, thanks
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to exploring this band. Thanks for a great blog! I'll try to comment more in the future.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comment
DeleteWOW! Fantastic! Discovering this site is the top! I will be back! Thank you for your excellent work.
ReplyDeleteΦίλε Κώστα, να είσαι πάντα καλά και να συνεχίσεις την πολύ σημαντική προσφορά σου σε νέους και παλαιότερους λάτρεις της γνήσιας Rock! Ευχαριστώ πολύ για το διπλό άλμπουμ των Magna Carta! Το Lord of the ages είναι ένα από τα αγαπημένα μου LPs, όλων των εποχών!
ReplyDeleteΣ' ευχαριστώ πολύ για το όμορφο σχόλιο σου.
Delete