MAGNA CARTA

On the whole I think Seasons might have the edge on Lord of the Ages when it comes to Magna Carta's early albums of folk rock with the occasional progressive inflection; in particular, whilst the title track is rather grand, the fantastical lyrics don't really seem like the right fit for Magna Carta's style, with their reflections on the cycle of the year on the title track of Seasons perhaps fitting their aesthetic better.

Glen Stuart left the band shortly after this; he stuck around long enough to make the clunky Martin's Cafe, a much more generic and nondescript album which the record company balked at releasing (it would eventually trickle out in 1977), but that's enough of a disappointment that perhaps Lord of the Ages is the best epitaph for his tenure in the group; indeed, some would argue that it's the last standout release from the band. That may or may not be so - but whatever the case, I think it deserves a tier just a shade lower than Seasons, which is perhaps their true greatest moment.

Many live albums of the pre-CD era, conscious of the limitations of vinyl, trim back between-songs patter and the like for the sake of incorporating more music. Magna Carta's first live album does no such thing - in fact, there's a bit of talking in between all of the songs. This gives it a fairly intimate atmosphere, though there are issues; in particular, Johnstone's electric guitar feels poorly integrated into the band's sound here on songs like Time For the Leaving. With the studio renditions of this material generally being stronger, and the recording apparently having been made with folk acoustics in mind without consideration for how the electric guitar would be captured, this ends up a little disappointing.

This feels like a bit of a stylistic throwback, both by the standards of the time and in terms of Magna Carta's own musical development. By 1971, the sort of sunny West Coast folk rock which Magna Carta are offering up here was pretty old - Simon & Garfunkel, the Byrds, and all that crowd having been ploughing that particular furrow since the middle of the previous decade. Sure, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were still keeping the flame alive - but you're talking four very capable talents there, and even they had updated their sound somewhat from the sort of material they'd been producing in the 1960s.

By comparison, Songs From Wasties Orchard is even more steeped in a slightly throwback folk-rock style style than Magna Carta's debut album was, and shows little evidence of the dabbling in more progressive song structures and medieval aesthetics that they'd dipped into there (and had leaned harder into on Seasons, their second album).

It's pleasant enough, mind - but it's also not quite as distinctive as the preceding two albums. Call it three and a half stars - round it up if you like Simon and Garfunkel-style folk-rock, round it down if you're primarily interested in Magna Carta's progressive flirtations.

Magna Carta's debut album established them as being dab hands at that sort of Simon & Garfunkel/America/Byrds-esque folk rock, adapting the West Coast sound with more English touches. Here, those gorgeous vocal harmonies are still present, but they lean harder on the touches of traditional material that Simon & Garfunkel utilised early on but evolved away from, as well as producing an honest to goodness progressive folk suite - the first side of the album, "Seasons", being a song-cycle based on the cycle of the year. The use of meditative narration puts me in mind at points of classic Moody Blues material as well.

Much as with the first Fairport Convention album, Magna Carta's debut is more influenced by American West Coast folk rock of the Byrds/Simon and Garfunkel school than it is by traditional British folk. It's a fairly smooth, poppy example of the form, without much evidence of the flirting with a more progressive direction which would subsequently creep into their music (though keep your ears open and you may catch a whiff of it here and there). Think Byrds, or even better think America, though perhaps just a touch more baroque.

With crisp production and gorgeous vocal harmonies, it's certainly pleasant, and it's surprising to think they'd played their first gig mere months before releasing this, because their harmonies are so tight it's like they've been playing together forever.

Well, it's confirmed alright. I'm writing while listening to this on a perfect early spring Sunday afternoon, and the music sounds like the ideal soundtrack for the circumstance. It's so english in its idyllic setting, made of dreamy folk melodies, choral & strings arrangements, that there are no more options than love or hate. This could be easily being played on a country chapel for a small audience in formal clothes.

OK, I like it very much, but each person has to make a decision concerning this album, because it doesn't feature any of the distinctive traits that are usually required from a progressive recording: no excentric vocalist, no theatrical gestures, no agressive soloing from anyone, no metric or tonal oddities. The treats here, to my taste at least, are mainly the nice cello & viola parts scattered along the track sequence.

MAGNA CARTA's long and illustrious career spans six decades, from the release of their first self-titled album in 1969 through to their most recent album "The Fields of Eden" in 2015. Chris Simpson is the principal songwriter and the main driving force behind the band. There have been many line-up changes over the years with Chris Simpson always there at the helm as the mainstay of the group. Guitarist Davey Johnson featured in an early line-up of the band, who later went on to achieve great success with Elton John. Linda Taylor joined the line-up in the mid-1980's and she later went on to marry Chris Simpson in 1990. MAGNA CARTA's best-known song is "Highway To Spain", released as a single from their "Midnight Blue" album in 1982. Three albums preceded the release of "Lord of the Ages" (1973). These were:- Magna Carta (Aka Times of Change) (1969); Seasons (1970): & Songs from Wasties Orchard (1971). "Lord of the Ages" is the "proggiest" of all of MAGNA CARTA's albums and represented a pinnacle of their career. The stunning 10-minute-long title track with the spoken voice introduction is the real highlight of the album. The principal three-piece line-up for the "Lord of the Ages" album consisted of:- Chris Simpson (guitar, vocals); Glenn Stuart (vocals, spoken word); & Stan Gordon (guitar, vocals), with a number of session musicians providing back-up. The only thing missing from the album is a sweet-voiced female vocalist, which would have given the album five-star masterpiece status. The fantasy artwork on the album cover was designed by Roger Dean, who famously produced album covers for YES, ASIA & URIAH HEEP, amongst others.

This charming album is as English as a game of croquet with strawberries and cream on an English summer's day. The opening song "Wish It Was" sets the scene where the wistful singer paints a picture of an old man longing plaintively for lost love in these heartfelt lyrics:- "I'll find an old man lonely, In the autumn of his years, I'll find a young girl hoping, To lose herself in love, And to both I'd give a rainbow, For neither side can make it on their own, Young and old come together." Beautiful! The second song "Two Old Friends" is a sad refrain that wears its English heart on its sleeve and opens with these words:- "Two old friends of mine, I saw them only yesterday, They where there, But I got the feeling, They had gone away, And I was alone, Killing time, A stranger in the silence of their company." It's a gentle yet emotional song that really tugs at the heartstrings. Now comes the piece-de-resistance of the album, the title track "Lord of the Ages". This epic 10-minute-song opens beautifully in a long spoken word introduction in a charming cut-glass English accent. This magnificent song conjures up crystal-clear images of fantasy castles filled with goblins, elves, unicorns, and other such mythical beings. The songs opens in magical style with these words:- Lord of the ages rode one night, Out through the gateways of time, Astride a great charger, In a cloak of white samite, He flew on the air, Like a storm, Dark was the night, For he gathered the stars in his hand, To light a path through the sky, While the hooves of his charger, Made comets of fire, Bewitching all eyes, Beheld them, Lord of the ages, Nobody knows, Whether he goes." It's a bewitching song of phantasmagorical splendour, designed to transport you to a magical place during 10 minutes of sublime delight, including a wild acid guitar break. The album continues with the quaintly titled "Isn't It Funny (And a Little Bit Strange)", which ambles along nicely and features these silly and whimsical lyrics:- "I asked a coalman just for a laugh, How many times did he take a bath, As many times said he, as the bath takes me, Isn't it funny, and not a little bit strange, Like a biscuit on a plane, going south to the sun." It's a silly little song that delights in its English frivolity. We now come to Song No. 5 on the album, "Song of Evening" a very pleasant ballad with a countrified slide guitar sound, which opens with these lovely lyrics in the chorus:- "Then the song of the evening comes in, gentle harmony and lingers 'til the closing of the day, Just a song of evening flows on, Like some tumbling river, and like a river, flows away." It's another lyrical song guaranteed to charm and delight the listener in equal measure. The next song "Father John" is a heartfelt plea to a parish priest, which opens with a beautiful rare female vocal lead. The only pity is that the unknown female vocalist wasn't featured more on this superb album, which could have elevated the album to a five-star classic. The penultimate song "That Was Yesterday" features the nostalgic vocalist imploringly wishing for times gone by with these appealing words:- "Hopes and schemes, Like old men's dreams, Some have gone astray, The world could never change you said, But that was yesterday." A song with a powerful message that times don't always change for the better, which will resonate with many listeners. The final song "Falkland Grene" is a traditional acoustic Folk ballad, which was recorded way back when people still thought the Falkland Islands were somewhere just off the coast of Scotland, long before they were put on the world map in 1982.

This is timeless English Folk music with charming lyrics that wouldn't have sounded out of place at the signing of the original Magna Carta treaty in 1215. This marvellous album is truly the "Lord of the Ages" that will linger in the memory for a long time to come and is sure to garner new fans of classic Prog-Folk in the decades ahead.

This is just perfect.

Nicely crafted progfolk with lots of beautiful melodies and harmonies. The lower of voice Chris Simpson and the higher voice of Glen Stuart fit so perfectly. Sometimes it's so beautiful it makes me cry.

The comparison to The Moody Blues is also a valid one. Especially when the band rocks a bit. In the end it's all really safe and sugarsweet. But not all music should be doomy gloomy, in my opinion. The suite Seasons is really great. It features songs and poems, wich is also a bit Moody Blue-ish. But there's also more folky even americana stuff, wich adds to the overall colour of the album.

This album feels like a hippie-record. In that context it's excellent. For people who love the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel and Moody Blues, this is a must-have.

One of those portentous folk groups who could only have existed during the heady atmosphere of the late- sixties and/or early-seventies, British outfit Magna Carta have released a string of albums since their inception, though perhaps none have quite come close to matching the epic sound achieved on this bracing, Roger Dean-illustrated 1973 effort. Pretty much a straight folk record with occasional progressive-and-psychedelic flavours added for good measure, 'Lord Of The Ages' is notable chiefly for it's incredible title-track, a nine- minute mystical epic that starts out like a relic belonging to the 'Wicker Man' soundtrack before morphing into a truly staggering prog-rock opus complete with shrill guitar solo's and pseudo-hippie chanting. An incredible offering completely at odds with the rest of the album, it's a song that deserves multiple listens, both for it's slow, fantasy-themed intro and the blazing instrumental section which fills out the tracks surprisingly heavy middle-section. Therefore, if you do buy one Magna Carta album, make sure it's 'Lord Of The Ages'. The rest of the album alternates between twee acoustic ditties, groan-inducing celtic medleys and rather lame mystical lyricism, yet it's all worth it for what is a truly remarkable title-track and centre-piece to the album. They really don't make 'em like this any more. STEFAN TURNER, ISLINGTON, 2012

I had heard two Magna Carta albums before this one, and I expected this to be more progressive than them. Actually it is quite similar to Seasons. (In fact, Seasons includes a side-long title suite whereas this album's longest track 'Lord Of The Ages' is 10 minutes. However, it is more progressive that the suite.) Could it be the great Roger Dean cover art that makes this album more celebrated among progheads? Probably, and that's just fine with me: it IS a lovely painting. This is a very nice folk album with slight prog tendencies, just as also Seasons and Songs From The Wasties Orchard are. Maybe this album is closer to perfection, but the difference is not big. (Their debut 1969 is clearly undeveloped especially in terms of production, and their later albums, post-Lord, are generally rated much lower than these three.)

Looking at the list of players, one notices that the band itself is a trio, all handling vocals and (acoustic) guitars while all other istruments are played by guests. Well, the music is mostly acoustic with warm vocal harmonies, not far from SIMON & GARFUNKEL at their folkiest. Definitely it sits better under folk category than prog. But that's not a fault at all. This is among the finest folk-pop albums I've heard. I agree with a previous reviewer that there is a bit of an American feel, perhaps it comes from the softness and the absence of the rougher (more down-to-earth) side of British folk tradition. The songs are all ejoyable, mostly very peaceful and mellow, and the production is excellent. If you like that kind of music, this won't disappoint you. A shame that the album is only 36 minutes long.