MAGNA CARTA [AKA: TIMES OF CHANGE]

Not strictly a prog folk album, this one.

This is the debut album from this band who released two albums who may be called folk prog and some other albums who were plain folk rock. This one is plain folk rock. Guitar, vocals, bass and drums. The sound is dominated by the very good vocals. There are some good flute around too. But the vocals is the main thing here. That and the accoustic guitars. This album reminds me alot about some Strawbs albums. I am sure fans of that group may like this album. I am actually one of them. I find this album pretty cosy and it has some uncomplicated but still very good songs. This is kind of stripped bare music which relies heavily on the quality of the songs alone. And Magna Carta pulls it off. This is by no means a brilliant album. But it is a good album and nothing more. The good songs are Times of Change and Spinning Wheels of Time. The rest is OK. This may not be an album which appeals to the prog rock fan though. A health warning is hereby attached to this review.

3 stars

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.