A good album by this often overlooked folk rock group. The music is very sweet, one could even say sugary, but I still like it. I guess it’s just something about the soft and comforting melodies on the album that attracts me to it. It’s a perfect album to listen to on a cold winter day. One could of course criticize them for not having much substance underneath the very polished arrangements and vocal harmonies, and that is perhaps partly true as well, but one cannot deny that it’s all very well made. Stylistically, I sense more than a bit of inspiration from Simon & Garfunkel, even though Magna Carta is VERY British sounding. Anyway, most of the songs on here are good, and the melodies are memorable. Personal favourites include the reflective ‘Two Old Friends’, the melancholic-but-still-uplifting ‘That Was Yesterday’, closing song ‘Falkland Green’ (pure folk) and not at least the mighty title track – the only song on here where the band rocks out. This one is actually pure progressive rock (or perhaps folkprog), and I absolutely love it! It starts off with some spoken words and strings, perfectly building up the epic atmosphere and story (about the creation of all things, and of course the battle between good and evil – no less!), and then it all explodes into this hard rocking arrangement. It gets more and more intense, before they return to the opening theme that slowly fades out. Wonderful stuff. It wouldn’t have hurt if the album featured more rocking and epic sounding songs, as the band obviously could handle stuff like that very well – and because the variation on this album isn’t exactly overwhelming. Anyway, this is certainly a worthwile album for fans of classic folk, but it’s not essential in my opinion.
Magna Carta – Lord of the Ages (Vertigo 1973)
