Magna Carta

Magna Carta have long exemplified quiet persistence within progressive rock, emerging from unassuming origins in 1969 and sustaining activity across more than three decades while many louder, more bombastic contemporaries from that period faded into obscurity. Although King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer achieved far greater recognition, Magna Carta maintained continuity and kept creating music well beyond the lifespan of those ensembles. Chris Simpson, who handled lead vocals, and Lyell Tranter launched the band in 1969, both playing acoustic Gibson guitars, with Glen Stuart adding harmony vocals. Based in London, the trio made their first appearance at the Coalhole Folk Club in Cambridge; the warm reception for the ten numbers performed that evening set them in motion. Even at that stage they were never strictly a folk act, instead incorporating folk and traditional ingredients extensively into their compositions and textures in a style paralleling the approach taken around the same period by John David Gladwin and Terry Wincott of Amazing Blondel.

Mercury Records’ British arm signed them, and their debut self-titled album appeared. The band soon moved to the affiliated Vertigo imprint, oriented more squarely toward progressive rock, for the follow-up Seasons. By then their sonic identity had coalesced around Simpson’s vocals, songwriting, and steel-strung Martin D18, Tranter’s arrangements and nylon-strung Gibson, and Stuart’s vocal charts together with his five-octave harmonic range. Produced by Gus Dudgeon, Seasons centered on the extended title suite occupying an entire side and enlisted an expanded roster of players that included Tony Visconti on bass, Rick Wakeman on keyboards, Tim Renwick on flute, and Davey Johnstone on guitar. It also marked the group’s first American release, licensed to Dunhill Records, although the record registered little response stateside.

After Tranter elected to return to Australia, Johnstone, a technically accomplished guitarist versatile across multiple idioms, stepped in, forming the central trio that tracked Songs from Wasties Orchard and the concert set In Concert before Johnstone was recruited, with Dudgeon’s assistance on sessions, first by Elton John and subsequently by Kiki Dee. Stan Gordon took the guitar chair and contributed to Lord of the Ages (1974), alongside bassist Graham Smith. By 1975 the lineup had dwindled to a single member after Gordon and Smith departed in 1974 and a divergence over artistic direction prompted Stuart’s exit in 1975 following Martin’s Cafe, which also concluded their association with Vertigo.

The aptly named Putting It Back Together surfaced in 1976 on Polydor in Europe and Ariola in the United States, featuring Simpson, guitarist Tommy Hoy formerly of the Natural Acoustic Band, bassist Nigel Smith, and drummers Chris Karan and Pick Withers. Withers later joined the group officially for a brief spell before becoming part of Dire Straits alongside Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, and John Illsley. Additional musicians during this phase included Robin Thyne and Lee Abbott, who eventually assumed bass duties. Thyne and Hoy remained only a short time, after which membership grew fluid for the next three years as Alistair Fenn, George Norris, and future Albion Band participant Doug Morter rotated through on guitar, along with various drummers including future Icicle Works member Paul Burgess. An unanticipated radio success arrived with “Highway to Spain” from the 1981 album Midnight Blue, while Simpson simultaneously issued his debut solo effort Listen to the Man.

A decisive shift, both artistic and personal, occurred the following year when Simpson encountered Yorkshire-born singer and guitarist Linda Taylor. While Simpson was promoting his solo single “Sting of the Gin,” she was laying down her own material; he played on several of her recordings, she appeared on some of his new songs, and by 1983 she had become a member. Her presence refreshed Simpson’s creative output, and through 1984—long after most peer progressive outfits had ceased operations—Magna Carta continued performing and recording with Simpson and Taylor at the center, supported by Abbott. Mid-decade the pair stepped back from live work to operate a music venue in the Middle East for two years. Revival came in 1986 with Abbott returning to the core and an expanded palette that added keyboardist Gwyn Jones and lead guitarist Simon Carlton.

Simpson and Taylor wed in 1990. Following Abbott’s departure in 1992 they have formed the nucleus of Magna Carta, maintaining a steady touring schedule across Europe, where the band retained a substantial following. Consistent with their strength as a live attraction, nearly all releases since the early 1980s, aside from the 2001 studio album Seasons in the Tide, have been concert documents. Polygram reissued the early Vertigo catalog at the close of the 1990s, and Repertoire Records restored Seasons in 2004 as a miniature gatefold LP replicating the original packaging. Despite occasional critical reservations toward the more self-consciously artistic and delicate aspects of progressive rock’s folk wing, the reissues and occasional compilations affirm an enduring audience for the group’s output more than four decades after its inception.