MAGNA CARTA
''THE FIELDS OF EDEN''
2015
58:36
1 Anemos 01:22
2 Child Of The Light 05:18
3 Long Time Running 05:01
4 Walk Away From Heaven 16:10
5 The Fields Of Eden 05:13
6 The Same Rain 04:31
7 Greenhow Hill 04:31
8 This Time Around 03:24
9 European Union Blues 05:43
10 Nidderdale/Backroads 04:12
11 The Wild Geese (The Spirit Of THe Wide Northland) 03:04
Wendy Ross: electric and acoustic violin
Laurens Joensen: guitar, mandolin and banjo
Douglas Morter: guitar
Alan Thomson: bass
John Shepard: drums
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Bruce Eder
Wendy Ross: electric and acoustic violin
Laurens Joensen: guitar, mandolin and banjo
Douglas Morter: guitar
Alan Thomson: bass
John Shepard: drums
We rehearsed one day, exchanging ideas and to get a feel for the songs. Then we recorded the basic tracks (the bedrock) in only three days, playing together live to get the real band feeling. Here is the blog of our wonderful and magic time in the studio.
Words, photos and videos: Laurens Joensen, Amsterdam 2014
Chris and Laurens entering the vault
Our Solid State Workhorse
Producer Will Jackson and his young apprentice Mike
John Shepard, the timekeeper
The lovely Wendy Ross
Facing me is Alan Thomson, who played with John Martyn for over 30 years, in Pentangle and the Hellecasters and now with Magna Carta. What a player. He is officially from Glasgow, but hearing him play he could be a Nashville Cat. Looking at me in the mirror the infamous Doug Morter, who plays with Jerry Donahue and countless other groups, now returns to the old nest... Magna Carta. The mirror is there so we can have eye contact while playing.
Me in my cosy guitar corner.
'The Mike'
The old Maestro, doing the guide vocals, he sings along with the band, so we can get the feel. He will do his final lead vocals next week.
Doug and Chris telling hilarious 'on the road' stories.
Doug and Chris telling hilarious 'on the road' stories.
Keith is watching over us, with a good word of advice
Modern art
The only kind of deskwork I could ever do
After one day rehearsal and three days of recording together we nailed the basic tracks.
There was a great chemistry between the musicians, it was simply cooking. It sounded like we played together for years.
After 4 days of hard work Doug and I went shopping. It was time to unwind and have a nice picking party at Chris and Cathy's place. We drank tea and orange juice all night and woke up bright and early.
Chris and Cathy took me and Doug, who was in a very cheerful mood after our little party the night before, to the Yorkshire Dales. Good inspiration for the album, as it is mostly about that area, where Chris was born and raised.
Who...? Doctor Who.
The Heartland
Then we paid a visit to Lord Fancarl's house.There also lives a ghost called Edgar. He comes round every Thursday (I'm not kidding).
And back to Leeds for recording Chris's vocals and additional parts.
The most charming, skilled and relaxed producer. It's an honour to work with Will Jackson.
Inexhaustible
It has been a great experience for me to work with and learn from this wonderful group of people. Will and Chris will continue finishing the album. Wish I could stay longer.
Sitting in the airport lounge waiting for a plane, with a rainbow over my head.
Goodbye beautiful Yorkshire, see you in June.
Not only is Alan Thomson a great fretless bass player, he also plays a mean slide guitar on the “European Union Blues”.
Chris Simpson during the recording of the title track “The Fields Of Eden”:
TO THE TOP
''THE FIELDS OF EDEN''
2015
58:36
1 Anemos 01:22
2 Child Of The Light 05:18
3 Long Time Running 05:01
4 Walk Away From Heaven 16:10
5 The Fields Of Eden 05:13
6 The Same Rain 04:31
7 Greenhow Hill 04:31
8 This Time Around 03:24
9 European Union Blues 05:43
10 Nidderdale/Backroads 04:12
11 The Wild Geese (The Spirit Of THe Wide Northland) 03:04
Wendy Ross: electric and acoustic violin
Laurens Joensen: guitar, mandolin and banjo
Douglas Morter: guitar
Alan Thomson: bass
John Shepard: drums
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Bruce Eder
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.
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.
RECORDING “THE FIELDS OF EDEN”
Finally after nine years it is going to happen. Magna Carta is recording the long awaited album, “The Fields of Eden” in Will Jackson's 'Sound Works Studio' in Leeds. Chris Simpson put together a great band:Wendy Ross: electric and acoustic violin
Laurens Joensen: guitar, mandolin and banjo
Douglas Morter: guitar
Alan Thomson: bass
John Shepard: drums
We rehearsed one day, exchanging ideas and to get a feel for the songs. Then we recorded the basic tracks (the bedrock) in only three days, playing together live to get the real band feeling. Here is the blog of our wonderful and magic time in the studio.
Words, photos and videos: Laurens Joensen, Amsterdam 2014
Chris and Laurens entering the vault
Our Solid State Workhorse
Producer Will Jackson and his young apprentice Mike
John Shepard, the timekeeper
The lovely Wendy Ross
Facing me is Alan Thomson, who played with John Martyn for over 30 years, in Pentangle and the Hellecasters and now with Magna Carta. What a player. He is officially from Glasgow, but hearing him play he could be a Nashville Cat. Looking at me in the mirror the infamous Doug Morter, who plays with Jerry Donahue and countless other groups, now returns to the old nest... Magna Carta. The mirror is there so we can have eye contact while playing.
Me in my cosy guitar corner.
'The Mike'
The old Maestro, doing the guide vocals, he sings along with the band, so we can get the feel. He will do his final lead vocals next week.
Doug and Chris telling hilarious 'on the road' stories.
Doug and Chris telling hilarious 'on the road' stories.
Keith is watching over us, with a good word of advice
Modern art
The only kind of deskwork I could ever do
After one day rehearsal and three days of recording together we nailed the basic tracks.
There was a great chemistry between the musicians, it was simply cooking. It sounded like we played together for years.
After 4 days of hard work Doug and I went shopping. It was time to unwind and have a nice picking party at Chris and Cathy's place. We drank tea and orange juice all night and woke up bright and early.
Chris and Cathy took me and Doug, who was in a very cheerful mood after our little party the night before, to the Yorkshire Dales. Good inspiration for the album, as it is mostly about that area, where Chris was born and raised.
Who...? Doctor Who.
The Heartland
Then we paid a visit to Lord Fancarl's house.There also lives a ghost called Edgar. He comes round every Thursday (I'm not kidding).
And back to Leeds for recording Chris's vocals and additional parts.
The most charming, skilled and relaxed producer. It's an honour to work with Will Jackson.
Inexhaustible
It has been a great experience for me to work with and learn from this wonderful group of people. Will and Chris will continue finishing the album. Wish I could stay longer.
Sitting in the airport lounge waiting for a plane, with a rainbow over my head.
Goodbye beautiful Yorkshire, see you in June.
VIDEOS FROM THE RECORDING SESSIONS
Alan Thompson playing a mean slide guitarNot only is Alan Thomson a great fretless bass player, he also plays a mean slide guitar on the “European Union Blues”.
Chris Simpson during the recording of the title track “The Fields Of Eden”:
TO THE TOP