Magna Carta - Old Masters & New Horizons (1991) Lossless

Magna Carta's cheerful, gentle style of progressive folk is of the lightest caliber, conjuring up images of light sunny days, quiet English meadows, and long strolls along a cascading stream. Old Masters & New Horizons is a compilation, with tracks taken mainly from 1973's Lord of the Ages album and Seasons, their second-best effort. The focus is on the elegant acoustic guitar playing of Chris Simpson, who establishes an enchanting folk breeze with the steel and Spanish guitar, while his singing is perfectly nimble and unheeding. With the help of a couple of different woodwind instruments and the mouth harp, Magna Carta's sound floats and hovers with the utmost serenity, best heard on "The Airport Song" and "Elisabethan" from the Seasons album. A few of the tracks pick up a little bit, with the subtle blues feel of "Roll On" straying the farthest from their original sound, but are refreshing nonetheless. There are hints of Simon & Garfunkel throughout, or Crosby, Stills & Nash's style of vocal harmonizing emanating through nearly every track, but the emphasis still resides on the string work, making "Wish It Was" and "Nothing So Bad" sound slightly more revived than most traditional folk music. Magna Carta's music basks in the same gently plucked notes and buoyant melodies on all of their albums, so Old Masters & New Horizons is really all that is required.