IN CONCERT

Recorderd in Holland's Concertgebouw ( remember the' Rock Show' by Wings 1975?) this is not a bad album, again there were very few bad live albums to be released by prog outfits in the 70's. This represents very early Magna Carta live piece but recorded at an excellent venue for receptive audiences and atmospheres.' Airport Song' paves the way but the highlight would have to be the 13 minute ' Seven O Clock Hymn Midwinter'. If any track portrays Magna Carta and the Seasons/Lord Of The Ages era sound this was it.' Sea Of Sands' and ' Ring Of Stones' are great live also. This went gold for Magna Carta and you can see why.

I may be a grumpy old man, but I do not find Magna Carta live that enjoyable.

This live album is half a half serious music and the rest is jokes. Both verbal and some joky tracks. Jokes and joky tracks is excellent when you are there at a table with a bottle of wine/beer and some good friends. But when you are sitting in a cold flat and you are trying to review the music here on merit; Magna Carta live albums falls flat on their faces. I reviewed their Live In Bergen album and my review of In Concert goes along the same lines. Musically, this band was a pretty good folk rock band. I am not sure where their prog rock credentials comes from. That is, with the exception of a couple of tracks. One of their two "epics" is here too, without making this album any better. Magna Carta is at their best in the same class and style as Simon & Garfunkel. At their worst; a handful of jokes.

I prefer the Magna Carta studio albums. Their live albums are no good musical experiences. I am sure they were an excellent live band. But it does not shine through here. 2 stars is fitting for this album.

2 stars

Many live albums of the pre-CD era, conscious of the limitations of vinyl, trim back between-songs patter and the like for the sake of incorporating more music. Magna Carta's first live album does no such thing - in fact, there's a bit of talking in between all of the songs. This gives it a fairly intimate atmosphere, though there are issues; in particular, Johnstone's electric guitar feels poorly integrated into the band's sound here on songs like Time For the Leaving. With the studio renditions of this material generally being stronger, and the recording apparently having been made with folk acoustics in mind without consideration for how the electric guitar would be captured, this ends up a little disappointing.