Magic Bus

Devon based Cosmic troubadours Magic Bus mark their 10th anniversary with their fourth album The Earth Years, their first visit to our planet since 2017’s Phillip The Egg…

Hailing from the transition town of Totnes, Devonshire, England, Magic Bus are a band that freely admits that they think they are still producing music of the psychedelic era of the 1960s and early 1970s. Their sound definitely conjures up early psychedelic jazz of Canterbury Scene bands Caravan, Soft Machine and Steve Hillage though it also takes inspiration from the psychedelia coming from the West Coast of the USA in the late Sixties (specifically Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills & Nash)…

The third album from Magic Bus rolls on into the distant future by way of the golden streets of the past. If sunny progressive rock is your bag… then jump on the Bus and forget about the fuss! Recorded over 9 days at Vale studios in Worcestershire, the band are spacebound in their silver jetpacks… determined to find Utopia. The album has the Canterbury/West coast vibe the band are known for, but now with the added influence of vintage Prog clearly coming to the fore.

Well, it does exactly what it says on the box. The 57 tracks on this 'Magic Bus' compilation run from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, but, with remarkable perspicacity, the compiler has mixed them up very cleverly. The CDs are called 'Turn On', 'Tune In' and 'Drop Out' and the songs on each one reflect, more or less, their monikers. Thus, on CD1 Scott McKenzie rubs shoulders with Barry McGuire, CD2 is full of singer-songwriters; Dylan, Cat Stevens and the like; whilst CD3 rocks it up with Steppenwolf and Cream. What this collection is selling is nostalgia and it does it very, very well. Anyone who grew up through the years in question will remember every one of these songs and probably sing along with them too. It has to be said that there are two major omissions though, there is nothing by either The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Down to licensing presumably. That said, this is an absolutely classic collection that has been selected with extreme care and, dare it be said, love.

Psychedelic wizards ‘Magic Bus’ are pleased to announce their new album ‘The Earth Years’ will be released on June 19th 2020. The Devon, U.K band have been weaving together their own cosmic tapestry for 10 years with sources as diverse as the Canterbury scene, California jam bands, eastern mysticism, and 70’s prog. Golden awards await! for sure!