Any Magellan (The Band) Fans?

[Top Cat]

Listened to Impending Ascension over the weekend, and it reminded me of how much I've always loved this band.
Hour of Restoration was their first release and I discovered them through a mail order catalog from Grand Rapids CD, this was BTI(before the internet). I may have found their address through Progression magazine.
Later, Trent wrote music and played on Explorer's Club with a lot of other progressive rock musicians like James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Terry Bozio, Billy Sherahan, Derek Sherinian, D.C Cooper to name a few. It was one of those Magna Carta label collaborations.

So sad and a tragedy to lose both Wayne and Trent Gardener, but their work will live on forever.

[progmatist]

Count me as another fan. Even though the early albums used drum machines, the machines were very well programmed.

Another notable name on Explorer's Club albums would be Steve Walsh. At that time, Kansas was also on the Magna Carta label.

[JKL2000]

Magellan has come up at least a few times here, so if you search for threads you should find some good reading (but I'm not saying "the internet is your friend!" I seem to remember one of the threads had something written by (or a link to something by) one of the Gardner's sons, and it was rather poignant. I like them, and when said thread came around I relistened to Impending Ascension and really enjoyed it.

Hour of Restoration was one of the earliest "prog resurgence" titles, and I remember finding the cassette in a store and being pretty intrigued.

[Top Cat]

Magellan has come up at least a few times here, so if you search for threads you should find some good reading (but I'm not saying "the internet is your friend!" I seem to remember one of the threads had something written by (or a link to something by) one of the Gardner's sons, and it was rather poignant. I like them, and when said thread came around I relistened to Impending Ascension and really enjoyed it.

Hour of Restoration was one of the earliest "prog resurgence" titles, and I remember finding the cassette in a store and being pretty intrigued.

I did do a search before posting cause I hate duplicate/triplicate threads, but the problem is sometimes a specific group and conversation is buried in a 200 page thread like "what happened to?" thread.
I'll dig a bit deeper because there might be some things I've missed over the years.
But I've been a huge Trent Gardener fan since the beginning, except towards the end of his career. I know he was collaborating with Robert Lamm on a few songs before his passing.
I do remember his daughter and son released information regarding his memorial and a few other things, maybe that's what your referring to.

Also it's in house research so no outsourcing of internet information is required and does not fall under "the internet is your friend" rules.

Hour of Restoration and Impending Ascension are definite volume to 11 at our house, max it out, some good powerful stuff there in the unique Magellan way. These albums never grow old for me and are just as fresh as the first time I heard them.
Interesting, Magellan for some reason was my gateway into the world of Dreamtheater since I picked up Images and Words shortly after getting HOR.

[dropforge]

Hour of Restoration was one of the earliest "prog resurgence" titles, and I remember finding the cassette in a store and being pretty intrigued.

I had it on cassette, too (then CD). I still like Hour and Impending Ascension the best of their output.

[zeprogmeister]

Magellan has come up at least a few times here, so if you search for threads you should find some good reading (but I'm not saying "the internet is your friend!" I seem to remember one of the threads had something written by (or a link to something by) one of the Gardner's sons, and it was rather poignant. I like them, and when said thread came around I relistened to Impending Ascension and really enjoyed it.

Hour of Restoration was one of the earliest "prog resurgence" titles, and I remember finding the cassette in a store and being pretty intrigued.

Yeah I think I started off with a cassette of that too! 90s prog seller Ranjit sold a bunch of cheap cassettes. I probably wound up liking Test of Wills the best, some solid songs and a real drummer.

[Flightwave]

I love Magellan’s music. Hour of Restoration is a classic in my book. It opened the door to the rest of Magna Carta’s offerings. I miss them.

[jarmsuh]

Test of Wills is something special for me

[Fracktured]

Too many notes for me. But I’ll admit there’s a lot of talent there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JKL2000]

Not sure how you're searching, but these are the results I got:

http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...archid=5273403

[MudShark22]

I got HoR while in college and then Impending... Which I liked more.

But while well played/programmed it was the kitchen sink approach to composition that ultimately soured me.

[Top Cat]

Not sure how you're searching, but these are the results I got:

http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...archid=5273403

In my search I went to the search box in the upper right corner and typed in Magellan. It took me to a page with lots of titles and as I scrolled down I looked for Magellan in the title on the first page and saw none so gave up.
I just did it again, and found the Trent Gardener RIP post thread, missed it as my eyes became glossed over at the massive amount of information, including one thread with 19,000+ replies..

for some reason you're link doesn't work.

Nice to read there are other fans who enjoy their work as well.

[arturs]

Yeah I think I started off with a cassette of that too!

+2 for owning HoR on cassette! I bet I still have mine. I saw it in an Ann Arbor record shop around '93 and somehow I knew it was gonna be prog and somehow I knew I should buy it. I remember being so happy I actually found a new prog band. I hadn't yet heard of Anglagard or Djam Karet or Discipline so as far as I knew back then, prog was totally dead.


In the end it didn't really stand the test of time for me. I got sick of it. Haven't listened for probably 15 or maybe even 20 years! But, still, the fact that there actually was new prog in the 1990's was encouraging.

[tommy_n_chucky]

StoryTime: I first heard of Magellan through the Ytsejam Dream Theater mailing list in the mid-90s. DT was my favorite band at the time, so people were raving about it. I think I bought the CD at Best Buy in Orlando, FL or Waxtree in Casselberry, FL where there was a treasure trove on prog albums.

So later at a flea market, I met a huge prog fan that had HoR on CD. He was raving about it too saying that he got a hold of Trent and received a hand-written letter and was so excited about it. So I bought the CD for $8 bucks or sth...

Anyways, I'm feeling like listening to this whole album in honor of these Gardner brothers who passed away. 💖

Hour Of Restoration is a debut album of the band Magellan. It was released on September 24th 1991.

"Magna Carta" - 14:47
"The Winner" - 2:08
"Friends of America" - 3:29
"Union Jack" - 9:10
"Another Burning" - 5:05
"Just One Bridge" - 2:16
"Breaking These Circles" - 5:18
"Turning Point" - 1:25

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_of_Restoration

[JKL2000]

In my search I went to the search box in the upper right corner and typed in Magellan. It took me to a page with lots of titles and as I scrolled down I looked for Magellan in the title on the first page and saw none so gave up.
I just did it again, and found the Trent Gardener RIP post thread, missed it as my eyes became glossed over at the massive amount of information, including one thread with 19,000+ replies..

for some reason you're link doesn't work.

Nice to read there are other fans who enjoy their work as well.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if the link would work for long - I guess not. When you search, click Advanced Search, enter your search words and select Titles Only. You get better results that way.

[SteveSly]

Listened to Impending Ascension over the weekend, and it reminded me of how much I've always loved this band.
Hour of Restoration was their first release and I discovered them through a mail order catalog from Grand Rapids CD, this was BTI(before the internet). I may have found their address through Progression magazine.
Later, Trent wrote music and played on Explorer's Club with a lot of other progressive rock musicians like James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Terry Bozio, Billy Sherahan, Derek Sherinian, D.C Cooper to name a few. It was one of those Magna Carta label collaborations.

So sad and a tragedy to lose both Wayne and Trent Gardener, but their work will live on forever.

Love "Impending Ascension" and still think it is their best release. Their other albums were more hit and miss for me. Have you ever heard Steve Walsh's "Golloslalia" album? It was done with one of the Gardener brothers (can't remember which off the top of my head). In my opinion it was by far Walsh's best solo album.

Regarding Grand Rapids CD. I live about 45 minutes from where it used to be and used to travel up there to buy CD's on occasion. It was really wild having a CD store completely dedicated to prog, especially in the 90's. Of course it didn't last, but it was a very cool little store.

[arturs]

I said above I had gotten sick of Hour of Restoration, but after a 20 year break from it, it's actually really enjoyable. Nice riffs, decent melodies and singing, good production (for 1990) and a coherent theme. I wonder if I'll still like it in another 20 years, when I am 72?

[tommy_n_chucky]

Actually this was the first album I bought...with this and Hour of Restoration the 1st tracks are the only ones I love...the rest I skip around..

"Is this metal? I'm not using that as a measuring stick for the quality of this or anything, but I am reviewing this on the metal archives, after all. I bought Impending Ascension without hearing it beforehand or knowing anything about the band, so I consulted this lovely resource you're on right now just to make sure everything checked out. They had a profile on here, with some generally positive reviews (albeit only a few of them)-- I thought I was good to go. I was expecting something along the lines of Dream Theater or Fates Warning or something like that, but this isn't really what I expected, and I will admit that was a bit disappointing. Forgive me if I seem unable to break out of my metalhead bubble throughout this review because of that. I'll try my best not to let my perceptions of what I want this to be color my judgement and just take Impending Ascension for what it is.

With that being said, this is really flamboyant, pompous and somehow simultaneously energetic and subdued. In one word, it's kind of gay. Whether or not that's a bad thing is going to largely depend on your musical preferences (and level of homophobia), but it's the best adjective my primitive, extreme metal-oriented brain can come up with. The synths are big, glorious and right up in your face, easily dominating everything else--especially the guitars. That was probably the most jarring thing for me when first listening to Impending Ascension: there aren't any riffs! Sure, they'll throw in a couple of metallic guitar lines here and there, but because of the linear songwriting approach they don't usually last for long. See the opening of "Under the Wire"--it starts off fairly promising, but it takes all of thirty seconds before the synths start to creep in and fight the guitars for dominance. And then--what the fuck, it's over? It's the last track on the album and it's all of two minutes long! Basically, if you're expecting some twisting metal riffs on this you're gonna be shit out of luck, because they are literally only included as a footnote on Impending Ascension." ~ RapeTheDead, January 4th, 2017

References:
https://www.metal-archives.com/revie...ension/549046/

[Scrotum Scissor]

I never enjoyed anything by the Magna Carta label except for some stuff from the first three 'gellans. To me (and just about anyone I knew with this kind of music preference here in northern Europe) the MC artists were mostly poorly disguised metal acts attempting to channel their inner fusion-beasts through attemptive exhibition of bland technique and wannabe "class", yielding the vulgarity of camp and kitsch into something indeliberately comical. As such, Magellan may amount to a guilty pleasure of mine, although I still think Test of Wills has a lot going for it - the monstrous pomp a factor of its glare.

[dropforge]

the monstrous pomp a factor of its glare.

And then mountains come out of the sky and they stand there.

[MudShark22]

LOL^^

I agree that Magna Carta sort of positioned itself as metal or proggy metal but that alloy was nowhere to be found on those discs.

[iguana]

I never enjoyed anything by the Magna Carta label except for some stuff from the first three 'gellans. To me (and just about anyone I knew with this kind of music preference here in northern Europe) the MC artists were mostly poorly disguised metal acts attempting to channel their inner fusion-beasts through attemptive exhibition of bland technique and wannabe "class", yielding the vulgarity of camp and kitsch into something indeliberately comical. As such, Magellan may amount to a guilty pleasure of mine, although I still think Test of Wills has a lot going for it - the monstrous pomp a factor of its glare.

seconded. MC did a lot for me in my younger days as a means of default orientation but that wore itself out very quickly. look where this got me to. the first SHADOW GALLERY was an epitomy of atrociousness which i bought off the mileage that i got out of the first two MAGELLAN albums. that said i do still listen to the first two CAiRO albums at random, albeit not for the most palpable reasons … RiP trent and wayne gardner.

[tonissive]

Have on vinyl ( only released in korea) of the two first albums. Very good Band.

[TheH]

I didn't listen to any MC stuff for ages (10 years or so). But I think I liked Magellan a lot.
I do own their 3 first Albums at least and having a look at their other Albums covers at PA
I think I have most of their Albums somewhere.

I'm also rather sure that I got some Shadow Gallery and Cairo Albums too. Have nor idea where to find those anyway.

I will check out Magellan again..

[Rajaz]

My favs were HOR and Impending Ascension and thrown in for good measure Impossible figures (when they broke out of Magna Carta label to inside Out).
Vocally and instrumentally the Magellan brothers as I call them where amazing and had great talent that sadly is gone forever. Besides the Steve Walsh album collaboration, Trent also did great work with his Explorers Club specially Rising the Mammoth was a multi-track epic that had up to 40 songs at one point on the CD, it was hard to keep track what track you were listening to. And Trent's contribution to Leonardo was awesome, what a masterpiece!

https://youtu.be/r-yTNwaXt-w