Natural Acoustic Band

Albums

• Learning to Live (RCA SF 8272)

Track Listing :
1. Learning To Live
2. Sometimes I Could Believe In You
3. Subway Cinderella
4. Free
5. Tom
6. February Feeling
7. Maybe It Was The Sunshine
8. Midnight Study
9. All I Want Is Your Love
10. Waiting For The Rain
11. Dying Bird
12. High In My Head

• Branching In (RCA SF 8314)

Track Listing :
1. Running Into Changes (T Hoy, K Kocjan)
2. Echoes (Hoy, Kocjan)
3. Money (Kocjan)
4. Follow Your Love (Hoy)
5. Road to the Sun (Kocjan)
6. Is it True Blue ? (There's nothing unnatural about electricity) (Hoy)
7. First Boy (Kocjan, Hoy)
8. I'll Carry You (Hoy)
9. Little Leaf (Kocjan)
10.Moontime Writer (Kocjan)
11.Travellers on the Road (R Thyne)
Produced by Milton Okun

• Both albums now available on C.D.

BGO records CD968

Singles

• Echoes/Is It True Blue ? (RCA RCA 2324)

Krysia Kocjan (Krysia Kristianne)

Krysia Kocjan went on to provide backing vocals for Al Stewart, The Kinks, Mike Heron and many others. She made a solo album Krysia in 1974 (RCA LPL1 5052) with musicians including some Fairport Convention/Fotheringay members (specifically Jerry Donahue, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks) - and also Rabbit Bundrick, and renowned percussionist Ray Cooper. On one track she revived her youthful talent for setting romantic English poetry to music with John Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci.^[1] Al Stewart's backing group, led by Peter White with Kocjan as a member, chose the name Shot In The Dark and released an album with the same title in 1981 (RSO 2394 297). On this Kocjan used her occasional alternative name of Krysia Kristianne and her few solo lead vocals here include "Some Towns".

She later moved to the US and in 1995 sang the track "The Lament" on the CD A Celtic Tale - The Legend of Deirdre by Mychael and Jeff Danna, a performance which drew review phrases such as "crystalline soprano" and "most moving" on Amazon.

In 1996 came the CD Tyger and Other Tales (Sentience Records 70002) with Leslie Chew and David Kronemyer which revived the Keats work along with ten other romantic English poems set to music. Her own favourite of these was "Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover Being Upon the Sea", as stated privately to a fan. She died on February 21, 2007, in Portland, Oregon where she had lived and worked as a singing teacher since 2000. A memorial service for Kocjan was held in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 10, 2007.

TOM HOY

Tom Hoy Tom Hoy was born in Glasgow in the quaintly named “Rotten Row Maternity Hospital“. He started playing gigs at the age of 15, mainly rock and soul music, with a dusting of blues. It was around this time he also began to write songs and has been doing so successfully ever since.

At the age of 19, he formed the well loved Natural Acoustic Band, taking them down to London, where 16 different record companies tried to sign them on the strength of their live work. They eventually settled with RCA, making two highly acclaimed albums with John Denver’s producer, Milton Okun. They played gigs in Europe, Morocco and Tunisia, also appearing at every major U.K. venue from the Royal Albert Hall down. They often supported such acts as Don McLean, Ralph McTell and Country Joe and The Fish, appearing on the prestigious Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC TV with Alice Cooper.

Tom joined Chris Simpson and Glen Stuart in Magna Carta in the early 70’s, staying constant through changing line-ups and going on to record such well known and popular albums as ‘Took a Long Time’, ‘Prisoners on the Line’ and ‘Live in Bergen’. They toured extensively worldwide, appearing on television and radio throughout Europe and Scandinavia and the U.K, achieving chart success in Holland with both the single and album of ‘Took a Long Time’ (a song which he co-wrote with Chris). He often mentions that these were some of his happiest times, always thriving on the live performances.

After leaving Magna Carta, for around 10 years Tom toured Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Central America and even The Falkland Islands with his wife Geraldine. He then worked solo for several years and went on to take an extended break to help look after his autistic son Rory who is now an artist in his own right having had Five highly successful albums of his own released.

Over the years Tom has teamed up with Chris from time to time to play some of the old songs together, including the 30th Anniversary show and more recently their highly acclaimed appearance together at the Royal Carré Theatre, Amsterdam where they rolled back the years for the band’s 40th Anniversary celebrations. Later going On to tour South Africa successfully And some UK dates with Magna Carta. Tom now lives happily in Knaresborough North Yorkshire

Later years of the NAB

As a replacement for Krysia Kocjan the NAB had at first recruited Joanna Carlin but she never recorded with them. She was actually called Melanie Harrold but was trying to avoid confusion with the better known Melanie (Melanie Safka). She later made singles and solo albums (under both her names) and worked with the Albion Band and members of Steeleye Span.

The NAB continued as a duo comprising Hoy and Thyne until 1975 when Hoy joined Magna Carta. Thyne also joined this band at a later stage.