Upon his return to England from his North American tour, Wakeman and his band retreated to Morgan Studios in Willesden, London to record King Arthur from 16 October 1974 to 10 January 1975. The line-up of Wakeman's band had changed by the time of recording, with Gary Pickford-Hopkins and Ashley Holt on lead vocals, Jeffrey Crampton on acoustic and electric guitars, Roger Newell on bass, Barney James on drums, and John Hodgson on percussion. They were joined by the New World Orchestra, an ensemble formed by musicians picked by David Katz that included members of the London Symphony Orchestra, conductor David Measham, the English Chamber Choir with choirmaster Guy Protheroe, and the Nottingham Festival Vocal Group. Before recording could begin, the band had to wait for their equipment to be transported from the US and repaired, after the roadies had damaged the flight cases carrying their instruments. Rehearsals then took place for around two and a half weeks. An early idea for the album had engineer Paul Tregurtha inform Wakeman that what he wanted was "technically impossible", partly due to the lack of available tracks on the recording machine to produce his desired final mix.
Wakeman encountered some difficulty with the songwriting as many of the stories described in the books gave different accounts. After reading eight books himself, he picked the details he found the most "colourful" which included taking a passage from a children's book on the subject. He settled on four widely known stories and two lesser known, and proceeded to adapt them to music and lyrics. Much of the album was based around the three swords based around the legend: the sword Arthur pulled out from the stone and anvil, the Excalibur which some believe was instead handed to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, and the one associated to Galahad. Wakeman incorporated ideas from his personal life into the music, he said: "It's as much about me as Arthur."
"Guinevere" was a song that Wakeman had arranged six years prior to recording the album. Wakeman wrote violin arrangements for "Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight" that were so fast for the players, biographer Dan Wooding wrote they "collapsed with laughter" upon viewing the score. After some false starts, they played the music correctly after Wakeman instructed them they play twice as fast as he originally wanted. "I thought I'd teach the ones who were cocky a lesson". "Merlin the Magician" is in three parts; Wakeman had read several descriptions of the character and conjured the image of "a little old man preparing his potions", so he therefore introduces the song with a quiet theme. One book depicted Merlin working in the basement of a castle, "surrounded by bottles and liquids like a mad professor", which inspired the heavier second theme. The piano and banjo section arose from a story that involved Merlin falling in love and chasing after a young girl, who eventually shuts him in a cave where he dies.
- Rick Wakeman – synthesisers, keyboards, grand piano
- Gary Pickford-Hopkins – lead vocals
- Ashley Holt – lead vocals
- Geoffrey Crampton – lead and acoustic guitars
- Roger Newell – bass guitar
- Barney James – drums
- John Hodgson – percussion
- New World Orchestra
- English Chamber Choir
- Rick Wakeman – production
- Terry Taplin – narrator
- Guy Protheroe – choirmaster
- Paul Tregurtha – engineer
- Jeremy Stenham – assistant engineer
- David Katz – orchestral co-ordination
- Wil Malone – orchestral arrangements
- David Measham – orchestra and choir conductor
- Fabio Nicoli – art direction
- Paul May – art direction, design
- Bob Elsdale – photography
- Bob Fowke – illustrations
- Dave Bowyer – illustrations
- Mansell Collection – engravings
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