SARABANDE / THINK

The Scottish prog band Beggars Opera released their debut album Act One in 1970, and from the same sessions came also this single with two non-album tracks. Like The Nice before them, they used to make rock versions of classical music pieces, with Alan Park's organ in the fore. But 'Sarabande', unlike the title would suggest, is an original composition by the band. It's a hard-rocking song reminiscent of the early Deep Purple. Near the ending comes a brief organ solo, otherwise the organ and Ricky Gardiner's guitar are in an equal position in the sound.

In my opinion 'Think' is slightly better song of the two. Again it's proto hard rock of guitar / organ interplay, but the composition has a bit more progressive or psychedelic twist. Though not so extraordinary musically, this single is a noteworthy addition to the the band's output as it contains decent songs outside of albums. And in fact, if either of them, or both, had been included in Act One, with some editing of its classically inspired tracks to give the needed space, perhaps the album would have been more interesting and would have had a bigger appeal especially among those who enjoyed early hard rock scene.