Prog Britannia - Album Reviews

Opening the curtain on "Act One" comes "Poet and Peasant", a fast and furious fugue of supersonic Emersonian organ virtuosity. This booming and bombastic Baroque piece is very loosely based on the music of the obscure Austrian composer of light operas, Franz von Suppe. Light opera has NEVER sounded quite like this though. This is a wild and dynamic organ jamboree where traditional Classical music is thrown completely on its head and given a healthy burst of pompous and powerful Prog-Rock, in true "Roll Over Beethoven" fashion. The wonderfully expressive singer sounds like he's having a great time too with some magnificently over-the-top operatic vocals, in the style of David Byron of Uriah Heep. Hold on tight now because entering stage right is "Passaglia". Can you handle it as this is George Frideric Handel played as you've never heard him played before. Again, the keyboard player is going hell for leather on the Hammond organ with no let-up in the incredible pace. There's also a flambuoyant flourish of funky guitar in an exhilarating extended solo in the middle section. This powerfully percussive piece has all the unstoppable power and explosive energy of an Exocet missile, with you the listener as the target. The next song "Memory" is another rapid-fire machine gun delivery of sound with the dynamic duo of Hammond organist and wild guitar player battling it out together while the drummer pounds away relentlessly on percussion. Apparently, when Beggars Opera acted as the support band for the Tremeloes way back in 1970, they blew the Tremeloes off the stage, and it's easy to see why when you listen to this energetic high-voltage album. This explosive music has all the flash and thunder brilliance of a boxful of fireworks that's been accidentally set alight.

Side Two is occupied by two 12-minute-long suites. There's more manic musical mayhem with "Raymond's Road". It's a soaring and symphonic sonic blast of incredible intensity with the amplifiers turned all the way up to eleven. Is it Bach or is it Mozart? One thing's for sure, you've never heard Classical music played quite like this before. You may not have heard Symphonic Prog played quite like this before either. This is no Moonlight Sonata. This is more like Widor's Toccata on anabolic steroids. It's an adrenalin rush of rip-roaring organ-powered Rock and there's even a riotous rendition of the William Tell Overture thrown in for good measure too. Rossini would be rocking and rolling in his grave to this music. The breathtaking speed of the high-energy Hammond organist on this album is just phenomenal. You really have to hear it to believe it. We're charging ahead next with "Light Cavalry" and this cavalry aren't stopping for anyone. The band of musical brothers are charging ahead with all guns blazing in a storming symphony of sound. The music gallops along relentlessly at incredible pace in this canorous cavalcade. It's time to dismount now though as we've finally reached the end of the album. Phew! That was a blast!

It's Bach to the Future for this dynamic, classically-inspired blast of powerful Symphonic Prog. It's an album to put on your Chopin Liszt the next time you head Orff into town on Debussy, although you may have to Handel disappointment and come Bach empty-handed, as it's a case of Haydn seek with finding this rare album treasure in the record stores these days.

Look out for their amazing 2007 comeback album with Virginia Aurora Scott, where Beggars Opera sound like a different band altogether, which indeed they were by this time. 

  1970: Beggars Opera - Act One - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lGFoVuyyLaVIryIo64TUfVyjPODYQnMpo

  1971: Beggars Opera - Waters of Change - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kcOgyAqk7WPyHNczXtT6mabYRWsUQla2Q

  1972: Beggars Opera - Pathfinder - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lIVwws7fMUuRRl4clJggvLaYnMJl9D29s

  1973: Beggars Opera - Get Your Dog Off Me! - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m3B5E1fCBDCTGT9-72AoXcUd7UPSt5PKA

  1974: Beggars Opera - Sagittary - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kRDqkeHzfr0K1zSLnd_1tPwIjEESWgWBM

  1975: Beggars Opera - Beggars Can't Be Choosers - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lMbfEGEq18w-ANLjnXwNN8cfMkXqMcZcw

  1980: Beggars Opera - Lifeline - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ePvJwiCLQk

  1996: Beggars Opera - The Final Curtain - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lvZUlZT4XH06ZqQgwwlgx4g22vQ1XlqkA

  2007: Beggars Opera - Close to My Heart - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lL0jl1ClQ8JLBvpUID-TGLmmaYDFnTlkw

  2009: Beggars Opera - Touching the Edge - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mOylk6nBDgdvso9IS_ZZizue72jM62FiQ

  2010: Beggars Opera - All Tomorrows Thinking - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_li9Vz5228HLFXWKXRpSNRnTfJM38BXrco 

  2010: Beggars Opera - Suddenly Ahead Ahead - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kvbeDzY-m4x_muIlFRRa-bNbcUDUJpofw

  2011: Beggars Opera - Lose a Life - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lOiXShQTUHG506iFSHw2G2MfbLf9I96N4

  2011: Beggars Opera - Promise in Motion - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m0VuGD4NlZjFS0W2fDEv3IfSuQLh9ctqM

  2012: Beggars Opera - Mrs. Caligari's Lighter -http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lm-14WTatkJd8pQP823dpFagbeuGgcWz0

  2023: Beggars Opera - The Leap - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mQT80bEj2sTT_Bd7aIbS8f9QCfeOdSvL4

The album opens impressively with "To Play Your Little Game", featuring plaintive vocals and a beautiful organ solo before launching into some fast-paced Jazz-Rock played in an unusual time signature. "Winter is Coming Again" is a pleasant sounding melody, featuring a wild psychedelic guitar and Hammond organ solo in the middle section. "Time or Bed" opens with an acoustic guitar before transposing into another up-tempo Jazz-Rock number in an irregular time signature. The title track "Cressida" is probably the most Jazzy track on the album with an upbeat Jazzy 5/4 time signature. "Home And Where I Long To Be" is a beautifully complex song, and ranks as one of the most impressive numbers on the album with it's sudden changes of tempo, soaring vocals and virtuoso Hammond organ and guitar accompaniment. The song is very much in the style of the Moody Blues and would deserve pride of place on any of their albums. "Depression" is a very fast-paced song, very reminiscent of one of the Moody Blues rockier numbers. Side Two of the album opens in similarly impressive style with the jaunty song "One of a Group" with the sound of the Hammond organ very much at the forefront and featuring a brief fuzzy guitar solo with a few Jazzy piano motifs included for good measure. The eighth song on the album "Lights on My Mind" is an up-tempo rocker with some bright and breezy Hammond organ playing and another far-out fuzzy guitar solo. "The Only Earthman In Town" begins with a haunting refrain and launches into some dextrous and intricately fast-paced organ-playing. Track 10 "Spring '69" is a gentle melody featuring a solo acoustic guitar which blends in nicely in between the orchestral and Jazzier numbers. The penultimate song on the album "Down Down" opens with a beautiful organ solo and features the haunting sound of the Mellotron. The song has several interesting changes of pace throughout and includes a Jazzy interlude. The album concludes in full grandiose splendour with "Tomorrow is a Whole New Day", a song very much in the symphonic style of the Moody Blues classic "Night in White Satin".

This is a superb album of musical virtuosity featuring a very talented group of musicians. The album should delight Symphonic Prog lover's everywhere. It should also appeal to any aficionados of early Jazz-Rock with special appeal to fans of Justin Hayward and the Moody Blues symphonic sound. It's no exaggeration to say this album is a masterpiece and it deserves repeated listening to fully appreciate the beautifully complex nature of the twelve well-crafted songs. There's an abundance of melancholy melodies, fast-paced Jazz-Rock songs and grand masterpieces of symphonic virtuosity to entertain and enthral the listener in equal measure and it's an essential album for any classic Symphonic Prog collection.

  1970: Cressida - Cressida - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVvqgURy2L9fDZtPgzwM8vNqIqHXuTrPw

  1971: Cressida - Asylum - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l8mmXdkBerhUswzqNrQD7jb-79DHj7KqA