Beggar's Opera* - Act One

Genre:
Rock
Style:
Prog Rock
Year:
1970

Tracklist

Poet And Peasant
Passacaglia
Memory
Raymond's Road
Light Cavalry

Versions

Title, FormatLabelCat#CountryYear
Act One (LP) Vertigo 6360 018 Germany  
Act One (LP, Album) Vertigo 6360 018 UK 1970
Act One (CD, Album) Repertoire Records REP 7041-WP Europe 1997
Act One (CD, Album, RE, RM, Pap) UM³/USM Japan UICY-9690 Japan 2006
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Reviews & Discussion

Rated 3/5
Review by marcelrecords Aug 28, 2007 (edited over 2 years ago)

referencing Act One, LP, 6360 018

We're at the heart of early seventies prog here and this fulfills all your expectations, the best and the worst. Mock-classical music on the ominously titled ''Passacaglia'' (no, it's not a track by Benjamin Britten in case you wondered) illustrates convincingly everything that can go awry. Pretentious doodling executed with great technical skill plus especially irritating organ pyrotechnics. Baroque influences are everywhere and they are mostly displayed with the intention to impress. But when the organ restrains itself to accompaniment, the music at times rises to the occasion and gets genuinely moving. Almost all of ''Memory'' serves like an oasis with arching melodies in the classical desert and the profuse quoting of ''Light cavalry'' contains just enough irony to make it worthwhile. A checquered effort. The band took their name from the opera by John Gay from 1728.
history / edit

Master Release

Shortcut Code: [m107729]
Data Quality Rating: Correct

Ratings

4.33 / 5 (9 votes)

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