Beggar's Opera

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Beggar's Opera
General information
Genre (s) Progressive rock
founding 1969, 1975
resolution 1974
Website www.beggarsopera.co.uk
Founding members
Martin Griffiths
Alan Park
Raymond Wilson
Ricky Gardiner
Marshall Erskine
former members
Drums, percussion
 Colin Fairlie
Mellotron , vocals
 Virginia Scott
singing
 Linnie Paterson
Bass, acoustic guitar, vocals
 Gordon Sellar

Beggar's Opera (from the second album Beggars Opera ) is a British progressive rock group that originated in Scotland and was particularly successful in the 1970s . The band name refers to the satirical comedy The Beggar's Opera by John Gay .

history

The band, founded in Glasgow in 1969 , signed a record deal with Vertigo Records , released four albums and separated again in 1974. In the mid-1970s, Gordon Sellar reunited the band and recorded some albums that were only released in Germany. Between 1970 and 1973 Beggar's Opera released their three most successful albums. Act One was heavily influenced by classical music and contains an arrangement of the overture by Franz von Suppé's operetta Light Cavalry . Waters of Change received a folkloric flair through the work of Virginia Scott (at the Mellotron ) . The band's biggest hit was the eight-minute song Time Machine ; this song also found attention in the beat clubs and people liked to dance to it. On Pathfinder , the third album, you could hear, as usual, dreamy, melodic rock in addition to delicate spinet sounds and rocking grooves. As a result, Beggars Opera no longer managed to record albums that received comparable attention. Linnie Patterson replaced Martin Griffiths. Amid the recording of Get Your Dog Off Me! replaced Colin Fairlie Raymond Wilson as drummer.

After the final breakup of the group, part of the band remained active as professional musicians. The first bassist, Marshall Erskine , worked with rock clown Jango Edwards in 1979 , and in the same year his successor Gordon Sellar joined the Alex Harvey Band . Keyboardist Alan Park has been the musical director of Cliff Richard since the 1980s . In 1975 Virginia Scott and Ricky Gardiner married and in the following years they realized various projects, some alone, some together. Virginia Scott turned to classical music, she was recognized for her work. Ricky Gardiner worked intermittently with Iggy Pop and David Bowie ; he wrote the guitar riff for the song The Passenger . Gardiner and Scott also studied meditation music and the computer as a musical instrument. For some years now, Ricky Gardiner has barely been able to approach modern electronic equipment, as he has developed an increased sensitivity to electrosmog. Among other things, he has to stay away from PCs, VHF radios and cell phones, and he is no longer able to drive in modern cars or fly on planes.

The son of the singer Martin Griffiths, Philip Griffiths , sings in the Mannheim prog rock band Alias ​​Eye . The group's first album, released in 2001, also features a duet with father and son. In addition to his engagement with Alias ​​Eye, Philip Griffiths also sings with the band Poor Genetic Material. On their 2010 album Island Noises (a setting of Shakespeare's The Tempest), Martin Griffiths works as the narrator and also designed the artwork. In 2011 Alias ​​Eye released the CD In-Between , which contains the Beggar's opera hit Time Machine and on which Martin Griffiths and Philip Griffiths collaborated.

Nothing is known about Ray Wilson, the wild man in the kilt. Several of the former members of the band now have other professions and only play music as a hobby or at regional events.

Discography

  • 1970 Act One
  • 1971 Waters of Change
  • 1972 Pathfinder
  • 1973 Get Your Dog Off Me!
  • 1974 Sagittary
  • 1975 Beggar's Can't Be Choosers
  • 1980 lifeline
  • 1996 The Final Curtain
  • 2001 Time Machine - Best (1970–73, label: Zounds , all tracks digitally remastered, CD-Text)
  • 2011 Lose a Life
  • 2012 Nimbus: The Vertigo Years Anthology

Web links