Customer Reviews

Waters of Change

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

UK band BEGGARS OPERA'S second album is filled with mellotron, organ and great guitarplaying. It sounds like a lot of the other bands from the samt country back then. CRESSIDA, SPRING and FANTASY comes to mind. "Time Machine" is among the best here, with its haunting themes. "I've no idea" reveals the melodic progressive rock this band played so good. Much of the hughlights in the tracks come from the superb mellotron backing which indeed sounds so good. "Silver peacock" is yet another great long track with its lyrical themes and melodious playing. One has to remember that 1971 still was just at the beginning of progressive rock, and in that sense, this album comes through as an original and very imaginative effort. Very good with no direct flaws.

I truly enjoy this album. Ok, there are a couple of tracks they could have left out but if you want to get mellow listen to "Time Machine", "Nimbus", and "Silver Peacock" track 7. Your California resident offends me. (Yeah I am biased, being a brit brought up in Scotland.)

Beggars Opera are one of the lesser known British heavy prog groups (along with the likes of Cressida, Spring, Gravy Train, Steamhammer or Warhorse). And there are similarities to those bands too. Waters of Change is sometimes quoted as their best album, but, for me, it pales next to the raw energy of their debut "Act One". By this album, they had acquired a mellotron and more vocal polish from singer Martin Griffiths. It kicks off with "Time Machine", one of their best tracks featuring phasing, great use of keyboards and mellotron. The rest is not up to the same standard, though "Silver Peacock" is a standout track as well. It can get a bit clumsy in spots, but it's still a great album for those liking keyboard heavy prog in the vein of the bands previously mentioned.

Well, I have to disagree with the review of Mikayel Grigorian, but then I guess that's what taste is all about. I own one the vinyl record and was looking to get this title on CD for years because I very much like to listen to it but have no turntable any more.

One of the finest albums of early 70's Progressive Rock

Beggars Opera was a band from Scotland that managed a handful of albums from 1970 to 1980. Of course, it's their first three albums that their reputation lies on: Act One (1970), Waters of Change (1971), and Pathfinder (1972). With Waters of Change, the band added Virginia Scott, a rare example of a female Mellotron player (other example going to Angela Allen of Carmen). Organ duty of course, still remains to Alan Park, who decided to ditch the classical themes of Act One. The results being this best album of Beggars Opera and an excellent example of early British progressive rock. Being 1971, this isn't exactly the most complex of prog, although around the same time Gentle Giant did release Acquiring the Taste (which was on the same label), which was far more complex than anything done before, but most other bands at the time weren't ready to take on GG, and of course never Beggars Opera. This music isn't a million miles away from the likes of Cressida, Fantasy, Gracious, even Spring (but less Mellotron). "Time Machine" is a great opening piece, you get to hear right away Martin Griffiths voice, he does have a peculiar voice. Great organ and Mellotron work, nice guitar from Ricky Gardiner. "Lament" is simply Alan Park playing a Scottish-influenced song on organ (you can almost imagine it being played on bagpipes). "I Have No Idea" is back to the more familiar sound of the band at the time. "Nimbus" is a rather down-sounding piece with guitar from Ricky Gardiner, and Mellotron from Virginia Scott. "Festival" has a more lively feel to it. "Silver Peacock Intro" features some big Mellotron brass with narration info before "Silver Peacock" proper starts. A short little interlude with cello and organ is found on "Impromptu" before ending with "The Fox", which is a great piece that goes through several changes.

What took me so long to get this album? I long owned a copy of Pathfinder and really like the album (many people think of it in a lesser light to Waters of Change, but I think it's great too, but it's my understanding that Beggars Opera went downhill after Pathfinder), but it took me until now to get Waters of Change, it's one of those album I would have never regretted buying had I bought it the same time I bought Pathfinder (I bought Pathfinder back in 1997, given I was just 24 at the time, I obviously wasn't around when the band was releasing these great albums on Vertigo). Waters of Change is an album truly deserving to be in your collection.

If you've never heard Beggars Opera, well, you're not the only person out there unfamiliar with them! Very little people know about this very talented, creative little band. They are very good at their instruments, and though they sound quite similar to Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, it's in the *songwriting* that counts. "Time Machine" is absolutely great how they take a somewhat simple-sounding keyboard riff with three notes and repeat it over and over, and it sounds so great each time. The vocals are very memorable as well, and the choice of instruments is near brilliant. Fantastic choice of instruments in fact, and the production is quite wonderful as well. Can't believe these guys aren't known as being groundbreaking or popular to SOME people. They're reallly a great band. Pick up this album today for a real hidden treasure surprise.

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various recordings from the 60's and 70's.

The 1971 release (Their 2nd) from Beggars Opera "Waters Of Change" didn't get picked up by the majority of musical radarscopes but it offers a noncommercial mix of U.K. progressive and psychedelia.

It seems unfair that any release should be judged solely against the gold standard. If a recording by the Hollies was placed next to the Beatles, it doesn't mean by falling short they are open to ridicule. Beggars Opera didn't have the consistency to be Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, Gentle Giant, or Nektar for example but they display enough talent to be worthy of inclusion in a CD collection.

"Time Machine" is a good choice for an opening track. At a bit over eight minutes, Beggars Opera prepares you for the upcoming journey. The vocals are delivered well enough (Pleasurable really) and the instrumentation will show they are not run of the mill players.

"Silver Peaking" is haunting in the arrangement. The mood turns a bit dark but the keyboards help us find the way. The composition is one of the strongest on the album.

"The Fox" closes the record with a combination rock and progressive sound that is well put together.

The CD mix comes across rather well.

If you want something a bit different and have the time to listen more than once, you can find this particular opera fairly accessible..

Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

This is a very good (and early) example of progressive rock from Scotland released in 1971 on the "progressive" Vertigo label, which was home to bands like Gentle Giant, Black Sabbath, and Cressida in the early 1970s. The music on Waters of Change is very good, although the vocal parts and some of the music sounds just the slightest bit dated. This was after all, progressive rock during its earliest developmental period and is correspondingly raw. The highlights of the album include virtuosic piano and Hammond organ work by Alan Park (who also contributed to six of the nine pieces) and heavy use of the mellotron by Virginia Scott. For a good example of Alan Park's superb technique, the lightning fast arpeggios played at the introduction of Silver Peacock are awe-inspiring and recall the nimble technique of Tony Banks (of Genesis) and the excesses of Keith Emerson (of ELP). Although I am heaping praise on the keyboardist, the guitarist, bassist, and drummer are all solid and make some nice contributions. The arrangements on Waters of Change are fairly complex, although they are suggestive of a band that was just getting used to playing such complicated material. As such, the pieces are very energetic, yet sound somewhat awkward at times, although not distractingly so. My favorite piece on the album is the atmospheric "Nimbus", which stands in stark contrast to some of the heavier (and busier) material. "Nimbus" features just the mellotron, some spacey, sustained notes on the guitar, and only minimal percussion. Another pleasant, albeit short and gloomy piece is "Impromptu", which features just the acoustic guitar and a cello (although nobody was credited with playing the instrument). The CD was re-issued by Repertoire and the liner notes provide a very cursory overview of the band. Other groups that are stylistically similar include Spring, Cressida, and Gracious.

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