Beggars Opera was a Scottish

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band from

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, formed in 1969 by guitarist

Ricky Gardiner Ricky Gardiner (31 August 1948 – 13 May 2022) was a Scottish guitarist and composer. Biography Gardiner joined his first band, the Vostoks, at school in 1962. Next there were the Kingbees and the System, with whom he formed Beggars Oper ...

, vocalist Martin Griffiths, and bassist Marshall Erskine. The line-up consisted of Ricky Gardiner (guitar/vocals) (born 31 August 1948,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland), Alan Park (keyboards) (born 10 May 1951,

, Scotland), Martin Griffiths (vocals) (born 8 October 1949, Newcastle upon Tyne) Marshall Erskine (bass/flute) and Raymond Wilson (drums). After working together building parts of the M40 Motorway near Beaconsfield, the lads moved back to Glasgow to look for an organist and drummer and found Alan Park and Ray Wilson. After an intensive time in rehearsal they took up residency at Burns Howff club/pub in West Regent Street in the center of Glasgow. Tours of Europe followed and the band found success in Germany, appearing on German TV's legendary ''

Beat-Club ''Beat-Club'' is a West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, West Germany on ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its ...

'', then at the First British Rock Meeting in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

in September 1971.Larkin C ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997) ) p45

History

In 1970, after signing to

Vertigo Records Vertigo Records is a record company with United Kingdom origins. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Uni ...

, the band recorded their first album '' Act One'', and a single "Sarabande", which charted record in several European countries. The following year, for their second album, ''

Waters of Change ''Waters of Change'' is the second album by the Scottish progressive band Beggars Opera, published in 1971. Overview With respect to its predecessor '' Act One'', ''Waters of Change'' features a rather different sound, which is less derivative ...

'', the band were joined by Virginia Scott (mellotron) and Gordon Sellar (bass) (born 13 June 1947,

). The single "Time Machine" from that album was successful in Germany, where the band toured extensively. Erskine left the band before they recorded their third album, ''Pathfinder'' (1972), which included a cover version of

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

' hit "

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated ...

". Several other personnel changes ensued, with Pete Scott replacing Griffiths in 1972, and Linnie Paterson replacing Pete Scott in 1973. By 1973's final album, ''Get Your Dog Off Me'', Beggars Opera were reduced to a trio of Gardiner, Park and Sellar. In 1974/76 a new version of Beggars Opera recorded two albums for Jupiter Records in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

: ''Sagittary'', featuring Gardiner (guitar), Pete Scott (vocals), Virginia Scott (

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

) (born 1948, Glasgow,Scotland) and Mike Travis (drums), and ''Beggars Can't Be Choosers'' with

Clem Cattini Clemente Anselmo Agustino Cattini (born 20 August 1937) is an English rock and roll drummer of the late 1950s and 60s, who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician. He is one of the most prolifi ...

replacing Travis on drums. Gardiner went on to play for

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

on the '' Low'' album, and with

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

on the '' Lust for Life'' album as well as his ''

Idiot An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot ...

'' tour of 1976. He co-wrote " The Passenger" with Iggy Pop. Alan Park (organist) worked with

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

for many years as musical director. Griffiths sang and was compere in the working men's clubs in and around Manchester until he left for Germany in 1974. He went on tour and worked with

Brian Auger Brian Albert Gordon Auger (born 18 July 1939) is an English jazz rock and rock music keyboardist who specialises in the Hammond organ. Auger has worked with Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Sonny Boy Williamson, an ...

Osibisa Osibisa are a Ghanaian-British Afro-Rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa were the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in ...

Ekseption Ekseption was a Dutch rock band active from 1967 to 1989, playing mostly-instrumental progressive rock and classical rock. The central character in the changing roster, and the only band member present on every album, was conservatory-trained tru ...

Klaus Doldinger Klaus Doldinger (born 12 May 1936) is a German saxophonist known for his work in jazz and as a film music composer. He was the recipient of 1997's Bavarian Film Awards. Life and work Doldinger was born in Berlin, Germany, and entered a Düsse ...

Ange Ange (English: Angel) is a French progressive rock band formed in September 1969 by the Décamps brothers, Francis (keyboards) and Christian (vocals, accordion, acoustic guitar and keyboards). Since its inception the band's music has been inspi ...

and Can before signing a recording contract with Jupiter Records (Ralph Siegel) releasing three singles: "I’ll Be Coming Home", ”Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" and "Israelites", which reached number 3 in the German Disco Charts in 1977.

Discography

*1970 '' Act One'' *1971 ''

'' *1972 ''

Pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder ( ...

'' *1973 ''Get Your Dog Off Me!'' *1974 ''Sagittary'' *1975 ''Beggars Can't Be Choosers'' *1980 ''Lifeline'' *1996 ''The Final Curtain'' (compilation) *2007 ''Close to My Heart'' *2009 ''Touching the Edge'' *2010 ''All Tomorrows Thinking'' *2010 ''Suddenly Ahead Ahead'' *2011 ''Lose a Life'' ( EP) *2011 ''Promise in Motion'' *2012 ''Mrs. Calagari's Lighter''

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *''Big Noise: The History of Scottish Rock 'n' Roll as Told by the People Who Made It'' by Martin Keilty.

External links

Beggars Opera website
* * {{Authority control Scottish progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1976 1969 establishments in Scotland 1976 disestablishments in Scotland Musical groups from Glasgow Scottish rock music groups Vertigo Records artists