WATERS OF CHANGE

Nothing to write home about - this is pleasant but no great undiscovered treasure . With their first 2 albums , Beggar was a correct band with a bit of all the ingredients we are all looking for , but even if they had gotten a better exposition , they would have remained in the second league, as they simply not had the genius to break it big (a little like Argent but those guys could write a good single).

The music here is actually much more mature than the one developped on their debut which was too derivative of Mk I Purple and The Nice . On Water Of Change, they have definitely bettered in the vocal dept and the songwriting. Athough , every time I listen to this album, I cannot help thinking of Cressida, Barclay James Harvest and to a lesser extent The Moody Blues, they manage to sound personal enough that my unease towards that came with the debut is absent with this one.

This is still worth a spin but put an ear on it before buying it. Start with this one or Act 1 and try the next one (Pathfinder), which I found (IMHO) particularly uninspired but still prog. All later albums are to be avoided.