SAGITTARY

After the major disappointment of their previous release (Get Your Dog Off Me), the band seriously needed to produced a much better record to keep their prog fans awaken and when you listen to the title and instrumental track, one can say that Beggars Opera are on the good path.

This composition is a solid anthem to the best of the progressive heydays from the band. On the rhythmic side of their music, it offers a complex structure: jazzy, Oriental, upbeat (drumming is stunning). Great guitar a la Carlos only adds to the great feeling.

But maybe that this was only a one track since the next and reggae-ish Something To Lose isn't really what you would expect from this band. Again, I do like reggae (maybe moderately but still.Steel Pulse, Culture and Marley were companions of mine in the late mid seventies). But to combine prog elements with this type of music have never been my cup of tea (cf. some of my Ozric Tentacles reviews).

The problem is that things are not getting any better with World Crisis Blues. This album is a mix of downs but as well ups. The next Smiling In A Summer Dress is a wonderful rock ballad which reminds the melancholy of the great While My Guitar Gentle Weeps;

As if every ups would need to be followed by a down, the dreadful and funky Freedom Song is best avoided. You know the key I guess.next of course (you can act the same way for Love Of My Own later on.

Since you know the structure of this album by now, it was bound to happen that I'm The Music Man would be a good one. And here we go for another pleasant soft-rock ride (we'll get lucky at this time since it is the second good track in a row!). The closing Simplicity is also a good instrumental (not as strong as the opener). It builds up in the crescendo mood and ends up with some inspired guitar solo. Another good track really.

This album is almost a permanent exchange between good and poor songs. It is still just shy of the third star IMO. Funk, reggae and prog are not my best mix while they are played by the same band. Five out of ten.