The Broadside Band - The Beggar's Opera: Original Songs & Airs

Harmonia Mundi - LP
France, 1982
Baroque / Classical / Folk

Yes, one of the strongest contender for best discovery of 2024 might be this 1982 LP of songs and airs from famous British ballad opera, John Gay's Beggar's Opera. Conceptually brilliant and sonically fantastic.

You may know how much I loved Virginia Astley's From Gardens Where We Feel Secure in particular, and British pastoral popular music in general. Well, consider this LP the origin story of the genre. The Beggar's Opera might be the most famous and influential British Opera ever, inspiring Bertold Brecht's Threepeny Opera and Chico Buarque's Ópera do Malandro, and god knows how many other versions that exist. From prog-rock to techno, every genre has its Beggar's Opera.

Compared to, say, The Doors' Alabama Song, this Jeremy Barlow version of the Opera might seem extremely orthodox. But it's not. I'd say it's a music that has a less conservative appeal than Jim Morrison's classic (heavily spoiled by annoying boomers). This LP is not a mere selection of famous airs from Gay's Opera, it's a complexe "montage" of "Beggar's Opera versions" and traditional folk versions of the same song, from different countries, mixed with some discreet pastoral field recordings... 

It's a gigantic maze of folk sounds that reflects the essence of Gay's opera and the overall composite nature of ballad operas, as opposed to Italian operas. I'm definitely not qualified enough to write about the complex history of The Beggar's Opera, but I can assure you that it is fascinating. The wide variety of voices, instruments and arrangements and the mindblowing sound recording techniques make this specific LP just as captivating as The KLF's Chill Out - and maybe even more aesthetically relevant today than The KLF's classic sonic trip. A masterpiece of a record (NM/NM)

Tracklist

1. Air III: Cold and raw
   
2. Air XVI: Over the hills and far away
   
3. Air XVIII: Oh, the broom
   
4. Air XXI: Would you have a young virgin
   
5. Air VI: What shall I do to show how much I love her
   
6. Air XIX: Fill ev'ry glass
   
7. Air XXXVII: Charming Billy
   
8. Air XL: The lass of Patie's mill
   
9. Air LXVII: Greensleeves