Sophisticated Beggar is English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 / rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Roy Harper

Roy Harper

Roy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...

's debut album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

. It was released in 1966

1966 in music

-Events:*January 3 – Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work it Out".*January 8 – Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who...

.

History

The album consists of Harper's poetry backed by acoustic guitar

Steel-string acoustic guitar

A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...

 and recorded with a Revox

Revox

ReVox is a brand name of Swiss audio equipment created by Studer on March 27, 1951.The ReVox brand name was spun off into Studer Revox AG in 1990. During Studer's acquisition by Harman International Industries, Revox was sold separately to a group of private investors...

 tape machine

Reel-to-reel audio tape recording

Reel-to-reel, open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette....

 by Pierre Tubbs

Pierre Tubbs

Pierre Tubbs is a British songwriter and music producer. One of his biggest successes is "Right Back Where We Started From" recorded by Maxine Nightingale. He also co-wrote the J.J...

.

When initially released the album was poorly distributed; only a few thousand were ever made, so in order to promote the album, Harper designed flyers

Flyer (pamphlet)

__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....

 and personally handed them out to shoppers in Oxford Street

Oxford Street

Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...

, London.

The album has subsequently been re-released on a number of different labels, given numerous titles, and had the original track listing altered. Though still available today, Harper only receives royalties

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

 for the official Science Friction

Science Friction

Science Friction is an English record label established by English singer-songwriter Roy Harper in 1993 in order to release his back catalogue of recorded music. Generally, all CD releases are prefixed by the coding "HUCD0..."-Albums by catalogue number:...

 release.

Side one

1. "China Girl" – 3:36
2. "Goldfish" – 2:47
3. "Sophisticated Beggar" – 5:07
4. "My Friend" – 4:06
5. "Big Fat Silver Aeroplane" – 3:39
6. "Blackpool" – 5:08
7. "Legend" – 3:43

Side two

1. "Girlie" – 3:02
2. "October the Twelfth" – 5:54
3. "Black Clouds" – 4:31
4. "Mr. Station Master" – 3:04
5. "Forever" – 3:27
6. "Committed" – 3:14 – (with Ritchie Blackmore
   Ritchie Blackmore
   Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...
   
   )

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog	Title
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1966	Strike	Vinyl	JHL 105	Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1970	Youngblood	Vinyl	SSYB 7	The Return Of The Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1972	Birth	Vinyl	RAB 3	The Return Of The Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1977	Big Ben	Vinyl	BBX 502	The Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1985	Avon Music	Cassette Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...	ASK 791	Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1989	Sundown	Vinyl	SDLP051/CDSM 051	Sophisticated Beggar
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	1989	Magnum	Vinyl	CDSM 051	Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1992	Tring	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...	JHD 064	Legend
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1994	Science Friction Science Friction Science Friction is an English record label established by English singer-songwriter Roy Harper in 1993 in order to release his back catalogue of recorded music. Generally, all CD releases are prefixed by the coding "HUCD0..."-Albums by catalogue number:...	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...	HUCD007	Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	1997	Mooncrest	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...	CRESTCD 027	Return Of The Sophisticated Beggar
Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	2006	Airmail	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...	1249	Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	2007	Beat Goes On	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...	BGO 771.2	The Return Of The Sophisticated Beggar
Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...	2007	One Media	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...	250183	Sophisticated Beggar
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	2009	Vanilla OMP	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...		China Girl

External links

• Roy Harper Official Site
• Excellent Roy Harper resource
• The Stormcock Community fan site