Beau, born Christopher John Trevor Midgley, is a British singer-songwriter and
twelve-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 string (music), strings in six Course (music), courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lo ...
player, who first became known in the late 1960s through his recordings for
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
's Dandelion Records label. He released two albums on
Dandelion
''Taraxacum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus has a near-cosmopolitan distribu ...
– ''Beau'' (1969) and ''Creation'' (1971)
(which featured Jim Milne and Steve Clayton from Tractor as backing musicians on some tracks), plus the single "1917 Revolution" which had greater success abroad than it did in the United Kingdom. "1917 Revolution" is said to have been the inspiration for
America's "
A Horse with No Name".
His best known song however is probably "The Roses of
Eyam
Eyam () is an English village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales that lies within the Peak District National Park. There is evidence of early occupation by Ancient Britons on the surrounding moors and lead was mined in the area by the Ro ...
" (written under the name of
John Trevor) which folk singer
Roy Bailey took around the world and which he recorded on his ''Hard Times'' LP in 1985. This version was subsequently re-released on Bailey's ''Past Masters'' CD in 1998. Beau himself released the song officially for the first time as a bonus track on the 2007 British reissue of the original ''Beau'' disc (
Cherry Red), and on the 2008 Japanese release of the same album (Airmail Recordings).
A CD of eighteen previously unissued songs – ''Edge of the Dark'' – was issued on the
Angel Air label in 2009, followed in 2011 by the
Cherry Red download albums ''The Way It Was'' and ''Creation Recreated''. The latter was a remastered, partially remixed and much expanded version of 1971's ''Creation''. Beau also contributed a previously unreleased song – ''In The Court of Conscience'' – to vinyl specialist
Fruits de Mer Records
Fruits de Mer Records is a British independent record label based in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, established by Keith Jones and Andy Bracken in 2008. It releases psychedelic rock, psychedelic folk, folk rock, space rock and krautrock mu ...
' ''2012 Annual'', and a 180gram vinyl version of ''The Way It Was'' was issued by Ritual Echo Records in 2012.
A download album – ''Fables & Façades'' – was also released in 2012 on the
Cherry Red label. An unusual departure, this was made up of eighteen mostly full-band arrangements recorded between 1978 and 2000.
Beau has produced several hundred songs - newly recorded albums continue to be released by
Cherry Red for both download and streaming - and he has also recorded under the names of
John Trevor, Trevor Midgley and Simfonica. Though mostly known as a "folk" performer, his writing has also been strongly influenced by
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
and rock. He co-wrote ''"
WARHOL
Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
– The Musical"'' with Steve Clayton of the band
Tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...
.
List of work
Discography
* ''1917 Revolution''
ingle
Ingle may refer to:
People
* Ingle (surname), includes a list of people with the name
* Ingle Martin (born 1982), American former football quarterback
Places in the United States
* Ingle, California, a community
* Ingle, Florida, an unincorporate ...
(Dandelion, 1969)
* ''Beau'' (Dandelion, 1969)
* ''1917 Revolution''
ingle
Ingle may refer to:
People
* Ingle (surname), includes a list of people with the name
* Ingle Martin (born 1982), American former football quarterback
Places in the United States
* Ingle, California, a community
* Ingle, Florida, an unincorporate ...
(Dandelion (Netherlands), 1970)
* ''Creation'' (Dandelion, 1971)
* ''Creation/Beau'' (See For Miles, 1995)
* ''Beau'' (Cherry Red, 2007)
* ''Beau'' (Air Mail Archive (Japan), 2008)
* ''Creation'' (Air Mail Archive (Japan), 2008)
* ''Edge of the Dark'' (Angel Air, 2009)
* ''Beau'' (Cherry Red, 2010)
* ''The Way It Was'' (Cherry Red, 2011)
* ''Creation Recreated'' (Cherry Red, 2011)
* ''The Was It Was''
inyl(Ritual Echo, 2012)
* ''Fables & Façades'' (Cherry Red, 2012)
* ''Twelve Strings to the Beau''
inyl(Salvation Records, 2013)
* ''Fly the Bluebird'' (Cherry Red, 2014)
* ''Recorded @ Rocker’s – The Dandelion Radio Sessions…'' (Local Underground, 2014)
* ''Creation''
inyl(Sommor (Spain), 2015)
* ''Shoeless In The Desert'' (Cherry Red, 2015)
* ''An Original Thought'' (Cherry Red, 2016)
* ''Song Of The Volcanoes''
s Simfonica(Cathedral Transmissions, 2016)
* ''When Butterflies Scream'' (Cherry Red, 2017)
* ''Letters In Time''
VD s Simfonica(TM Studios, 2017)
* ''Rattle The Asylum Bars'' (Cherry Red, 2018)
* ''Body Mass''
s Simfonica(TM Studios, 2018)
* ''Damascus Road'' (Cherry Red, 2019)
* ''The Magic Of Public Relations'' (Cherry Red, 2020)
* ''The Methadone Of Time'' (Cherry Red, 2021)
* ''Travelling The Highway''
s Trevor Midgley(Felt Production Music / Cherry Red, 2021)
* ''Beau''
inyl(Trading Places (Italy), 2021)
* ''Al Killem's Final Show'' (Cherry Red, 2022)
* ''Creation''
inyl(Trading Places (Italy), 2022)
* ''Twelve Strings To The Beau'' (Cherry Red, 2023)
* ''Edge Of The Dark'' (Cherry Red, 2023)
* ''Kingdom Of The Blind'' (Cherry Red, 2023)
* ''Deep In The Dark – Unreleased Rarities 1971-1991'' (Cherry Red, 2023)
* ''Golden Domes''
s Trevor Midgley(Felt Production Music / Cherry Red, 2024)
* ''The Last Confessions Of A Saboteur'' (Cherry Red, 2024)
* ''Palace Of Light'' (Cherry Red, 2025)
Compilations and other recordings
* ''There Is Some Fun Going Forward''
ompilation(Dandelion, 1972)
* ''There Is Some Fun Going Forward… plus'' (See For Miles, 1995)
* ''The Dandelion Sampler'' (See For Miles, 1996)
* ''Life Too, Has Surface Noise – The Complete Dandelion Records Singles Collection 1969–1972'' (Cherry Red, 2006)
* ''Plain Sailing: An Acoustic Alternative'' (Cherry Red, 2008)
* ''All For Tomorrow'' (Cherry Red, 2009)
* ''Favourites From John Peel's Record Collection'' (Cherry Red, 2011)
* ''2012 Annual'' (Fruits de Mer Records, 2011)
* ''Summer Folk Festival'' (Cherry Red, 2012)
* ''Indie Xmas'' (Cherry Red, 2012)
* ''The Crabs Sell Out / The Crabs Freak Out'' (Fruits de Mer Records, 2012)
* ''My Acoustic Valentine'' (Cherry Red, 2013)
* ''strange fish 5'' (Fruits de Mer Records, 2013)
* ''Vintage Folk Festival Favourites'' (Cherry Red, 2013)
* ''A Vintage Summer Holiday'' (Cherry Red, 2013)
* ''Fruits de Mer Annual 2014''
ith The Raiders(Fruits de Mer Records, 2013)
* ''Love, Poetry and Revolution'' (Grapefruit, 2013)
* ''An Alternative Guide to Singer Songwriters'' (Cherry Red, 2014)
* ''Classic John Peel Collection'' (Cherry Red, 2014)
* ''Memories of a Folk Festival'' (Cherry Red, 2014)
* ''Dust On The Nettles'' (Grapefruit, 2015)
* ''The 13th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus Festival CD 1'' (Fruits de Mer Records, 2015)
* ''The 13th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus Festival CD 3''
s Simfonica(Fruits de Mer Records, 2015)
* ''The 14th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus - Day Two''
s Simfonica(Fruits de Mer Records, 2016)
* ''Ascending Scales''
ith The Honey Pot(Fruits de Mer Records, 2017)
* ''Strangers In The Room: A Journey Through British Folk-Rock (1967-1973)'' (Grapefruit, 2019)
* ''The Forme To The Fynisment Foldes Ful Selden'' (Cold Spring Records, 2020)
* ''Peephole In My Brain – The British Progressive Pop Sounds Of 1971'' (Grapefruit, 2020)
* ''Separate Paths Together – An Anthology Of British Male Singer/Songwriters 1965-1975'' (Grapefruit, 2021)
* ''Crab Nebula''
ith The Raiders(Fruits de Mer Records, 2023)
References
External links
Beau’s websiteBeau’s Recordings blogBillboard Russia interviewStrange Brew Podcast interview45cat biography"In Beau Regard" interviewPrimitive Man Soundz interviewThe Strange Brew "Kingdom Of The Blind" interviewpalebloomsandbeyond video interviewThe Strange Brew Podcast on Dandelion RecordsDiscogs.com entry for BeauDiscogs.com entry for John TrevorDiscogs.com entry for SimfonicaDiscogs.com entry for The RaidersDiscogs.com entry for Christopher John Trevor MidgleyBeau Knows: Notes from the Palace Of Light
{{authority control
English folk guitarists
English male guitarists
English male songwriters
1946 births
Living people
Folk music discographies
Dandelion Records artists
Fruits de Mer Records artists