This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, at various times also known as "Velvet Opera", was a British rock band active in the late 1960s. Members of the band, Richard Hudson, John Ford and Paul Brett, would later become members of The Strawbs, Hudson Ford and Stretch. The group emerged from a soul/blues band called 'The Five Proud Walkers'. After supporting Pink Floyd on tour, they were inspired to change their approach and become a more psychedelic outfit. The band consolidated as Richard Hudson on drums, John Ford on bass, Colin Forster on lead guitar, Jimmy Horrocks (Horovitz) on organ and flute (who left early in the band's history), and Dave Terry on vocals and harmonica.[3] Initially just calling themselves Velvet Opera, they developed their full name when Terry took to wearing a cape and preacher's hat in the style of the title character in the 1960 film adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel, Elmer Gantry. They started to make club appearances in London, using electronic backing sounds, and secured a record deal with the short lived Direction Records subsidiary of CBS Records in the UK. Their first recording was the single "Flames" (November 1967) which also featured on the CBS sampler record "The Rock Machine Turns You On", and was later covered on stage by Led Zeppelin.[4] Further singles and a self-titled album followed, including the track "Mary Jane" which was taken off the BBC playlist after they realised its drug connotations, although the band continued to make regular live appearances on John Peel's Radio 1 programme 'Top Gear', and other BBC radio shows. Around this time, Terry, as lead singer of the band was regularly being approached as "Elmer." The band found this amusing and joined in and the name stuck, Dave Terry became (and remains) Elmer Gantry.
The Beatles sure made it look easier than it was, eh?
Bandstand introductions earn quite a few points by default. As for the rest... There really was a time when you could slap the opera label on anything. Gantry's is seamless, but a rather bluesy set, light on characters, further into the garage.
Semi-obscure psych! I like these little neat finds and moments of time that never panned out but had a time where they were active. It all sounds just as competent as most psych around that time. 3.5 up to 4 just cause I enjoyed the discovery.
Those kooky 60s folks at it again
I usually really enjoy 60s music and psychedelic rock but this was what happens when guys try to take the sound of other popular bands and do it themselves. Just a total miss on this one. Not really sure there was one standout song. You hate to see it. 5.0/10
Oh yes, I'll have another helping of psychedelia please. The cover of "I Was Cool" was a bit unexpected, and entertaining I suppose, but perhaps best kept to a B-side. Other than that, I'd say this could go toe to toe with most other psychedelia of the era. Rhythm section kicks ass, and is what would set them apart from their peers. That bass tone! Oooeee!
Another interesting band from this era and strata of English rock I'd never heard of. There was a lot of it in this album and I thought it was a little patchy and all over the map stylistically, but the best of it was very good.
Yeah, I could see why someone might want to include this, protopunk and psych at the same time is quite intriguing.
7/10. Listened to this, was pretty good, forgot to rate it and now I forget what it was like. Maybe I'll give it a relisten some time.
I'm always on board for some 60's psychedelica. Something about the sound of these bands that instantly grabs me. If I could play bass - this would be my sound. This is a band I'd never ever heard of, but they do what they do well. Not much I haven't heard already from other bands from that era, but still a very pleasant listen. Thanks for introducing me to Elmer G!
Interesting one. Never heard of this group before, but it holds up well compared to other music of the time. Started out seeming a bit like a novelty act, but got better as it went along. I Was Cool reminded me a bit of Tom Waits. Too bad they weren't able to hold it together for more than two albums, would have been interesting to see where they would have gone. 4 stars.
This was a good one too
I was a bit hesitant to listen to another psychedelic album from the late 60s, but this one was quite enjoyable. It comes out strong with the blues rock and moves into more typical psychedelic rock. There is a touch of early garage rock here was well which gives the album a bit of an edge leaning into almost proto-punk. There were parts that blended into each other, but overall, it was a great listen.
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Mother writes, Lookin’ for a happy life, And I remember
I must admit that when I saw this album I thought sarcastically, "Well, here's an era and genre that wasn't well enough represented in the project!" And then I really enjoyed it and got annoyed that it wasn't there in the project when so many other lesser albums were. This is an album I'd play for someone if I wanted to represent the best of 1968. A really fun variety of good things here!
It's got a lot of energy and a lot of spunk. Sounds almost live, but without the background noise. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Never heard of this group before but really enjoyed this one, great example of 60s rock.
I will give it 4 stars because it was a unique album with a great sound that I hadn't heard before. Fun listen.
Not bad at all. I'm not familiar with this band at all. At times the bass lines were killer. However, for the most part, it was sort of familiar pseudo-psychedelic Britpop that this book was already full of. Cool to be introduced to, though.
Nice one
Obscure psychedelic album from the late sixties. Not bad, but deserves its cult work status only for fans of the genre
Interesting 3
Ohhhh 1968! Let me just get out my "this sucks" stamp. Not sure why you'd choose this when the original list was already full of this stuff, but eh. I don't like it, I don't hate it, but in the absence of 2.5 I'll give it 3/5.
Elements of Who, Kinks and Beatles. I preferred the New Orleans and more traditional blues songs. Not bad for an obscure late ‘60s group, but better represented by the more famous bands.
The Beatles meets Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion in the best way possible. Felt a bit long for the ideas it had to share, but still a great take on older rock that felt new to me.
Rock. Ni fu ni fa.
This was very good, if a bit lacking in stylistic cohesion. But there's enough of a fairly straightforward rock and blues sensibility underneath that keeps it from wandering completely into the weeds. Fave Songs: Talk of the Devil, Mary Jane, I Was Cool, What's the Point of Leaving, Flames
Was trippy and experimental at the time for sure, drags a bit listening now.
Ok
Turns out I’ve heard Elmer Gantry sing on a couple of Alan Parsons Project songs - although I didn’t know that when I started to listen to this. At first I sort of thought this was a 60s album that I wasn’t sure I needed to hear, but as it went on either I started to change or the music started to improve or both and I liked it more and more. The only thing is, I think I started to really like it after the end of the original album (which turns out was song 13). So make of that what you will. This was reasonably entertaining although I really started to enjoy it more during the additional tracks. There’s probably other 60s albums of this ilk I’d reach for first, but I very much appreciate how one might recommend it.
Despite the dated genre, and what i feel are already enough example of this style on the list, the album kicks off with a jam, both Mother Writes and Mary Jane are solid. Unfortunately it quickly devolves into the worst of psychedelic brit rock, with each track showcasing a new way to be annoying. It recovers a bit by Long Nights of Summer and I'll say the last few tracks are solid, reminding me of Decca Bowie and really old Floyd. I don't think i'd do it again, but still interesting.
Men in fancy blouses playing psychedelic rock
Groovy baby
I'm not necessarily a big fan of this genre but it wasn't bad.
Wow this might be the most blatant Beatles rip off I’ve heard. Like it’s straight up taking bits and pieces of each Beatles album and mixing and matching and sometimes just emulating. It’s not bad music but it feels so derivative.
An interesting submission. I've never heard of the band and they seem not to have had much impact on music as a whole so curious to see the thoughts of the one who submitted it. The album itself sounded very typical to that 60s era psych sound and while I found it had some interesting moments never really got there. I do wish more bands would introduce themselves though, that's always a fun time. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3.5/5 Should this have been included in the original list? No. I think there was enough 60s-era music that was adjacent to this on the original list and this doesn't really bring something new to the table.
I find this practically unlistenable, due to all these messy passages. And that this goes on for more than an hour, doesn't help either.
Mild 1960s psychedelia. Meh. Rating: 2.5 Playlist track: Flames Date listened: 29/08/24
Agree with everyone else, overrepresented genre that I don't enjoy anyway.
Awful
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