Twist And Shout

First-ever complete career anthology of highly-regarded late 60s UK psychedelic band Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera. Mono and stereo versions of much-loved 1968 debut album plus their post-Elmer follow-up LP, several studio out-takes and numerous BBC radio session tracks. In the spring of 1967, London Mod/Soul act The Five Proud Walkers staged a musical volte-face after supporting underground sensations The Pink Floyd. They duly re-emerged that summer as irrepressible psychedelic adventurers Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, making an immediate splash with debut single 'Flames', which appeared on popular CBS label sampler 'The Rock Machine Turns You On' and was added to the set-list of many young British bands including the embryonic Led Zeppelin. 'Flames' was sufficiently successful to justify a debut LP, a strikingly original offering that remains one of the freshest, most consistently entertaining albums to emerge from the British psychedelic scene. Charismatic frontman Elmer and guitarist Colin Forster then left, with rhythm section John Ford and Richard Hudson joined by singer Johnny Joyce and guitarist Paul Brett for a second Velvet Opera album, the more Folk/Blues-oriented 'Ride A Hustler's Dream'. The band split in early 1970 when the Hudson-Ford partnership joined Strawbs, although original guitarist Forster briefly revived the name later that year for a one-off single with his former Tintern Abbey colleague David MacTavish. The first-ever complete EGVO and VO anthology, 'Long Nights Of Summer' naturally includes both albums as well as a US promo-only mono mix of that incendiary debut LP that now makes it's first-ever CD appearance. Also including numerous studio out-takes, demo versions, non-LP singles and a revelatory 50 minutes of BBC session tracks (the bulk of which have never been released before), 'Long Nights Of Summer' features a new 6000 word essay on the band and many rare images.
First-ever complete career anthology of highly-regarded late 60s UK psychedelic band Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera. Mono and stereo versions of much-loved 1968 debut album plus their post-Elmer follow-up LP, several studio out-takes and numerous BBC radio session tracks. In the spring of 1967, London Mod/Soul act The Five Proud Walkers staged a musical volte-face after supporting underground sensations The Pink Floyd. They duly re-emerged that summer as irrepressible psychedelic adventurers Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, making an immediate splash with debut single 'Flames', which appeared on popular CBS label sampler 'The Rock Machine Turns You On' and was added to the set-list of many young British bands including the embryonic Led Zeppelin. 'Flames' was sufficiently successful to justify a debut LP, a strikingly original offering that remains one of the freshest, most consistently entertaining albums to emerge from the British psychedelic scene. Charismatic frontman Elmer and guitarist Colin Forster then left, with rhythm section John Ford and Richard Hudson joined by singer Johnny Joyce and guitarist Paul Brett for a second Velvet Opera album, the more Folk/Blues-oriented 'Ride A Hustler's Dream'. The band split in early 1970 when the Hudson-Ford partnership joined Strawbs, although original guitarist Forster briefly revived the name later that year for a one-off single with his former Tintern Abbey colleague David MacTavish. The first-ever complete EGVO and VO anthology, 'Long Nights Of Summer' naturally includes both albums as well as a US promo-only mono mix of that incendiary debut LP that now makes it's first-ever CD appearance. Also including numerous studio out-takes, demo versions, non-LP singles and a revelatory 50 minutes of BBC session tracks (the bulk of which have never been released before), 'Long Nights Of Summer' features a new 6000 word essay on the band and many rare images.
5013929191327

Details

Format: CD
Label: GRAPEFRUIT
Rel. Date: 07/22/2022
UPC: 5013929191327

Long Nights Of Summer: Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera
Artist: Elmer Gantry / Velvet Opera
Format: CD
New: Available $35.99
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Formats and Editions

DISC: 1

1. Intro
2. Mother Writes
3. Mary Jane
4. I Was Cool
5. Walter Sly Meets Bill Bailey
6. Air
7. Lookin' for a Happy Life
8. Flames
9. What's the Point of Leaving
10. Long Nights of Summer
11. Dream Starts
12. Reactions of a Young Man
13. Now She's Gone
14. Flames (Single Version)
15. Salisbury Plain
16. Mary Jane (Single Version)
17. Dreamy
18. Volcano
19. A Quick 'B'
20. Talk of the Devil
21. And I Remember
22. To Be with You
23. The Painter
24. Salisbury Plain (Extended Demo Version)
25. Flames (Demo Version)
26. Intro
27. Mother Writes
28. Mary Jane
29. I Was Cool
30. Walter Sly Meets Bill Bailey
31. Air
32. Lookin' for a Happy Life
33. Flames
34. What's the Point of Leaving
35. Long Nights of Summer
36. Dream Starts
37. Reactions of a Young Man
38. Now She's Gone
39. Dream Starts (BBC Session)
40. Reactions of a Young Man (BBC Session)
41. Flames (BBC Session)
42. Mother Writes (BBC Session)
43. Mary Jane (BBC Session)
44. Flames (BBC Session)
45. I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag (BBC Session)
46. Mary Jane (BBC Session)
47. Dreamy (BBC Session)
48. Air (BBC Session)
49. All Along the Watchtower (BBC Session)
50. Mary Jane (BBC Session)
51. Something Else (BBC Session)
52. Flames (BBC Session)
53. All Along the Watchtower (BBC Session)
54. Ride a Hustler's Dream
55. Statesboro Blues
56. Money By
57. Black Jack Davy
58. Raise the Light
59. Raga
60. Anna Dance Square
61. Depression
62. Don't You Realise
63. Warm Day in July
64. Eleanor Rigby
65. Anna Square Dance (Single Version)
66. Don't You Realise (Single Version)
67. She Keeps Giving Me These Feelings
68. There's a Hole in My Pocket
69. Statesboro Blues (BBC Session)
70. Water Wheel (BBC Session)
71. She Keeps Giving Me These Feelings (BBC Session)

More Info:

First-ever complete career anthology of highly-regarded late 60s UK psychedelic band Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera. Mono and stereo versions of much-loved 1968 debut album plus their post-Elmer follow-up LP, several studio out-takes and numerous BBC radio session tracks. In the spring of 1967, London Mod/Soul act The Five Proud Walkers staged a musical volte-face after supporting underground sensations The Pink Floyd. They duly re-emerged that summer as irrepressible psychedelic adventurers Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, making an immediate splash with debut single 'Flames', which appeared on popular CBS label sampler 'The Rock Machine Turns You On' and was added to the set-list of many young British bands including the embryonic Led Zeppelin. 'Flames' was sufficiently successful to justify a debut LP, a strikingly original offering that remains one of the freshest, most consistently entertaining albums to emerge from the British psychedelic scene. Charismatic frontman Elmer and guitarist Colin Forster then left, with rhythm section John Ford and Richard Hudson joined by singer Johnny Joyce and guitarist Paul Brett for a second Velvet Opera album, the more Folk/Blues-oriented 'Ride A Hustler's Dream'. The band split in early 1970 when the Hudson-Ford partnership joined Strawbs, although original guitarist Forster briefly revived the name later that year for a one-off single with his former Tintern Abbey colleague David MacTavish. The first-ever complete EGVO and VO anthology, 'Long Nights Of Summer' naturally includes both albums as well as a US promo-only mono mix of that incendiary debut LP that now makes it's first-ever CD appearance. Also including numerous studio out-takes, demo versions, non-LP singles and a revelatory 50 minutes of BBC session tracks (the bulk of which have never been released before), 'Long Nights Of Summer' features a new 6000 word essay on the band and many rare images.
        
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