Album Reviews: Two from Velvet Opera

Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera (later simply Velvet Opera) is one of countless British acts that didn’t break through in the U.S. Based on their debut, they deserved much better. Two of their albums have received expanded reissues from Think Like a Key Music.

Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera – s/t
The introduction to the 1968 album, “Intro” comes charging out of the gate, all swagger and danger. From there, “Mother Writes” delivers a driving melody with a buzzing guitar and a vibe that has it both ways: it packs all of the wallop of The Who or The Move, but adds in creamy vocal harmonies closer to the Moody Blues.

“Mary Jane” takes the same approach: a popsike-leaning melody wedded to a heavy arrangement. There’s a showy character to songs like “I Was Cool,” but the band’s muscular attack adds weight. “Walter Sly Meets Bill Bailey” is equal parts semi-instrumental prog track reminiscent of Love Sculpture and kitschy, knees-up show tune. “Air” introduces sitar, and it’s quite well done (if gimmicky).

The album’s production is a bit on the thin and trebly side, but the thunderous bass lines break through all that to deliver the requisite bottom end on tracks like “Lookin’ for a Happy Life.” The band evokes The Who and Motown at once with “Flames.” The gentle psychedelia of “What’s the Point of Leaving” shows that Elmer (Dave Terry) and his pals can do subtlety as well as they rock out. “Long Nights of Summer” is dramatic and memorable, with some nice use of Mellotron.

“Dream Starts” goes heavy on the effects, combining them with kazoo solos(!) but it mostly works. The shimmering “Dreams of Young Man” is a kitchen-sink production that seems to fold in elements from everything else on the album; it’s a lot to take in, but worth the trip. The album-proper ends on a strong note with the baroque rocking of “Now She’s Gone.”

Think Like a Key’s new reissue of Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera adds 11 bonus tracks, a mix of b-sides, single versions and a pair of demos. While b-sides are often the dustbin for lesser tunes, “Talk of the Devil,” “Dreamy” and “Volcano” show that the band had more good ideas than could fit on their LP. The rocking “A Quick B” is dashed-off but impressively so. The two demo tracks are predictably lo-fi but worthwhile.

As obscurities go, Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera is a true gem, a winning balance of power and nuance, and highly recommended for listeners who appreciate the heavy-yet-refined character of British psychedelia and freakbeat.

Velvet Opera – Ride a Hustler’s Dream
By the time Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera was released, Dave Terry had left the group. The other members carried on; the songs on Ride a Hustler’s Dream are solid but far less adventurous than the tunes on the first album. Tunes like “Statesboro Blues” rock convincingly enough, but the subtlety (and freakbeat-ness) of the debut are all but gone. “Money By” has faint echoes of the old sound, but not enough to convince. New guitarist Paul Brett is talented, but less distinctive in his approach than Colin Forster, the musician he replaced.

There’s a folky, campfire quality to many of the songs, with harmonicas, hand claps and acoustic guitars. Good elements all, they aren’t likely to have won praise from people who were looking for the musical character of the first album. “Raise the Light” comes close, and could almost pass for an outtake from Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera; its gentle guitar work and heavy rhythms are among the best work on the album. Perhaps deciding that the debut’s “Air” was a good idea, they all but repeated it with “Raga and Lime.”

“Anna Dance Square” is eerily similar to Traffic’s “You Can All Join In.” The banjo textures of “Depression” are nice enough, but a c&w flavor is likely not what listeners were looking for. “Don’t You Realise” is underdeveloped but quite good, again sounding like something from the first album. “Warm Day in July” tries to combine the childlike wonder-style psych vibe to an acoustic tune; the results are nice but not among the album’s strongest moments. The album-proper ends with a strange instrumental reading of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” Yet again Velvet Opera ends up sounding like Love Sculpture.

In total, Ride a Hustler’s Dream has a split personality: half of its track rock out mightily, and the others are gentle and acoustic-flavored. That mix can work, but on this album, the two styles coexist uneasily. Worthwhile but flawed, the album is worth investigation but not classified as anything like an overlooked masterpiece.