Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera (aka "Velvet Opera") was a British rock band ac… Read Full Bio ↴Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera (aka "Velvet Opera") was a British rock band active in the late 1960s. Members of the band would later become members of Strawbs, Hudson Ford and Stretch.
The band picked up on the British psychedelic movement after supporting The Pink Floyd as a soul/blues band called 'The Five Proud Walkers', the lineup was Richard " Hud" 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.
Earlier, they gigged for a while playing blues-based material,but gradually got interested in more a free-form style. The name Velvet Opera was chosen initially, which was amended to Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera within days after Dave Terry turned up to a session wearing a long black cape and a preacher's hat and had to endure some piss-taking from the rest of the band (Elmer Gantry was the fictional hero of a Sinclair Lewis novel and 1960 film about a preacher). The name stuck and Dave became Elmer. By this time Elmer, influenced by the music of John Cage, was making experimental taped backing sounds and using signal generators on stage in the act.
The band began to get quite a following and played clubs and university gigs all over the UK and at London venues like the Marquee and 100 club and Electric Garden. They would also occasionally play at the Speakeasy where Jimi Hendrix would jam with them, also people like Jeff beck and Eric Burdon. The band had been recorded independently for a while by Southern Music Publishing, who had their own four-track studio in Denmark Street, and it wasn't long before they had secured a record deal with CBS's "Direction" label. The problem was that Southern Music had originally signed them as a bluesy/jazzy band and they were not very keen on trying to get new, more riotous stage act on disc.
The group were persuaded to do more "regular" material. The first recording was the song, written by Elmer, that the band were best known for, 'Flames'. The record was on jukeboxes all over the UK and was covered live by bands as diverse as "The Joe Loss Orchestra" and "Led Zeppelin", in fact Jimmy Page told Elmer that Flames was the only non-Zep number that they included in their early stage-act (Robert Plant also included it in his 2001-2002 tour). However, for the average radio listener the song was too far ahead of its time and despite live popularity and numerous radio plays the song only managed to achieve number 30 in the charts. Direction did however, take faith in the band to record second and third singles and more importantly a self-titled album.
The group's second single, "Mary Jane" was removed from the BBC playlist after they realised that the song was the slang term for Marijuana. The third single, Volcano, was written by Howard & Blakely, who had written hits for Dave Dee etc.
After three singles and the album, major success had still not been achieved. The agent at the time, Terry King, had booked the group a lot of shows, they were regularly appearing on the BBC on John Peel's show, among others, they were playing, touring and promoting hard, but recording success was still elusive. Colin Forster was then replaced by Paul Brett but this still didn't achieve the desired result.
Disagreements erupted within the band, which led to a split from Elmer and so the Velvet Opera was formed. Elmer Gantry remembers : "eventually, EGVO broke up due to a change of direction within the band. Paul Brett, (who incidentally I had worked with previously and had brought into the band following our initial success) although a brilliant guitarist, had a strong interest in more folkish music and, with Hud's increasing interest in playing instruments other than drums, the band started to change direction. I did not welcome this change, and whilst I had great admiration for all the other members as musicians, was not interested. There followed a coup in which the other members of the band attempted to just replace me and keep the name. This would clearly have been ridiculous as I was already known as Elmer Gantry and the band was largely know for its riotous, envelope-pushing stage presence, not for electro-folk. The result was that they brought twelve string guitarist folk-blues guitarist Johnny Joyce in, and continued as The Velvet Opera and eventually Strawbs and The Monks producing the novelty hits "Union Man" and "Nice legs, shame about the face" and I continued with a new line-up, formed from the Downliners sect, as the Elmer Gantry band. I also later had a lead role in "Hair" in the west end, recorded on two Alan Parsons Project albums, did the lead vocals on Cozy powell's album, sang and wrote with Jon Lord on his solo album."
A second album, "Ride a Hustler's Dream" was released by the Velvet Opera on their own, Elmer and Colin having been replaced by John Joyce and Paul Brett. The album was recorded (as was the EGVO album) at Southern Music's studios in Denmark St. Paul Brett remembers : "It was an 8 track set up and was a real struggle to get real quality and instrument separation, but we did our best. We did lots of Radio 1 sessions and quite a few dates, the most memorable being with the Who at The Lyceum. John Ford and Richard Hudson were getting more into writing their own songs and they also wanted to perform them, Johnny and I were more into acoustic music and inevitably, we went our own ways quite amicably. Southern would have made another LP with us but we felt we needed to follow our hearts! I spoke to Hud last year about the possibility of collaborating on a new Velvet Opera LP as the bands reputation has survived and even grown over the years, probably because we have all done our own things. This is very much a possibility and I will pursue this with Hud and John. I did a CD last year with John Joyce 'Acoustic Power' that was really well received by the media. It could also be that there is another Fire LP in the future and certainly their will be more Paul Brett CD's and there are collectors issues on CD of the previous material and some unreleased Paul Brett & Sage stuff via my site www.fret-dancer.com".
After the split, Ford and Hudson joined Strawbs whilst Rick Wakeman was still a member. In 1971, Colin Forster recruited a whole new Velvet Opera featuring ex-Tintern Abbey vocalist, Dave MacTavish, bass player Colin Bass and drummer Mike Fincher who recorded one single on the Spark label. Elmer Gantry later appeared in the Seventies in Stretch singing the hit single "Why Did You Do It?" Stretch released four albums and some singles on the "Anchor" label. During the 90s, a CD of live "John Peel BBC Sessions" was released by "Strange Fruit" and a double CD set " Stretch, The Story of Elmer Gantry" was released on Repertoire Records. The Stretch catalogue is currently handled by "Trojan Records." Elmer is now working in the drug-rehabilitation field but still gigs occasionally both in the UK and in America.
The band picked up on the British psychedelic movement after supporting The Pink Floyd as a soul/blues band called 'The Five Proud Walkers', the lineup was Richard " Hud" 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.
Earlier, they gigged for a while playing blues-based material,but gradually got interested in more a free-form style. The name Velvet Opera was chosen initially, which was amended to Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera within days after Dave Terry turned up to a session wearing a long black cape and a preacher's hat and had to endure some piss-taking from the rest of the band (Elmer Gantry was the fictional hero of a Sinclair Lewis novel and 1960 film about a preacher). The name stuck and Dave became Elmer. By this time Elmer, influenced by the music of John Cage, was making experimental taped backing sounds and using signal generators on stage in the act.
The band began to get quite a following and played clubs and university gigs all over the UK and at London venues like the Marquee and 100 club and Electric Garden. They would also occasionally play at the Speakeasy where Jimi Hendrix would jam with them, also people like Jeff beck and Eric Burdon. The band had been recorded independently for a while by Southern Music Publishing, who had their own four-track studio in Denmark Street, and it wasn't long before they had secured a record deal with CBS's "Direction" label. The problem was that Southern Music had originally signed them as a bluesy/jazzy band and they were not very keen on trying to get new, more riotous stage act on disc.
The group were persuaded to do more "regular" material. The first recording was the song, written by Elmer, that the band were best known for, 'Flames'. The record was on jukeboxes all over the UK and was covered live by bands as diverse as "The Joe Loss Orchestra" and "Led Zeppelin", in fact Jimmy Page told Elmer that Flames was the only non-Zep number that they included in their early stage-act (Robert Plant also included it in his 2001-2002 tour). However, for the average radio listener the song was too far ahead of its time and despite live popularity and numerous radio plays the song only managed to achieve number 30 in the charts. Direction did however, take faith in the band to record second and third singles and more importantly a self-titled album.
The group's second single, "Mary Jane" was removed from the BBC playlist after they realised that the song was the slang term for Marijuana. The third single, Volcano, was written by Howard & Blakely, who had written hits for Dave Dee etc.
After three singles and the album, major success had still not been achieved. The agent at the time, Terry King, had booked the group a lot of shows, they were regularly appearing on the BBC on John Peel's show, among others, they were playing, touring and promoting hard, but recording success was still elusive. Colin Forster was then replaced by Paul Brett but this still didn't achieve the desired result.
Disagreements erupted within the band, which led to a split from Elmer and so the Velvet Opera was formed. Elmer Gantry remembers : "eventually, EGVO broke up due to a change of direction within the band. Paul Brett, (who incidentally I had worked with previously and had brought into the band following our initial success) although a brilliant guitarist, had a strong interest in more folkish music and, with Hud's increasing interest in playing instruments other than drums, the band started to change direction. I did not welcome this change, and whilst I had great admiration for all the other members as musicians, was not interested. There followed a coup in which the other members of the band attempted to just replace me and keep the name. This would clearly have been ridiculous as I was already known as Elmer Gantry and the band was largely know for its riotous, envelope-pushing stage presence, not for electro-folk. The result was that they brought twelve string guitarist folk-blues guitarist Johnny Joyce in, and continued as The Velvet Opera and eventually Strawbs and The Monks producing the novelty hits "Union Man" and "Nice legs, shame about the face" and I continued with a new line-up, formed from the Downliners sect, as the Elmer Gantry band. I also later had a lead role in "Hair" in the west end, recorded on two Alan Parsons Project albums, did the lead vocals on Cozy powell's album, sang and wrote with Jon Lord on his solo album."
A second album, "Ride a Hustler's Dream" was released by the Velvet Opera on their own, Elmer and Colin having been replaced by John Joyce and Paul Brett. The album was recorded (as was the EGVO album) at Southern Music's studios in Denmark St. Paul Brett remembers : "It was an 8 track set up and was a real struggle to get real quality and instrument separation, but we did our best. We did lots of Radio 1 sessions and quite a few dates, the most memorable being with the Who at The Lyceum. John Ford and Richard Hudson were getting more into writing their own songs and they also wanted to perform them, Johnny and I were more into acoustic music and inevitably, we went our own ways quite amicably. Southern would have made another LP with us but we felt we needed to follow our hearts! I spoke to Hud last year about the possibility of collaborating on a new Velvet Opera LP as the bands reputation has survived and even grown over the years, probably because we have all done our own things. This is very much a possibility and I will pursue this with Hud and John. I did a CD last year with John Joyce 'Acoustic Power' that was really well received by the media. It could also be that there is another Fire LP in the future and certainly their will be more Paul Brett CD's and there are collectors issues on CD of the previous material and some unreleased Paul Brett & Sage stuff via my site www.fret-dancer.com".
After the split, Ford and Hudson joined Strawbs whilst Rick Wakeman was still a member. In 1971, Colin Forster recruited a whole new Velvet Opera featuring ex-Tintern Abbey vocalist, Dave MacTavish, bass player Colin Bass and drummer Mike Fincher who recorded one single on the Spark label. Elmer Gantry later appeared in the Seventies in Stretch singing the hit single "Why Did You Do It?" Stretch released four albums and some singles on the "Anchor" label. During the 90s, a CD of live "John Peel BBC Sessions" was released by "Strange Fruit" and a double CD set " Stretch, The Story of Elmer Gantry" was released on Repertoire Records. The Stretch catalogue is currently handled by "Trojan Records." Elmer is now working in the drug-rehabilitation field but still gigs occasionally both in the UK and in America.
Volcano
Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Volcano' by these artists:
& To U Yeah ey 시작해 어서 몰입해 집중해 좀 더 뜨겁게 Back swing부터 이른 sweat NCT…
Adam Clayton/Bono/Larry Mullen Jr./The Edge/U2 The world is spinning fast tonight You can hurt yourself tr…
Agent 5.1 Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
American Blonde Volcano Natalia Morris, Halo Baby Music (BMI) …
Antipop Consortium You ain't got to say "It's a go" In my lane,…
Beck I've been walking on These streets so long I don't know Wher…
Becky and Cloud you have precious little mind you paint a perfect little rai…
Bell X1 Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I…
Benji Cossa Have you ever felt such glory? Maybe in a lost memorial? I…
BozKo Monde incroyable Tombe effroyable À l’horizon j’voyage Ambit…
Brooke Candy I feel it, the heat is rising I'm ready to go My…
Charge Group Now I understand, with this show of hands, there are…
Charlotte Martin Covered in another layer-where'd you go Tasting like anothe…
Clarke-Boland Big Band Got my motor runnin' Little girl, are you comin' Keep your c…
Coral Reefer Band Chorus: Now I don't know I don't know I don't…
Damien Don't hold yourself like that Cause You'll hurt your knees W…
Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kis…
Damien Rice (feat. Lisa Hannigan) Don't hold yourself like that cause You'll hurt your knees w…
Dethklok We climb molten rock Sweating bleeding we can't stop Dream…
Don Henley Now I don't know I don't know I don't know…
Dr. Frankenstein It's the same Every day Same old gripes just Another way W…
Dragonette Here comes the sun a handsome bit of weather Oh we're…
Eartheater Pulling the plug could be the ultimate anti-drug But I′m add…
Edie Brickell So young and beautiful in her old used car And she's…
Emily Hearn My heart was fallin' now it's shattered It's like a natural…
Etno Engjujt Qao qao bella yeah prit me deti afer me plazh…
Everclear I like it here in this quiet room We can turn…
Flaco Favor VOLCANO Sin mas pretensión Que algo de emoción Cambios de es…
Frigga I hear you breath But I can't see If you're right here…
GIGLIO Baby when I'm with you Volcano Baby I just need some more I…
Girugämesh -ギルガメッシュ- Hadaka na hito wa utagau koto nado shiru yochi mo…
Grand Duchy (Violet Clark & Black Francis) Is this song starting? I'm a little confused Hey, muscle be…
Gussstave Volcano volcano Do you know how hard I tried To open…
Hans Zimmer & will.i.am Woke up at night I heard floating chords They guided me To t…
Hans Zimmer Will.i.am Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
Henry Kapono Now I don't know I don't know I don't know…
Henry Kapono/Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band Chorus: Now I don't know I don't know I don't…
I am Oak You spent your whole life wondering What the outcome might h…
Jake Shimabukuro/Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band Chorus: Now I don't know I don't know I don't…
Jarboe Your lipstick smear across your face, Now toss your hair in…
Jimmy & The Parrots You start to think of all the reasons you should…
Jimmy and the Parrots Now, I don't know I don't know I don't know…
Jimmy Buffet Now I don't know I don't know I don't know…
Jimmy Buffett Now, I don't know I don't know I don't know…
Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band Chorus: Now I don't know I don't know I don't…
Jupiter One Put my hand on a mountain Pulled the top right off I…
K.A.L.I.L. Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
Kenny Clarke Got my motor runnin' Little girl, are you comin' Keep your c…
Kills Birds wish I was volcano But I think I'm just a rock…
KITCHEN - The Band Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
Magnus Murphy I want you close Need you skin tight Baby we could do Anythi…
Maisie Peters I wished you happy birthday, and you still said nothing I'll…
Marty and Ben People people people, People people people. We would…
Moglii I'm bringing the rain I'm bringing the sun for you Nothing's…
Moon Owl's Mages As I leave Green Streets Turn around and see His flaming cro…
Mr. Music Sometimes I feel like I'm a volcano Like my emotions are…
Mr. Myers Nimayesa Kuzilesa ine Mutima Ukangiwa imwe I'm falling for…
NCT Yeah ey 시작해 어서 몰입해 집중해 좀 더 뜨겁게 Back swing부터 이른 sweat NCT…
Paper Moon Under the island, middle of a mountain There is a big…
PBSR I've seen the way the rain falls You were…
Phillip Phillips Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
Pig And the river will rise up And heal all the scars On…
Port Isla When the power runs down We should end this time But I…
Rapture Ruckus Wake me up in the middle of the night These dreams…
Red Plastic Bag well i thought i felt a tremor, somebody shouting 'an earthq…
Shy Glizzy Geraldo Live on the track Uh Young Jefe, holmes GG Yeah Oka…
Sopico Futur alternatif boum Quarante degrés sur toi, igo Faut qu'…
Star-X Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
Susana Baca I need a piss Wanna hate Fuck it up Come My love Eat your m…
Swans Your lipstick smear across your face, Now toss your hair in…
SWIM SWEET UNDER SHALLOW 依然足らぬ素通り掃いた 期待を呼べるか 時勢を言う「さよなら」 おくびに出せるか 自然ともう触れあえば 時代を超えるか…
Tacocat Volcano, take me away Whatever price I'll pay You're super-f…
The Band Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
The Kenny Clarke Got my motor runnin' Little girl, are you comin' Keep your c…
The Kenny Clarke & Francy Boland Big Band Got my motor runnin' Little girl, are you comin' Keep your…
The Kenny Clarke - Francy Boland Big Band Got my motor runnin' Little girl, are you comin' Keep your c…
The Kenny Clarke Francy Boland Big Band Got my motor runnin' Little girl, are you comin' Keep your…
The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band Got my motor runnin' Little girl, are you comin' Keep your c…
The Presidents of the United States of America Under the island, middle of a mountain There is a big…
The Vamps feat. Silentó Give me a tear drop I'll give you an ocean Give me…
Tim Ebling & B.L.A.S.T. Devour of life Increasingly is comming From mount olympus Mo…
Twin Atlantic You got me ′round that finger Sickly, twisted, feels good Ru…
U2 The world is spinning fast tonight You can hurt yourself try…
U2 (Song of Innocence) The world is spinning fast tonight You can hurt yourself tr…
Voivod Here I stand, wait and breath Looking down to the city Yes…
Volcano Let's get down off of this ride I feel a little…
Vybz Kartel Gyal a bubble up, gyal a bubble up (Up) Gyal a…
W.O. Smith Music School Singers Walking through this world of steam Peer into their lives th…
Wasserman Garcia & Brickell So young and beautiful in her old used car And she's…
will.i.am Woke up at night I heard floating chords They guided me To t…
X-Pleasure I´ll be the finest stranger to myself My heart is a…
X.Y.R. Don't hold yourself like that You'll hurt your knees I kisse…
♪ Beck I've been walking on These streets so long I don't know W…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera:
Air Look around you everywhere Can you see the open air? It's …
Dream Starts Colours of the rainbow appear on my wall Colours turn to…
Flames There's a flame burning in my heart and it's gonna…
I Was Cool I've always lived by this golden rule: Whatever happens, do…
Intro Hello there, ladies and gentlemen! I'd like to welcome you …
Long Nights Of Summer Listen to the moon Singing its sad song of broken dreams (…
Lookin' For A Happy Life Another forgetful morning face has taken its place The chai…
Mary Jane Lifting my mind is drifting I am very pleased to see…
Mother Writes The postman's arrived and he's brought me a letter A handwr…
Now She's Gone The sun starts to rise from its slumbers To start the…
Reaction Of A Young Man Your husband knows that you've been keeping me The bond you…
Water Sly Meets Bill Bailey …with nothing but a fine tooth comb Do you remember me,…
What's The Point Of Leaving Put your head on my chest Feel no fear, lying here I'll…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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enterprise1954
I'm sorry there are no comments on this after 4 and a half years. I heard it on the radio once, one time only, and got the title wrong. It has taken me years to find this song again. Thanks for the upload
Daz Nobes
Bout time for another comment....codswallop