Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera

Picture this: London, 1967. While flower power blooms in the streets above, four seasoned R&B soldiers are reinventing themselves in a Denmark Street basement. Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera weren't just changing their name from The Five Proud Walkers – they were changing the game. With Dave "Elmer Gantry" Terry up front (sporting a preacher's hat that would make Sinclair Lewis proud), Colin Forster on guitar, John Ford on bass, and Richard "Hud" Hudson on drums, they transformed from blues purists to psychedelic pioneers overnight.
Their 1967 debut single "Flames" became the underground anthem of the year, burning up turntables across Britain and even catching the ears of a soon-to-be-formed Led Zeppelin. Recording their self-titled album in marathon overnight sessions (sometimes literally sleeping in the studio), they crafted perfect three-minute pop gems that somehow crammed kitchen sink dramas and mind-bending ragas into the same grooves. From the Who-inspired thunder of "Mother Writes" to the coded ode to herbal refreshments in "Mary Jane" (too clever by half for the BBC's comfort), they created a masterpiece that burned bright and fast – like all the best psychedelic stories do. Hudson and Ford would later surface in The Strawbs, while Gantry himself went on to work with everyone from Alan Parsons to Jon Lord, but nothing quite captured the magic of those Denmark Street nights.
Discography
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Pre-order
- Artist
- Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera
- ReleaseProduct
- Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera (2025 Remaster)
- Label
- Think Like A Key Music
- Catalogue Number
- TLAK1198
- Release Date
- April 25, 2025
- CD