A Teenage Opera

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A Teenage Opera
A Teenage Opera cover
Soundtrack by Keith West
Released 1996
Recorded 1967
Genre Musical
Label EMI
Producer Mark Wirtz

A Teenage Opera is a musical project from the 1960s and was the creation of record producer Mark Wirtz.

Contents

[edit] History

Wirtz had been working on the idea for a rock opera since early 1967, when he was asked to join EMI as an in-house record producer.[1] He had already seen Pink Floyd start their successful career, and he personally recommended them to be signed, but he thought the task of producing them would be better left to fellow employee Norman Smith. Wirtz decided to work with another band he had enjoyed, The In Crowd,[2] who soon changed their name to Tomorrow.[3] The basic concept of A Teenage Opera was of sketches of different characters who lived in a fantasy village. These stories were to be told by a young man to a young girl.[4] Wirtz intended for the final project to be animated, and later compared it to the Yellow Submarine, by The Beatles.[2] Wirtz used members of Tomorrow to produce the first recording.[5]

[edit] Production

The first song created was the story of Grocer Jack, the local grocer who was taken for granted until he died.[5] Wirtz took an unused backing track from an old recording of his, a song called "Love Will Always Find A Way", and Steve Howe was asked to overdub the guitar. Wirtz had the character of Jack in his imagination, but asked Keith West to write the lyrics for it. After West heard the music, he wrote the lyrics straightaway. Soon after, the single was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The engineer, Geoff Emerick, was working with The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album at the time, and the song was recorded in "true stereo", a rarity at the time, with all the latest technology that was available. The song itself featured the "Opera" trademark, the children's chorus, with singers from Corona Stage School.[6]

[edit] Single releases

Grocer Jack (Excerpt from A Teenage Opera) was released on 28 July 1967, and was an instant hit. It was played continuously throughout the summer, which was later known as the Summer of Love and was helped into its number 2 spot by it being played on pirate radio stations, particularly Radio London and Radio Caroline.[7] It was also featured on the very first broadcast of Radio 1 on 30 September 1967.[8] It was only kept off the number 1 spot by Scott McKenzie's San Francisco, and the enormous success of Grocer Jack got the media's attention. Rumours began circulating about the rest of the project; according to one source, the entire project had been completed by September, and there was talk of a musical starring Cliff Richard.[9] Another single was produced in October, Sam, with West on vocals and Howe on guitar again. However, it did not get above 38 in the chart. Despite Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn helping promote it, and Wirtz creating a special edited airplay version, the song was a failure, as it simply did not have nearly as much publicity as Grocer Jack did, and was played a lot less. The fact the pirate stations had been shut down did not help things either. Following this, West made the difficult decision to leave the project. He found it difficult to work between two very different projects, and it confused fans.[7] Wirtz meanwhile completed (He's Our Dear Old) Weatherman, which had started out as The Paranoiac Woodcutter. It was the most complex recording so far, containing more than 100 different sounds. However, like Sam, it received very little airplay, due to Radio 1's inability to play it. Wirtz had already begun working on Tomorrow's album, and recorded a remake of Hallucinations for single release. It was renamed to "Mr Rainbow", and Wirtz performed it himself. It was released in August 1967, with Wirtz using the pseudonym of Steve Flynn. Wirtz took another track from the album, Shy Boy, and it was rerecorded by Kippington Lodge. These two songs eventually ended up on the final album released in 1996.

[edit] Other recordings

Wirtz created a lot of material around this time, and ended up releasing music as by fake artists. Much of this music produced in late 1967 became part of the project, and was released on the 1996 album. There were two particular recordings that did not survive, "The Sad Story Of Simon And His Bugle" and "Two's Company, Three Thousand's A Crowd". The latter was a musical comedy, with the voices of Tim Rice and Samantha Jones. In January 1968 Wirtz married Ross Hannaman, and subsequently recorded many co-written songs with her. The track "Barefoot and Tiptoe" was one of their collaborations, and features her voice, as well as the Band of the Irish Guard.[10] It was released as by The Sweetshop, but sales were poor.[11] Wirtz was forced to shelve the project, and concentrated on Tomorrow, whose album was released in February 1968. However, many songs were released over the years that were intended for the project, for example Dream Dream Dream, performed by Wirtz but credited as Zion De Gallier. An album released in Germany in 1968 contained what was the basis for the Theme from a Teenage Opera.

[edit] The Tracks

In 1996 a CD was released by Wirtz with every track recorded over the years intended for use in A Teenage Opera. Some of the songs (notably the two singles) were remixed in stereo.

The tracks are as follows:[12]

  1. Theme From A Teenage Opera
  2. Festival Of Kings
  3. Grocer Jack (Excerpt from a Teenage Opera)
  4. The Paranoic Woodcutter
  5. Mr Rainbow
  6. Glory's Theme (All Aboard!)
  7. On A Saturday
  8. Possums Dance
  9. Auntie Mary's Dress Shop
  10. Love & Occasional Rain
  11. Grocer Jack (Reprise)
  12. Sam
  13. Farewell to A Broken Doll
  14. (He's Our Dear Old) Weatherman
  15. Shy Boy
  16. Grocer Jack's Dream
  17. Barefoot & Tiptoe
  18. Knickerbocker Glory
  19. Dream Dream Dream
  20. Colonel Brown
  21. Cellophane Mary Jane
  22. Paranoic Woodcutter #2
  23. Theme From A Teenage Opera (end titles)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mark Wirtz - Bio. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  2. ^ a b Fufkin.com: Robert Pally: The Mark Wirtz Interview. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
  3. ^ Biography - Steve Howe Guitar Rondo. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  4. ^ RPM Records : Mark Wirtz. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  5. ^ a b Various Artists - A Teenage Opera - The Original Soundtrack Recording. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  6. ^ Webb, Robert. "ROCK & POP: STORY OF THE SONG `EXCERPT FROM A TEENAGE OPERA' Keith", London: The Independent, 7 January 2005. Retrieved on 2008-01-17. 
  7. ^ a b The Story Behind “The Teenage Opera”. Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
  8. ^ UK POP: BBC Radio 1's First Broadcast, BBC's First and Last TOTPS. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
  9. ^ David Lister; Russell Newmark. "Sixties 'Grocer Jack' rock opera gets off its back after 30-year wait", London: The Independent, 21 May 1996. Retrieved on 2008-01-17. 
  10. ^ Mark Wirtz Biography. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  11. ^ A Teenage Opera. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  12. ^ Leonard's Lair Review

[edit] See also