Velvet Opera - Ride A Hustler's Dream (Reissue) (1969/2004)

Founded in Coventry, UK in 1967 - Renamed to only "Velvet Opera" in 1969 - Disbanded in 1971

ELMER GANTRY'S VELVET OPERA, a very long name for a short living British band formed in 1967 during the peak of British Psychedelia, but despite their formation era, they were one of the most advanced bands from their era, blended with great respect R&B, Jazz Psychedelia a la early Pink Floyd and a touch of The Nice style, hard to say if they were inspired in Keith Emerson's sound because they are coetaneous, but you can find many similarities.

The band was born as "THE FIVE PROUD WALKERS" and they were a support Blues/Soul act for Pink Floyd, the original lineup was Richard Hudson on drums , Colin Forster on lead guitar, Jimmy Horrocks on organ and flute, John -Last name unknown officially- (bass) and Dave Terry on vocals and harmonica, but gradually they became less interested in Blues and more in the new sounds that were appearing everywhere in the British scenario, the unknown bass player was replaced by John Ford and they decided to change their name.

The first option was The Velvet Opera, but Dave Terry appeared in a session wearing a long black cape and a preachers hat, the band immediately identified him with Sinclair Lewis fictional character Elmer Gantry and in that moment his name changed and the band was baptized as ELMER GANTRY'S VELVET OPERA.

During 1967 and 1969 the band released three singles, Flames/Salisbury Plain (Flames was covered by Led Zeppelin), Mary Jane/Dreamy (Mary Jane was banned by BBC because they "discovered" it was a slang term for Marijuana) and Volcano/A Quick 'B', plus their first LP the eponymous ELMER GANTRY'S VELVET OPERA. The release date is unsure, some places mention it as released in 1967 others in 1968.

Despite being a very good and incredibly advanced album for their era, never reached the popularity deserved, because it was too hard and eclectic for the average listener, but still remains as one of the most powerful and elaborate albums from the pre King Crimson Progressive Rock era.

At that point the problems started, Elmer Gantry and Colin Forster were replaced by John Joyce and Paul Brett, so the second album "Ride a Hustler's Dream" was released only by The Velvet Opera (Obviously when Dave Terry, who had legally changed his name to Elmer Gantry left, they had to stop making references to him).

The quality of this album is not remotely as high as the first one and marked the end of the band John Ford and Richard Hudson developed a different sound and started to write their own music while John Joyce and Paul Brett went for a more acoustic sound, so they decided to separate in friendly terms, is well known that this same year Ford and Huston joined The Strawbs.