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| RPM Records RPM165 CD 1996 |
Liner Notes
The Teenage Opera - one of the legendary long lost projects of the
sixties - comes to life for the first time. RPM has compiled the soundtrack for The Teenage Opera in as near a form to the
original concept as possible - as it would have been had EMI not pulled the plug back in 1968. Producer Mark Wirtz began work
on The Teenage Opera story idea in 1966 when contracted to EMI, and teamed up with a group of musicians including Steve Howe
and Keith West plus engineer Geoff Emerick.
The story of The Teenage Opera was to include sketches of different characters who inhabited a fantasy village, which
in turn was part of a story being told by a young man to a young woman. Two singles were released as Excerpts from the Teenage
Opera - "Grocer Jack "and "Sam", both here in stereo for the first time and featuring Keith West's vocals (the former also
including "Theme From A Teenage Opera" on the b-side). Whilst "Grocer Jack" became a huge UK & European hit, "Sam" failed
to emulate it and after EMI saw how much money the two singles had swallowed up they lost interest and patience and refused
to finance The Teenage Opera project. Undeterred, Mark Wirtz continued to use his musical ideas and a number of Teenage Opera
characters and themes appeared over the years on a variety of singles by different bands or as solo releases.
Performed by
Mark Wirtz (5 as 'Steve Flynn', 14, 17 as 'The Sweetshop', 18, 19 as 'Zion de Gallier')
The Mark Wirtz
Orchestra (1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 16, 22)
The Mark Wirtz Orchestra & Chrous (2, 10, 13, 23)
Keith West (3, 7, 12)
Tomorrow
(9, 20)
Kippington Lodge (15)
Astronaut Alan & The Planets (21)
Mark Wirtz: vocals (5, 14, 17, 19, 21), keyboards (12, ?)
Keith West: vocals (3, 7, 9, 12, 20)
Nick Lowe: vocals
(15)
Ross Hannaman: vocals (17)
Steve Howe: guitar (9, 12, 20, ?)
Band of the Irish Guards (17)
Produced and arranged by Mark Wirtz
Soundtrack producer: Phil Smee
Executive producer: Mark Stratford
Recorded 1967, 1968
(1-3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 20, 23) in stereo; (3, 12) are released in stereo for the first time here
Never completed at the time, Mark Wirtz' A Teenage Opera was re-constructed by Wirtz and RPM in 1996 from a variety
of contemporary releases and some previously unreleased material (4, 6, 11, 16, 22). "Grocer Jack", Mark Wirtz' music and
idea in collaboration with lyrics and vocals by Keith West (a.k.a. Hopkins), was a hit single in 1967.
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