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I recently was reading about the first "rock operas" and I came across this, which I'd never heard about. Pre-Yes guitarist Steve Howe was involved, which made it more interesting.
It seems the idea for a pop/rock opera for teens was in the air, especially in Britain by the mid 60's. The idea of raising "popular" music to the level of serious "Art" was also on the rise. In America, The Beach Boys were doing Pet Sounds, with recurring themes. In Britain, Pete Townshend had written "A Quick One, While He's Away" (in 6 "movements") on The Who's second album. Concept albums were starting to appear (although Sinatra had been doing theme based albums already for at least a decade) and become popular. The idea of pop/rock music taking on larger forms, like musicals, was planted. Shows like "Hair", "Godspell", "Jesus Christ Superstar", etc. were only 1-2 years away from happening.
Mark Wirtz's "A Teenage Opera" is really an idea that was never fully realized or completed. He had a rough idea, a loose plot of characters. He had a couple songs about the first characters and some good musicians and Abbey Road recording studio. The first recording that was released was "Grocer Jack", which was promoted as an excerpt of the upcoming show. It became a UK hit in 1967 and created interest in the show. However, the writing, recording, etc. didn't happen quick enough and interest and financial backing dried up. Only parts of it were recorded and/or released, and the tracks remained well preserved in Abbey Road's vaults.
This CD compiles all the recordings together in an order to match the plot/story and give the idea of what the soundtrack would have been, had it been completed. There are 23 tracks in total, 5 of which have never been issued before and 19 of which are appearing on CD for the first time. Several tracks are only instrumental, incidental music. Most of the songs are quite short (about 2 minutes).
IMO, for the most part, it's all "trippy" 60's pop music with a bit of psychedelia, and it hasn't really aged well. "Grocer Jack" is not that a great song and the only song I deem worthy of more success is "Mr. Rainbow". It's interesting to hear this though, and I can only imagine its influence on the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, etc. in creating their own albums and singles around this time. FYI - The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper's album at Abbey Road at the same time this "opera" was being recorded there. The Kinks' upcoming thematic albums hold together much better than this does. The Who's "Tommy" rock opera was far superior musically and lyrically, although the plot is very "out there". The Moody Blues' "Days of Future Passed" was released the same year and far surpass the quality of Wirtz' music. In the end, "A Teenage Opera" cannot compete with those other works.
This CD is well packaged and the stereo recordings sound very good. I think others who have an interest in music history like I do would enjoy hearing this - but most people would find it's only worth checking out and not owning. The price is higher than a regular CD because it's rare and harder to find. I think people who'd be happy to buy/own this are those who grew up loving the "Grocer Jack" hit and wanting to hear the rest of the show. I think they'll find the rest of the music lives up well to the "Grocer Jack" single... but only "Mr. Weatherman" surpasses it, IMO.
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