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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. It was released as "Excerpt from a Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)", even though the rest of the 'Teenage Opera' was mostly still just an idea in Wirtz' head. A subsequent single, "Sam", failed to do as well, scuppering record company support to make a planned album and film. West soon left to concentrate on work with Tomorrow, but Wirtz continued in a piecemeal fashion on the 'opera', releasing further singles, often pseudonymously, and some album tracks. 


Album: A Teenage Opera 
Artist: Mark Wirtz 
1996 rpm 
CD: RPM 165 
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 

Tracks: 
1) Theme from A Teenage Opera [Wirtz] 
2) Festival of Kings [Wirtz] 
3) Grocer Jack (Excerpt from A Teenage Opera) [Wirtz/Hopkins] 
4) The Paranoiac Woodcutter #1 [Wirtz] 
5) Mr Rainbow [Wirtz/Hopkins/Burgess] 
6) Glory's Theme (All Aboard!) [Wirtz] 
7) On a Saturday [West] 
8) Possum's Dance [Wirtz] 
9) Auntie Mary's Dress Shop [Hopkins/Burgess] 
10) Love and Occasional Rain [Wirtz] 
11) Grocer Jack (Reprise) [Wirtz/Hopkins] 
12) Sam [Wirtz/Hopkins] 
13) Farewell to a Broken Doll [Wirtz] 
14) (He's Our Dear Old) Weatheman [Wirtz] 
15) Shy Boy [Hopkins/Burgess] 
16) Grocer Jack's Deram [Wirtz] 
17) Barefoot and Tiptoe [Wirtz/Hannaman] 
18) Knickerbocker Glory [Wirtz] 
19) Dream Dream Dream [Wirtz/Hannaman] 
20) Colonel Brown [Hopkins/Burgess] 
21) Cellophone Mary-Jane [Wirtz/Mills] 
22) Paranoiac Woodcutter #2 [Wirtz] 
23) Theme from A Teenage Opera (End Titles) [Wirtz] 

Notes (***): Many of Wirtz' writing credits were originally under the pseudonym 'Philwit', while wife Ross Hannaman's were as 'Bigsby'. (5) is an alternate version of Tomorrow's "Hallucinations" (on Tomorrow).