Minor Earth, Major Sky  (2000,  58.38)  ***/TT
	Minor Earth Major Sky Little Black Heart Velvet Summer Moved on The Sun Never Shone That Day To Let You Win The Company Man Thought That it Was You	I Wish I Cared Barely Hanging on You'll Never Get Over Me I Won't Forget Her Mary Ellen Makes the Moment Count

Current availability:

• Warners

Mellotron used:

• Band's own M400?

It may come as a surprise to you to learn that A-Ha are still going; best known for a handful of mid-'80s hits, including the immortal Take On Me, and vocalist Morten Harket's unearthly several-octave voice. Minor Earth, Major Sky (OK, that's actually Minor Earth | Major Sky, isn't it?) is actually only their sixth album in 15 years, after a seven-year break, and it's pretty much what you'd expect of an A-Ha album at the turn of the millennium; glossy, reasonably intelligent pop with enough contemporary touches to make them at least slightly relevant.

Assuming it's real, I believe Magne Furuholmen plays the Mellotron, with strings across the board. It's so far in the background on the title track that I'm not entirely sure it's there, and the strings on Little Black Heart sound real, but there's much more upfront use later in the album, with the 'Tron highlight here being closer Mary Ellen Makes The Moment Count, with a MONSTROUS 'Tron string chordal part. Assuming it's real.

Anyway, not bad for mainstream pop, with some pretty decent 'Tron parts. Pick it up cheap. I did.

Official site

AK-Momo  (Sweden)

	Return to N.Y.  (2004,  35.02)  ****/TTTT
	Greasy Spoon Return to N.Y. Women to Control Your Mother's Faith Hollywood Time for the Muse Only the Stars Cold War of the Hearts	World Traveller Human Clones Boys & Girls

Current availability:

• Exergy (Sweden)

Mellotrons used:

• Mattias' M400 & Chamberlin Rhythmate

When the mighty Änglagård played Germany in 2003, drummer Mattias Olsson sloped off at one point to pick up an Optigan he'd purchased. An Optigan, you ask? A toy instrument, effectively, made by the Mattel Corporation in the '70s, also used (briefly) by Steve Hackett. It operates by shining a light (the 'opti' part) through clear film discs imprinted with waveforms, containing infinitely-sustaining sounds and rhythms. Sound like something else you've heard of? Apart from the infinite sustain... It works on the same basis as the more professional Orchestron, as used by Kraftwerk, Rainbow etc. (which, funnily enough, is also in Mr. Olsson's keyboard arsenal), although it's far more low-fi. Yes, more low-fi. While its lack of sound quality almost certainly hampered its sales at the time, it's now part of its appeal, especially if you like weird, fucked-up sounds. Enter Mattias.

Mere months after his purchase, Mattias ran into AK von Malmborg, and a jam turned into a recording session which quickly turned into an album under the name AK-Momo, based largely on the Optigan's loungecore rhythms. In fact, the Orchestron and Mellotron are the only other instruments on Return to N.Y., giving the whole thing a scratchy, almost grimy feel. I expect the record has its antecedents, but I'll be fucked if I know what; imagine Tom Waits... No, don't. Um, I give up. Various other Olsson projects from the last few years? Anyway, the material is catchy in a weird kind of way, with some gorgeous melodies from the mouth of the lovely AK, although she sings endearingly flat in places; hey, who needs perfection anyway?

Mattias' Mellotron crops up on all but one track, as you can see. It certainly isn't always at the front of the mix, although Greasy Spoon and Only The Stars feature solo spots at their relative conclusions. Sounds? All the usual suspects (is that the string section on Greasy Spoon?), and there are probably several things I haven't yet identified; I'm sure I have an e-mail somewhere detailing such things, although it could've been lost in The Great E-Mail Crash Of Late 2003. Oh hang on... found it (so why not just delete that last sentence? Eh?). He uses (deep breath):

• 3 violins
• flute
• cello
• clarinet
• oboe
• viola
• string section (various)
• 8 choir
• pipe organ
• Mk II brass
• male choir
• vibes w/vibrato
• wineglasses
• piano
• German flute
• Hammond (w/bass pedals)

And for those who are interested, the Orchestron sounds are:

• violin
• choir
• flute
• Hammond
• cello

I'm sure I should giving this more than four Ts, but much of the 'Tron use isn't readily apparent as such, although that should really be in the album's favour, surely? Anyway, this is sort-of pop, but sort-of something else entirely. I've no idea who it might appeal to, but I urge you to at least listen to the clips on the Exergy site if nothing else, and make your own minds up. I like it, anyway.

Abba  (Sweden)

	Ring Ring  (1973,  35.57/45.03)  ***/T
	Ring Ring (Bara du Slog en Signal) Another Town, Another Train Disillusion People Need Love I Saw it in the Mirror Nina, Pretty Ballerina Love Isn't Easy (But it Sure is Hard Enough) Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother	He is Your Brother Ring Ring I am Just a Girl Rock'n'Roll Band [CD adds: She's My Kind of Girl Merry-Go-Round Santa Rosa]

	Waterloo  (1974,  38.10)  ***/TT½
	Waterloo (Swedish version) Sitting in the Palmtree King Kong Song Hasta Mañana My Mama Said Dance (While the Music Still Goes on) Honey, Honey Watch Out	What About Livingstone Gonna Sing You My Lovesong Suzy-Hang-Around Waterloo [CD adds: Ring Ring (single remix) Honey, Honey (Swedish version)]

Current availability:

• Both titles: Polydor

Mellotron used:

• Band's own M400?

It's weird, thirty years on, to think that Abba (or ABBA) were only one of several projects with which the various members were involved at the time, with no foreknowledge of which, if any, would take off. Their first album, Ring Ring, took a year to record, finally appearing in '73, and was an instant hit in their native Sweden, although the rest of the world took another year to catch the bug. The tracklisting above is the original Swedish one, plus the CD issue's bonus tracks; the international version shifts everything around, losing the Swedish-language title track and adding a b-side, She's My Kind Of Girl. It has to be said that, the excellent title track aside, Ring Ring shows little of the worldbeating talent that was soon to emerge; most of the songs are schmaltzy, lightweight pop, with none of the melodic and harmonic twists that made the best of their later material so compelling.

Benny Andersson is credited with 'piano and Mellotron', which can be read as 'largely piano'; in fact, Another Town, Another Train is the only apparent 'Tron track (the occasional strings on the album appear to be real), with an upfront polyphonic flute melody. It's interesting to note that not every track has an Agnetha/Frida vocal; several tracks have either Benny or Björn singing (sorry, don't know which), as they obviously hadn't yet worked out the band's other chief selling point, besides their songwriting.

Abba's international breakthrough came, of course, with their 1974 Eurovision winner, the fabulous Waterloo. You may scoff; listen to it again, and hear how the vocal and piano melodies twist round each other in the bridge, and the inspired way the descending figure is halved before the last chorus. Much of the rest of Waterloo (original Swedish tracklisting here, again) is nearly as unconvincing as the bulk of their debut (King Kong Song, anyone?), although there are a few better tracks. On the Mellotron front, Andersson sticks string arrangements onto three tracks, with the mock-calypso Sitting In The Palmtree being the best 'Tron part, and Gonna Sing You My Lovesong the best actual song.

So; two formative albums from one of the '70s major pop outfits, with all the best tracks available on compilations. The Mellotron use is nothing special, although Another Town, Another Train is quite nice, with the Waterloo tracks being OK, but inessential. I've had people tell me they can hear the 'Tron on later Abba efforts, particularly tracks from their third album, ABBA, but after listening closely, the jury's still out. Incidentally, I know Elvis Costello's Oliver's Army nicks the piano riff from Dancing Queen, but I'd put money on the chorus coming directly from Dance (While The Music Still Goes On), too.

Official site

Fan site

Absolute Elsewhere  (UK)

	In Search of Ancient Gods  (1976,  51.04)  ****/TT
	Earthbound Part 2: Future Past Moon City Miracles of the Gods Part 2: El Enladrillado Part 3: The Legend of Santa Cruz Part 4: Pyramids of Teotihuacan Part 5: Temple of the Inscriptions	The Gold of the Gods Toktela Chariots of the Gods Return to the Stars

Current availability:

• Korean CD (bootleg?)

Mellotron used:

• Hired-in M400?

I'm told (thanks, Clive) that In Search of Ancient Gods, die-cut sleeve and all, was essentially a vanity project from the then-16 year old (!) Paul Fishman, bankrolled by his wealthy businessman father, or so the music press said at the time. The album is subtitled 'An Experience in Sound and Music Based on the Books of Erich von Däniken', and contains a booklet outlining von Däniken's now somewhat discredited theories (the sort of stuff I believed implicitly when I was 12, and had grown out of by, ooh, 13, I reckon). The album's entirely instrumental, with one lengthy piece taking up the bulk of side one; basically 'melodic symphonic/electronic', for want of a better phrase, although they mix'n'match styles pretty well, with closer Return To The Stars even having something of a funk vibe about it.

There's only a little Mellotron to be heard, and I'm not even entirely sure I've got the right parts of Miracles Of The Gods (note, by the way, their odd habit of titling a track, then titling its successor 'part 2', 'part 3' etc.), but I think the first 'Tron you hear (strings and flutes) is on Miracles Of The Gods itself. The main use, though, is on Part 5: Temple Of The Inscriptions, with some nice flute and strings work from Fishman himself, with a lengthy buildup to a superb crescendo at the end of the track.

Amusing aside: Bill Bruford plays on the album, apparently hired by Fishman's father to give the album some measure of credibility, but was slated for his involvement. Fishman was reported at the time as starting work on a follow-up, but it never happened. Anyway; a good album, without being great. Mostly very mellow, but a few powerful moments thrown in to keep you on your toes, and some nice, if sparingly used Mellotron. Buy if you don't have to pay too much.

Acqua Fragile  (Italy)

Mass-Media Stars  (1974,  35.22)  ****/TTT Cosmic Mind Affair Bar Gazing Mass-Media Stars Opening Act Professor Coffee Song

Current availability:

• On CD, now deleted

Mellotron used:

• Band's own M400?

Acqua Fragile's second release, Mass-Media Stars, is an excellent Italian progressive album, although it doesn't quite reach the heights of PFM (who vocalist Bernardo Lanzetti subsequently joined), Banco or the best New Trolls work, among others. Where it does win out is in the quality of the songwriting; much of the material is highly memorable, with melody to the fore. Highlights include the title track and Opening Act, but there isn't really a bad track on the album.

Maurizio Mori's Mellotron work is fairly extensive, though strangely unexciting; he uses the strings as a useful backdrop sound, without ever doing anything particularly vibrant with them, although Cosmic Mind Affair, for one, is smothered in the thing. The end result is a good album, with a fair bit of 'Tron use, which I find it difficult to recommend as a Mellotron Album. It is, however, a good album in its own right, so I'll recommend on those grounds. By the way, their self-titled debut (***) is a really quite ordinary folk-influenced album, so don't go buying it expecting more of the same.

Bryan Adams  (Canada)

	On a Day Like Today  (1999,  59.20)  **/½
	How Do Ya Feel Tonight C'mon C'mon C'mon Getaway On a Day Like Today Fearless I'm a Liar Cloud Number Nine When You're Gone	Inside Out If I Had You Before the Night is Over I Don't Wanna Live Forever Where Angels Fear to Tread Lie to Me Cloud Number Nine (Chicane Mix)

Current availability:

• Mercury

Mellotron used:

• Hired-in M400?

Well, I'm not quite sure what else I expected of a Bryan Adams album, but On a Day Like Today is exactly the sort of blandola AOR mush with the usual touch of 'rootsiness' we've come to expect from the Golden Pen Of Bryan. Actually, said Golden Pen seem to've become somewhat tarnished over the last decade or so, with no major hit since that utterly execrable ballad stuck on the closing credits of that terrible Robin Hood film for NO REASON WHATSOEVER. Talking of which, you must all know the story about the couple about to get married who ask the elderly organist to play 'the Robin Hood song'? As the bride walks in, up he strikes, with the tune to the '50s TV series: 'Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen...' I really want that one to be true.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, namely telling you more reasons why you shouldn't buy this album. Given this site's standard subject matter, there is next to no bloody Mellotron to be heard, with just a background string part on opener How Do Ya Feel Tonight from Bryan himself. You know, you've gotta hand it to that Adams chap - he does it all: rockers, ballads, fast ones, slow ones... He even manages the occasional minor key. Not often, mind... And why the fuck (look, he's made me swear now) do the first two tracks sounds like bloody Oasis?

Although they're pretty naff, his '80s hits like Summer of 69 (not about the year, apparently - see, he does rebellion as well!) and Run To You at least had decent tunes, despite being fairly irritating. Nothing here even has the saving grace of being the slightest bit memorable, and the Mellotron's almost nonexistent. Just say no, kids.

Official site

Ryan Adams  (US)

	Heartbreaker  (2000,  51.57)  ***½/T½
	(Argument With David Rawlings   Concerning Morrissey) To Be Young (is to Be Sad, is to Be High) My Winding Wheel AMY Oh My Sweet Carolina Bartering Lines Call Me on Your Way Back Home	Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains) Come Pick Me Up To Be the One Why Do They Leave? Shakedown on 9th Street Don't Ask for the Water In My Time of Need Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st)

	Gold  (2001,  71.25/91.18)  ***/T½
	New York, New York Firecracker Answering Bell La Cienega Just Smiled The Rescue Blues Somehow, Someday When the Stars Go Blue Nobody Girl	Sylvia Plath Enemy Fire Gonna Make You Love Me Wild Flowers Harder Now That it's Over Touch, Feel and Lose Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd	[Some copies include 'Side 4' EP: Rosalie Come & Go The Fools We Are as Men The Bar is a Beautiful Place Sweet Black Magic Cannonball Days]

Current availability:

• Heartbreaker: Cooking Vinyl (UK)/Bloodshot (US)
• Gold: Mercury

After leaving the seminal Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams (amusingly sometimes confused with Bryan) launched his solo career in 2000 with Heartbreaker. Call it what you will; alt.country, country-rock, Americana, it's all country- and folk-influenced rock to a greater or lesser degree, for better or worse. Actually, it's not a bad album at all, with considerable input from Nashville non-mainstream regulars Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, although Adams seems a little over-keen on trading on his image as pin-up boy of the 'movement', such as it is. The material is a bit variable, to be honest, although different online reviewers find it impossible to agree, with a song like AMY being both loved and hated. For myself, the Emmylou Harris collaboration Oh My Sweet Carolina is a highlight, as is My Winding Wheel, although some of the tracks are just a little too...ordinary to cut it.

Anyway, Chamberlin from Ethan Johns and Pat Sansone, with flutes and strings on AMY, and strings on Oh My Sweet Carolina and (presumably) Call Me On Your Way Back Home, with a part that could be mistaken for real strings, although I don't believe there are any on the album. Bottom marks, incidentally, for the cover: anyone who tries to make smoking look 'cool' is a dickhead, in my opinion - it isn't, and I'm sick of other people inflicting their addiction on me. Rant over. For now.

Adams followed up a year later with Gold, which appears to have come out in several different editions with various bonus tracks. The most immediately noticeable thing about the album is how much more mainstream it is, with far more band instrumentation on most tracks, although there are still plenty of folk/country touches, not least the banjo on Answering Bell. Compared to its predecessor, the album is way too long, too; this style of music really doesn't lend itself to an hour-plus of listening. Once upon a time, this would've been a double album; most bands only released one per career, if that. What happened to self-censorship or editing? I suspect being on Mercury has a lot to do with it. Anyway, best track? Possibly the near-ten minutes of Nobody Girl, with touches of Neil Young, particularly on the guitar front, or maybe the rockier Enemy Fire.

Just Ethan Johns on Chamby this time round, with strings on all highlighted tracks. Real strings on Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd and Sylvia Plath, by the way; nice to see someone writing about something worthwhile, for once... Incidentally, the extra tracks on the 'Side 4' EP included with some versions hark back to Heartbreaker in many ways, being more 'downhome' and folkier, particularly the excellent The Fools We Are As Men, though no Chamby input this time round.

So; two albums of Americana, one more commercial and mainstream than the other, but both vastly preferable to most of the crud that clogs up our airwaves, which has to be applauded. I personally prefer Heartbreaker, but that isn't to say its successor is bad, just more...accessible. Top marks for choice of instrumental backing, incidentally, with no digital guff anywhere, and plenty of Hammond and Wurly piano, along with the Chamberlin.

Official site

Aerosmith  (US)

Aerosmith  (1973,  36.01)  ***½/TT Make it Somebody Dream on One Way Street Mama Kin Write Me Movin' Out Walkin' the Dog

	Permanent Vacation  (1987,  51.46)  ***½/TT
	Heart's Done Time Magic Touch Rag Doll Simoriah Dude (Looks Like a Lady) St. John Hangman Jury Girl Keeps Coming Apart	Angel Permanent Vacation I'm Down The Movie

	Get a Grip  (1993,  65.38)  ***/½
	Intro Eat the Rich Get a Grip Fever Livin' on the Edge Flesh Walk on Down Shut Up and Dance	Cryin' Gotta Love it Crazy Line Up Can't Stop Messin' Amazing Boogie Man

Current availability:

• All titles: Columbia

Mellotrons used:

• Aerosmith: hired-in M400?
• Permanent Vacation: Drew Arnott's M400?
• Get a Grip: hired-in M400?

Aerosmith probably don't need much introduction, especially to US readers; the quintessential American hard rock/rock'n'roll outfit from the '70s who reinvented themselves in the '80s by bringing in outside writers to become by far and away the best of the 'big hair' metal bands, although it could be said that they transcended the genre completely.

They coalesced around 1970 from various other Boston-area bands, and it only took them a couple of years to get signed, releasing their eponymous debut with its astoundingly cheapo sleeve in '73, consisting (like so many bands) of the best of their live set. Aerosmith contains several numbers played regularly by the band till this day, including the best ballad they'll ever write, Dream On. Steven Tyler's impassioned vocal belies his years, and Joe Perry's blues-influenced guitar style comes into its own, creating a song that has sadly become a bit of a cliché, particularly on US 'classic rock' radio, where I believe it's only slightly less ubiquitous than Stairway To Heaven. One of the best things about the song is the Mellotron; beautifully played (by Tyler, uncredited) strings and flutes that lift the song to another level. In their tell-all autobiography of a few years ago, 'Walk This Way', Tyler had this to say about it:

"It came with a standard set of tapes that included brass, flute, violins, cello, and an eight-voice choir. By overdubbing you had a cheesy-sounding orchestra at your fingertips. "So I put the string section on Dream On sitting at this Mellotron while a friend of mine kept laying out lines of crystal THC that I was snorting while I was playing. That's my memory of the Mellotron, except that we used it for the flute of Dream On too".

Beat that for Mellotron drug stories... Anyway, a good album, if otherwise pretty basic, and some great 'Tron. So what is 'crystal THC' anyway?

It took Aerosmith another fourteen years to use a Mellotron again, apparently due to producer Bruce Fairbairn's association with Canadians Strange Advance's Drew Arnott, a 'Tron owner. Permanent Vacation was the second album recorded by the reformed original lineup, and the one to break the band wide open all over again, a position they've managed to sustain to this day. There's no denying its commerciality; Dude (Looks Like A Lady) was on constant rotation on MTV throughout '87, and the album sold in its millions. However, it's still recognisably the same band who recorded Aerosmith a lifetime earlier; the acoustic swamp blues of Hangman Jury, the stomping opener Heart's Done Time. Basically, Aerosmith took on the young guns and beat them at their own game, while royally taking the piss at the same time (see: Dude). Much of the album is a little unlistenable these days though, at least to my ears, and the only thing that saves the big ballad Angel is the major 'Tron string arrangement, but closing instrumental The Movie is an excellent little track, improved further by its Mellotronic content.

Now, I was convinced that was it for Aerosmith's Mellotron usage. Nothing on '89's excellent Pump (****), and although I've seen mentions of 'Tron use on their belated follow-up, '93's Get a Grip, I'd discounted them until it was very specifically pointed out to me. It's another typical Aerosmith album, to be honest, although it outstays its welcome a little; this is music made for 40-minute bursts, tops. Plenty of good tracks, though little of the quality of their '70s material; Eat The Rich, Livin' On The Edge and Flesh would all easily make a 'best of their later stuff' compilation, and the short instrumental Boogie Man is so much better than the title suggests, but don't go expecting Rocks pt 2, OK? Next to no 'Tron, actually, with nothing more than a near-inaudible polyphonic flute part near the beginning of Cryin'. No wonder I didn't spot it earlier.

So, you probably know what the band sound like; there's some good Mellotron bits on each album, but none of them are worth buying for that alone, so I'd only invest if you like Aerosmith anyway.

Official site

Aerovons  (US)

	Resurrection  (2003, recorded 1969,  46.23)  ***/T
	World of You Resurrection Say Georgia With Her Quotes and Photos Words From a Song Bessy Goodheart Something of Yours	She's Not Dead The Years Everything's Alright The Children The Train Song for Jane Here World of You (demo)

Current availability:

• RPM

Mellotron used:

• Studio MkII

The Aerovons were one of those one-in-a-million bands who actually manage to realise their dreams, if only briefly. Forming in St Louis in 1966 while still all extremely young, they got themselves signed to EMI, and ended up recording at Abbey Road in the Beatles' downtime, even managing to piss Lennon off by messing around on the bed he'd had installed at Yoko's instigation. Actually, I'd have paid good money to've seen John lay into them; I believe the quote was something like "Oi, wack - what th'fuck d'ya think you're doing?" Anyway, after recording an album's-worth of material and having a couple of non-selling singles released on Parlophone, the band were dropped and split up.

The music? Well, despite their origins, the Aerovons would've easily passed for a second-division British psych/pop outfit, with Bessy Goodheart sounding like a Sgt. Pepper outtake, and leader Tom Hartman sounding uncannily like McCartney on Something Of Yours. While Resurrection, finally released in 2003, shows considerable talent, it also reveals the band to be, essentially, Beatles imitators, although it has to be said they were pretty damn' good at it. They occasionally shifted into sounding like someone else, with Words From A Song copping the Bee Gees something rotten, but overall, its the Beatles all the way (what have they ripped off on The Children?).

Mellotron? Well, the strings on opener World Of You are real, but I'd swear blind that's a high, single-note 'Tron line on Words From A Song, with more of the same on The Train, a single added to the end of the originally-proposed album sequence. There are also a couple of special-FX inserts that could be 'Tron, but they're not the sounds I've heard before.

Anyway, although it's not worth it for the 'Tron, Resurrection is worth the effort for late-'60s completists and Beatles nuts, although it's possibly too derivative for the more casual listener.

Official site

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