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Highlighting in album tracklistings denotes 'contains Mellotron'. On 'multi-part' tracks I've tried to indicate which parts contain 'Tron, although this isn't always possible.
Ratings:
The * rating (½-5) is my personal, entirely subjective and completely partisan rating of the music.
The 'T' ('Tron, of course...) rating (0-5) is an only slightly more objective indicator of an album's Mellotronness.
By the way, if you know of any Mellotron albums that aren't listed here, please look at my albums page first! Thanks.
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Asia [UK] Asia Minor Aside Beside Joy Askew |
Atlantis Philharmonic Atlas Atmosphera Atoll |
Murray Attaway Brian Auger Average White Band |
Axis Kevin Ayers Azahar |
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Asia (1982, 43.54) */½Heat of the MomentOnly Time Will Tell Sole Survivor One Step Closer Time Again Wildest Dreams Without You Cutting it Fine Here Comes the Feeling |
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It's fairly unlikely that you've never heard Asia, especially if you're the wrong side of thirty; they were irritatingly ubiquitous in the early '80s, and this album was a major hit. All the progheads went wild when the band's formation was announced; "Howe, Wetton, Palmer and er, that bloke from Buggles? Dream team!" Except it wasn't. Far from being a prog supergroup, Asia were out-and-out AOR, with the occasional prog flourish just to keep the old fans happy. Asia produced two HUGE hits in Heat Of The Moment and Only Time Will Tell, which made them an awful lot of money, while not endearing them to old proggers in the slightest. Like they cared.
Geoff Downes was a total keyboard freak, with the most outrageous collection of instruments; on their second tour, he lined up thirty or forty of the things on a riser along the back of the stage, then just moved up and down the line during the set. In the middle of the massed banks of keys was his Mellotron M400; he may have used it more live than in the studio, but as far as I can hear, it's on just one song on Asia, Cutting It Fine, and not much at that (a small burst of choir), although it's hard to tell, there's so much going on at once.
Now, this will probably piss a few people off, but I feel I have to say it. I hate Asia. Sorry, but I really, really can't stand them. Asia is immaculately produced, and generally brilliantly done, but I loathe it. It flies in the face of everything about music that I hold dear, especially from musicians of their calibre, who weren't entirely unsuccessful before... Everyone's entitled to make a decent living, but not when they foist this kind of dross on the general public. This gets one star simply in recognition of the work that went into it and the intelligence behind it, not for the music. Avoid.
If you're of a seriously masochistic bent, there's a couple of recently-released live albums from this phase of the band's career, both of which probably feature a fair bit of 'Tron. I'll report back if I'm ever unlucky enough to hear them.
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Between Flesh and Divine (1980, 34.01) ****½/TTNightwindNorthern Lights Boundless Dedicace Lost in a Dream Yell Dreadful Memories |
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Asia Minor were a French/Turkish band who released two albums around the turn of the '80s, inserting a unique near-eastern influence into a by-then decade-old genre. Their first album, '79's Crossing the Line (****) was good, but they'd honed their sound even further by 1980's Between Flesh and Divine. Actually, this is a seriously underrated band; they had a fantastic sound, and the material is top-notch, with excellent dynamics and instrumental colouring, not to mention an unsurprising Arabic feel in places.
In the keyboard department, Robert Kempler relied heavily on a string synth, with occasional bursts of organ and monosynth in places. The Mellotron choirs on three tracks are heavily understated, except on closer Dreadful Memories, where they leap out of the mix in a fairly startling manner. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Between Flesh and Divine is a Mellotron Album per se, but it's more than worthy of your attention for the excellent music. Buy.
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Tadj Mahall Gates (2001, 55.25) ****/TTT½ |
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| Tadj Mahall Gates Nightmare And I Hate Her Autumn You Who Know Ghost of Love Tu Qui Omnia Scis Friends |
Christmas Time Loneliness Carelessness Song Fruits of Meaning [untitled track] |
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I believe Tadj Mahall Gates is French newcomers' Aside Beside's first album, and rather fine it is too. Sounding distinctly French, despite the English lyrics, it has some of the jazziness of an earlier generation of French bands such as Atoll or Shylock, mixed with a pan-European symphonic feel. There's practically no neo-ness to their sound and a welcome propensity for experimentation, such as Romaric Hubert's operatic vocal in the brief Tu Qui Omnia Scis, lacking in so many of their contemporaries.
The instrumentation on the album is largely 'retro', although I can hear the occasional modern synth patch, mainly brass and strings. The Hammond, however, is real, and beautifully recorded. The whole feel of the album harks back to the '70s in many ways, actually, so while the band could be chided for refusing to take modern influences on board, they certainly won't be by me. More of this, I say! 'Retro' be damned - one Aside Beside are worth fifty dodgy fifth-rate neo outfits, peddling their sub-Marillion drivel... Er, sorry, got slightly carried away there.
Anyway, the Mellotron is played by both keyboard players, Frédéric Woff and Vincent Chevallier, with some tracks, notably Nightmare and Ghost Of Love being smothered in the thing (mainly strings and choir, with a smattering of flutes), although others are oddly 'Tron-free. Whatever sounded right on the day, I suppose. I feel compelled to give this album a distinct thumbs-up, which is a bit of a result, given that I'd never heard of the band until those nice people at Musea sent me a copy. If you like your prog symphonic, tuneful and a little bit different, BUY. Incidentally, the CD length above has been reduced by the blank space between Fruits Of Meaning and the unlisted rather weird extra track stuck on the end.
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Tender City (1996, 59.02) **½/½ |
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| Corrinne I'm Still Looking for a Home Big Sky A World So Rare Little Darling Cool Water Tender City Strangebird |
From the Lips of the One I Love This Ring I Could Be Dancing Hands Tied Tongue Tied |
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Joy Askew's a British girl with a long and varied career behind her, who moved to the States in the early '80s. After singing backing for Peter Gabriel on his Us tour, she ended up getting him and several of his band to play on her fourth album proper, Tender City. Although Askew's own voice sounds nothing like her, the backing vocals are very reminiscent of Kate Bush circa The Hounds of Love or The Sensual World; sadly, the music is far less inventive, being largely laid-back, slightly new-age/'world'-influenced stuff, which is OK for two or three songs, but begins to grate after a while, at least for this listener.
Mellotron on one track only, with strings from Gabriel collaborator Larry Fast (a.k.a. Synergy) on the title track, strangely alongside real ones. As a result, you can hear about two chords of the (real?) 'Tron, accounting for the extremely low T rating above. So; if yer into rather moody, slightly 'ethnic' music, you may like this, but I found it too upfront for background listening, even when played quietly, but not interesting enough to actually listen to properly, though you may well disagree.
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Atlantis Philharmonic (1974, 36.04) ****/TTTAtlantisWoodsman Death Man Fly-the-Night My Friend Atlas |
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Atlantis Philharmonic were an American progressive duo comprising percussionist Royce Gibson and Joe DiFazio on everything else; amazingly, I'm told they managed to do it live, with DiFazio playing keyboards, bass pedals and guitar simultaneously (!) (thanks, David). Their sole release, Atlantis Philharmonic, is a mixture of magnificently pompous, overblown pieces like Atlantis and Atlas, and gentler songs along the lines of Woodsman, although even the quieter sections carry an undertone of menace. DiFazio was obviously a good all-rounder, as his keyboard playing sounds classically-trained, and his guitar and vocal work are perfectly respectable, too.
Three Mellotron tracks; Atlantis and My Friend have some reasonable string parts, but the real highlight is the lengthy, orchestrated strings part in Woodsman. I think this one track is almost the decider on its own; an absolute killer. You may find the album a bit on the heavy side, but if you don't mind a bit of 'oomph' in your prog, and you can actually find a copy (the CD is long deleted), go for it.
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Blå Vardag (1979, 38.34/57.12) ****/TTTElisabitenPå Gata Blå Vardag Gånglåt Den Vita Tranans Våg [CD adds: Björnstorp [from the Mosaik LP] Hemifrån Sebastian] |
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Atlas were one of the many lower-division progressive bands from the '70s, particularly the tail-end of the decade. Blå Vardag (Blue Tuesday) was recorded in '78 and released in '79, just as the scene was coming to a close, at least for a while. Fully instrumental, Atlas had a jazzy feel in places, mixed with more traditional symphonic progressive rock. Much Fender Rhodes and MiniMoog from the two keyboard players, Erik Björn Nielsen and Björn Ekborn, with a little Mellotron thrown in for good measure on three of the album's five tracks, the most 'Tron-heavy track being the album closer, Den Vita Tranans Våg. While by no means a Mellotron Classic, this is an excellent album, well worth any prog fan's time.
The CD reissue includes three bonus tracks, one of which is the only 'Tron track from the Mosaik album from 1982. Mosaik were a post-Atlas outfit who, again, released just the one album; unfortunately I haven't heard the rest of it, and it hasn't been reissued yet. There's also some very nice Mellotron on CD closer Sebastian, rescued from a radio recording.
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Lady of Shalott (2002, recorded 1977, 121.31) ****/T½ |
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| Lady of Shalott Cuckoo (Love's Labour's Lost) Tomorrow Love is Waiting for a Lover Cuckoo - alternate version [Announcement] Tomorrow (live) Lady of Shalott (live) |
Catharsis (by Isotopy) Nightmare (by Me El-Ma) Toridtagitar (by Me El-Ma) The Children Dance (by Me El-Ma) |
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Is this deluge of utterly obscure progressive bands ever going to stop? Hopefully not, going by the standards set by this double-disc set. Atmosphera were Israel's first symphonic prog outfit, including future members of Zingale, who are just about the only other one anyone's ever heard of and would'ja believe... they're excellent? There's a heavy Yes influence in what they were doing, with both Efraim Barak's vocals and Moti Fonseca's guitar style mirroring those of their Yes counterparts, which is in no way to decry the band's achievements; the material is well-written and recorded, and it's a real shame it wasn't released at the time. The CD booklet gives the band's full history, explaining how yet another promising outfit fell by the wayside; at least tapes a) were made and b) survived...
The title track and Cuckoo are both 16-minute epics, moving through all the requisite changes that the style demands, and although Tomorrow and Love Is Waiting For A Lover are cleaned up rehearsal tapes, I've heard an awful lot worse, although I'm not convinced the songwriting's quite up to the standard of the first two tracks. Now, the oddity here, and the reason the album's on this site at all is the alternate version of Cuckoo. As far as I can work out, it utilises elements of the other version, but with the intro and outro piano sections taken from a demo, and much overdubbing of keyboards, including the Mark II and M400 Mellotrons also used by Rockfour from original keyboardist Yuval Rivlin. Much upfront 'Tron, with strings and flutes probably from the Mark II, and M400 choirs, all complementing the piece very nicely, as do the ARP 2600, Hammond and Rhodes, amongst other vintage gear.
The second disc comprises various live and radio session tracks, a VCD video-only track and some post-Atmosphera things, including three from drummer Me El-Ma. To be quite honest, your life wouldn't be incomplete if you never heard most of this stuff, but I can perfectly well understand the urge to make everything available, although I suspect many of you will find the El-Ma stuff quite hard going. 'Weird shit' is, I believe, the appropriate expression. I haven't yet managed to play the video material, though I expect it's worth seeing, but I'm not entirely sure the listening public wouldn't be better served by a one-CD version, too, though that would almost certainly be too expensive a proposition to make it worthwhile. Anyway, disc one is excellent, with one 'Tron epic, albeit with recent overdubs.
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L'Araignée-Mal (1975, 44.03/56.03) ****/½Le Photographe ExorcisteCazotte No.1 Le Voleur d'Extase L'Araignée-Mal Imaginez le Temps L'Araignée-Mal Les Robots Debiles Le Cimetiere de Plastique [CD adds: Cazotte No.1 (live)] |
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I've owned copies of Atoll's first and third releases, Musiciens/Magiciens (***½) and Tertio (***½) for a while, finding them both 'good but not great', so I was completely blown away by L'Araignée-Mal, with its prog/fusion crossover feel, complete with great material. The only piece that sounds more jazz than prog is Cazotte No.1, reprised with a live version on Musea's CD reissue, with the rest of the material inserting some jazziness into the excellent symphonic prog, replete with violin.
Keyboard man Michel Taillet only seems to play clavinet and a gorgeous-sounding Eminent string synth (similar to the Solina, I believe), with Bruno Gehin guesting on most of the keys, particularly Rhodes and some superb MiniMoog work. Gehin's also credited with Mellotron, but apart from a single string note on Le Photographe Exorciste that may or may not be, the only thing I can hear is (I think) a few flute chords on the first part of the excellent side-long title track, so I really wouldn't go here for 'Tron. However... if you like your prog symphonic and a little jazzy, buy this immediately, while it's still in print. Superb.
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In Thrall (1993, 48.13) ***½/TT½ |
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| No Tears Tonight Under Jets Allegory Angels in the Trees Living in Another Time The Evensong Fall So Far August Rain |
Walpurgis Night My Book Home |
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Murray Attaway was frontman with well-respected gentlemen Guadalcanal Diary, possibly the best 'Athens, Georgia scene' band, certainly superior to what R.E.M. became. After their (first) split, Attaway signed with Geffen and recorded the really rather good In Thrall, carrying on his former band's adventures with jangly guitars and meaningful songs. I really hate to keep quoting favoured artists as influences, in true 'Record Collector' style, but parts of this album don't half sound like Richard Thompson at his most upbeat, especially in the guitar department, which is no bad thing. I suspect it'll take a few more plays for its charms to make themselves fully apparent (quite when I'll find the time to do this, I've no idea), but there doesn't seem to be a bad track on the album, which is pretty good going by anyone's standards.
This album is absolutely stuffed with Chamberlin, with the odd bit of Mellotron creeping in, and all in the days before both instruments were routinely sampled. Saying that, with contributors of the stature of Jon Brion and Patrick Warren, samples aren't really in the offing, I'm glad to say. Attaway himself and Tony Berg also play various tape-replay instruments, while Brion gets some of his beloved Optigan in, too. Anyway, a weird Chamby flute pattern on No Tears Tonight, what I presume to be 'Tron cellos and Chamby brass on Under Jets, 'Tron flutes on Allegory, along with Chamberlin something. Chamby 'Strawberry Fields'-style somethings (not flutes) on Living In Another Time and Chamby solo male voices on My Book makes for a pretty good 'Tron/Chamby effort, although most of the parts are typically brief; whad'ya think this is? Prog?
So; good album for jangly guitar fetishists, or simply lovers of good songs. Reasonable tape-replay work, so worth picking up second-hand, at least. Incidentally, it seems In Thrall is Attaway's only solo album released to date, although he has worked on at least one other. Guadalcanal Diary have an on/off career, but Attaway doesn't even seem to have his own website.
Official Guadalcanal Diary site
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Befour [Brian Auger & the Trinity] (1970, 32.26/46.41) ***½/T |
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| I Wanna Take You Higher Pavane No Time to Live Maiden Voyage Listen Here Adagio per Archi e Organo Just You and Me |
[CD adds: Rain Forest Talking Pavane Fire in the Mind] |
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Closer to it! [Brian Auger's Oblivion Express] (1973, 36.30/59.48) ***/T |
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| Whenever You're Ready Happiness is Just Around the Bend Light on the Path Compared to What Inner City Blues Voices of Other Times [CD adds: Whenever You're Ready |
Happiness is Just Around the Bend Inner City Blues Voices of Other Times] |
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After his groundbreaking work with Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger first made albums with the Driscoll-less Trinity, then shifted over to his own Oblivion Express, to explore the boundaries of jazz and rock more closely; whether or not you consider this a good thing will be tightly bound up with how you feel about jazz. 1970's Befour consists largely (solely?) of Augered-up covers, with loads of ripping (if predictably jazzy) Hammond work, with classical adaptation Adagio Per Archi E Organo being particularly impressive. Mellotron strings (in the left channel only for some reason) on another classical piece, Pavane, but not enough to make a purchase worthwhile, methinks.
Three years on, and Auger was on his fourth Oblivion Express LP, Closer to it, and I really have to say here, if you ain't into jazz, you ain't gonna get it. I didn't... It's all impeccably played and arranged, but this is a jazz-rock record without much of the rock, to be honest. I mean, compared to, say, Airto Moreira's work, this is so... white. I find it difficult to pick out any highlights from something that's just so tame; suffice to say, this is jazz (Have I already said that?). Mellotron on one track, with an unexciting string part in the background on Inner City Blues, with the same on the extra version of the track on the CD.
So; whitey-boy jazz, albeit exceptionally well-played. You either love this stuff or you don't; it's pretty much innovation-free, like so much jazz from the last three or four decades, and there's very little excitement to be had listening to Closer to it, although Befour is rather better. Very little 'Tron, so don't bother on that account, either.
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AWB (1974, 40.24) ***/½You Got itGot the Love Pick Up the Pieces Person to Person Work to Do Nothing You Can Do Just Wanna Love You Tonight Keepin' it to Myself I Just Can't Give You Up There's Always Someone Waiting |
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AWB was the Average White Band's second album, containing their only UK hit, the iconic Pick Up The Pieces, which sounds an awful lot better now than it did at the time, I have to say. It's a strange album, split straight down the middle (er, weren't they all back then?), with the more uptempo, funky stuff on side one, leaving the flip for their more soulful material, although, thankfully, they ran out three songs in, upping the funk factor for the last two tracks.
One 'Tron track, with strings on Just Wanna Love You Tonight from sessioneer Ken Bichel; passable use, but nothing to raise the blood pressure. So; white soul/funk your (papa's got a brand new) bag? Nope? Don't bother, then, although it's surprisingly good at what it does, once removed from its era.
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Axis (1973, 41.28) ***½/TT½Waiting a Long TimeSewers Down Inside Materializing the Unlimited Asymphonia I Suspended Precipice Roads Asymphonia II Dancing Percussion Pa Vu Ga Di The Planet Vavoura |
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I can't say I know an awful lot about this lot, but Axis is a very strange album; opening with the dull hard rock of Waiting A Long Time, it shifts into progressive gear on Sewers Down Inside, then covers several other musical styles over the ensuing eight tracks, including jazz, avant-garde dissonance and even ecclesiastical music on Pa Vu Ga Di. Being a progressive band from Greece is unusual enough (Akritas, from the same period are the only other one who spring to mind), but Axis' mix'n'match approach to their art puts them in a category all their own.
Demis Visvikis seems to've been the band's main man, playing all the keys as well as lead vocalising. There's no guitarist credited, so unless that's an interestingly effected organ, I can only think that someone's been left off the credits. Anyway, Visvikis plays 'Tron on four tracks, all flutes and strings, with a speedy flute run on Asymphonia II and what sounds like distorted 'Tron flute on Sewers Down Inside. Strings and more flutes on Materializing The Unlimited and a healthy dose of strings on The Planet Vavoura to wind things up nicely.
Well, an uneven album, but a good one for the more adventurous listener; a reasonable amount of Mellotron work, too. Worth hearing.
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Joy of a Toy (1969, 41.43/67.17) ****/T |
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| Joy of a Toy Continued Town Feeling The Clarietta Rag Girl on a Swing Song for Insane Times Stop This Train (Again Doing it) Eleanor's Cake (Which Ate Her) The Lady Rachel Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong |
All This Crazy Gift of Time [CD reissue adds: Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning) The Lady Rachel Soon Soon Soon Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning) The Lady Rachel Singing a Song in the Morning |
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Joy of a Toy was ex-Soft Machiner Ayers' solo debut, showcasing his eccentric songwriting in almost as many different styles as it has tracks. Joy Of A Toy Continued (following on from the Soft Machine's debut) opens with a piercing electronic squeal, mutating into a typical late-'60s singalong, before taking a distinct sideways lurch into the cod-medieval intro to Town Feeling, with the album continuing in a similar vein. Ayers declines to repeat himself throughout, while letting various ex-colleagues guest on different tracks, giving the album a vague 'Canterbury' feel, although that's the nearest it gets to any real sort of cohesion, which is absolutely not to be taken as a criticism.
The Clarietta Rag is the only original album track containing any Mellotron, despite the lack of any mention in the 'instruments used' list. It's hard to say who might've played the odd, trebly strings part on the track, although Mike Ratledge is prime suspect; maybe it was Ayers himself? Anyway, that would be it if it wasn't for one of the excellent bonus tracks on the CD, the second version of Religious Experience (Singing A Song In The Morning), which features a barely-audible 'highly eccentric Mellotron overdub', as it says in the sleevenotes. It's actually a few choppy string notes played by Ayers, but it isn't actually essential, to say the least.
So; Joy of a Toy is the sort of album that I'm sure will grow in stature each time it's played. The songwriting is extremely unusual, and is frequently all the better for it, although that doesn't make for an easy listen the first few times. One 'proper' 'Tron track makes it inessential for the Mellotron fan, though it's well worth hearing in itself, particularly for students of the era.
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Elixir (1977, 37.55) ***½/½Campos de Azahar¿Qué Malo Hay, Señor Juez? ¡Es Que Esto No Tiene Nombre! Mercaderes Un Hombre Cansado Cantaros de Fuego Viaje a Marruecos Flipados Que No Me Vean Colgados de la Rama Gorda |
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Azahar's first album is notable for being that rarest of things, a progressive rock album with no drums, although a little percussion is audible. And you know what? I didn't even notice. Been listening to too much prog, I suspect... The bulk of the album's rhythmic input comes from the piano and bass parts, although the guitar provides the occasional rhythmic figure, too. Elixir is actually pretty good, if slightly lacking in originality; it's certainly very melodic, with plenty of lush string synth backing, in typical Spanish style. Dick Zappala's vocals are a bit of an acquired taste, to be honest, but there are plenty of instrumental passages, and some of the vocal parts are fairly restrained, so don't let that put you off.
Gustavo Ros is credited with Mellotron, along with piano, Rhodes and synths, but I'd pretty much given up on hearing any until the final, three-part track, Viaje A Marruecos, when a 'Tron string part suddenly swells up under the string synth on part 2, Que No Me Vean, lasting about 30 seconds. Sadly, that appears to be it; why not use it more? Who knows?
Anyway, a good album without being outstanding, but worth the effort, though not for the 'Tron.
