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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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28 Golden Hits (1983, 98.40) */T |
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| Just an Illusion Don't Give it Up Blue Eyes We All Will Dance Twilight Les Gens de Tours les Jours The Valley |
Oh Me Oh My The Clown It's All Right Put on Your Make-Up La Musiquette Just Say I'm Home May We Always Be Together |
Mon Amour Marching on Pearlydumm Rockin' the Trolls Chanson d'Amour Cry to Me The Old Calahan |
Lady McCorey Sevilla Just Take My Hand Don Luigi America Hang on to a Dream Himalaya |
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Oh dear. Ohdearohdearohdear. Well, never let it be said that I don't descend into the fiery pits of musical hell for your reading and listening pleasure... (?) According to the lengthy English-language band history on their website, BZN ('The band with no name', apparently. I wonder what the acronym is for 'The band with no talent'?), formed in the mid-'60s, releasing their first album, the entirely uncharacteristic The Bastard in 1971. After their brief flirtation with hard rock, they made what appears to be a business decision to change their style, and after several years of the odd single here and there, began an annual run of releases in '77 that has continued until the present day. The music? Try to imagine (if you will) a cross between schmaltzy mainstream Europop, Abba on an exceedingly off-day, and German schlager music. Not so much 'if you will' as 'if you can bear to'. I'm sure I've heard worse music, but off the top of my head I'll be buggered if I can remember where. Saying that, they do actually do it very well, although listening to the whole double album completely numbed my brain until I could kickstart it again with some top-notch prog.
Ignoring the two previous 'hits' compilations (the first being after all of three 'proper' releases), BZN released 28 Golden Hits in 1983, an unusual cross between the standard 'best of' and a live album, with side three (why not four?) being live. The sleeve art tells you all you need to know; the downhome cheeriness of the band members, their dreadful fashion sense (I use the phrase extraordinarily loosely; note those 'noo wave' ties) and the jewel in the crown, the windmills with their vanes overlaid with gold records. Fabulous! It's a pity the cover reproduction here is so small; you can't really see the earnest/bored expressions on the faces of several of the band, notably the two guys in the middle, who look practically catatonic. I can only assume they were force-fed the contents of this album just moments before the photo-shoot. The singer looks a lot like Father Ted, and so does the guy standing next to her.
Er... Mellotron? Well, as you can see from this heavily-cropped pic from the inside of the gatefold (you'll thank me for this), keyboard player Thomas Tol's rig consists of an upright piano, a Prophet V and a Mellotron M400. In 1982? Odd, but there you go. He only actually uses it on the first one of the seven lives tracks here, Mon Amour, a cheesy French-language track, which takes its place alongside many other similarly cheesy English-language tracks. I can't honestly recommend this album, and thus anything else the band have ever recorded to anyone other than elderly Dutch people, hardcore masochists or the terminal insomniac. Even then, I suspect it's more likely to irritate than send one to sleep. Impeccably done, but impeccably done rubbish. One OK 'Tron track.
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Amar Caballero (1973, 35.37) **½/½ |
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| Lady Broken Cloud Gimme Some Leg Baby Pride Cool Jerk We Are Holding on Doctor Love |
Amar Caballero El Caballero de la Reina Isabella Hombre de la Guitarra El Testament de n'Amelia |
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Babe Ruth (1975) ***/TTDancerSomebody's Nobody A Fistful of Dollars We People Darker Than Blue Jack O'Lantern Private Number Turquoise Sad But Rich The Duchess of Orleans |
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Babe Ruth (named for the legendary American baseball player) were another of those so-so, a bit heavy, a bit proggy type of mid-'70s outfits, although better than many. Their debut, First Base (***), tends to be their most highly-rated album, though aside from excellent opener Wells Fargo, it's all a bit ordinary. They followed it with Amar Caballero, which (to my ears, at least) was a serious step backwards into vaguely funky territory, with efforts such as Gimme Some Leg and Cool Jerk being worthy of major avoidance, although there are a handful of more acoustic numbers, including Baby Pride and the instrumental violin-led We Are Holding On. The album's clear standout track is Amar Caballero itself, a three-part flamenco-influenced piece, with some excellent acoustic work from guitarist Alan Shacklock. As far as his Mellotron work goes, it's hard to say if there's anything at all; I believe the flute on a couple of tracks is real, and the 'choir' at the end of Baby Pride is possibly one singer multi-overdubbed - it also breaks the eight-second limit, though that can be circumvented in the studio. Hardly a 'Tron classic, then.
Third album, Babe Ruth, is better than its predecessor, but the band appear to run out of ideas by side two, and the album rather runs out of steam. There's some reasonable Mellotron flutes and strings on four tracks, played by Shacklock again, but it's no classic, I'm afraid. However, it's interesting in its choice of covers; Sergio Leone's theme music to A Fistful Of Dollars is worth a listen, and their proggy Mellotron-fuelled take on Curtis Mayfield's anti-racism anthem We People Darker Than Blue is also worth the effort.
So; one so-so album, and one that's really quite poor. Relatively mediocre 'Tron work, so don't go too far out of your way.
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Where Did All the Money Go? (1976, 36.35) ***/T½Where Did All the Money Go?Still in Love One Hundred & One Turndowns Brown Eyed Lady I Need You L.A. Lady Easy Street, Hard Luck Avenue Yesterday's a Friend of Mine The World is Waiting for You (South of the Border) |
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Baby's 1975 eponymous debut is apparently a ZZ Top-style 'suvvern boogie' album, but by their swansong, the following year's Where Did All the Money Go?, they'd softened their approach a little. although a few tracks still fall into the 'rock till you drop' category. The opening title track says it all; a band, burnt out from years on the road, wondering what exactly did happen to all the money they'd earnt? Sly musical quotes from the old chestnut Money and, oddly, England Dan & John Ford Coley's I'd Really Love To See You Tonight, presumably in the charts as Baby were in the studio. Personal favourite on the album is the semi-epic L.A. Lady, shifting gears halfway through to a ripping solo from Johnny Lee Schell, before dropping back down, then picking up again... You get the picture.
Chamberlin (probably hired in) from Schell, with an odd little string part on Brown Eyed Lady and a more straightforward one on L.A. Lady, though very little other keyboard work at all; fair enough, given that they didn't have a full-time player. So; a reasonable album of its type with some nice moments, though hardly groundbreaking, with a bit of Chamby. As a postscript, Baby split soon after the album's release, the good news being that various members went on to play with some high-profile names, so unlike many similar outfits, their individual skills weren't lost to the world.
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Money for Soul (2003, 33.54) ***/T |
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| Honeydripper Disconnected Pouring Water Hippie Chick Everything's Gonna Be Alright Carrie Money for Soul Never Coming Back |
You Own it You Better Run Rollercoaster Volcano |
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Baby Woodrose are a Danish garage rock trio, whose second or third (!) album, 2003's Money for Soul, successfully pastiches all areas of British 1966 beat-into-psych, copping licks from all the major bands in the process. While an enjoyable listen, it's about as original as the last Stones album, although rather more fun.
Producer Jürgen Hendlmeier plays Mellotron on Carrie, with a weird-sounding monophonic string line that may or may not actually emanate from a real, tapes-and-stuff 'Tron. Overall, then, you ain't gonna buy this for its Mellotron use, but you just might for the music. Well, it brightened up my day, anyway.
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Activate (1976, 36.31) ***/½You Got EvilThru the Zig Zag Gate Train Won't Blow Dragonfly Eliminate Speedwalker Roll on Moon Mad Woman Cryin' Inside |
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Imagine walking into a pub, high on the Yorkshire moors, to be confronted by a mad jazz-rock trio who are going down a storm. It must be 1971, you must be at The Lion in Blakey Ridge, you must be watching Back Door. Their original lineup was sax/bass/drums, the bassist being Colin Hodgkinson, who bizarrely went on to play in Whitesnake in the early '80s. Hey, we all gotta make a livin'... After their inauspicious beginnings, Back Door ended up signed to Warners, releasing four albums over five years, 1976's Activate being their last, as the world moved away from music made for its own sake. Hodgkinson had begun singing on their second record, '74's 8th Street Nites (you can tell they'd gone to the States, can't you?), because, as he admitted, he was the "least bad" vocalist in the band, but the album's best moments are instrumental, with Hodgkinson's outrageous 'lead bass' playing (listen to Moon Mad Woman) augmented by saxophonist Ron Asprey's keyboards, largely Rhodes, although some tracks still stick to their original trio formation.
Asprey plays Mellotron on opener You Got Evil, with a brief but unusual 'choppy' single-note choir part at the end of the piece, although he resists the temptation to use it anywhere else, sadly. I assume it was a studio machine that he decided to stick on the track on a whim; sad to say, I can't ask him, as he died in 2003, not long after a brief reformation of their original lineup. If you can find a copy, this is worth it for jazz-rock (note: not fusion) fans. It seems that their first two albums are the only ones available on CD, which is a pity; they're a still-largely undiscovered corner of British jazz, ripe for reappraisal, although most sources say you shouldn't start with Activate.
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Gypsy Without a Road (1977, 32.27) ****/TFar Away TomThe Widow The Farmers Have Gone East Long Lankin Nasty Spider The Dark Side of the Moon John Riley Keys of Canterbury Gypsy Without a Road |
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Miriam Backhouse's Gypsy Without a Road is a beautiful example of late-'70s folk that combines traditional and modern elements, without straying into 'rock' territory. She had (and hopefully still has) a wonderful voice, making you wonder why she never achieved greater recognition at the time, but then, there's a million factors that affect such things: timing, promotion, sheer good fortune... Opener Far Away Tom incorporates a string quartet, while The Widow heads towards the Renaissance period and Nasty Spider sees Backhouse regressing to her childhood, amongst other stylistic twists, the upshot of which is, every track sounds different to every other, making this an (almost-) lost gem from the UK folk scene, had those nice people at Vinyl Tap not issued it on CD in 1998.
My old friend Dave Etheridge (a couple of years before we met) played Mellotron on The Farmers Have Gone East, with a repeating polyphonic flute part and background cellos, although I believe the bowed double bass on John Riley is real. That isn't the reason you should track this down, though; what is is the excellent music contained herein. Backhouse, now a resident of South Africa, is apparently still touring and plays the UK regularly, so she hasn't fallen off the face of the earth. Miriam tells me her album's been reissued on the Mother Earth label, so do yourself and her a favour and buy a copy.
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Backnee Horn (2009, 63.56) ***½/TTTTTZooming GloomingOutleting Storming Particles Far Away But Close Around the Karmal Line Multiple Streaming Encounter Exhale Inside a Shell Flaming Inside Gaming Malachite Stroke |
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Backnee Horn (no, I don't know what it means, either) are a new Israeli psych outfit, whose eponymous debut should be lapped up by psychonauts worldwide for its lysergic wanderings. Its main thrust is a kind of semi-improvised, modern take on the style, possibly comparable to Sundial at their trippiest, rather than to psych's historical forebears, muttered vocals (Hebrew? Invented language?) duelling with acid-drenched guitar and swathes of Mellotron (it's cliché city tonight at Planet Mellotron, folks). It's difficult to pick out any 'best tracks', although Outleting Storming Particles defines their style well enough to stand alone as a microcosm of the album as a whole.
Renowned Israeli 'Tronnist Zohar Cohen (Lemmus Lemmus, owner of Pink Floyd's old MkII) plays Mellotron throughout, with strings on everything but Outleting Storming Particles, flutes and choirs on several tracks, a smattering of cellos and an unidentified solo brass instrument here and there and even the MkII's left-hand manual 'moving strings' on closer Malachite Stroke. The vibes may well be Mellotronically-produced, too, not to mention other distant, reverbed sounds.
All in all, a fine psych release, although not for the musically faint of heart, I fear. Backnee Horn is as Mellotron-heavy as you could wish for, Cohen rarely letting up on the instrument, giving the album that elusive five-T rating. Not the easiest of listens, but since when did good music have to be easy-going? Recommended.
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One Live Badger (1973, 39.37) ***½/TTT½Wheel of FortuneFountain Wind of Change River The Preacher On the Way Home |
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White Lady (1974, 42.53) **/T½ |
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| A Dream of You Everybody - Nobody Listen to Me Don't Pull the Trigger Just the Way it Goes White Lady Be With You Lord Who Give Me Life |
One More Dream to Hold The Hole Thing |
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Badger were formed after keyboardist Tony Kaye left Yes in 1970, although One Live Badger wasn't recorded until December '72. I don't know who decided to take the unusual step of debuting with a live album, but the end result is pretty good, and I suppose it saved on studio costs. Despite Kaye's apparent dislike of the Mellotron, and his alleged refusal to play one on The Yes Album, he gets some onto every track on this album, recorded, incidentally, at London's Rainbow Theatre; not bad for a band with no releases to their credit.
Some of the tracks only feature a few seconds of strings, but Wheel Of Fortune and On The Way Home, to name but two, have 'Tron all over them. The only reason I don't give the album a higher 'T' rating is the relatively unambitious arrangements; just because there's a lot of Mellotron on an album doesn't mean it's great 'Tron. Conversely, if there's only a couple of significant tracks (see King Crimson's debut), but they're killers, the full rating may well be awarded. Musically, the album reminds me slightly of Greenslade, in that the band's r'n'b roots show through quite clearly, despite the progressive overtones of their sound. The compositions aren't bad, but I don't really hear any classic material here, although it's a perfectly good listen.
Bizarrely, the band opted to have noted New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint produce White Lady, and I'm afraid the end result's pretty awful. If you like soul-tinged r'n'b, you may go for this album, but for the prog fan it's an utter disaster. There's some pretty uninspired Mellotron on a couple of tracks, but nothing to write home about. I'm sure this album's good at what it does, but I'd really steer well clear of this one.
So, buy One Live Badger if you see it cheapish (the initial pressing featured a wonderful 'pop-up' badger inside the excellent Roger Dean sleeve), but leave White Lady for sad Yes completists.
See: Yes
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C'mon Girls! (2004, 46.43) ****/TT½ |
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| No Good Together One Hit Wonders of the World Unite It's a Glorious Day The Green Giant Goodnight All Right Morristown Supermarket Marianne Inventory Day |
Polyester She's a Woman Now Elizabeth Barefoot/Laila's Theme |
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Badger (presumably entirely unaware of the British band) are one of Norway's prime progenitors of powerpop, to the extent that you really wouldn't know they weren't native English-speakers. 2004's C'mon Girls! is their second and, to date, latest album, full of glorious songs along the lines of One Hit Wonders Of The World Unite, It's A Glorious Day and Elizabeth, although I'm having trouble finding anything about it I don't like, although closer Barefoot/Laila's Theme is a little too (deliberately?) cheesy.
Producer Lars Lien plays Mellotron, although as always with his productions, I'm not convinced it's real; the flute part on The Green Giant sounds OK until a speedy little run that would be difficult on all but the best set-up M400. The album's other 'Tron use sounds realistic enough, though, with background strings on Supermarket Marianne, a nice polyphonic flute part on She's A Woman Now and more upfront strings on Barefoot/Laila's Theme. All in all, highly recommended; the music's great and with several (hopefully real) Mellotron tracks, you're onto a winner.
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About a Boy (2002, 44.03) **½/T |
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| Exit Stage Right A Peak You Reach Something to Talk About Dead Duck Above You, Below Me I Love N.Y.E. Silent Sigh Wet, Wet, Wet |
River-Sea-Ocean S.P.A.T. Rachel's Flat Walking Out of Stride File Me Away A Minor Incident Delta (Little Boy Blues) Donna and Blitzen |
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Have You Fed the Fish? (2002, 45.48) **½/T |
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| Coming Into Land Have You Fed The Fish? Born Again 40 Days 40 Fights All Possibilities I Was Wrong You Were Right CentrePeace |
How? The Further I Slide Imaginary Lines Using Our Feet Tickets to What You Need What is it Now? Bedside Story |
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So what, precisely, is all the fuss about re. Damon 'Badly Drawn Boy' Gough? To hear the media bleat on about him, certainly a few years ago, you'd think he was the bloody second coming. His second album, 2000's The Hour of Bewilderbeast, won the much-coveted Mercury Music Prize; well, it invariably boosts sales manyfold - I'm not surprised it's much-coveted... Going by the evidence here, Gough is bland, dinner-party singer-songwriter fare, with much unnecessary studio tarting. Very safe.
2002 brought his soundtrack to the film adaptation of Nick Hornby's About a Boy. Now, we all know that soundtracks are invariably a mixed bag, with incidental music that frequently makes little sense outside its dramatic context, making this one better than most, or at least, more cohesive. Nevertheless, Gough's songs are pretty bland, leaving some of the short instrumental pieces as the album's highlights, although that isn't saying much. Chamberlin from Jon Brion, with a queasy pitchbent, er, something on A Peak You Reach, with nothing obviously audible on Above You, Below Me (the strings are real), ditto on Delta (Little Boy Blues), although Donna And Blitzen has some very upfront male and female voices, with a solo male voice standing out nicely.
Later that same year, BDB released Have You Fed The Fish?, which turned out to be no more than a more song-orientated version of its predecessor, certainly in the sonic department. Brion and Gough played Chamby this time round, with nothing obvious on How? but nice flutes on The Further I Slide, while Tickets To What You Need reprises the choirs from his previous album.
So; please don't buy these albums. Gough almost certainly has enough money already, and I dislike him for a) always wearing a woolly hat and b) thinking it's clever to smoke on camera. Oh, and c) for making horrible mainstream albums like these. One or two decent Chamby tracks, but I don't want to catch any of you buying them for that reason.
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New Bell Wake (1976, 40.08) ***/T |
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| The New Bell Wake Spare Me the Life of Georgie Flying Cloud John Barleycorn Trooper and the Maid The Wymondham Fight Lord Franklin The Beggar Man |
Adieu, Adieu Fair's Fair |
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Love, Loneliness, Laundry [as Roy Bailey & Leon Rosselson] (1977, 41.09) ***½/½ |
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| Let Your Hair Hang Down Single in Spring Invisible Married Breakfast Blues Don't Get Married, Girls In the Park Once When I Was Young The Man Who Puffs the Big Cigar We Sell Everything |
Abiezer Coppe Garden of Love Stand Up for Judas |
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Roy Bailey, ex-MBE (he returned it), is the most famous British folkie you've never heard of; his fifty year-plus career has made him a legend on the scene, but he's never broken through in the manner of, say, Ralph McTell. Although not being a one-hit wonder (sorry, Ralph) hasn't helped, nor has Bailey's more 'traditional' delivery, a dead-cert put-off for listeners not inured to the style.
1976's New Bell Wake is a hybrid of 'trad' and 'modern' folk, incorporating a capella delivery (Flying Cloud, Adieu, Adieu), barely-accompanied material (John Barleycorn, Lord Franklin) and what can only be described as rhythmless folk-rock on closer Fair's Fair. The emphasis, as you'd expect, is more on the story than the tune, although the actual songwriting (when it's not 'trad.arr.') is memorable, particularly the melody on Fair's Fair. That tune also, weirdly, features a Mellotron (from Leon Rosselson), with cello, trumpet (?) and string parts all over the track, alongside the guitar.
Bailey's next release, the following year's Love, Loneliness, Laundry, was the second of three he made with fellow traveller Rosselson. To my ears, it's a more rounded release than New Bell Wake, Rosselson's contributions standing out in particular, although a better production helps considerably, as does the slightly more mainstream sound (not often you'll see me write that). Standout tracks include Invisible Married Breakfast Blues (why women shouldn't get married), Abiezer Coppe (a history lesson concerning the Ranters) and wonderful closer Stand Up For Judas, a pithy denunciation of the Bible's teachings with an exceedingly catchy tune. Rosselson on 'Tron again, but only just, with near-inaudible flutes on In The Park.
So; two worthy folk albums from the wilderness years, when no-one outside the closed scene even knew anyone was still making this music. Fair's Fair features some of the odder Mellotron use you might encounter, although the album's hardly worth buying for that alone, although both of these are worth hearing if you're in the process of exploring the British folk scene.
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Le Chanteur (1978, 39.59) **/T |
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| Les Oiseaux 1re partie Les Oiseaux 2eme partie France C'est un Voyou Lucie Le Chanteur Si Je suis Fou Oiseau de Nuit |
Le Pied par Terre Des Gens Comme Vous |
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Daniel Balavoine was one of France's most successful artists of the '80s, his first major hit being the title track to his third album, 1978's Le Chanteur ('The Singer'). The album falls firmly into the 'lyrics more important than music' bracket, typified by the music being a version of whatever's mainstream at the time (think: the first two Kate Bush albums, before she gained a firmer grip over her presentation), meaning that, over thirty years down the line and in another country and language, Balavoine's songs, however much meaning they may have, come across as bland, late '70s pop/rock with few redeeming features.
Guy Boyer plays Mellotron, with flutes on Lucie and the title track's intro, although I think the strings on France and Lucie are synth-generated. Frankly, you really don't need to hear this unless you have a thing about French-language pop; the Mellotron use is too inconsequential to be worth hearing for its own sake. As a footnote, Balavoine began involving himself in good works in Africa in the early '80s, tragically dying in a helicopter crash in 1986 in Mali.
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Catholic Guilt (1997, 38.03) ***½/½ |
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| The Mill Hill Self Hate Club Love is Blue Docklands Blues Controversial Girlfriend The Hampstead Therapist Tilt Trailblaze Never Live to Love Again |
This is the Story of My Love This is Real |
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Ed(ward) Ball is an on-off member of the Television Personalities, having played seemingly every instrument in his various stints in the band, spending the rest of his time in, er, The Times and on his solo career. Catholic Guilt seems to be his third full solo offering, and can be categorised loosely as an indie/singer-songwriter album, although it's a lot better than that suggests. Touches of Dylan, the Velvets, maybe a less caustic Elvis Costello, though I'm not sure Ball would thank me for the comparison. Or maybe he would. Imagine Oasis if they were good, even, especially given that he was signed to the same label, Creation. Go on, try. Difficult to pick standout songs, although the lyrics to The Mill Hill Self Hate Club and Controversial Girlfriend particularly caught my ear.
Ball credits himself with a whole raft of instruments; hardly surprising, when you consider how many he's played in the TVPs. Among the nice old 'boards is a Mellotron, although given that the album features both string and brass sections, there isn't an awful lot for it to do. In fact, all I can hear for definite are some slightly 'Strawberry Fields'-esque flutes on The Hampstead Therapist, making this a bit of a waste of time for the committed 'Tron nut. However, if you like well-written and played songs, with an English bent, you could do an awful lot worse.
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Ballettirosadimacchia (1974, 38.28) ****/TTTTAscolta!Sandiego Altre Guei Calli E Tutto un Sogno Interludio Oggi Dalla Mattina al Pommeriggio Suono Se ti Piace |
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Now, here's an oddity for you; an album by a bunch of (allegedly) Italians, also allegedly dating from the mid-'70s, though no-one seems quite sure exactly when. Augusto Croce, of the highly estimable Italian Prog site, has this to say about it:
| "Little is known about this mysterious group, whose only good album changes hands for incredible prices and has never been reissued on CD. Even the year of recording is not sure. Some say it is from 1974-75, but it seems likely that it is from the mid 80's. The album has been released in Canada with a German producer, the music is good organ and Mellotron-led prog sung in Italian with a strong foreign accent and often incomprehensible lyrics: this is almost certainly a foreign group, German or probably Japanese, playing under fake Italian names". |
So, how weird is that? Mind you, the also estimable Mauro Degrassi, who's made me a beautiful CD copy of this rarity, is of the opinion that it was recorded by a bunch of Italian ex-pats living in Germany in the mid-'70s, who probably spoke German as their first language, or maybe that's just the story that's going round? Anyway, it has to be said that Ballettirosadimacchia (a composite of 'balletti rosa di macchia') is actually very good, even if it is, technically, a 'fake'. None of the tracks is that long (apart from the seven-minute closer Se Ti Piace), in keeping with many other Italian bands of the era, and the album certainly has 'that Italian sound', with mellifluous guitar leads, occasionally gutteral vocals, slightly jazzy drumming and swathes of Hammond and Mellotron.
Oddly enough, despite having a full-time keyboard player in Gianni Mazzi, the 'Tron is played by bassist Tonino Leo Ucchi and drummer Marcello Taddeo Matteotti, although I can't imagine how they could've reproduced the parts on stage, assuming they ever played live. It's difficult to pinpoint any outstanding use, as it's used mostly for chordal string backdrops, with the odd bit of flute, complementing Ucchi's real one (he also sang and played acoustic guitar). The only real variation in approach is the heavily phased 'Tron on Suono, which actually sounds more like an overdubbed synth part; speaking of which, the only obvious Moog (?) part on the album is on Se Ti Piace.
So; who knows this album's real provenance? I hope the real story leaks out one day, but it's such an obscurity that I wouldn't be surprised if the mystery remains exactly that. I would be surprised if it was recorded in the '80s, though, as the sound is so very '70s, with no telltale signs (at least to my ears) that it was produced a decade later, although it seems quite certain that the band weren't actually Italian, at least not by residence. Japanese? I don't think so - German seems far more likely, particularly given Ulrich Zichter's production. Maybe the 'Germans of Italian parentage' story is actually true? Anyway, unless someone sees fit to put this out on CD, you ain't going to just stumble across a copy (note: now out on CD), at least not at a sensible price, so it's probably all rather academic anyway. If you do, though, grab it before its owner realises its true value.
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YS (1972, 37.58/45.02) ****½/TTTIntroduzionePrimo Incontro Secondo Incontro Terzo Incontro Epilogo [CD adds: La Tua Casa Comoda Donna Vittoria] |
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Il Balletto di Bronzo were a classic one-shot Italian band, singing in their own language, who operated at the heavier end of the progressive spectrum. The Italian Polydor CD confuses the issue somewhat by stating the copyright date as 1977, which made me wonder why the band sounded so dated; it is, of course, from '72, which sounds about right, to be honest. YS was apparently a 'fabled city state on the Bretagne coast', according to the WelshDragon site, although the letter 'Y' doesn't even appear to be used in Italian. The non-obvious tracks are titled first/second/third encounter but again, I don't know if there's an actual concept involved or not.
YS kicks into overdrive almost straight away, then stays there pretty much for the course of the album; Il Balletto di Bronzo don't muck about, just roll their collective sleeves up and get stuck in. This is a decidedly complex and intense record, which may not endear it to all prog fans, particularly those of a nervous disposition. To be blunt, it rocks. There's a good bit of Mellotron on offer, from vocalist/keyboard man Gianni Leone, mostly strings and brass, though I think I heard a short burst of flutes at one point. Leone tends to use it in bursts, rather than layering strings all over the place, so although you can hear it on four of the five tracks, you'll find little sustained use. No specific 'Tron highlights, although the brass at the beginning of Terzo Incontro is particularly searing.
The Polydor CD adds two tracks from a single from the following year, but there's no Mellotron to be heard. There are also English-language (and Mellotron-free) versions of Introduzione and Secondo Incontro doing the rounds, but I don't know if they've ever gained an official release or not. Anyway, YS is fantastic; OK 'Tron, but great album. Buy.
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Balls Change When Balls Wants to Change (1993, 57.55) **½/T½ |
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| Lucille Ball Paper World Shit Rolls in Be My Bird Ford Let's Go Crazy I Want to Take You Higher Polar Bear |
God's Gone to Sleep Convertible Blow Job Stop That Moaning Too Much Monkey Business Sadness of Sunday Hairy Rat Tulane Let's Take the Sea |
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The provocatively-named Balls are one of the inconceivably vast number of bands from non English-speaking countries who gain some sort of following in their home territory, while meaning diddly-squat to anyone else. Well, have YOU heard of them? What little information I can glean about the band (well, you try searching for them on Google) indicates that they've released several albums over a near-20 year period, of which the slightly cod-English Balls Change When Balls Wants to Change is the third. So, wossit sound like, then? A mixture of styles is the short answer, opening with an energetic instrumental before moving through a host of pop and rock styles without ever really settling on anything. Maybe that's the point. I have to say, the band's sound irritated me after a while, and an album of this type would be better kept under 40 minutes, rather than almost an hour.
As far as the album's Mellotron content goes, the inimitable Esa Kotilainen (one of Finland's handful of Mellotron owners/players) plays understated string, flute and possibly cello parts on the balladic Let's Go Crazy, and strings, choirs and flutes on God's Gone To Sleep, but that's it. I suspect you're unlikely to like this album very much, although there's nothing actually intrinsically wrong with it, other than a lack of memorable material. To summarise; sort-of mainstream pop/rock with a couple of 'Tron tracks. I really wouldn't bother.
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Capsules (2007, 44.03) ***½/½ |
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| Glorianders The Drowning Calm Tangle in Delirium Synnøve Skeie Incarnadine Fall Away Into Darkness A Long Fetch Over The Museums of Sleep |
Crushed Pears Szól a Zene |
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Grant Miller's Balustrade Ensemble seem to be more of a project than a band 'proper', drawing in various suitable musicians who have lives outside. 2007's Capsules is an album of ethereal beauty, more of a soundtrack to an arthouse film you'll never see than anything as tawdry as rock'n'roll; of course, the downside is that some of you will find this plain boring, or won't even notice it's playing. Picking out individual tracks is a bit pointless, as they all fit the same general mould, but opener Glorianders sets their stall out nicely, acoustic instruments, voice and electronics merging into a unified whole.
As well as his Mellotron, Matt Henry Cunitz (Botticellis, Mushroom, John Vanderslice) also plays Orchestron, and I do believe it's that producing the choirs we're hearing on Glorianders, although the voices on Tangle In Delirium sound like real ones combined with Mellotron, plus strings, with another string part on A Long Fetch Over. You really have to be prepared to put some work into this, should you wish to hear it; I'm sure it'll reap rewards, but it may take some time. With next to no Mellotron, though, I really can't advise it on that front.
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Moondog Matinee (1973, 35.56/61.25) ***/½ (T½) |
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| Ain't Got No Home Holy Cow Share Your Love With Me Mystery Train The Third Man Theme The Promised Land The Great Pretender I'm Ready Saved |
A Change is Gonna Come [CD adds: Didn't it Rain Crying Heart Blues Shakin' What am I Living for Going Back to Memphis Endless Highway] |
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The Band's fifth studio album, Moondog Matinee, continued their chosen remit, redefining American music from the roots up (pun intended), although it could be argued that they made their groundbreaking albums in the late '60s, and by 1973 they were slightly past their sell-by date. This impression is reinforced by their overly-familiar choice of material, not least Mystery Train, The Promised Land and The Great Pretender, and we haven't even mentioned their bizarrely faithful rendition of The Third Man Theme. To be honest, the CD's bonus material is better in places than the original LP. Crying Heart Blues works nicely, while Going Back To Memphis rocks more than anything else here, making a nice change from their usual Americana/country-inflected sound.
Garth Hudson plays Mellotron on The Great Pretender, with a background phased strings part that could easily be mistaken for the string synth used elsewhere on the record. However, one of the CD's bonus tracks, Shakin', is smothered in stabbed 'Tron strings and chordal flutes, bumping the expanded version's 'T' rating up nicely. All in all, not The Band's greatest achievement, and one of the more insignificant Mellotron parts I've heard in a while, against strong competition, at least on the original tracklisting. Buy Music From Big Pink instead.
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Mother/Bow to the King (1972, 31.09) ***½/TMotherHumble Keep on Idealist Realist Feel the Hurt Tomorrow Bow to the King |
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Bang! Music (1973, 33.15) **½/TT |
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| Windfair Glad You're Home Don't Need Nobody Page of My Life Love Sonnet Must Be Love Exactly Who I Am Pearl and Her Ladies |
Little Boy Blue Brightness Another Town |
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Bang allegedly produced one of America's best Sabbath impersonations in their eponymous debut (***), but upon actually hearing it, it's a very ordinary hard rock album with only one track that sounds even slightly like the mighty Sabs. They followed it with a decent enough concept piece, Mother/Bow to the King, although it's all a bit unexciting compared to what, say, the Blue Öyster Cult were doing at the time, not to mention a whole slew of British bands, Budgie, maybe, or Stray. Saying that, the band come up with some decent riffs, not least the opening to Tomorrow, spoilt almost immediately by an overly-cheerful guitar harmony, like a (slightly) heavier Wishbone Ash. Mellotron, finally, on closer and semi-title track, Bow To The King, apparently about a boxing champ. The uncredited string part actually enhances the track quite nicely, making me wonder why they didn't use it more on the album; it would easily have fitted onto a couple of the heavier tracks.
By the time Bang! Music appeared in '73, the fire had obviously left their collective bellies. It starts with a couple of reasonable tracks, notably Windfair, but quickly degenerates into that sort of vaguely hard rock that seemed to be inexplicably popular at the time. Or maybe not; how many bands of that ilk have survived? The band were a trio at this point, but no-one seems to have been credited with keyboards, so whoever elected to stick piano and Mellotron on a few tracks will have to remain a mystery. Windfair has some strings in the chorus, ditto Love Sonnet and Little Boy Blue. Another Town starts well, sounding like it's going to be one of the album's best tracks, 'Tron to the fore, until it peters out after 45 seconds. Why? Just when it looked like things were picking up...
So; not that exciting, I'm afraid. Yeah, I've heard worse (particularly in the case of the halfway decent Mother), but this style never really was a winner, and it's easy to see why. Anyway, one 'Tron track on the former, and four on the latter, none exceptional, but all OK. Wouldn't rush out if I were you.
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Dancin' on Coals (1991, 50.56) ***/T |
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| Soul to Soul Untied and True Emotions in Gear I'm in Love Big Line Midnight Struck Dancin' on Coals My Saltine |
Dressed Up Vamp Last Kiss Cactus Juice |
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Glam-metal troupe Bang Tango began the '90s unsure where they stood; their second album, Dancin' on Coals, came out the same year as Nirvana's genre-defining Nevermind, making their like redundant almost overnight. And not before time, some might say. In actuality, Dancin' on Coals, while no classic, is more diverse than you might imagine, making the likes of Poison look as stupid and one-dimensional as they actually were. Some tracks, notably big ballad Midnight Struck, sound like budget Aerosmith, and while you might say that isn't too unusual in the glam scene, Bang Tango at least do it with some panache, not to mention Joe Lesté's Tyler-alike vocals.
Pete Wood is credited with Mellotron, and while it doesn't sound much like one, I think we have to assume that's what we're hearing on Emotions In Gear (this is pretty much pre-easily-available samples, don't forget), with a rather ordinary string part, although the strings on the lengthyish Midnight Struck seem to be real. This is a rare example of early '90s 'Tron use in the hard rock field, although there's little enough that it wasn't really worth the effort, to be honest. One for the reformed glam fan in your life.
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Everything (1988, 47.41) ***/T |
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| In Your Room Complicated Girl Bell Jar Something to Believe in Eternal Flame Be With You Glitter Years I'll Set You Free |
Watching the Sky Some Dreams Come True Make a Play for Her Now Waiting for You Crash and Burn |
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Everything, The Bangles' fourth and last album before their recent reformation, is pretty typical, being a mixture of upbeat '60s-influenced girly pop and fluffy ballads, including the mega-hit Eternal Flame, although there's more of the former than the latter, thankfully. It's very good at what it does, the only proviso being that you have to like what they do, which I can't really say I do, to be honest, although Walk Like An Egyptian was quite good fun. Phil Shenale plays keyboards on the album, and a little birdie tells me that included amongst them was a Chamberlin. Assuming this is actually the case, you can hear it in the orientalish string sounds on In Your Room and the strong string melody on Watching The Sky, but I wouldn't actually bet any huge sum of money on it not being something digital.
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A Curious Feeling (1979) ***½/½ |
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| From the Undertow Lucky Me The Lie After the Lie A Curious Feeling Forever Morning You Somebody Else's Dream |
The Waters of Lethe For a While In the Dark |
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Tony Banks is, of course, Genesis' keyboard player and one of their main writers; many of their classic pieces have his style stamped all over them. By 1979, Genesis had contracted to a three-piece with the regrettable departure of Steve Hackett, and after the success of their first album with that lineup, ...And Then There Were Three... the band took time off, with Banks and Mike Rutherford recording solo albums during their gap year, with Phil Collins following two years later. Sadly. The least commercially successful of the three was Banks' debut, A Curious Feeling; a curious album, in fact. Tony Banks is widely regarded as keeping his best material for the parent band (pity more musicians don't follow this dictum), and his solo albums have always sold poorly. A Curious Feeling, along with Genesis' subsequent album, Duke (***) and Rutherford's solo debut, Smallcreep's Day (***½) can be seen as the collective last gasp of the 'old' Genesis, before their style moved irrevocably towards the mainstream.
Banks is notorious for collaborating with unsuitable singers, of whom Kim Beacon was only the first. His voice really doesn't suit the material, and it seems strange that Tony couldn't have found someone better. Maybe it's the 'prog keyboard player solo album' disease; think of the bellowing Ashley Holt on all those Rick Wakeman albums... In fact, it's noticeable that as with his ex-colleague Hackett, the best bits are mostly instrumental; odd, given how many excellent vocal tracks Banks wrote for Genesis, but there you go.
From The Undertow is a beautiful, piano-based piece (Yamaha CP70 electric grand), starting the album as it should have gone on; sadly, only a handful of tracks match the opener's quality. After The Lie has some incendiary playing from Banks, with a killer solo, and the instrumentals Forever Morning and The Waters Of Lethe are excellent. The only Mellotron present (allegedly) is on You, but I only know this through an interview snippet; it's completely inaudible, although the track is the other fairly strong vocal piece on the album.
So; buy the album for the keyboard work. In fact, get it on CD and just program most of the vocal tracks out altogether. DON'T, however, buy it expecting to hear any Mellotron.
See: Genesis | Mellodrama
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Love the Donkey (2005, 49.10) ***/0 |
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| American Constitution Anarriê Rio De Jamaica Forró for All Tap on the Cajon Frevo de Rua Bottles Caboclinho |
Matan Immigrant Song Maria Teresa Olivia - Step on the Roach Movie Screen Pandeirada |
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Despite being a non-Jewish Brazilian, percussionist Cyro Baptista releases records on Jewish New York label Tzadik, largely due to his involvement with John Zorn. After forming Beat the Donkey in 2002 and releasing a self-titled album, he/they followed up with Love the Donkey in 2005, a Latin-via-New-York set, detouring into reggae (Rio De Jamaica, unsurprisingly), jazz (Forró For All), didgeridoos (Matan) and, er, blown bottles (duh, Bottles) along the way. The biggest surprise here is an accordion version Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, which actually works surprisingly well.
Tzadik mainstay Jamie Saft is credited with Mellotron, although as with Saft's solo album, Black Shabbis, it's totally inaudible, making me wonder quite what the point is. Anyway, a Latin-avant-New-York-jazz album for Tzadik label fans who like a bit of rumba (or whatever).
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Megh (1972, 38.27) ***½/T½Un po' di Burro sul Mio PaneSono Stato Una Promessa In Quella Città Tan Non Dire Mai In Quella Città (la Leggenda) Sereno Qui Un'Armonica |
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I don't know an awful lot about Mario Barbaja (real name Barbaglia, apparently), although I've seen him described as 'progressive'. Hmmm. Megh consists of a diverse collection of slightly progressive Italian pop, but there's no way I'd describe it as 'prog', although there's the odd interesting track along the lines of the Indian-sounding Tan and the interestingly oblique In Quella Città (La Leggenda).
Franco Orlandini plays Mellotron on four tracks, with what sounds like some rather muffled strings on Tan, more overt parts on Non Dire Mai and In Quella Città and a nice flute part on Un'Armonica. However, you really couldn't call this a Mellotron Album, to be honest. Not bad, but not worth spending a great deal of time and/or money on.
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Comet of the Season (2001, 38.50) ***/½ |
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| Nickel a Minute Two Small Stones Silver-White Flash Soft, Distant Light Yr. Out If Here Once in a While Medicine Takeover |
Favorite Star Hot, But You Won't Blow |
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David Barbe has worked with many musicians, both as player and producer, fronting his own rated combo Mercyland in the '80s, although, ironically, he's probably best known for playing bass in Bob Mould's post-Hüsker Dü outfit Sugar. 2001's Comet of the Season is his sole solo album to date, and has some of that Athens, GA sound to it (Barbe is from Atlanta, but based in Athens, home to R.E.M., amongst others), with a modern psych feel in places. It's hard to say which Barbe does better: the slow, near-psych of Hot, But You Won't Blow or Medicine Takeover, or the high-octane Nickel A Minute or Once In A While; suffice to say that he knows how to construct a record that holds the listener's interest, which is more than you can say for most of his contemporaries, it seems.
Barbe is credited with Mellotron, but the only place it even might be is the flutey sound on Favorite Star, so this isn't going to go to the top of your 'Mellotron must-haves' list, I suspect. Not a bad album, most likely to appeal to your Athens Scene enthusiast, although the rest of us should be able to find something to like about it, too.
