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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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Nico (1996, recorded 1991-95, 38.37) **½/T |
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| The Pusher Hell Soup No Rain (Ripped Away Version) Soul One John Sinclair All That I Need Glitch |
Life Ain't So Shitty Swallowed Pull St. Andrew's Hall Letters From a Porcupine |
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Blind Melon were supposedly the 'Seattle' band of the early '90s (actually based in L.A.) who were more influenced by what has irritatingly come to be known as 'classic rock' than their contemporaries. After a slow start, a memorable video propelled their debut, Blind Melon, to multi-million selling status, despite its (to my ears, anyway) relative lack of musical content. The darker Soup fared less well, after which their charismatic but heavily substance-abusive singer, Shannon Hoon, died on their tour bus. Probably not his greatest career move. Or maybe it was.
The largely acoustic Nico (named for Hoon's young daughter, named for...) seems to be the final word on the band, pieced together after Hoon's death from various unfinished sessions, demos etc., and is about as 'bitty' as you'd expect from such a project, although all power to the band for making this stuff available for their fans. I'd forgotten just how much Hoon's squeaky voice irritates me; at least track-by-track credits means I can skip most of most tracks, only listening to the 'Tron ones in full. No Rain (Ripped Away Version) is a different version of the hit-with-that-video-with-its-title-bizarrely-inspired-by-a-crowd-chant-at-Woodstock, and has a few seconds of high-pitched 'Tron strings from drummer Glen Graham, while the conga-heavy Glitch has strings and cellos, played by Graham and guitarist Christopher Thorn.
Well, if you like Blind Melon, you'll probably like Nico, but then you've probably got it already. If you don't, you won't and you probably haven't. I don't, I don't and I haven't, which rather proves my point, I think. A couple of listenable tracks (Glitch and possibly the more electric Swallowed), one with a decent 'Tron part, doth not a decent album make. Buy strictly only according to taste.
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Πoa (1973, 39.15/46.36) ****/TT½CapitaAria e Mele Impressioni Io e Me La Nuova Forza Ritorno Verde [CD adds: L'Amore Muore a Vent'Anni Lei è Musica] |
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In the oddly-titled Πoa (it means 'grass', apparently), Blocco Mentale produced a rated early-'70s Italian album, although it's not quite up there with the classics. The opening bars of Capita (which repeat on Verde) are probably the oddest part of the record, sounding rather like the band had heard King Crimson play The Great Deceiver live, and had attempted to replicate it from memory. Which, in fact, isn't an impossibility, as Starless & Bible Black came out the same year. Anyway, the album quickly settles down into a fairly typical feel, although that isn't to denigrate it in any way; it just lacks either the originality of a PFM or the sheer power and excitement of a Museo Rosenbach, although it does make up for it to an extent by dint of sheer tunefulness.
Filippo Lazzari plays Mellotron on four tracks, using it fairly sparingly, with only a few string chords in both Io e Me and La Nuova Forza, although Impressioni and Verde are smothered in strings, in most pleasing fashion. Irritatingly, the Mellow CD seems to have been mastered from vinyl, with a few minor clicks and pops clearly evident, but I suppose if the tapes have disappeared... The two bonus tracks are from a single released later the same year, and veer further towards the pop influenced displayed on a couple of the album's tracks.
So, while not a classic, Πoa has many memorable moments, and enough complexity to keep the full-on symph fan interested. Buy. Incidentally, apparently the Vinyl Magic issue is better quality (from tapes?), but has neither the bonus tracks nor the accurate reproduction of the original's die-cut sleeve, so as I believe both are still available, the choice is yours.
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Reflections on a Life (1971, 45.20) ***/T |
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| Gene Machine I Don't Care Love Song Bar Room Blues Sad Song for an Easy Lady Ain't it Sad Too The Bargain The Rut |
Happy Families No.2 Psychological Decontamination Unit Chorale (Forever) |
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Named, of course, from the Dylan record, Wales' own Blonde on Blonde's third and last album, Reflections on a Life, is a bit of a hotch-potch of styles, which may have contributed to their eventual failure. Listened to in the cold light of day, 37 years later, it's a decent enough post-psych record, mixing heavier (Happy Families) and lighter (Ain't It Sad Too) material, including unusual elements, such as the banjo in Bar Room Blues. The problem with the album, which also goes for their '69 debut, Contrasts, is inconsistency; great ideas sat cheek-by-jowl with, er, less great ones, not least the frankly bonkers No.2 Psychological Decontamination Unit.
Saying that, this isn't a bad album, but I'm not sure how much replaying it will stand. I wouldn't normally suggest this, but maybe a compilation of their finest moments would serve the casual listener better than all three of their regular LPs? Anyway, Mellotron on just one track here, from the mysterious Kip - maybe Kips Brown of Spring? - with a block chord-type string'n'brass part on closer Chorale (Forever), with the brass swelling up just before the fade. So; not bad, not great, you can see why this didn't take off at the time, really. File under 'OK'.
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Hombre, Tierra y Alma (1979, 36.25) ***½/TT½Humanidad IndefensaYa No Hay Nada en la Calle El Llanto del Poeta ¿El Infierno Esta Aqui? - Parte I/Una Posibilidad/¿El Infierno Esta Aqui? - Parte II Meditacion - Parte I/Descubrir el Sentido Terrible de la Vida/Meditacion - Parte II El Verdadero Silencio - Parte I/La Muerte Renacida/El Verdadero Silencio - Parte II Por Fin He Vuelto a Ti |
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El Hijo del Alba (1980, 37.32) ***½/T |
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| Poemas de Soledad Alquimista Soy La Danza del Agua El Hijo del Alba Quimérica Laxitud El Silencio de las Esferas I La Razón Natural/El Silencio de las Esferas II |
La Elipse/El Silencio de las Esferas III Fin y Principio/El Silencio de las Esferas IV Un Hombre Nuevo |
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Música Para la Libertad (1981, 36.51) ***½/TTTPesadilla de VivirEl Poder de la Libertad Añoranza Camino del Universo Tau Ceti Detenidos en la Materia Sólo Sentimiento Mágico y Salvaje |
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Bloque were a Spanish progressive/hard rock outfit, with rather variable album quality, with their last release often quoted as being their best. Despite apparently being credited, I can hear no Mellotron on their debut, Bloque (***), at all, and in fact, the album isn't particularly progressive, being more twin lead guitar-driven hard rock. Hombre, Tierra y Alma ('men, earth and soul') was the follow-up, and despite the variable quality of composition, is worth hearing, although it's not the best the country had to offer. As you can see, several of the tracks are actually composites, although I can only actually hear six pieces, which should explain the slightly confusing listing above.
As usual with Spanish bands, the strings largely emanate from a string synth (why??!), although there appears to be some of Juan C. Gutiérrez' 'Tron strings on Meditacion/Descubrir el Sentido Terrible de la Vida, along with a large helping of choir, including a lengthy solo section at the end. More choirs on the last two tracks, and although the flutes on the Ya No Hay Nada en la Calle/El Llanto del Poeta sound real, I presume they're 'Tron, too, although the cello on ¿El Infierno Esta Aqui? has to be real. And those church bells sound an awful lot like 'Tron FX tapes...
Their third album, El Hijo del Alba ('son of the sunrise') has a more 'progressive' sound on its first side, but the flip has more of the duelling guitars you can hear on their first two releases. There seems to be an actual string section (and some brass) on several tracks, particularly the linked parts of El Silencio de las Esferas, although opener Poemas de Soledad features considerable quantities of string synth and some murky Mellotron choir. The album probably isn't quite as good as its predecessor, but still an improvement on their debut.
The following year's Música Para la Libertad is, unsurprisingly, a more mainstream effort, in line with whatever progressive scene still existed in Europe in the early '80s. For all that, it's still fairly good, with the band's usual hard rock influences cropping up here and there, and some halfway decent material. Gutiérrez had obviously realised just how good those 'Tron choirs sounded by this point, and slapped them all over the record, with particularly effective use on the balladic Añoranza and the instrumental Tau Ceti.
So; all of these come into the 'not bad, but not classic either' category. For the 'Tron, stick to Hombre, Tierra y Alma and Música Para la Libertad.
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If Only for a Moment (1969, 43.33) ***½/½Peace Loving ManKiss of Confusion Listen to the Silence Love Bomb Billy Boo the Gunman Indian Summer Just Above My Hobby Horse's Head Wait a Minute |
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Blossom Toes' debut, 1967's We Are Ever So Clean, is reputedly a wonderful slice of UK psych, although its follow-up, If Only for a Moment, is a darker effort all round. It actually sounds like exactly what it is; a psych group moving into heavier and more progressive territory, although in places (notably Listen To The Silence), they hark back to what I presume is something more akin to their earlier sound, and the sitar on Just Above My Hobby Horse's Head is pure '67. The material is good (especially the excellent Peace Loving Man), though not classic, although I know many aficionados of the era would disagree with me; maybe repeated listens will fully reveal the album's charms.
There's very little keyboard of any description to be heard on the album, and the only obvious Mellotron is a few seconds at the beginning of Peace Loving Man, probably from guitarist Brian Godding, making this about as un-Mellotronic as it's possible to be without, er, not using one at all. As a result, while this is worth hearing, and is a decent document of a transitionary period in British rock, don't even think about it if you're looking for Mellotron classics. Incidentally, after the band's untimely split (they'd simply 'had enough'), some of them went on to form BB Blunder, whose lone album, Workers' Playtime, was reissued, for some odd reason, as New Day, with the band renamed Blossom Toes '70, and is Mellotronically-challenged, despite rumours to the contrary.
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Spectres (1977, 40.35) ***½/T |
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| Godzilla Golden Age of Leather Death Valley Nights Searchin' for Celine Fireworks R.U. Ready 2 Rock Celestial the Queen Goin' Through the Motions |
I Love the Night Nosferatu [Remastered CD adds: Night Flyer Dial M for Murder Please Hold Be My Baby] |
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"Ladies and gentlemen, the amazing BLUE ÖYSTER CULT!" BÖC's fifth studio outing is in the same ballpark as the previous year's Agents of Fortune, usually (and erroneously) described as their 'best album' due to the inclusion of FM staple (Don't Fear) the Reaper; I'm sorry, but since when did one total classic and a handful of other good tracks make an album an artist's 'best'? Anyway, Spectres features three killer tracks, several 'good', and a couple of 'so-so' ones, with the undying Godzilla, the biker-gang death-match narrative The Golden Age Of Leather and the creepy Nosferatu being the classics.
According to an article in fan club magazine Morning Final, the band 'found' a Chamberlin in the studio (probably the Record Plant in New York) during the recording of the album, and bassist Joe Bouchard, an accomplished pianist on the quiet, laid down swathes of Chamberlin violins on the album's closing track, his composition, Nosferatu. A mock-horror shlock-gothic masterpiece, it's the last of the album's three 'vampire songs', being a fairly straight retelling of Bram Stoker's original tale. This track highlights the difficulty in spotting the difference between Mellotron and Chamberlin strings; I had it down as a 'Mellotron track' for years until learning otherwise, and it's difficult to tell even now, although the sound has a certain quality that doesn't ring true for the Mellotron. Whatever, it's a great piece of music and a superb example of the Chamberlin in action.
I'd cautiously recommend the album, but for beginners to the band, go for '73's Tyranny & Mutation (*****) or the following year's stunning Secret Treaties (*****) instead.
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The Art of Rolling (2005, 39.36) ***½/T½ |
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| Word From the Bird Product of DK I Remember the Days I Want You The Remains of Sir Maison Baby, I've Got Time The Bluverture Revelation of Love |
Mob Rule What the Young People Want Couer de Lion New Slough |
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The Blue Van are only the third Danish band to be featured on this site, and one of the others (Etcetera) only uses 'Tron samples, assuming, that is, that these guys are using the Real Deal... For such a young band, they're quite astonishing, clearly refusing to acknowledge any influences later than the '60s, many years before any of them were born. It seems they grew up in quite an isolated part of the country, and had few, if any contemporaries to pull them into line, thankfully, with the end result being a joyfully authentic garage band, or what the Americans would call 'British Invasion', I suppose. The Art of Rolling is their debut, following an EP or two; average track length is under three minutes, although New Slough bucks the system, being a fantastic jammed-out eight-minute effort, making full use of Steffen Westmark's vocal tics and Per M. Jørgensen's Keith Moonalike drumming, forever teetering on the edge of collapse, but never quite attaining it.
I don't seem to be the only online reviewer who thinks that Søren V. Christensen's keyboards define the band's sound, with lashings of Vox, Hammond and Wurlitzer all over the shop, plus just a dash of Mellotron, of course. Saying that, short instrumental The Bluverture starts with 'Tron flutes, and ends up smothered in the thing, with strings and doubtless unintentionally inauthentic cellos blasting away, with more flutes on the more typical What The Young People Want, although that's your lot. So; if raw, '60s-inspired pre-psych rock is your thang, you can't go too far wrong with The Art of Rolling, although originality isn't really part of the equation. One great 'Tron track, too, so try to hear it, if not the entire album.
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Reunion in Central Park (1973, 58.47) ***½/TTLouisiana BluesSteves Song I Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes You Can't Catch Me Fly Away Caress Me Baby Catch the Wind Wake Me, Shake Me Two Trains Running |
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The Blues Project could only have been named in the mid-'60s - any later and the name would've been considered too clichéd, or plain too old-fashioned. Consisting of a mixture of session guys and other seasoned musos including guitarists Danny Kalb and Steve Katz, they were joined soon after their formation by session wunderkind, multi-instrumentalist Al Kooper on keys. Kooper left after three albums, only one of which was a proper studio effort, going on to Blood, Sweat & Tears, more session work and a solo career, before rejoining the band (as 'The Original Blues Project') for a one-off live album, Reunion in Central Park. Before you envisage crowds of hundreds of thousands, the gatefold shows a seated crowd of a few thousand, which was probably the setup for most gigs in the park (see: King Crimson the following year).
The album's a good document of what must've been a burning live band in their day; they ain't so bad here, as it happens. While there is some straight blues (chiefly You Can't Catch Me) to be found here, the band were always far more eclectic than that, and manage pretty much a different style on every track. Side three's cover of Donovan's Catch The Wind shows the band's folkier side, although it's almost jazz in places, and while side four's lengthy jam Two Trains Running is a blues, it goes way beyond most older blues acts' comfort zones.
Kooper brought a good-sized keyboard rig along; a B3 topped with a MiniMoog, a Clavinet that he strangely left standing on its own, demoting his M400 to his far right (why not put it on top of the 'Tron?). This pic is from the inside gatefold, and is actually reversed to get it 'right', as the original is a reflection from an above-stage mirror. The 'Tron actually gets a mention in the tracklisting, with a 'Mellotron - Al' credit after Steves Song [sic], where he lays down some decent flutes, shifting between them and strings. However, Catch The Wind is the album's standout 'Tron track, absolutely smothered in strings, played in a pleasingly orchestral manner, with the odd bit of flute thrown in for good measure.
This band's influence is clearly considerable; Lynyrd Skynyrd (funnily enough, a recent Kooper production) seemingly copped their entire sound from opener Louisiana Blues, and I spotted a bit 'borrowed' by the Blue Öyster Cult somewhere, too. So; if you want to hear where Al Kooper came from, this isn't a bad place to start, though it is essentially (surprise, surprise) a blues album. Anyway, two decent 'Tron tracks, right up in the mix; not bad for a lives blues album, eh? Incidentally, I suspect the double album is the whole set, as it's pretty short, and could easily have another twenty minutes spread across its four sides.
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Back to Bedlam (2005, 39.28) **/½ |
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| High You’re Beautiful Wisemen Goodbye My Lover Tears and Rain Out of My Mind So Long Jimmy Billy |
Cry No Bravery |
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James 'Blunt' Blount has to be the first artist whose name has almost immediately been appropriated as cockney rhyming slang©: "Cor, 'e's a right James Blunt, in'ee?" While playing this album for review, I had no qualms whatsoever about skipping track two, You're Beautiful, one of the most maudlin, self-pitying, whingeing pieces of shite to assault our airwaves since, er, the last one, and given that Mr. Blunt has had the (rare) good taste to put full instrumental credits in his debut album, Back to Bedlam, I didn't have to. So I didn't. It is the nastiest piece of music on the album, also the catchiest, with the other nine songs being a variety of '70s-influenced singer-songwriter pop, with a surprising number of analogue 'boards on display, and a refreshing lack of sampled beats et al. While the word 'highlights' is difficult to use in this context, the Hammond solo on So Long Jimmy is very acceptable, as is the Riders On The Storm tribute/cop on the same track.
The worst thing about Blunt's album is Blunt himself; his horrible, whiny voice ruins several otherwise dull but inoffensive tracks, and his much-vaunted army past (from a military family, don'cha know) and public school education have apparently helped to make him (according to Wikipedia) the 'fourth most annoying thing in the UK' in 2006, and believe me, having been on a job for several days at the peak of Bluntmania with the radio on constantly, 'that bloody single' is enough to make one wish to commit murder, preferably in an extremely unpleasant manner. For all that, his album is more dull than offensive, giving it a surprisingly high two star rating, but I really wouldn't take that as any sort of recommendation.
Mellotron? Yup, Blunt plays 'Tron strings himself on Cry, with a passable but ineffectual part that is at least audible, though not enough to even earn one T, I'm afraid. Well, he's bound to record again, and I suspect we have several years of Blunt-related pain to come, before he slides off the map in true Dido style (whatever did happen to? etc...). Please don't buy this album; I'm sure he was relatively wealthy before he ever recorded a note, and he really doesn't need your money. Go and buy something good instead.
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Parklife (1994, 52.55) ***½/½ |
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| Girls & Boys Tracy Jacks End of a Century Parklife Bank Holiday Badhead The Debt Collector Far Out |
To the End London Loves Trouble in the Message Centre Clover Over Dover Magic America Jubilee This is a Low Lot 105 |
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Blur's third album, Parklife, was the one that broke it wide open for them, although it's slightly strange in retrospect to think that for a few short months they were neck-and-neck with Oasis, before the monobrowed ones leapt ahead, at least commercially. Parklife does sound a little of its time now, and hasn't dated as well as, say, Pulp, but it's still a musical microcosm of early-'90s Britain, full of characters like the Debt Collector, or the layabout narrated by Phil Daniels in the title track. The album actually covers quite a lot of ground, musically, stepping far outside Oasis' narrow boundaries, taking in music hall and various other indigenous styles (you mean we have some?), although Damon Albarn's faux-cockernee vocals just irritate, especially when you know he's a nice middle-class boy from Essex.
An online interview alerted me to the fact that the band used a real, gen-u-wine Mellotron on one track, although it was barely worth it for the few seconds of strings we get on Badhead, presumably played by Graham Coxon. So; a good album, defining 'Britpop' better than most of their contemporaries, although absolutely not worth it for the 'Tron.
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If Only Stones Could Speak (2002, 57.26) ***½/TT½If Only Stones Could SpeakHoly Blood Minna Ursus Bruggia Café Vlissinghe No Words Anna From the Well The Story of Three The Goodnight Knight |
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The Bollenberg in question is Belgian music journalist John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, active on the European progressive scene for many years now. These days, he tends to write mainly for ProgressiveWorld.net, although he's written for various magazines in the past, not least US mag Progression. Apparently, he also sang in prog band Ouies in his pre-journalism days; suffice to say, although we don't always agree on who's hot and who's not, he knows what he's talking about when it comes to prog. If Only Stones Could Speak is John's first album, although he has guested on other artists' records, not least the New Grove Project's Brill. Subtitled 'A Musical Journey Through Myths and Legends of Medieval Brugge', the album has a decidedly medieval flavour to many of the tracks, although John's slightly characterless vocals sound uncomfortable with the subject matter in places. The concept, such as it is, deals with, unsurprisingly, the history of Brugge, and what stories the stones could tell, which beats the hell out of the usual rubbish peddled by many modern bands in the name of the 'concept album'.
John's years in 'the biz' have paid off handsomely, as the album's stuffed with his famous friends, including Pär Lindh, Rick Wakeman (!), Roine Stolt (Flower Kings), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), and members of inexplicably popular current UK dullards Mostly Autumn. Unfortunately, the end result of so many guests is a slightly uncohesive sound, though far from an unpleasant one; medieval beats neo- any day round these parts. Compositionally (most of the music being written by Bollenberg's collaborator Björn Johansson), the more medieval-sounding pieces tend to work better, at least to my ears, with the straightforward rock drumming (also from Lindh, surprisingly) and William Kopecky's 5-string bass sounding rather out of place and unnecessary. Given that Lindh's forté is keyboards, maybe a more inventive progressive drummer should've been found for the project.
Both Lindh and Johansson play Mellotron, with male voice choir and flutes on the opening title track, background 8-voice on Holy Blood, and upfront flute and string parts on Ursus Bruggia, with more of the same on Anna From The Well, with a string part near the end of The Goodnight Knight to round things off nicely. A real 20-piece choir is also present, so I'm hoping I haven't confused the two anywhere.
So; do you? Well, given that many people are going to turn their noses up at an album made by 'a journalist', this is actually rather good, although not every track convinces. Reasonable Mellotron use, though maybe slightly more restraint was used than necessary, and some of the contemporary sounds grate somewhat. Oh go on, have a flutter...
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7" (1965) ***/TT Lease on Love My Heart's in Little Pieces |
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There's a Bond Between Us (1966, 40.27) ***½/TTT |
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| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Hear Me Calling Your Name The Night Time is the Right Time Walkin' in the Park Last Night Baby Can it Be True? What'd I Say? Dick's Instrumental |
Don't Let Go Keep a'Drivin' Have You Ever Loved a Woman? Camels and Elephants |
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Love is the Law (1969, 37.10) ***½/T |
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| Love is the Law Moving Towards the Light Our Love Will Come Shining Through I Couldn't Stand it Anymore Sun Dance Crossroads of Time Bad News Blues Strange Times, Sad Times |
The Naz The World Will Soon Be Free |
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Organist/saxophonist Graham Bond's ultimately tragic career is pretty well-documented; pack-leader of the '60s British R&B scene, slow career decline and an increasing fascination with the occult, leading to his untimely death under a tube train at Finsbury Park underground station, north 
London (for what it's worth, I probably passed through the station that very day). His debut, The Sound of '65 (***½), is a great jazz-inflected R&B album featuring in his Organisation (or Organization), alongside Bond, Dick-Heckstall Smith (later of Colosseum) on sax, and the thoroughly obscure rhythm section of Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, mixing blues standards (Hoochie Coochie Man, Got My Mojo Working) with cheesy balladry (Tammy), sax-driven madness (almost everything) and even a take on classical themes (Wade In The Water).
His Lease On Love single from later the same year is the first (known) Mellotron recording, although session man Geoff Unwin may well have recorded it earlier. It's not actually that great, to be honest, nowhere near the quality of the album material, although its b-side, My Heart's In Little Pieces, is marginally better. Very faint 'Tron strings on the a-side, but a far more upfront string part on the flip, making this worth tracking down (probably on MP3, to be honest) if you're interested in hearing where it all started.
Bond truly came into his own stylistically on '66's There's a Bond Between Us, with more of a jazz influence on the album, the whole thing sounding more polished than its raw predecessor, although some excitement has been sacrificed in the process. Loads of Mellotron, sounding like it was probably recorded with a mic up against its internal speakers, rather than through the line out, with single string notes on Hear Me Calling Your Name, brass chords (under the real sax) on Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Walkin' In The Park, Last Night, complete with audible key-click. Grungy-sounding flutes and a string part on Baby Can It Be True? and very clear saxes behind Heckstall-Smith on Dick's Instrumental and Don't Let Go make for a good 'Tron album, though probably not one for those who rarely delve earlier than the psych era.
Bond's career starting falling apart after his first couple of albums and the Organisation's dissolution, leaving a then-unheard-of three year gap between albums, possibly due to his struggle with heroin. His third and fourth efforts, Love is the Law and the misspelt The Mighty Grahame Bond, both appeared in 1969, seemingly only in the States, although there seems to be some dispute over release dates. Love is the Law sticks fairly closely to the template Bond set down several years earlier, soulful R&B with a rock edge, although with the addition of quasi-mystical lyrics in places, possibly a forerunner to the Crowleyesque 'Holy Magick' he got into in the early '70s (note the album's title). One of the album's most eccentric tracks is Crossroads Of Time, opening with a short burst of Bach on the Hammond, also incorporating a (doubtless uncredited) segment of Percy Mayfield's Hit The Road Jack. Odd. As far as Bond's MkII goes, there are seriously full-on 'Tron strings on the opening title track, complete with 'rewind' gap at the end, where Bond holds the closing chord too long, but sadly, that's your lot. Why? Wish I knew.
So; as far as There's a Bond Between Us goes, if you want to hear an album of great historical Mellotronic interest, and a jazz/R&B hybrid doesn't sound too painful, it's easily available on a BGO 2-on-1 with his possibly superior debut, although I've no idea where you'll find his late-'60s efforts.
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The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (1968) ****½/½ |
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| We are Normal Postcard Beautiful Zelda Can Blue Men Sing the Whites? Hello Mabel Kama Sutra Humanoid Boogie Trouser Press |
My Pink Half of the Drainpipe Rockalizer Baby Rhinocratic Oaths 11 Moustachioed Daughters |
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The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (did you know it's a jokey euphemism for an outside toilet?) was the Bonzos' second album, and while it didn't quite match the highlights of their debut, Gorilla, it was still a superb spoof on, well, late-'60s life generally, I suppose. It tends to get forgotten just how good they were as a band; We are Normal features a superb psych organ part, easily the equal of any of their more serious contemporaries, and the musicianship throughout is excellent, especially that of erstwhile leader and later Monty Python collaborator and Rutle, multi-instrumentalist Neil Innes.
Innes plays a snatch of Mellotron strings, in an excellently 'end-of-the-pier' style on Humanoid Boogie, but there can't be more than a few seconds on the whole album, so don't rush out expecting a 'Tron classic. As long as you can handle the completely ridiculous lyrics and the frequent 'recitations' by various members, chiefly head loon (the sadly late) Vivian Stanshall, I can't imagine anyone into late-'60s UK stuff having a problem with the band, but the 'Mellotron' credit is a slightly red herring, to be honest. Buy because it's excellent, but not for the 'Tron.
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Journey Through a Thousand Meditations: Rendition & Composition From Original Sources (1965) ****/TTTTTSide 1Side 4 |
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Indian Melodies: Rendition From Original Sources & Instruments (1965, 45.55) ***½/TTTT½Side 1Side 2 |
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The estimable Pea Hicks of the also estimable Optigan.com drew my attention to these bizarre efforts recently, before posting MP3s at the forum listed under 'current availability'. Edmond S. Bordeaux's correct name was Edmond Bordeaux Székely, and he was apparently Transylvanian, although he settled in America. He seems to be known (if at all) these days as some sort of mystic, being the co-founder of the International Biogenic Society in 1928, whose tenets were way ahead of their time, and being keen on meditation years before it hit the mainstream. As well as his books, he also made records, although before Pea discovered these two, I don't believe there was a single mention of them on the 'Net. As Pea says: "Journey Through a Thousand Meditations is a double LP, but I only have one of the two discs (sides 1 and 4), and it's in very sorry shape. I found it at an estate sale. Interestingly, the only Bordeaux disc I could find for sale online at all was a copy of the OTHER disc from this (sides 2 and 3), but I ordered it and it got lost in the mail! If it turns up, I'll add it here. Shortly after discovering Journey Through a Thousand Meditations, I found two mint copies of another (single) LP, Indian Melodies, at a rummage sale".
The sleeve design for Indian Melodies, such as it is, is actually plain white, with the above design printed onto a sticker found in the upper left corner, with a Spanish version on the reverse (see: right). Pea is under the impression that the sleeve of Journey Through a Thousand Meditations is similar, although he has no proof as yet. He also contacted a resort n Mexico founded by Bordeaux/Székely, but they had no knowledge of his records or the instrument on which he recorded them, almost exclusively, and the reason why they're here: his Chamberlin. I have no idea what model he owned, but going by these two albums, my guess is that it was a two-manual job, with 'leads' on both sides; he cued up one station and sound per side, then let rip with whichever sounds fell under his fingers. I've also no idea what Norma Jean Nilsson did on these records, either; more Chamberlin? Maybe Bordeaux owned two, and they played one each?
Journey Through a Thousand Meditations is, frankly, bonkers; I can't imagine how you'd ever be able to meditate to something that chops and changes like this. Of course, long drones (or even fairly short ones) are out of the question with tape-replay, so what you get here is... (struggles for inspiration), um, Chamberlin duets between two sounds, playing near-random melodies, while remaining perfectly tuneful. It isn't classical, easy listening, or any other obvious style popular at the time, and it certainly has nothing to do with 'rock'n'roll' as we know it. Soundtrack-ish? Possibly, although I'm not sure what sort of film would use material like this. It's actually quite enchanting, although it can be disconcerting in places, too. If you own a Mellotron (or reasonable samples thereof), imagine sitting down at it and playing the first thing that came into your head. That's what this sounds like, because that's probably how it was made. Possibly.
The album literally contains nothing but Chamberlin, rivalling the Celluloid albums for sheer tape-replay madness. And it's far more listenable. Opening with a plaintive minor-key solo oboe melody, a flute part enters soon after, carrying on chopping between the sounds for an unbelievable 14 minutes, before a shift to female vocals for another, briefer, track. On track four we finally get what we've been waiting for: the strings. Played almost solo, this is a beautiful example of how the Mellotron tape library copied this sound from the Chamberlin, and at last you can actually hear it, without losing it in the mix. Solo trumpet, tympani, vibes, male voices (audibly switching to the flutes, which must've been on an adjacent track)... This is essentially a demo LP for the Chamby, and it's a shame it wasn't used as such at the time. I wonder if Harry C was even aware of its existence?
Indian Melodies is, unsurprisingly, essentially more of the same, but less so. Presumably going with the Native American theme, the Chamberlin sounds used are actually very limited, as are the melodies, and the album's more rhythmic than its close relative, with some sort of 'native drum' sound being used. It's still practically all Chamby, though; the point at which the male voices surge up beneath the flute melody, drowning it out almost entirely, is quite breathtaking; these albums HAVE to've been made using two machines, unless Bordeaux had primitive overdubbing facilities. Given the part a few minutes later, where another flute melody is laid over something played backwards, maybe he did. Later on, you get to hear what I take to be the same rhythm forwards, something like a wood block; doesn't really sound like it's tape-generated, so maybe Bordeaux used a little hand percussion as well. Or is it a Rhythmate? Overall, though, this is less interesting than ...A Thousand Meditations, largely due to the lack of variety in the sounds used, accounting for its slightly lower ratings all round. Of course, had I not heard the other album, this would probably have been rated higher... It's a cruel old world.
These albums' deep obscurity can mean only one thing: there could be more of this stuff out there. LOADS more. They sound like Bordeaux knocked them out in a couple of sessions, and if they sold well, there would've been no good reason for him not to've recorded more, although I realise there is a finite limit to how many 'relaxation' albums one man can produce. Isn't there? Anyway, it looks like the albums are that interesting combination; rare and almost valueless. Given that Pea found two mint copies of one of them, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before more turn up, hopefully including a full version of ...A Thousand Meditations. Since these are so easy to download, I can only urge you to do so immediately for a Chamberlin treat of monumental proportions.
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Eduardo Bort (1975, 35.21) ***½/TTPensamientos parte I (Thoughts)Pensamientos parte II (Thoughts) Panseando Sobre la Hierba (Walking on the Grass) Cuadros de Tristeza (Pictures of Sadness) Yann En las Riberas del Yann |
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Bort's self-titled 1975 debut appears to have been his only album of that decade, with the Latin-flavoured Silvia turning up eight years later. Eduardo Bort is a psych/prog crossover album, although I doubt if that's how he thought of it at the time. Bort's guitar work is noticeably Hendrix-influenced in places, with that 'psych fuzz' tone that was popular a few years earlier, and song structures based more around jamming than progressive arrangements. Best track? Fight it out between Yann and En las Riberas del Yann, the latter of which has the most 'progressive' arrangement on the album.
The bulk of the album's 'prog' element is provided by the keyboards, with both Pepe Dougan and José Soriano playing throughout, the former on Mellotron, along with Vicente Alcañiz. The 'Tron input doesn't even kick in until track four, with only a few string chords on Cuadros de Tristeza, although there's a good bit more of the same on the Yann/En las Riberas del Yann pairing, with Alcañiz playing on the latter, and the former featuring a credit for 'Mellotron arrangement'. Still very psych-influenced, but a really nice ending to the album.
So; less of a symphonic prog album than, er, symphonic psych? Certainly worth hearing, though possibly not for those of you who demand fiendish intricacy at all times. The 'Tron takes a while to appear, but is worth hearing when it does. Cautiously recommended.
