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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.


La Bottega dell'Arte
Andrew Bown
Don Bradsham Leather
Billy Bragg/Wilco
Brain Forest
Brewers Droop
Bright Eyes

Brighteye Brison
Jon Brion
Bröselmaschine

Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come
Pete Brown & Piblokto!


La Bottega dell'Arte  (Italy)

La Bottega dell'Arte, 'L'Avventura'

L'Avventura  (1979,  36.03)  *½/T

L'Avventura
4.280 Miglia
Un'Emozione in Piú
Via del Grano
La Casa del Tempo
Finisce Qui
Ancora Solo
Pescatore della Luna
Un'Altra Storia

Current availability:

Mellotron used:

I haven't yet been able to find any biographical information on the 'Net about La Bottega dell'Arte in English, possibly because lightweight Italian pop has little international presence (although I did meet one Swedish young lady who had a soft spot for it...) Piero Calabrese with MellotronThere's a reason for this; it's terrible. I've seen a copy of their third album, L'Avventura, on sale in London for over £20, admittedly at a second-hand shop run by an Italian guy with zero idea of what this kind of stuff is actually worth; thankfully I paid an awful lot less on eBay, but I'm still feeling slightly ripped-off. OK, my fault. Having already seen the sleeve, I should've known what I was getting into; terrifyingly naff stagewear, with the band members wearing matching thigh-length boots (!) and seriously crapola tops. So, what sold it to me? Guess. Yup, it was Piero Calabrese's band-logo'd Mellotron clearly visible on the cover pic, lovingly topped with a Polymoog and some less-identifiable keyboards. You sad bastard, Thompson. Although I'm sure the 'live' pics were staged, it seems likely that they used their 'Tron live, but that's hardly any guarantee of quality, is it? Wait until I track down some (I) Pooh albums...

Anyway, the album's keyboard input is rather less than exceptional, which is no particular surprise. Even the piano's obviously a Yamaha CP70, and the synth work sounds mostly like the Polymoog on its blandest settings, although that Mellotron does rear its ugly head on the odd occasion. Very odd, actually; Finisce Qui ends with a quite discordant synth part over distant 'Tron choirs, providing the album's one real (brief) moment of musical interest, although the choirs on Via Del Grano are the standard background stuff. I suspect Calabrese used it live to cover for the studio string parts, so it probably got a little more use than here, but somehow, I can't see the band suddenly breaking out into full-on prog territory once they hit the stage...

So; can I recommend this album? Don't be silly; it's complete rubbish. BUT... unlike much bad music, there's actually some reasonable playing involved, and its ridiculous cheesiness did make me smile in places. I seriously doubt whether either of their earlier albums (for the record: '75's self-titled debut and '77's Dentro), let alone the subsequent Forza 4, released a surprising five years later, are noticeably better, although the first two are rumoured to contain the mighty 'Tron.

Official site

Andrew Bown  (UK)

no image available 7"  (1970)  ***½/TT½

Tarot

Lulli Rides Again

Current availability:

Andrew/Andy Bown's first recording came out as early as 1964, and after spells in The Herd and Judas Jump, released Tarot under his own name in 1970. The theme tune to UK children's TV show 'Ace of Wands' (inspiration for Steve Hackett, I believe), it's a short, snappy, upbeat sort of song with a good Mellotron presence (brass and strings). I don't believe it's currently available anywhere, although I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong.

Bown went on to release a clutch of solo albums while playing sessions, ending up becoming Status Quo's permanent keyboard player. Now largely regarded as a joke, Quo were actually a ferocious live act as late as their 'split' in 1984, but I wouldn't bother with the current outfit if I were you. Anyway, if you get a chance to obtain Tarot on whatever format, it's worth the effort.

Official site

Don Bradsham-Leather  (UK)

Don Bradsham-Leather, 'Distance Between Us'

Distance Between Us  (1972,  86.25)  ***½/TTTT½

Distance Between Us
Autumn Mist
Distance Between Us 2
Dance of the Goblins

Current availability:

  • Not on CD

Don Bradsham-Leather is widely regarded to be a pseudonym of none other than Robert John Godfrey, Barclay James Harvest's ex-orchestral arranger and future Enid leader, although other reports deny this, including Robert himself. It certainly sounds like his piano playing; concert standard, and very eccentric. Distance Between Us is an ambitious double album, relying heavily on avant-garde modern classical compositional techniques, with much musical experimentation, including considerable dissonance in places. Robert is notoriously unkeen on reminiscence, but I'll do my best to find out whether or not this actually was him.

The title track moves from an avant-classical piano part into a lengthy tribal rhythm section, with shedloads of 'Tron strings, doing a fair job of emulating real ones, something Robert's never been able to afford since BJH days, while Autumn Mist relies more on harmonic dissonance on various keyboards, particularly the Mellotron. Sides three and four are just as completely barking mad, making this one of the strangest Mellotron albums it's been my, er, pleasure to hear. The only reason it doesn't get the full five-T treatment is that much of the album is impenetrably weird, and many listeners simply won't be able to cope with it. Not to worry, though, as it's been out of print for thirty years, although there's supposed to be a Japanese CD version floating about, probably dubbed from crackly vinyl (again). But seriously, folks, if you stumble across a copy cheap (highly unlikely, I have to say), it's worth it for the weird 'Tron stuff, but be warned: this is not for the faint-hearted.

Billy Bragg & Wilco  (UK/US)

Billy Bragg & Wilco, 'Mermaid Avenue Vol.II'

Mermaid Avenue Vol.II  (2000,  49.55)  ***/½

Airline to Heaven
My Flying Saucer
Feed of Man
Hot Rod Hotel
I Was Born
Secrets of the Sea
Stetson Kennedy
Remember the Mountain Bed
Blood of the Lamb
Aginst th' Law
All You Fascists
Joe DiMaggio Done it Again
Meanest Man
Black Wind Blowing
Someday Some Morning Sometime

Current availability:

  • Elektra

In the mid-'90s, Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora approached the Bard of Barking himself, Billy Bragg, to ask him to put music to some of her father's unpublished lyrics. Bragg in turn asked Wilco for help, correctly ascertaining that their impeccable credentials would give the project an American edge that could've been lacking had the whole project been left to that very British of artists. '98's Mermaid Avenue is apparently excellent, leaving nearly enough material for another album, which, with a handful of newly-recorded tracks, became Mermaid Avenue Vol.II. To my ears, it's a good, if not outstanding album of semi-Americana, with several high-quality tracks, not least the guitar-heavy raunch of All You Fascists, although it's been unfavourably compared to its predecessor by some critics.

Wilco mainman Jeff Tweedy plays 'Mellotrons' on opener Airline To Heaven, although the only audible evidence is some very background, er, something; brass? Suffice to say, if it wasn't credited, you wouldn't know. So; decent enough album, in an alt.country sort of vein, but forget it on the 'Tron front.

Official Billy Bragg site

Official Wilco site

Brain Forest  (US)

Brain Forest, 'Thought Horizon'

Thought Horizon  (1995,  24.45)  ****/TTT½

Dark Horse
Lake Effect
Urban Sprawl
VLQ
Brain Forest, 'Wood of Thought'

Wood of Thought  (2002, recorded 1995,  57.56)  ***/TTT½

Daybreak
La Danse des Cons
Darkhorse

Gene's Dilemma
Urban Sprawl
Brain Farce
March of the Elves
A Walk in the Sunlight
Mello
VLQ
Brain Forest, 'Thought Horizon Sessions'

The Thought Horizon Sessions  (2004, recorded 1995,  65.36)  ***½/TT½

La Danse des Cons
Alias
A Girl Like You
Lake Effect
Rhino Country
Urban Sprawl
Darkhorse
VLQ
Bandit
Big Whomper Diesel Truck
Shadows
Maybe

Current availability:

Brain Forest were formed in 1993 by guitarist Phillip LeFrois and ex-St Elmo's Fire bassist Paul Kollar. After the usual lineup hassles, they held a four-piece together for long enough to record some material, releasing a four-song (as against 4-track) cassette, Thought Horizon, in spring 1995. It features solid, American-style prog, not a million miles away from St Elmo's Fire, but things conspired against the band, and the limited form of success accorded to the likes of Echolyn or Spock's Beard was denied them.

Back to Thought Horizon. Although the original tape is still available from Brain Forest/St Elmo's Fire's label, Sprawling Productions, it remains unfairly obscure, partly, it has to be said, due to Sprawling's failure to promote the thing in any meaningful way. It might not equal The Light for sheer invention, but there's absolutely nothing here to which fans of American symphonic prog would or could object, particularly closer VLQ, a high-energy blast of guitar and Mellotron duelling, underpinned by Kollar's bass and Taurus. Speaking of the Mellotron (as always), it's on every track, used with taste, if not restraint. Kollar and LeFrois both play it, as the band lost their keyboard player before they began recording; strings across the board, and a gorgeous flute part at the end of Dark Horse. For those of you without cassette decks, all four tracks are available on 2004's The Thought Horizon Sessions, which brings its own problems...

Said problems involve Sprawling's website containing conflicting information about Brain Forest's other two releases. The band's main page states that, despite putting in a good bit of work on the tapes in 2001, nothing was ever made commercially available, although the 'order information' page quite clearly lists, as well as the Thought Horizon tape, two CD-R releases, Wood of Thought and The Thought Horizon Sessions. What's a poor prog fan to believe? Since possession is commonly (though almost certainly wrongly) assumed to be 9/10ths of the law, the fact that I own these CDs makes me think that they are available, and the band page is out of date.

Wood of Thought, which apparently leaked out in 2002, is actually a bit of a rag-bag of material, to be honest. It opens with a pair of instrumentals that seem to go nowhere fast, and a couple of tracks (notably Gene's Dilemma) bear all the hallmarks of studio jams, dragging on far longer than their content really allows. There is some decent material here, although two of the best tracks are different versions of Darkhorse/Dark Horse and VLQ from Thought Horizon. Mellotron almost across the board again, mainly strings, plus flutes on possibly the album's best track, the folkish, harmonium-driven A Walk In The Sunlight. The 'oh what a giveaway'-titled Mello features, apart from a few cymbal swishes, nowt but flutes and strings in a pleasing configuration, with a few bursts of choir, finally, in another version of VLQ, making this rather more worth it for the Mellotron than the material.

Two years on, the Thought Horizon Sessions CD-R appeared, in a rather non-appearing kind of way. Unsurprisingly, it's an extended version of Thought Horizon, adding another eight tracks and 40 minutes to the original EP. It must be noted that there's a fair bit of overlap between these various releases, with four tracks appearing in two different versions, ignoring the repetition of the entire EP on this CD-R, which is actually quite welcome, probably adding up to the fact that the band only had a handful of really good pieces. To place this in context, that's a handful more than many 'progressive' bands who have released a whole slew of horrible, derivative, pseudo-commercial albums for two decades or more. Pendragon. Moving swiftly on... This album opens with a Mellotron-free (shame!) version of Wood of Thought's second track, La Danse Des Cons, working really well as an opener. The out-of-tune harmonies on Alias betray the album's origins as a set of demos, and the bulk of the rest of the 'new' material shows why the band chose not to release it first time round, to be honest. For a 'progressive' band, far too much of it falls back on a clichéd hard rock feel, to the point where LeFrois uses an Eddie Van Halen trick on Maybe (from Panama, for what it's worth). Also... Would'ja believe there are NO more 'Tron tracks than on the original tape? A couple of the unheard tracks aren't bad (La Danse Des Cons, Rhino Country), but the only real reason to get this album is to have the original EP tracks on CD, and they're the only reason it gets as high a rating as it does.

So; for $20 (26 outside the States) you can purchase Brain Forest's complete works, carefully sidestepping the 1995 cassette release, made redundant by the second CD-R, not that Sprawling's website actually tells you this. Do you want to? Well, you can compile a pretty good album from the two, taking four or five tracks from each, but neither of them really stands up on its own. In other words, you'll get one good album for $20 and the minimal cost of a blank.

Brain Forest page on the Sprawling site

Brewers Droop  (UK)

Brewers Droop, 'The Booze Brothers' Brewers Droop, 'The Booze Brothers'

The Booze Brothers  (1989, recorded 1973,  36.47)  **/T

Where Are You Tonight
Roller Coaster
You Make Me Feel So Good
My Old Lady
Sugar Baby
Rock Steady Woman
Louise
What's the Time
Midnight Special
Dreaming

Current availability:

  • Mil

Brewers Droop were a good-time early '70s Cajun pub-rock band (!) from High Wycombe, near London, with no notable members, although several of them have a good name on the blues scene, apparently. So why the large picture of Mark Knopfler on the sleeve in his mid-'80s pomp (and terrible blouse)? Seems he played guitar on three tracks, before he developed his signature style. The legendary Dave Edmunds produced a few tracks, too (thus his smaller pic), while future Dire Straits (and ex-Spring) drummer Pick Withers also contributed. It seems the band released one album, 1972's Opening Time, then recorded what eventually became The Booze Brothers, with Knopfler, Edmunds and Withers; fast forward 16 years, an unscrupulous record company sticks that big pic of Knopfler on the front, and hey presto, er, a dullsville pub-rock album with no distinguishing features.

Harmonica whizz Steve Darrington doubled on keyboards, mostly piano(s) and blues Hammond, but on Roller Coaster he sat down at the doubtless studio 'Tron, and put down some flutes and strings, although I can't really say they add that much to the album. Unless you're a real nut on this kind of stuff, I have to say: avoid. They only reason I got through it was by judicious use of the 'skip' button, but then, I prefer my blues a bit leaner and meaner than this, to be honest. Dull, although at least the other sleeve has a modicum of wit about it. Incidentally, I'm sure there's no connection, given his limited involvement, but I wonder if Knopfler was thinking of this lot when he wrote the line "you've got... brewer's droop from drinking beer" on Love Over Gold's Industrial Disease? Probably not.

Bright Eyes  (US)

Bright Eyes, 'Fevers & Mirrors'

Fevers & Mirrors  (2000,  55.11)  ***/T

A Spindle, a Darkness, a Fever, and a
  Necklace
A Scale, a Mirror, and These Indifferent
  Clocks
The Calendar Hung Itself...
Something Vague
The Movement of a Hand
Arienette
When the Curious Girl Realises She is Under Glass
Haligh, Haligh, a Lie, Haligh
Center of the World
Sunrise, Sunset
An Attempt to Tip the Scales
A Song to Pass the Time
Bright Eyes/Son, Ambulance, 'Oh Holy Fools'

Oh Holy Fools [split with Son, Ambulance]  (2001,  40.31)  ***/T½

Brown Park (Son, Ambulance)
Going for the Gold (Bright Eyes)
Invention of Beauty (Son, Ambulance)
Oh, You Are the Roots That Sleep Beneath My Feet and Hold the Earth in Place (Bright Eyes)
On the Concourse (Son, Ambulance)
No Lies, Just Love (Bright Eyes)
Katie Come True (Son, Ambulance)
Kathy With a K's Song (Bright Eyes)
Bright Eyes & Neva Dinova, 'One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels'

One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels [Bright Eyes & Neva Dinova]  (2004,  21.51)  ***/T

Tripped
Black Comedy
Poison
I'll Be Your Friend
Get Back
Spring Cleaning

Current availability:

  • All titles: Saddle Creek

I'll be quite honest here; I really can't make Bright Eyes out at all. Are they named for that hideous Art Garfunkel song? Why are their song titles so much more interesting than their music? Are they really that miserable all the time? 'Net reviewers seem to be equally split between unstinting praise and utter opprobrium; brilliant or shite? Don't ask me, I don't get it. Mainman Conor Oberst seems to inspire fanatical devotion as much as he inspires utter loathing; maybe we've finally found the real 'love 'em or hate 'em' band?

Fevers & Mirrors seems to be pretty typical fare for the band; understated, ultra-melancholy low-finess, with Oberst's super-personal lyrics taking precedence, or so it seems, over the music much of the time. Personal; yeah, that's it - that's the appeal. The band's fans feel that Oberst is speaking to them directly, for better or worse; he's voicing their own hopes and fears, often almost choking up with emotion as he does so. I find it completely impossible to pick better or worse tracks; although it's really only singer-songwriter fare, this music is so far from my own understanding of what it's about that I really can't judge it at all. Anyway, plenty of 'Tron flutes from Andy LeMaster on The Movement Of A Hand, with an unexpected background choir part on Arienette.

The following year, Bright Eyes released an EP split with Saddle Creek labelmates Son, Ambulance, Oh Holy Fools, the bands taking the rather unusual step of playing alternate tracks. Son, Ambulance have a far less irritating singer in Joe Knapp, who doesn't whine and therefore can't be Emo, although his bright(-ish) folk rock still isn't particularly to my taste, and by the third or fourth track begins to set my teeth on edge. Flutes (again) on Going For The Gold, and a shrieky sort of string part on Kathy With A K's Song are the only 'Tron definites, possibly from LeMaster again, although two or three other tracks by both bands have a vague Mellotronic feel to them.

2004's One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels EP was a collaboration with Neva Dinova (a band, not a person); it seems 2004 was the year of Bright Eyes collaborations. Despite their input, the music's pretty much the same old same old, with Oberst's irritating voice holding sway. Nice 'Tron flutes yet again on Tripped, running most of the way through the song, played by [unknown].

In 2005, Bright Eyes released two contrasting albums, the rather dreary country/folk-rock of I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning (**½:) having little to do musically with the semi-electronica of Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (also **½:). I've seen various reports that the latter has some 'Tron on it, but the choirs on various tracks sound more like either generic samples or actually backing vocal 'aahs' to my ears, so I'd say no, no 'Tron here.

So; er, I can't really recommend anything by Bright Eyes, because I absolutely don't get what they're doing, although it seems they're pretty cool politically, refusing to deal with Clear Channel and touring with Springsteen. They may quite possibly be brilliant; I don't know. What I can tell you is that they've used a Mellotron on a handful of tracks over three releases, but none of them are worth buying on that account. Oh, and what I can also tell you (thanks for this, Emily) is that the band name is almost certainly a quote from Poe's 'Annabel Lee', referenced in Bright Eyes' Jetsabel Removes The Undesirables, available on some editions of Fevers & Mirrors, though clearly not the one I reviewed.

Fan site

Brighteye Brison  (Sweden)

Brighteye Brison, 'Brighteye Brison'

Brighteye Brison  (2003,  57.47)  ***/T

Introduction
One Year Alone
  I) Aspects From Newborn Eyes
  II) Correct Information
  III) Music of the City
  IV) My Spirit Will Speak

Take Good Care of My Heart
In Disguise
A Car
Final Call
Brighteye Brison, 'Stories'

Stories  (2006,  52.05)  ***½/TTT½

Stories
Patterns
Isolation
The Battle of Brighteye Brison

Elenah
Late
Life Inside
All Love
We Wanna Return
Stories (Reprise)
Brighteye Brison, 'Believers & Deceivers'

Believers & Deceivers  (2008,  68.01)  ****/TTT½

Pointless Living
After the Storm
The Harvest
The Grand Event

Current availability:

  • Brighteye Brison: out of print
  • Stories/Believers: Progress (Sweden)

Mellotron used:

  • All titles: Roth-Händle M400

Brighteye Brison are a newish Swedish prog outfit, taking their influences from several areas, including the 'modern prog' of Spock's Beard et al., '80s neo-prog and the 'intelligent pop' of the Beatles/Beach Boys, with hints of Saga and various widdly guitar merchants in places, too. Less Änglagård than A.C.T, anyway. While it has its strong points, Brighteye Brison has several failings, too, not least the vocals, which are not only not very good, but frequently out of tune, particularly in the harmony sections. The quality of the material varies wildly, with many impressive moments subverted by mediocrity; defeat all too often snatched from the jaws of victory.

Änglagård's Mattias Olsson was involved on the recording side, although I believe Brighteye's keyboard player Linus Kåse actually played the brief Mellotron parts on the album. All I can hear are a brief string part in Music Of The City, part three of the lengthy One Year Alone, ending in a pitchbend so drastic that it sounds like someone's leaning on the flywheel (is that you, Mattias?), and another brief burst of strings in A Car. The faint, background choirs on part four, My Spirit Will Speak, are more likely to be Orchestron, which I understand Mattias also provided for the band's use; to my knowledge, they took the largely-completed album to his Roth-Händle studio for 'treatments'.

2006's Stories is a lot better than their debut, which isn't to say it's that good, just better, with tracks of the quality of Patterns or All Love being slightly scuppered by a top-notch IQ impersonation on We Wanna Return and an irritating tendency to border AOR and/or generic neo-prog territory too closely in places. The album isn't overlong as such, but slicing a few minutes of unnecessarily-copycat material might have both tightened the album up and improved it. Kåse's 'Tron use is considerably greater than on their debut, with all but the album's two shortest tracks featuring it somewhere. You can hear the strings clearly at the end of Patterns, and there's a nicely upfront flute part opening Isolation, while Life Inside doubles 'Tron church organ with choirs, to pleasing effect. I presume that's 'Tron cellos on All Love, with all other highlighted tracks tending to feature strings and choir.

Believers & Deceivers is another slight improvement, but I wonder if the band have peaked, or whether they're happy with their uncommercial 'commercial' symphonic direction. In fairness, this may have been what they've been aiming for these last few years, and it isn't actually bad at all, just a little... safe, despite two very lengthy tracks. Two short(-ish) ones open the album, sounding like the better end of Stories (and is the Pink Floyd lyrical reference in After The Storm deliberate?), before they get stuck into the long-form stuff. The 20-minute The Harvest isn't bad, but is rather outclassed by the near-35 (!)-minute The Grand Event, which is probably the album's four star catalyst. The vocal gymnastics near the beginning pinpoint the Spock's Beard influence perfectly; even the title's reminiscent of some of their epic efforts, and musical nods towards Gentle Giant are just as likely to be via The Beard's own appropriations. Reasonable amounts of 'Tron, although After The Storm is completely clear of it, and The Grand Event goes for anything up to ten minutes at a time with no 'Tron input, although there's a lovely Theremin part at one point. By and large, we're talking strings and choir again, although brief bursts of flutes and church organ appear on occasion, this time from Per Hallman.

As far as Brighteye Brison itself goes, it certainly has its moments, but it's just too 'bitty' overall to really engage the listener, or at least me. Practically no obvious Mellotron, either, though knowing Mattias, there could well be some 'Tron wineglasses or Hammond hidden away somewhere. Their two subsequent efforts map a steady improvement, although whether or not the band will ever reach 'classic' status still remains to be seen.

Official site

Jon Brion  (US)

Jon Brion, 'Meaningless'

Meaningless  (2000,  44.37)  ****/TT½

Gotta Start Somewhere
I Believe She's Lying
Meaningless
Ruin My Day
Walking Through Walls
Trouble
Hook, Line and Sinker
Dead to the World
Her Ghost
Same Mistakes
Voices

Current availability:

Mellotron used:

  • Own Chamberlin (M1?)

Known primarily as a sideman to the stars, Brion apparently has a long-running residency at the Largo, in L.A., where no two performances are ever the same, usually including his instrumental setup. Meaningless appears to be his first, long-overdue solo album, revealing him to be a deft writer of intelligent pop songs - rather like many of his clients, then. All the usual influences apply - you know, Beatles, Beach Boys, Big Star, all the B's; it's hard to pick out highlights, but Her Ghost and the lengthy Voices are particularly impressive. Brion has a decent enough voice, although it's his playing that really stands out, with the bulk of the instrumental work emanating from his fingers, with the remainder coming from various Famous Friends.

Brion is, of course, a Chamberlin master, going as far as to include diagrams of its internal workings in the CD booklet, making it surprising that it's not immediately apparent on more tracks, unless, of course, I'm missing it in the mix. Again. Ruin My Day has some orchestral strings, which almost sound like the real thing in places, while Dead To The World features a muddy flute part before the cellos and violins return, with a superbly cheesy end section, not to mention (apparently) the Mellotron tremolo guitars... Her Ghost has polyphonic flutes, oboes (?) and sax, oh, and strings - everything, really. Maybe he thought that smothering the album in it would be retro overkill. Well, it wouldn't - the tape-replay adds warmth and depth to the sound, which isn't to denigrate the rest of the tracks, but it might've been nice to have heard it a few more times...

So; an excellent little album, assuming you like the style, and lovely Chamby work on a handful of tracks. Buy, I think.

Official site

Bröselmaschine  (Germany)

Bröselmaschine, 'Bröselmaschine'

Bröselmaschine  (1971,  35.46)  ***½/½

Gedanken
Lassic
Gitarrenstück
The Old Man's Song
Schmetterling
Nossa Bova

Current availability:

  • Spalax (France)

The sole Bröselmaschine album is a bit of an oddity; for the first few tracks, I was convinced that a mispressing had delivered an English folk record to me by mistake. The style was correct, the English-language vocals were unaccented; Schmetterling even borrows from the same source as Jimmy Page's White Summer. In fact, the only obviously Germanic influence anywhere on Bröselmaschine is the muttered German narration on the track, in amongst the sitars and open-tuned acoustics.

There's hardly any Mellotron on the album at all; a few string chords from Mike Nettbach in Schmetterling, and that's it, as the flute parts are real. This is obviously a stoner's delight, like quite a few German albums of the era (Wind's Morning and Witthüser & Westrupp's Der Jesuspilz/Musik Vom Evangelium spring to mind), and is actually a very good record, but don't bother for the 'Tron.

Arthur Brown  (UK)

Arthur Brown, 'Chisholm in My Bosom'

Chisholm in My Bosom  (1977)  ***/TT

Need To Know
Monkey Walk
Let a Little Sunshine (Into Your Life)
I Put a Spell on You
She's on My Mind
The Lord is My Saviour
Chisholm in My Bosom

Current availability:

  • Edited version on 2-on-1 with Dance: See for Miles (UK)

After the dissolution of Arthur's Kingdom Come (see below), he slid into a sadly rather lacklustre solo career, with two albums on the long-defunct Gull label, '75's Dance (**½) and '77's Chisholm in My Bosom. Both albums hark back in some ways to Arthur's '60s apprenticeship, with blues, soul and funk influences abounding; a far cry from the fascinating experimentation of his previous band. This is the sort of mediocre mid-'70s 'rock' that kick-started a revolution; so bland that it almost doesn't exist, you can't imagine anyone getting especially excited about this music, although I suppose there's no accounting for taste. In fairness, it isn't all bad, with a slow-burning blues take on Screaming Jay Hawkins' I Put A Spell On You, and the side-long title track, but far too much of the album is thoroughly average fare. To add insult to injury, See for Miles' 2-on-1 reissue, pairing the album with Dance, slashes the 23-minute Chisholm In My Bosom to a mere eight minutes in order to fit both albums onto one disc. Useless.

Given that the CD version of the album is the only one I've heard, it's actually quite difficult to review it from a Mellotronic perspective, and I'll have to return to it when I track down a vinyl copy, hopefully for not too much money. The title track is the only one where someone (then-Strawb Robert Kirby?) plays Mellotron, with background choirs and a flute part appearing almost immediately, with the strings cropping up later on. Actually, it's entirely possible that more than one of the album's four credited keyboard players provide the 'Tron work on this track, but despite the fact that I've met Arthur more than once, I suspect it would be fairly pointless to ask him if he remembers.

So; a rather ropey album saved by what sounds like it's a really good side-long piece; if only I were able to hear it in full. These abbreviated 2-on-1s are a particular pet hate of mine; OK, so you get to hear most of two albums for the price of one CD, but what's the use in that? What if the missing track(s) is/are the album's best (as in this case), but get edited/deleted because some jobsworth compiler decides that they're inessential? Every now and again, an artist's history is correctly preserved on two-disc sets (see: Druid), but mangled versions of albums like this do no-one any favours, least of all the artist concerned. Anyway, I shall return to this when I get a chance to hear the full version; in the meantime, I'll give it a temporary TT rating until I'm able to assess it properly. Grrr.

Official site

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come  (UK)

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, 'Kingdom Come'

Kingdom Come  (1973,  44.40/62.02)  ****½/T½

The Teacher
A Scientific Experiment Featuring "Lower Colonic Irrigation"
The Whirlpool
The Hymn
Water

Love is (the Spirit That Will Never Die)
City Melody
Traffic Light Song
[CD adds:
Traffic Light Song
The Hymn
Experiment]
Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, 'Journey'

Journey  (1973,  42.14/62.33)  ****½/TTTTT

Time Captives
Triangles
Gypsy
Superficial Roadblocks
  Lost Time
  Superficial Roadblocks
  Corpora Supercelestia

Conception
Spirit of Joy
Come Alive
[CD adds:
Time Captives
Conception
Come Alive]

Current availability:

Mellotron used:

  • Both titles: band's own M400

Arthur Brown is one of those incredibly talented artists who had a brief burst of fame many years ago, and has effectively had to live off it ever since. Arthur's is, of course, Fire, recorded with his Crazy World in 1968; you'll probably have seen the insane b+w promo video for it with Arthur's flaming headpiece. There was much more to Arthur Brown than Fire, though. In the early '70s he put together Kingdom Come, to play a weird, twisted form of progressive rock quite unlike anyone else. Their first album, Galactic Zoo Dossier (****) is good, but they improved upon it with Kingdom Come.

This is definitely one of the oddest prog albums you'll ever hear, with Arthur expounding on school, religion, his bodily functions etc., mostly at some length. The music takes no prisoners, either, with some wonderfully dissonant organ passages in the brilliantly-titled A Scientific Experiment Featuring 'Lower Colonic Irrigation', among other highlights. The Mellotron isn't mentioned specifically, but is presumably played by Goodge Harris, with strings slapped all over The Hymn, an otherwise (relatively) straightforward number, and a few chords in Water, but not really enough to consider it a 'Mellotron album'.

Journey, however, is another matter. Arthur only retained the services of his guitarist and bassist, bringing in American keyboard man Victor Peraino, and electing to use the Bentley drum machine, actually a Bentley Rhythm Ace, later to give its name to a British dance-orientated act. The music is (slightly) less odd than on Kingdom Come, but makes up for it with its weird, mechanical feel, and the large amount of Peraino's Mellotron present. There's nothing on the first two tracks, but Gypsy is smothered in strings and flutes, before Superficial Roadblocks roars in with brass and choir providing the main chordal backdrop. This track has to be one of the most Mellotron-heavy ever, with an unaccompanied choir section on Corpora Supercelestia. Spirit Of Joy features that rarest of M400 sounds, the Mellotron Hammond (along with some strings), only distinguishable when Peraino attempts some organ 'chops'.

Peraino went on to front his own version of Kingdom Come, producing another Mellotron Monster in No Man's Land, but try as he might, he couldn't quite reach the heights of lunacy reached by either of these albums. The last I heard, these were both still available on bizarrely-packaged Voiceprint CDs, with loads of unlisted bonus tracks, and Arthur's story in the booklets, but told in the wrong order... Still, it's just good to actually be able to find them at all, and hopefully introduce another generation of listeners to the hidden delights of these strange albums. Barking mad, brilliant and wholeheartedly recommended musically. Oh, and Journey's a Mellotron classic. Buy.

Official Arthur Brown site

Pete Brown & Piblokto!  (UK)

Pete Brown & Piblokto!, 'Things May Come & Things May Go...'

Things May Come & Things May Go, But the Art School Dance Goes on Forever  (1970,  43.30/69.34)  ***/T

Things May Come & Things May Go, But
  the Art School Dance Goes on Forever
High Flying Electric Bird
Someone Like You
Walk for Charity, Run for Money
Then I Must Go and Can I Keep
My Love's Gone Far Away
Golden Country Kingdom
Firesong
Country Morning
[CD adds:
Prophet
Country Morning (alternate)
Living Life Backwards
High Sorrow
Raining Pins and Needles]
Pete Brown & Piblokto!, 'Thousands on a Raft'

Thousands on a Raft  (1970,  52.10/88.20)  ***½/T

Aeroplane Head Woman
Station Song Platform Two
Highland Song
If They Could Only See Me Now parts I & II
Got a Letter From a Computer
Thousands on a Raft
[CD adds:
Broken Magic
Can't Get Off the Planet
Flying Hero Sandwich
My Last Band
Dawn of a Night Wasp
Aeroplane Head Woman]

Current availability:

  • 2-on-2: BGO (UK)

Pete Brown is known chiefly as sometime lyricist for Cream, putting words into Jack Bruce's mouth on I Feel Free, White Room etc. After their split, he got his own outfit together, Pete Brown's Battered Ornaments, recording one album with them, A Meal You Can Shake Hands With in the Dark, before the rest of the band sacked him just before they played Hyde Park with the Stones (and, of course, King Crimson). Wasting no time, he formed Piblokto! releasing (deep breath) Things May Come & Things May Go, But the Art School Dance Goes on Forever within the year. Despite being optimistically described as 'one of the finest of the progressive era', it's a fairly typical slice of organ-driven proto-prog, with Pete's mad vocals as a bonus. While not bad, it'd be stretching it a little (OK, a lot) to call it a 'classic'; it certainly doesn't stand out from the pack, going by the contemporaries of the band that I've heard. One Mellotron track (from organist Dave Thompson?), with some orchestrally-inclined strings on High Flying Electric Bird (also the b-side of their first single, Living Life Backwards).

Later the same year, their second and final album, Thousands on a Raft, appeared, breaking Brown's run of ridiculously lengthily-titled albums. In case you're wondering, aside from the Titanic and Concorde, the sleeve depicts several slices of beans on toast floating in a pond (not sure how they managed that), the album title apparently being cockney (non-rhyming) slang for the aforementioned culinary delicacy. Several band members had changed in the months between the two records, the fresh blood making their presence felt immediately, as opener Aeroplane Head Woman's Cream-like tones assault your speakers. After a piano ballad, Station Song Platform Two, the album goes completely bonkers, with the 17-minute semi-improvised Highland Song, followed on side two by If They Could Only See Me Now Parts I & II, which is almost as long. Mellotron (definitely Dave Thompson this time round) on Station Song Platform Two, with some pleasant background MkII strings.

Do you buy these albums? Well, the over 2½ hour set is worth the dosh if you're into lesser-known UK bands of the era, and some of the music's well worth hearing. The two 'Tron tracks are less than essential, though both quite nice. Up to you. Incidentally, BGO's 2-CD set of these albums confuses the issue greatly by adding a total of 11 bonus tracks, spread over both discs, but as Pete requested, puts them in chronological order. Disc 1 starts with three bonus tracks, including their first single, with more between the two albums (Thousands... is irritatingly split between the discs), finishing with several more at the end, although this makes the expanded album timings somewhat irrelevant. As a result, I've added them after each regular tracklisting above, and none contain any 'Tron anyway. Pete is occasionally to be seen wandering around Crouch End in north London, sometimes muttering to himself, though surely his royalty cheque for the inevitable live album from the recent Cream reformation should boost his bank balance slightly?


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