|
|
|
|
||
|
 |
 |
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.
|
Duncan Browne Jack Bruce Brute Force Francesco Buccheri |
Buckcherry Jeff Buckley Budgie Buggles |
Built to Spill Vashti Bunyan C.B.Busser Bernard Butler |
Butterfly Jones By the Tree David Byrne |
 |
Duncan Browne (1973, 42.37/58.52) ****/T½ |
|
| Ragged Rain Life Country Song The Martlet My Only Son Babe Rainbow Journey Cast No Shadow Over the Reef |
My Old Friends Last Time Around [CD adds: In a Mist Send Me the Bill for Your Friendship Guitar Piece Mignon] |
|
 |
The Wild Places (1978, 41.32) ***/TThe Wild PlacesRoman Véce Camino Real (parts 1, 2 & 3) Samurai Kisarazu The Crash Planet Earth |
Current availability:
Duncan Browne appeared in the mid-'60s, releasing his debut, Give Me Take You (****), in 1968, taking several years to follow it with 1973's Duncan Browne, largely due to his somewhat uncommercial stance and hassles with his label, Immediate. It's an excellent little album, fitting pretty well into the folky singer-songwriter area prevalent at the time; comparisons with Al Stewart and maybe Gordon Giltrap aren't too far off the mark, maybe even Richard Thompson in places. Browne's classically-based guitar work, as much as his songs are what makes him stand out from the pack, along with the occasional unusual arrangement, such as the synth part on Last Time Around.
As for the album's Mellotron use (from ubiquitous sessioneer John "Rabbit" Bundrick), the various strings on Ragged Rain Life sound real, but that's full-on 'Tron strings on Country Song, with less of the same on The Martlet. I think Babe Rainbow's strings are, again, real, but he sticks some more 'Tron in amongst the synth swoops and proto-bass pedalisms of Last Time Around. All in all, this is a very good album indeed; I can't believe it's taken me this long to discover it (thanks, Joe!).
After another several-year gap, Browne released The Wild Places in 1978 on small UK label Logo, alongside concurrent releases from his almost-successful band, Metro. I've seen it unpromisingly described as 'new-wave melodic'; a better description would be 'slightly fusionesque late-'70s singer-songwriter' - snappy, eh? It's not a bad album, although Browne's songs are frequently subsumed under unsympathetic arrangements of the type fashionable at the time amongst studio pros; I can imagine the title track done in the style of his previous album, and it would be a lot better. Of his three supporting musicians, two were Metro members (bassist John Giblin and über-drummer Simon Phillips), with another major session dude, Tony Hymas, on keys, including a smattering of Mellotron, with background choirs on the title track and an obviously-Mellotronic flute line on Kisarazu, complete with pitchbend. Overall, the material's OK, but compared to his earlier work, this is something of a disappointment. The cringeworthy cover pic's the giveaway here; I mean, would YOU buy this album? Mind you, I picked it up at the same time as a James Last LP (you sick man!), making it appear quite tasteful in comparison.
I think Duncan Browne will be a grower, and I've given it four stars already, and his debut's supposed to be excellent, too. After a lengthy period working in the film scoring business, Browne had just finished recording a new album, Songs of Love and War, with help from Steve Hackett's old keyboard player, Nick Magnus, when he tragically died of cancer in 1993. I'm told there's Mellotron on a couple of tracks, presumably real; more news if I get to hear it. As for Duncan Browne, pick it up if you see it; the bonus tracks are good, though 'Tron-free.
 |
Live '75 (2003, 111.08) ***½/TT½Can You Follow?Morning Story Keep it Down Pieces of Mind Tickets to Waterfalls/Weird of Hermiston/Post War Spirit One/You Burned the Tables on Me Smiles and Grins Sunshine of Your Love |
Current availability:
Jack Bruce's recently-released Live '75 apparently fills a gap in his discography, being a document of an excellent band that never made it to the studio, making it invaluable to hardcore fans of the man. To the rest of us, it's actually quite difficult to pigeonhole, which is probably a good thing, although it doesn't make the reviewer's job any easier. 'Mid-'70s rock' sort of covers it, though without really describing it very well at all; maybe 'middling rock with jazz, blues and soul influences' would do? Suffice to say, it's the sort of music that was comprehensively wiped out by punk's Year Zero, for better or worse (delete according to taste).
Bruce was in good voice in Manchester that night, his band including names such as recently ex-Stone Mick Taylor and celebrated jazzer Carla Bley, playing mostly material from the three solo albums he'd released up to that point, with only one from his Cream days. The playing is excellent throughout (no surprise there, then), although some of the arrangements are drawn out beyond the point of undivided attention, particularly the 23 minutes of Smiles And Grins.
Along with Hammond, Rhodes, clavinet and Moog, Bley provides all the album's Mellotron work (all string section substitutes, I suspect), although I'm unaware of her having used one before or since. The excellent Morning Story has a delicate 'Tron part that lifts an already good song, while Tickets To Waterfalls has little bursts of it amongst her organ work, leaving a few chords here and there on the One/You Burned The Tables On Me medley, and a fairly lengthy part on the even more lengthy Smiles And Grins.
So; while a goldmine for Bruce fans, the rest of us may find much of Live '75 hard going, although it's introduced me to several good songs of which I'd previously been unaware. Bley's 'Tron work is never less than tasteful, and by and large, quite minimalist. Buy according to taste, I think.
 |
7" (1969) ***/TT½ King of Fuh Nobody Knows |
 |
Extemporaneous (1969) *½/T |
|
| Overture/Hello I Love to Hear a Baby Cry/King of Fuh And Now, as We Get Serious/Astronauts/Dockin' Sufferin' Surfin' Commercial: Surfer Sam/Subway Lines The Sirens Cry/The Gun/W.A.R./Bearer of Somber News The Big Burp Theory/Six Interrogatives of Existence Five Minutes for Peace Dwayne of the Upper Regions/Schma/The Lord is One Growth of Hair/Hail the Hare/Now You're Gettin' the Message I Like to Drink Honey/The Hexagon/The Beauty of Creation |
Topics Nutty, Fragrant Something to See/I Want to Say 'Peace on Earth' Don't Paranoi it, Enjoy it/The Reds Are Yellow/Thank You All Hello (reprise) [CD adds: The World Tapeworm of Love (alternate version) King of Fuh (single version) Nobody Knows What's Goin' on in My Mind But Me (single version) Vicky] |
|
Current availability:
Brute Force was a pseudonym for New Yorker Stephen Friedland, rather than a band proper, although I'm filing them/him under 'B' rather than 'F'. Friedland apparently now slightly regrets taking a pseudonym, although it's better than his original 'Krude Brute'. Anyway, he managed to get a tape of King Of Fuh to a Beatles associate, who played it to George Harrison, who loved it; George tried to get it released on EMI, but when they declined, George had it privately pressed in a small run, available only via mail order (and later privately released by Friedland himself). Why did EMI decline? Well, you've probably pronounced the title as 'foo'. Wrong. Try 'uh' as in 'but', or 'gun'. Or indeed, 'fuck'. Try the chorus for size:
| 'And the Fuh King did what he wanted to do, The Fuh King went where he wanted to go, Mighty, mighty Fuh King, All hail the Fuh King'. |
Friedland explains it thus:
| I didn't accept the censorship and language taboo, and sought to open the mass megalithic mind even a millimeter more. Yet the same entrenched fear was inside the mind and hearts of the radio program managers, a fear not of the melody, more with the lyrics (although the lyrics have nothing to do with sex, only with the Beauty of the world, and Individuality), but the awesome fear which grips a human being upon looking at the sky and envisioning one's place in the universe, and also the fear of leaving one's pigeonhole job and standing in the unemployment line. |
Yes, Stephen. Or maybe it was simply a juvenile attempt to get the work 'fucking' onto the radio. it's a shame, actually, as the song's a pretty good Beatlesesque psych-pop number, although the lyrics scan abominably, even when Friedland wasn't trying to get around the 'censorship and language taboo'. It's also layered in Mark II 'Tron strings and has a neat major-to-minor shift after the chorus. It was, of course, consigned to almost immediate obscurity, although it's now finally easily available as a bonus track on Brute Force's Tour De Brute Force, released in 2001. I've no idea if there's any more Mellotron on any of Friedland's work, and although King Of Fuh is in some ways a nice track, the infantile lyrics tend to rather put me off. Pity.
Stop press: The track's also available on the CD edition of Friedland's second album, Extemporaneous, from 1969. The album's basically a recording of his live cabaret show, in front of a small invited audience in New York. It's terrible, as you might've guessed, but at least you can get hold of King Of Fuh fairly easily now, should you wish to. Oh, and World manages to repeat the word 'bullshit' about 987 times [yawn].
 |
Journey (1979, 43.36) ***/TTTJourneyAnnalia Dream Solitude I Know the Time Jesus Christ |
Current availability:
Buccheri specialised in a rather un-Italian form of electronic music, and I'm afraid to say he was never going to be one of the genre's front-runners. It's not that Journey is bad, exactly, just that it isn't particularly good, either. The side-long title track is rather bitty and disjointed, sounding more like several shorter tracks nailed together in a rather unharmonious way than one cohesive piece, and much of the side two material doesn't really stand up, especially Jesus Christ, a rather poor attempt at a 'proper song'. There are other musicians on the album, including a drummer who crops up here and there, and although he's not credited as such, I presume the occasional vocals are by Buccheri too (both are present and incorrect on the final track).
Sorry to be so harsh, but I've heard a great deal better in this area, and my listening pleasure wasn't particularly enhanced by such a dodgy transfer to CD that at several points, it sounds like the tape slipped, or even that it was transferred from a vinyl copy with an off-centre hole. Anyway, Buccheri's Mellotron work seems to be exclusively choir, usually mixed with string synth, with a strong presence on every track except Solitude. Saying that, it's mostly quite background work, and decidedly unambitious, leaving the album with only three Ts.
So, one for EM fanatics only, I think, although I know full well that there's an awful lot worse about than this. Lots of 'Tron, but it's neither upfront, varied or doing anything very interesting, so I believe the choice is yours.
 |
Time Bomb (2001, 41.49) ***/T |
|
| Frontside Ridin' Time Bomb Porno Star Place in the Sun Helpless Underneath @*#! My Wrists |
Whiskey in the Morning You Slamin' Fall |
|
Current availability:
Buckcherry's second album carries on in pretty much the same vein as their first; an unholy cross between AC/DC and punk, with more guitar than you can shake a stick at. Now, I'm not saying this is bad. In fact, it could be really good, but Time Bomb just doesn't excite me in the same way that (for example) Let There Be Rock still does. Maybe I'm just old and jaded. Basically, it's a dozen tracks of raucous rock'n'roll, which you'll probably either love or be completely indifferent to, as I'm afraid to say I was.
Surprisingly, session man Jamie Muhoberac plays Mellotron on the album's two more balladic moments, Helpless and You, although I can't honestly say it lifts them that much. Strings and maybe a touch of choir on Helpless, and strings treated so heavily that they could be generic samples on You. Don't go out of your way.
 |
Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (1998, recorded 1992-97, 97.32) ****/T |
|
| Sky is a Landfill Everybody Here Wants You Opened Once Nightmares By the Sea Yard of Blonde Girls Witches' Rave New Year's Prayer Morning Theft Vancouver You & I |
Nightmares By the Sea New Year's Prayer Haven't You Heard I Know We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted to Be) Murder Suicide Meteor Slave Back in N.Y.C. Demon John Your Flesh is So Nice Jewel Box Satisfied Mind |
|
Current availability:
You'll all know the tragic Jeff Buckley story, of course; son of Tim, but barely knew him, released classic debut Grace (****½), died idiotically before putting out a follow-up. What a waste. Well, if Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (he'd stated that his second album would be titled My Sweetheart the Drunk) is 'merely' a bunch of demos and outtakes... The guy had talent by the bucketload, and should've had a long and honourable career, not blown it by drowning in a Mississippi tributary fifty years before his time. Sketches... isn't all great, by any means, but there's more good material here than on many far more established artists' regular albums. I'll leave it to others, more tuned into what he was doing, to review this properly, just to say that if you're into songs, as against excuses for a tune, you won't go too far wrong here.
I'm not 100% sure exactly how many tracks feature the mighty 'Tron; there's absolutely no doubt about New Year's Prayer, with the unknown Mellotronist (Buckley?) switching between flutes and strings throughout the track (you can actually hear the heads shifting between sounds in places), but there may also be some on Everybody Here Wants You, with cellos and strings in the mix, though it's difficult to say if they're 'Tron or generic samples. Either way, one in-your-face 'Tron track, and one possibility. Difficult to recommend on the Mellotron front, but difficult not to for everything else. Buy.
By the way, watch for disc two's demo version of Genesis' Back In NYC from The Lamb...
 |
Budgie (1971, 40.40) ****½/½GutsEverything in My Heart The Author Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman Rape of the Locks All Night Petrol You and I Homicidal Suicidal |
 |
Squawk (1972, 38.58) ***½/TTTWhisky RiverRocking Man Rolling Home Again Make Me Happy Hot as a Docker's Armpit Drugstore Woman Bottled Young is a World Stranded |
Current availability:
Budgie were, and for that matter are again, a hard rock trio from south Wales, a heavily industrial area conducive to such goings-on (see: Birmingham). Unlike most of their brethren, however, they had a sense of humour and many of their song titles have become legendary, not to mention their bizarre lyrics. Sadly, their chief claim to fame these days is being multiply covered by Metallica on various b-sides and EPs; believe me, they're worth more.
Although vocalist/bassist Burke Shelley is also credited with 'Melotron' (anyone would think the instrument's name wasn't prominently displayed on its casing...), there is very little to be heard on their debut effort. In fact, the only discernable 'Tron is a couple of sustained string chords, well down in the mix, on the superbly-titled Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman. The album as a whole is seriously riff-based hard rock, something slightly like a bluesier Black Sabbath, but without the cod-Satanism. The production is awful; it actually varies from track to track, with an appallingly sludgy guitar sound that does the band no favours whatsoever. For all that, it's a great album (!); if early-'70s UK hard rock's your bag, get it.
By Squawk, Budgie really went to town with the 'Tron. Oddly enough, there's absolutely no credit for it on the sleeve, but it's probably safe to assume that Burke Shelley did the honours again. Some 'clicky' flutes on Rolling Home Again and brass and strings on Hot As A Docker's Armpit are all well and good, but on Young Is A World they go completely over the top. This is a full-blown Mellotron epic, no less, strings everywhere you look and well worth the ear of any 'Tron fan. Overall, the album's similar to their first, although I personally feel that the songs aren't up to scratch in comparison. So, buy? First: only if you like the style anyway; Second: for the 'Tron.
 |
Adventures in Modern Recording (1981, 33.43) ***½/TAdventures in Modern RecordingBeatnik Vermilion Sands I am a Camera On TV Inner City Lenny Rainbow Warrior |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
After their huge hit with Video Killed The Radio Star and its associated LP, The Age of Plastic, and their ill-advised teaming-up with Yes for their Drama opus, Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes retreated into the safety of their original outfit, producing a rather less pop-friendly album in Adventures in Modern Recording. It's a clever, assured album, though without an obvious hit, ultimately doomed. After its failure, Horn went into production, of course (Yes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood), while Downes co-formed the appalling Asia with Yes' Steve Howe.
Musically, there are some definite points of interest: Horn does a pretty good Jon Anderson on Lenny, proving he'd learnt something from his Yes experience, while I Am A Camera is a re-write of Into The Lens from Drama, though I'd say they were probably better when doing their own thing. The only obvious 'Tron on the album are the choirs on Vermilion Sands and the title track, but even then, they're pretty low-key. So; not bad, not great, little Mellotron. Of its time.
 |
Perfect From Now on (1997, 54.16) ****/TTRandy Described EternityI Would Hurt a Fly Stop the Show Made-Up Dreams Velvet Waltz Out of Site Kicked it in the Sun Untrustable Part 2 (About Someone Else) |
 |
Ancient Melodies of the Future (2001, 39.16) ****/TTT |
|
| Strange The Host In Your Mind Alarmed Trimmed and Burning Happiness Don't Try You Are |
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss The Weather |
|
Current availability:
Built to Spill are difficult to describe, and also seem to have changed their style from one album to the next. Perfect From Now on sounds to my ears like a cross between Neil Young and the more interesting end of '90s US indie stuff, with a sometimes unpredictable and (dare I say it?) almost progressive approach to their song structures; there are certainly a couple of lengthy tracks on the album, although, of course, that's not necessarily any indicator of a 'progressive' outlook (see: The Allman Brothers). Most of the songs are also suffused with the same kind of melancholy as, say, Low, although BtS are a far 'rockier' proposition all round. Highlights? Stop The Show shoots off at a tangent a couple of times, just to keep things interesting, and Velvet Waltz is a classic 'slowburner', but there isn't actually a bad track to be heard here.
Robert Roth's Mellotron (and yes, it's real) appears on three tracks, with considerable string use on Made-Up Dreams and Velvet Waltz, although there's less on lengthy closer Untrustable Part 2. BtS have even been known to use Mellotron live, but I'm not even sure if the band are still together at this point.
The band released an excellent live album, er, Live (****), in 2000, finally following Perfect From Now on with Ancient Melodies of the Future in 2001. There seems to've been another minor stylistic shift, with even fewer upbeat tracks, and the album isn't as 'immediate' as its predecessor, although it's quite clearly a good record. There's no 'Tron actually credited, and with two different keyboard players involved, it's hard to tell who's doing what. Sam Coomes guests on three tracks, so it's possible he plays the 'Tron parts on Alarmed and The Weather, while band mainman Doug Martsch plays the rest.
Although it's not credited as such, there's plenty of Mellotron onboard here, with strings/cellos on The Host, pitchbent strings on In Your Mind and Alarmed, and flute parts on Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss and The Weather. I'm not 100% convinced that all the string parts are actually Mellotron, and what sounds like E-bowed guitar on Trimmed And Burning I initially took to be 'Tron strings, but it seems that most of the album has at least a little 'Tron input.
Anyway, Perfect From Now on is excellent, with Ancient Melodies... being nearly as good, with a cautious recommendation on the 'Tron front for the former, and a more positive one for the latter.
 |
Lookaftering (2005, 35.37) ****½/T |
|
| Lately Here Before Wayward Hidden Against the Sky Turning Backs If I Were Same But Different |
Brother Feet of Clay Wayward Hum |
|
Current availability:
Until 2002, Vashti Bunyan (descendant of John) resided, seemingly permanently, in the 'Where are they now?' file, having left behind one perfect album in 1970's gorgeous Just Another Diamond Day (*****), subsequently disappearing into obscurity. The much-fêted Devendra Banhart helped her reappear in the whatever-we're-calling-this-decade, with her second album, Lookaftering, appearing in 2005, 35 years after her debut. Was it worth the wait? Oh yes... It's hard to say at this stage whether it's quite as good as ...Diamond Day, but Vashti's gentle, intimate voice remains almost unchanged, along with her beautiful songs; a female Nick Drake, anyone? I think it'll take more listens than I have time to give this now for its charms to become fully apparent, so I'm not even going to try to pinpoint highlights, only to say that this is one of the most stunning singer-songwriter albums you'll hear all year, or probably decade.
Producer Max Richter plays keyboard, wind and percussion instruments on the album, including what I believe to be a real Mellotron on three tracks. Against The Sky and Turning Backs have sublime flute parts that could almost have been played by a real one, with the latter juxtaposing it against a cor anglais, plus what I take to be a very background flute part on Feet Of Clay, as there's nothing else obvious on the track. Anyway, you shouldn't be buying this for its fairly low Mellotronic content, but for its pastoral beauty and because Vashti Bunyan needs to be welcomed back. Quite beautiful.
 |
Movies (1978, 34.42) ***½/TTT½Bloody CriesTo Helena The Leader The Earle On the Day My Father Died Turkey in the Corn Children The Escape |
Current availability:
Busser, apparently a US ex-pat, was Swiss blues/prog outfit Whipping Post's keyboard player, who released solo albums concurrently with his main band's career. Movies is a slightly mixed bag, to be honest, with the instrumental prog of Bloody Cries contrasting sharply with the acoustic guitar-driven vocal number, To Helena and the jaunty acoustic blues of Children, leaving an overall impression of inconsistency with moments of brilliance.
Most of the Mellotron work here appears to be choirs, apart from the short repeating 'Tron flute part in the melancholy On The Day My Father Died. Bloody Cries starts with essentially full-on solo 'Tron, and all four tracks featuring the instrument do so at length, although it might've been nice to hear some strings every now and again, rather than the ubiquitous string synth that's splattered all over the thing. So; not a great album, but it definitely has its moments, and a 'Tron choir-fest for lovers of the sound.
Incidentally, despite rumours, there's no Mellotron on Busser's follow-up, 1979's far more progressive Warship-Suite (****).
 |
People Move on (1998, 63.45) **½/T½ |
|
| Woman I Know You Just Know People Move on A Change of Heart Autograph You Light the Fire Not Alone When You Grow |
You've Got What it Takes Stay In Vain I'm Tired |
|
Current availability:
After leaving Suede somewhat under a cloud, guitarist Butler worked with various people (notably David McAlmont) before kicking off his solo career in the late '90s. People Move on was hailed in some quarters, though I can't say that this was one of them; brave attempts to sing fall rather flat (literally), and I have to say I find the whole thing rather overblown. His attempts to sound 'epic', er, don't, and at over an hour, the album heavily outstays its welcome.
I don't know who plays the Mellotron, although it seems likely it was Butler himself. The anthemic but overlong Autograph does feature some nice 'Tron strings and flutes, complete with authentic-sounding pitchbend, though, while You've Got What It Takes has an orchestrally-arranged string part, which has to be from a real Mellotron, going by the sound's ungainly attack. Hurrah! There's supposed to be more 'Tron on Butler's follow-up EP, Stay, which I shall report on should I ever get to hear a copy. As far as this one's concerned, though, don't go too far out of your way. I didn't.
 |
Napalm Springs (2001, 52.20) ***/T |
|
| Napalm Springs Suicide Bridge Anywhere But Now Sophie Alright Are We in Love Again Wonder Sunshine and Ecstasy |
Blue Roses The Systematic Dumbing Down of Terry Constance Jones When People Are Mean It's Cool Dude Dreamtime Please |
|
Current availability:
Butterfly Jones include ex-members of Dada (or dada), which is all very well, but since I've never even heard of, never mind heard them... Napalm Springs (ho ho) consists of an odd mixture of styles, switching between the Beach Boys-esque Sunshine And Ecstasy (at least in the vocal department) through the punkish The Systematic Dumbing Down Of Terry Constance Jones to the symphonic pop of Suicide Bridge, although the album's overriding influence is classic powerpop.
Two Mellotron tracks, with a good helping of flutes and strings on Sophie and faint flutes on closer Please, from Mark de Gli Antoni, who also played it on Low's marvellous Things We Lost in the Fire. So; a fairly decent powerpop album that could well improve with multiple plays (as in, 'when?'), with one good 'Tron track. This is actually probably better than I think it is, only as with so many good albums, a couple of plays just ain't enough to reveal their charms...
 |
Hold You High (2004, 51.07) **/T½ |
|
| Hold You High Only to You Miraculous Beautiful One Reveal Throne of Grace God of Wonders Your Beloved |
It is Well Lord, Let Your Glory Fall Jesus Washed |
|
Current availability:
I may have said this before, but I find it odd that a genre can be defined by its lyrical content rather than musically, but how else can you describe Contemporary Christian Music, or CCM? Admittedly, an awful lot of it is insipid pop/rock, but there are other musical genres contained within it, allegedly even full-on metal, though presumably not the black variety... By the Tree are presumably named for the appalling Roman method of execution (are there any good ones?) that kick-started a religion based on pain, shame and guilt, so I wouldn't go on about it too much if I were you... Amazingly, they play mainstream pop/rock with Christian lyrics, which is a real turn up for the books in CCM circles. OK, it isn't.
Although Hold You High starts in a reasonably promising manner, with the high-octane title track, it slumps into a slough of mediocrity all too soon, with only the occasional burst of energy (Lord, Let Your Glory Fall) to enliven things a little. The lyrical content is exactly what you'd expect, but I suppose that's why it's considered CCM, not merely mainstream pop/rock. Tape-replay player to the CCM crowd Phil Madeira plays Mellotron and Chamberlin here, with what I would guess that are 'Tron flutes and Chamby strings on Miraculous, with more Chamby strings on Reveal and Lord, Let Your Glory Fall, though that would appear to be it.
So; usual dullard stuff, with one reasonable tape-replay track. Did you expect more?
 |
Look Into the Eyeball (2001, 38.51) ***½/T |
|
| U.B. Jesus The Revolution The Great Intoxication Like Humans Do Broken Things The Accident Desconocido Soy Neighborhood |
Smile The Moment of Conception Walk on Water Everyone's in Love With You |
|
Current availability:
Despite splitting Talking Heads many moons ago now, they're what David Byrne is best known for, and will doubtless be so for the rest of his career. Look Into the Eyeball is his seventh solo album proper, and mixes and matches his various influences in a rather pleasing manner, although I personally prefer it when he strips the Cuban/Brazilian percussiveness away, so highlights for me include the quite beautiful The Revolution and The Accident, unsurprisingly, two of the gentler numbers here. The lyrics are excellent across the board, full of the sort of wry humour we've come to expect from Mr. Byrne, not a million miles away from the wondrous Richard Thompson (with whom he has played in the past). And is it just me, or does he sound a bit like him vocally on a couple of songs?
Anyway, not an awful lot of Mellotron; I'm most surprised he's bothered to use one at all, to be honest, but there it is, on closer Everyone's In Love With You, with a little rhythmic chordal flute part running through the song from Byrne himself. So; if you like Byrne's solo output: buy. If you like Talking Heads: give it a listen. The rest of us: give it a listen anyway; you might be pleasantly surprised, despite a couple of duffers. Fairly minimal 'Tron, though, for what it's worth.
