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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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Julian Cope Finn Coren |
Hugh Cornwell Cosmic Jokers |
Cosmic Rough Riders Cosmos Factory |
Elvis Costello Cotó en Pèl |
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Julian Cope Presents 20 Mothers (1995, 71.50) ***½/TTTT |
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| Wheelbarrow Man I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud Try Try Try Stone Circles'n'You Queen/Mother I'm Your Daddy Highway to the Sun 1995 By the Light of the Silbury Moon Adam & Eve Hit the Road |
Just Like Pooh Bear Girl-Call Greedhead Detector Don't Take Roots Senile Get The Lonely Guy Cryingbabiessleeplessnights Leli B Road of Dreams When I Walk Through the Land of Fear |
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Interpreter (1996, 48.25) ***½/TTTT½ |
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| I Come From Another Planet, Baby I've Got My TV & My Pills Planetary Sit-in Since I Lost My Head, it's Awl-Right Cheap New-Age Fix The Battle for the Trees Arthur Drugstore S.p.a.c.e.r.o.c.k. With Me |
Re-Directed Male Maid of Constant Sorrow The Loveboat Dust |
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Rite2 (1997, 55.26) ***½/TT½VerHill of Odin D - c.o.m.p.o.s.e.r The Ringed Hills of Ver |
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Odin (1999, 73.42) ***/TBreath of Odin |
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An Audience With the Cope 2000 [2001] (2000, 51.20) ***½/TTT½The Glam Dicenn (Parts 1 & 2)Holy Mother of God Born to Breed Ill Informer The Glam Dicenn (Parts 3 & 4) [Untitled] |
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Discover Odin (2001, 46.06) ****/TTThe 18 Charms of OdinDiscover Odin Ode to Wan (Parts 1 & 2) Yggdrasil & the Stone of Odin Road to Yggdrasilbury I Want to Go Wandering |
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Rite Now (2002, 72.36) ***½/½Twilight of the MotherfuckersGive the Poet Some Supernatural Agencies Ephaedra |
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Rome Wasn't Burned in a Day (2003, 54.20) ****/TTTShrine of the Black YouthZennor Quoit The-Way-Luv-is King Minos Dance By the Light of the Bridges You Burn Michelle of My Former Self Far Out Eccentrifugal Force |
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Cornucopea: Two South Bank Evenings With Julian Cope (2000, 23.06) ***½/TTTT[Queen Elizabeth contribute]Temple of Diana [Julian Cope contributes] Ver |
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Mellotron used:
Cope, or Saint Julian as he's known round here, has trodden a highly eccentric path since (and probably before) the Teardrop Explodes er, exploded in the early '80s. Über-hit World Shut Your Mouth put him right in the public eye, and he's spent the better part of the next two decades extracting himself from this position with reasonable success, while keeping his cult status intact. Around the mid-'90s he discovered the Mellotron, and has used one with considerable enthusiasm ever since, both on record and live, where he tends to play either solo or as half a duo, with an M400 wrapped in fluorescent yellow shrinkwrap. His gigs are manic, unpredictable, effervescent affairs, where the music is probably less important than the sense of occasion, though I'm sure many of his fans would disagree.
His first Mellotron album was (to date) his last-but-one 'proper' release, the sprawling double LP (Julian Cope Presents) 20 Mothers. Like the bulk of his (considerable) output, it's endearingly bonkers, with a wide variety of material, from the pop of Try Try Try, the punk of By The Light Of The Silbury Moon (ho ho), the acoustic whimsy of 1995 to the ambient prog of the magnificent When I Walk Through The Land Of Fear. Mellotronic highlights include the string breaks on Wheelbarrow Man, although what sounds like 'Tron brass is apparently a real (overdubbed) sax section, the full-on strings of Greedhead Detector and the immense When I Walk Through The Land Of Fear itself. Always performed at concerts, featuring the Drude on solo Mellotron (choir/pipe organ/string section) and vocals, the studio version is almost as intense; a serious 'Tron classic.
The following year's Interpreter was even more eccentric than its predecessor ('eccentric' is a word that gets used a lot around these parts), with oddities like The Battle For The Trees and The Loveboat scattered amongst slightly more mainstream fare like the excellent I Come From Another Planet, Baby or Re-Directed Male. Mellotron on almost every track, with loadsa choirs and strings, with Julian credited with 'Mellotrons (400 and Mark II)'. Planetary Sit-In's real strings are augmented by Mellotron choir, ditto The Battle For The Trees, while Cheap New-Age Fix has not only the ubiquitous choirs and strings, but a 'Tron flute solo, rare in Cope-Land. All in all, a total 'Tronfest. Buy.
'97 brought Cope's second Queen Elizabeth album, Elizabeth Vagina, a double CD of drifting spacerock-type stuff. It also saw the release of his second Rite album, Rite2, consisting of four lengthy tracks, a million miles away from the song-based material on his two previous albums. Hill Of Odin's hypnotic hand-drums sound nothing like D - c.o.m.p.o.s.e.r's Krautrock-style sequencer blips, while Ver is a drone piece with 'Tron strings (also heard on D - c.o.m.p.o.s.e.r). The album is essentially for meditation, and makes a better job of it than its successor, to be honest.
1999's Odin is subtitled 'A 73-Minute Meditation on Silbury & Waden Hill' and Cope's credited with 'vocals, Mellotron 400 & Starchamber 1', whatever that may be. The album's actually a one track, 73-minute synth drone, with occasional changes in pitch, and the odd bit of 'Tron strings or choir, very heavily effected, slipping in and out of the mix. Difficult to recommend from a Mellotronic point of view, although I imagine it's ideal for meditating to, getting stoned to or probably both. I hope I don't sound too dismissive, but I had trouble connecting with this album at all; maybe I just wasn't in the right frame (or state) of mind.
An Audience With the Cope 2000 (ho ho) was originally a tour-only CD, though it's now available via Cope's website, which tells us it was re-released in '01 with a new booklet, but identical contents. It consists of eccentric songs like Born To Breed or decidedly non-song pieces, like the various parts of The Glam Dicenn, often with minimal instrumentation, but mostly including Mellotron strings and choir. Most of the 'Tron work's pretty good, but the standout track is The Glam Dicenn Part 3, with a near-solo Mellotron part some minutes in. There's an untitled sixth track, loaded with female choirs (?), some strings under Cope's scat vocals and a short closing flute part; incidentally, I've chopped five minutes off the CD time for the blank space before the track.
Discover Odin is a cross between an album and an event programme, subtitled 'Two Evenings With Julian Cope, 4-5 October 2001', with a header reading 'The British Museum: illuminating world cultures'. As you can see, it's in the form of a 'long box', though what you can't see is that it contains a ten-page book, relating Cope's views on Odin, shamanism etc. from ancient times to the rock'n'roll era (so to speak). The 18 Charms Of Odin sees Cope running through some Odinist myths, while Discover Odin itself is fascinating, being a ten-minute Cope monologue on the history of the Norse gods, taking in the Roman Empire, early Christendom and the misnaming of the Celts and Germans. After another 'song' in Ode To Wan, Yggdrasil & The Stone Of Odin is another history lesson, this time taking in Orkney, standing stones and, of course, Paganism, a subject of endless fascination for Cope. The punning Road To Yggdrasilbury is a slow-building march, bordering (dare I say it?) prog, with a Cope poem intoned over the music, while I Want To Go Wandering is nothing to do with Cope at all, being a spoken-word piece by noted American weirdo Vachel Lindsay. As far as Cope's 'Tron is concerned, there's mixed choir on The 18 Charms Of Odin, church organ towards the end of the title track and on Ode To Wan (part 2), but that's your lot.
Rather less to say about the latest Rite album, 2002's Rite Now, which is a lengthy jam session, effectively, with Cope and pals roaring through four space-rock head-trips in over 70 minutes. Get stoned and off you go. Very little of the credited Mellotron, with a very nice string part opening Give The Poet Some, but that appears to be it.
Rome Wasn't Burned in a Day is another 'event' souvenir, this time of his three gigs at the Hammersmith Lyric Theatre, in London, in late '03. I didn't make the gigs myself, but the CD is pretty excellent, actually, opening with two of the best things I've heard from Saint Julian in Shrine Of The Black Youth and Zennor Quoit, although most of the rest of the material doesn't quite match up to this opening double-whammy. As for the 'Tron, I presume that's female voices on Shrine Of The Black Youth, and definitely flutes and strings on Zennor Quoit. Most of the rest is standard M400 strings, although there's a short burst of murky pipe organ on Dance By The Light Of The Bridges You Burn, and there are only a few string and choir chords right at the end of the 20-minute guitar freakout, Eccentrifugal Force.
In April 2000, Julian hosted the event that spawned the Cornucopea: Two South Bank Evenings With Julian Cope CD, bringing together many acts from the past, present and future, many of them reforming as one-offs, not least the original Ash Ra Tempel. The album isn't obviously taken from the festival, as the tracks sound like studio recordings, so I'm not at all sure of the provenance of some of them, but it's a pretty cool collection, whatever. It takes a while for Queen Elizabeth's Temple of Diana to go all Mellotronic, but when it finally kicks in there's huge slabs of strings laid down over the heavy synth backing, while solo Cope gives us another version of Ver, 'Tron strings splattered all over.
So...; there's an awful lot of 'Tron to be heard on most of the above, apart from Odin, so you really can't go too far wrong with any of the others. Of course, if you don't like the various things he does musically, you're a bit stuffed, to which I say: open your mind a little. For that matter, I also say: try to get to see him live if at all possible; until I was dragged along to see him a few years ago, I was quite disparaging of his work, not to mention being in considerable ignorance of it. As the slipcase to the Audience With the Cope disc says, "Fluorescent Mellotrons". I couldn't have put it better myself.
By the way, if you've got a good bit of time to spare, please try to read some of Julian's fantastic official site, including stuff about not just music, but history, politics and just about anything else important you can think of, not all of it written by the Drude.
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Spring (1997, 70.07) **½/T½ |
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| The Ecchoing Green The Garden of Love Spring The Fly The Tyger London The Chimney Sweeper The Voice of the Ancient Bard Holy Thursday one Holy Thursday two |
Silent Melancholy The Divine Image The Little Boy Lost The Little Boy Found Infant Sorrow Cradle Song A Dream To Tirzah Jerusalem The Sick Rose |
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Despite having a name as Irish as a leprechaun sitting on a shamrock in a peat bog near Tipperary, Finn Coren is actually Norwegian, as his accent duly confirms. The Blake Project: Spring is beautifully packaged, and after finding it in the 'folk' section of a central London record shop, I was looking forward to giving it a spin. Hmmm. Well, it ain't 'folk', and it certainly isn't even remotely 'progressive' in any way. Try 'third-rate 'modern rock', with far too many percussion loops and naff guitar sounds for its own good', or 'U2 on a particularly bad day'. The album's concept is excellent; take twenty poems by noted British mystic William Blake and set them to music, ignoring any previous settings that may have been done. Unfortunately, the music rarely matches the lyrics in any meaningful way; I suspect Blake would've been horrified by some of the maulings to which his work has been subjected here.
Coren's frequently half-spoken, half-whispered vocals irritate after a while, too, although they're nowhere near as bad as his regular 'singing' voice. There are a few tracks that made me stop and listen, including Spring, London, The Voice Of The Ancient Bard and The Sick Rose (probably the best thing here), i.e. the quiet ones, although most of it had me reaching for the 'next' button, I'm afraid. Tyger (as in 'Tyger, burning bright') is awful, and his take on Women's Institute fave Jerusalem is very poor. If only he'd stop trying to be quite so 'contemporary', stuck to writing, playing and producing and got in a decent singer, he might make a halfway decent record. I'm sorry to be so down on this, as it looked so promising, but I'm having trouble finding anything positive to say about it at all. Oh, you noticed?
However, Coren's Mellotron work isn't bad, with some decent enough flutes on Spring, and various flute and string parts on the other highlighted tracks, but despite various rave reviews I've found on the 'Net, I can't honestly recommend this to anyone at all. Very disappointing.
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Nosferatu (1979, 36.37) ***/TNosferatuLosers in a Lost Land White Room Irate Caterpillar Rhythmic Itch Wired Big Bug Mothra Wrong Way Round Puppets |
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Hugh Cornwell was, of course, the Stranglers' vocalist/guitarist from the mid-'70s until around 1990, which means he co-wrote and played on all their best material, not to mention a lot of their later cack. Robert Williams had been Captain Beefheart's drummer for the previous two years, so was no stranger to odd music, which all in all was a rather good thing, all things considered. Nosferatu consists of the various bits'n'pieces that Hugh didn't consider suitable for the Stranglers, and you can see why.
The title track is plain bizarre, as is Irate Caterpillar, consisting largely of scraping noises and extremely peculiar lyrics. Cream's White Room is the sole Mellotron track here (played by Hugh), or rather, 'Chamberlin mellotron' (sic), so presumably it's a Chamberlin; it certainly doesn't sound like standard Mellotron strings, so that makes sense. It was mostly recorded in LA, so there was far more likely to have been a Chamberlin about than in Britain, where they're almost unknown. I think it's safe to say that Nosferatu falls into the 'experimental' category, so don't buy it expecting anything like the Stranglers; saying that, it's good at what it does (I think), but it's no Chamberlin classic. Buy at your discretion.
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Galactic Supermarket (1974, 38.33) ****/TTKinder des AllsGalactic Supermarket |
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Sternenmädchen [Cosmic Jokers feat. Gilles Zeitschiff] (1974, 47.14) ***/T |
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| Tim Bleibt Bei Uns Downtown Lord Krishna Power Drive Bei Tim Right Hand Lover Cosmic Courier Bon Chance Swiss High-Lands |
Der Magier The Electronic Scene Electronic Rock Zeitalter (suite) So Beautiful The Queen of Sunshine Meine Kosmische Musik |
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The Cosmic Jokers were a project consisting of members of various German outfits, including Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching and Harald Großkopf from Ash Ra Tempel, Dieter Dierks and Jürgen Dollase from Wallenstein. Their remit on Galactic Supermarket seemed to be to make a seriously trippy, jammed-out full-on Krautrock album, totally free from any commercial considerations, in which I have to say they succeeded admirably. This isn't the easiest music to listen to, especially, er, 'unassisted', but there's some pretty cool grooves in places, and playing's top-notch, as you'd expect from such a stellar lineup. Dollase plays 'Tron choirs on side one, Kinder Des Alls, with several minutes of a four-chord repeating cycle that reminds me of early Pink Floyd, as does much of the Kraut stuff, then a more random part dipping in and out of the mix over the rest of the track. Nice Mellotron work, although I wouldn't describe this as a Mellotron Album per se.
Later the same year, the collective released Sternenmädchen, often mis-titled Gilles Zeitschiff, who is actually the young lady guesting on the record. You thought Galactic Supermarket was a difficult listen? You ain't heard nuthin' yet, baby... This is completely bonkers; proper krautrock, trippy as you like, with practically nothing on which to get a handle. Not all that much Mellotron, played either by Dollase again, or possibly Schulze, with distant choirs on Lord Krishna, and what sound like wildly pitchbent strings in the background on Der Magier. Several other tracks feature some sort of background voices, but they're as likely to be real ones as tape-generated; they don't actually sound particularly Mellotronic.
So; two resolutely nuts albums, possibly (or possibly not?) best appreciated while chemically assisted. The former is definitely the better 'Tron album of the two, although no classic.
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Too Close to See Far (2003, 45.52) ***½/½ |
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| Justify the Rain For a Smile Because You There's Nothing Wrong Life in Wartime Sunrise Tomorrow May Never Come She's Never Around |
Kill the Time Blind The Need to Fly Now That You Know Stupid You Smile |
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The Cosmic Rough Riders seem to be mining a rich seam of Scottish pop dating back at least to the '79/'80 Postcard label explosion (Aztec Camera, Orange Juice et al.), with their West Coast-ish sound, not a million miles away from Teenage Fanclub's Byrds-esque jangle. Too Close to See Far is their third album 'proper', after 1999's Deliverance and 2000's Panorama, ignoring Poptones' Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine compilation, and is a cornucopia of retro powerpop, referencing all the Bs; Byrds, Beach Boys (the harmonies on Tomorrow May Never Come are pure Our Prayer), Beatles, Big Star, along with their Caledonian predecessors and contemporaries. Unfortunately, there's the odd nod towards Oasis, too, though that's as likely to be a second-hand Beatles lift as anything.
Fairly minimal Mellotron, to be honest, from guest player Andrew Phillips, with a typical 'Tron flute part (you know, Strawberry Fields) on Because You, alongside various Hammond, Rhodes and what sound like genuine monosynth parts scattered across the album. The vintage kit quotient isn't why you should pick this up, however, but the songwriting is; a pleasant surprise. Recommended.
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An Old Castle of Transylvania (1974, 40.41) ****½/TTTTSoundtrackMaybe Soft Focus Fantastic Mirror Poltergeist An Old Castle of Transylvania Forest of the Death The Cursed Darkness of the World An Old Castle of Transylvania |
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A Journey With the Cosmos Factory (1975, 42.56) ***½/½ |
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| Sunday's Happening Daydream Hiver Confusion The Infinite Universe of Our Mind The Sea A Hidden Trap Wind in the Morning (a Trip) |
Journey of No Destination The Cosmogram |
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Black Hole (1976, 44.05) ****½/TTTBlack HoleThe Vague Image (intro) The Hard Image Crystal Solitaire A Wandering Young Man Days in the Past Mirror Freak Magic Window |
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Cosmos Factory (named after the Creedence Clearwater Revival LP) were a fantastic Japanese heavy psych/prog crossover outfit; dated for the mid-'70s, but Japan were several years behind at this stage and probably sounded pretty contemporary to their audience. They were enormously energetic, with mad frenetic organ and guitar solos peppering their work, along with rather incomprehensible Japanese-language vocals. The material on An Old Castle of Transylvania is pretty good, if not actually top-notch; plenty of excellent instrumental work, and some great Mellotron from Tsutomu Izumi on the opening two tracks and the bulk of side 2's title track.
However, A Journey With the Cosmos Factory takes a complete left-turn from its predecessor, with experimental tracks like The Infinite Universe Of Our Mind, all discordant avant-garde piano, with most of the material fitting more in the 'psych' than 'prog' categories. Excellent Moog work throughout, but next to no Mellotron (although loads of string synth), all I can hear being background choirs on beautiful opener Sunday's Happening. Black Hole (sensibly) returns to the style of their debut, though with a little more sophistication, and a little less Mellotron. I don't hear any other sounds than the ubiquitous strings, but they make nice use of them, so I should worry.
I think these (or at least one of them) might just be available on CD, so if you ever spot copies, I strongly advise you to pick 'em up pronto, and not just because they're presumably as rare as rocking-horse shit. Excellent music, great 'Tron.
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Spike (1989, 60.21) ****/TT |
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| ...This Town... Let Him Dangle Deep Dark Truthful Mirror Veronica God's Comic Chewing Gum Tramp the Dirt Down Stalin Malone |
Satellite Pads, Paws and Claws Baby Plays Around Miss Macbeth Any King's Shilling Last Boat Leaving |
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Mighty Like a Rose (1991, 54.29) ***½/T½ |
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| The Other Side of Summer Hurry Down Doomsday (the Bugs Are Taking Over) How to Be Dumb All Grown Up Invasion Hit Parade Harpies Bizarre After the Fall |
Georgie and Her Rival So Like Candy Interlude: Couldn't Call it Unexpected No.2 Playboy to a Man Sweet Pear Broken Couldn't Call it Unexpected No.4 |
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Brutal Youth (1994, 57.24) ***½/T |
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| Pony St. Kinder Murder 13 Steps Lead Down This is Hell Clown Strike You Tripped at Every Step Still Too Soon to Know 20% Amnesia |
Sulky Girl London's Brilliant Parade My Science Fiction Twin Rocking Horse Road Just About Glad All the Rage Favourite Hour |
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Declan McManus renamed himself Elvis Costello in the late '70s and helped to invent what became known as 'New Wave', a term he's always despised, sardonically commenting that he couldn't understand why people compared his work to early-'60s French cinema. A master songwriter, the only thing that seems to stop him being compared to the likes of the godlike Richard Thompson more often would appear to be fashion, with Elvis winning over Thompson every time. His twelfth album, Spike, is stuffed with his usual themes, with wry commentary on modern life (...This Town..., the gorgeous Tramp The Dirt Down), Thompson-like takes on relationships (Pads, Paws And Claws, Baby Plays Around) and even history lessons (Let Him Dangle). All in all, a triumph of intelligent, erudite songwriting, the likes of which we hear all too seldom.
Produced by Mitchell Froom, Spike falls right into the middle of his most prolific period as producer for hire, having also worked with Richard Thompson, Crowded House etc. Most of his standard production quirks are here, with not a synth to be heard, even of the analogue variety, with the album standing or falling on the standard of the actual playing (remember that?), with contributions from Paul McCartney, Roger McGuinn, Benmont Tench, Allen Toussaint and a cast of thousands. Froom's Chamberlin is all over the highlighted tracks above, with strings and woodwind (clarinet?) on Veronica, flutes and muted brass on God's Comic, a minor string part on Satellite and, finally, what sounds like high-end cellos on Miss Macbeth.
While '91's Mighty Like a Rose is perfectly good, I somehow feel it doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor, although After The Fall is easily the equal of anything on that album, and Broken is superbly melancholy. Costello's lyrical barbs are as sharp as ever, with Harpies Bizarre (ho ho) getting the knives out in no uncertain terms. Froom produces again, although his Chamberlin work is far more muted this time round, in fact, inaudible on some of the credited tracks. Just to confuse the issue further, that's clearly a Chamby string line in How To Be Dumb, with no mention in the booklet. About the best part on the album is actually Mellotron, with an excellent flute arrangement on So Like Candy, drowning out the Chamby cellos (?), which do their usual trick of disappearing in the mix. Other than that, just when you think you've spotted the thing, it turns out to be one of the string/brass/woodwind instruments scattered across the album.
'94's Brutal Youth regains some of the ground lost on Mighty Like a Rose for its first half, but unfortunately ends up slightly outstaying its welcome, partially falling prey to the infamous 'fill that CD' syndrome. There are some excellent tracks on the album, particularly Kinder Murder and Clown Strike, but more average fair such as Just About Glad or All The Rage rather let the side down. The album is notable for being a partial reunion of the Attractions, despite Costello's long-running feud with bassist Bruce Thomas, whose vicious lampooning of his erstwhile boss as 'the singer' in his semi-autobiographical novel 'The Big Wheel' only served to exacerbate the situation. It is, however, extremely funny...
Anyway, the album's co-produced by Mitchell Froom (again) and Costello, and only keyboard credits are for Costello (piano) and Steve Naïve/Nieve/Nason (piano/organ/harmonium), so who exactly plays everything else? Almost certainly Froom, of course, with organ on several tracks and three fairly overt Chamberlin tracks towards the beginning if the album; This Is Hell features muted brass, with more of the same, but less so, on Clown Strike, while You Tripped At Every Step has a nice little flute run. So, not really a Chamby album (again), but a good record in its own right, nevertheless.
Costello is one of those artists to whom I've been meaning to take a closer listen for years, so now I've taken the plunge there seems no reason not to carry on. It's rumoured that Costello has used Mellotron (or possibly Chamberlin?) on several other albums; as I tend to say, more news when I get to hear more of his back catalogue. As for the above, they're all worth hearing if you value quality songwriting, although Spike is probably the best of the three, and it's the only one where the Chamberlin input's really worth hearing, too.
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Holocaust (1978, 37.32) ****/TTTAura de SonsLamentacions Holocaust (Part 1) Holocaust (Part 2) |
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Coto-en-Pel were another of those one-shot late '70s Spanish progressive bands that, sadly, appeared and disappeared before anyone really noticed. Their sole legacy, Holocaust is a fine album, maybe a little less obviously 'Spanish' than many of their contemporaries, with guitar work that recalls Steve Howe in places. The album is mostly instrumental, with just the occasional vocal part cropping up; keyboards are the usual suspects, with quite a lot of string synth, at least on Aura De Sons.
Pep Llopis' Mellotron finally turns up on the two-part title track; just strings on Part 1, but their (borrowed?) machine's full complement of strings, flute and choir on Part 2. While not as full-on as some, there's a fair bit of 'Tron to be heard here, and the album's bloody good into the bargain. Top marks, once again, to The Laser's Edge for digging up a worthy rarity. Buy.
