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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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Flight (1975, 42.05) ***½/TT½In FlightMake a Miracle Let's Fly Away Latin Dippy Do Rhapsody to You Falling in Love Ease of Confusion Theme to the Stratosphere |
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Incredible Journey (1976, 37.05) ***½/½Music is1929 First Impression Mystery Man 2003 Visions of a Dream The Sands of Time Rock'n'Roll Star |
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Excursion Beyond (1981, 30.09) ***/TExcursions BeyondMusic Razzmatazz A Thing for Julie Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) The Rumble Face to Face Jett Lagg Inca Innuendo |
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Flight were a most peculiar mixture of musical styles; sort of easy listening Latin jazz prog (!), with smooth vocals alongside a brass section and prog keys. For a major label outfit, information about them is surprisingly difficult to find, although you try searching for 'Flight' in Google... 1975's Flight is best when the vocalist shuts up and lets the band do their brass-fuelled prog/fusion thing, as on fiery, jazz-inflected opener In Flight, and the vastly-better-than-its-title-would-suggest Latin Dippy Do. On the keyboard front, Jim Yaeger sticks mainly to Moog, string synth and Mellotron, frequently using the latter two in the same song, sensibly concentrating on their different strengths. All credited tracks above have reasonable amounts of 'Tron strings, with choir on a couple of tracks, though the album's outstanding keys work is to be found in the red hot synth playing, with ripping solos on several tracks in true fusion style.
There's little stylistic change on the following year's Incredible Journey, although the album is possibly slightly less manic than its predecessor. I'm not sure if there's some sort of concept thing going on here, but two of the album's highlights are 1929 and 2003, with some particularly good guitar work on the latter. Yaeger plays mainly string synth this time round, although he whips out a blistering piano solo at the end of 1929; the same track features the album's only Mellotron work, with a handful of string chords, sounding particularly rich compared to his considerably greater use on Flight, making it ironic how little it's used here.
Splits and bad luck made for a five-year gap before Flight's last album, 1981's Excursion Beyond. Although the trumpet is still present and correct, just about all of the band's Latin influences are gone, leaving a largely instrumental mainstream fusion sound with just one vocal track, Face To Face. To be perfectly honest, nothing particularly stands out, and I can't really imagine this appealing to anybody but early-'80s fusion fans; there's certainly nothing here of their first two albums' groundbreaking genre-splicing. Yaeger's Mellotron is used a surprising amount, with background strings on the first three tracks and Jett Lagg, with a similar flute part on The Rumble, though I stress, we are talking background, which accounts for the relatively low 'T' rating.
These albums aren't going to be to everyone's taste, but the jaded prog or fusion fan looking for something a little bit different could do an awful lot worse than pick their first two up, though I believe they've never been released on CD. Plenty of 'Tron on their debut, though next to none on the follow-up, and plenty, but very quietly, on their third.
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Flint (1978, 40.05) **½/T½ |
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| Back in My Arms Again You Got it All Wrong Too Soon to Tell Love Me Like You Used to For Your Love Keep Me Warm One of Me Better You Than Me |
Rainbow You'll Never Be the Same |
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Flint (named for their Michigan hometown) were, of course, the bedraggled, war-weary remains of Grand Funk Railroad, after losing frontman Mark Farner's wild, shirtless lyrics. Mel Schacher's bone-rattling bass, Don Brewer's competent drumwork (and more than competent vocals) and, unmentioned by Homer Simpson, keys man Craig Frost licked their wounds, regrouped and renamed, releasing their sole, eponymous album in 1978. It doesn't actually sound much like The Funk at all, being far, er, funkier than that band ever managed, though not in an especially good way, sounding more like long-forgotten white funk/soul acts like Rare Earth than, say, The Family Stone.
Most of Flint's material is pretty anodyne stuff, to be honest, occasionally letting rip (chiefly on Better You Than Me), but too often coasting along, letting the brass section and girly backing singers take the strain, with guest guitarists including Todd Rundgren and Frank Zappa, both former Grand Funk producers. Frost plays Mellotron on two tracks, with rather limited string use on their misguided cover of the Graham Gouldman-penned Yardbirds hit, For Your Love, and more upfront strings on closer You'll Never Be The Same, the album's one proper 'Tron track.
At the time of writing, Flint is about to gain a reissue through US label Wounded Bird, so if you really feel the need, you can hear it for yourself. I wouldn't honestly bother, if I were you, unless you're a mad Funk fan who has to own everything connected with the band. It does have one properly full-on 'Tron track, but that's its only real bonus. Your decision, I think.
See: Grand Funk Railroad
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Geyer-Symphonie (1973, 42.46) ***/½La Grande Tristresse (Requiem)Danse Macabre (Totentanz) Serenade des Bautours (Leichenschmaus) |
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Floh de Cologne sit fairly and squarely in the krautrock genre, as much as anything that diverse could be styled a 'genre' in the first place. Gloomy orchestral backing? Check. Mad German-language narration? Check. Genre-hopping side-long 'songs'? Check. Despite having relatively little in common with the likes of Can, Faust or pre-commercial success Kraftwerk, never mind the druggy cosmic folk-rock of Witthüser & Westrupp, Geyer-Symphonie's bonkers mélange of styles is going to appeal more to fans of those bands than anyone else, and many of them will probably balk at its oddness. Actually, one quite mainstream German band who do spring to mind as having possibly been influenced by the madness on display here are Grobschnitt and their resident nutter, drummer Eroc, a man not unused to yelling meaninglessly in German.
Markus Schmidt plays Mellotron on Danse Macabre (Totentanz), which features a brief burst of queasy, seasick pitchbent strings, although that would appear to be it on the 'Tron front. Geyer-Symphonie is an album for those who feel that The Dream by Gracious! is boringly normal and La Dusseldorf and Neu! are maybe a little passé these days. It's difficult to say whether it's good, bad or indifferent, unless you're doing the same drugs as the band, and even then, it's probably rather inconclusive. An interesting curio, then, but not worth it for the 'Tron.
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7" (1967) ****½/TTT½ Let's Go to San Francisco, Part 1 Let's Go to San Francisco, Part 2 |
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7" (1967) ***½/TT A Walk in the Sky Am I Losing You |
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7" (1968) ***½/TT½ A Man Without a Woman You Can Never Be Wrong |
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The Very Best of The Flower Pot Men (1997, 72.19) ***½/TTT |
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| Let's Go to San Francisco, Part 1 & 2 A Walk in the Sky Am I Losing You A Man Without a Woman You Can Never Be Wrong Piccolo Man Mythological Sunday Sweet Baby Jane Journey's End Let's Go Back to San Francisco, Part 1 |
Silicon City Busy Doin' Nothing White Dove Cooks of Cake and Kindness Gotta Be Free Heaven Knows When Brave New World Children of Tomorrow Let's Go Back to San Francisco, Part 2 |
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The Flower Pot Men (named after the BBC's 'Bill and Ben' children's programme, for non-UK readers) were a studio-based outfit, revolving around the vocal talents of session singer Tony Burrows, later to be the voice of similar studio outfits Edison Lighthouse, White Plains et al. Many musicians can lay claim to being members at one time or another, but most of them (including Nick Simper and Jon Lord, later of Deep Purple) were only in the touring outfit, hastily assembled to cash in on the success of their debut single.
Said single, Let's Go To San Francisco, has gone down as a classic of the era, although the writers laughingly admitted that they'd never been there, and were quite blatantly jumping on the flower power bandwagon. Apart from a 'lodge in your brain' melody, the track features a beautiful Mellotron flute line running through the whole thing, plus faint string and brass parts. The b-side was a continuation of the flip, with the complete track available on various compilations. Absolutely essential.
Second single, A Walk In The Sky, follows a similar psych-pop path, though without being remotely as iconic as 'San Francisco'. It's a good song, nonetheless, with a nice 'Tron string line running through it, though less overtly than the flutes on its predecessor, with a brief Mellotron trumpet solo on its b-side. Nothing on single no.3, A Man Without A Woman, but it sounds like both strings and an unidentified solo brass sound on its flip, You Can Never Be Wrong. Now, to confuse the issue considerably, the fourth single by the 'band', Piccolo Man was released under the name Friends, but has been (sensibly) anthologised along with the Flower Pot Men material.
Speaking of which, a good overview of their career is available on the cunningly-titled Very Best of the Flower Pot Men CD, including all the above tracks, plus the Friends single, along with various others, provenance unknown. I'm well aware that there have been loads of compilations of their material, but this is the one I've heard, so it gets a review. To be quite honest, several of the non-single tracks are rather weak, with some being far too close to the middle of the road for comfort, but it does include both parts of the cash-in on the cash-in, Let's Go Back To San Francisco, wrongly credited without the 'back', which rather confuses the issue. It even uses the original song's descending chord sequence, but gets some nice 'Tron in, so all is forgiven. Buy it and hear a neglected corner of UK '60s pop.
So, the above compilation's a good starting place for the Flower Pot Men (who said "And a good finishing one, too?"). They may have been a bit cheesy and decidedly 'inauthentic', but they produced a handful of great psych/pop singles, so I'll let them off the hook. Just this time, you understand... Incidentally, in 2000, a previously-unreleased selection of tracks was released as The Peace Album, but the only 'Tron track is Friends' Mythological Sunday, so I shan't bother reviewing. Another, similar effort, Listen to the Flowers Grow, appeared in 2007, so I'll report back if I get to hear a copy.
See: Friends
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Dawn Dancer (1979, 39.54) ***½/TTT½WomanHeavy, Like a Child Grace You're Free, I Guess Aim at the Head Your Breath Enjoyer King of Clouds Brain Damage |
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Flyte were a Dutch/Belgian conglomerate, influenced by Camel and Kayak, amongst others, with a melodic, short-ish song format that shouldn't tax the average listener too much. To be honest, I find Lu Rousseau's vocals on Dawn Dancer quite hard to take, with the result that I prefer the album's instrumental sections. The song titles and lyrics leave quite a bit to be desired, too, but I presume like most progressive bands from their respective countries, they didn't wish to sing in their own language(s).
Musical quality aside, there's loads of Leo Cornelissens' 'Tron for your listening pleasure, with five of the eight tracks featuring fair amounts of strings and choir. Woman and Your Breath Enjoyer are probably the best 'Tron tracks, though they all feature enough to be worth hearing. To be honest, though, without the Mellotron, Dawn Dancer would be a decidedly average album, although better than, say, Womega's. So; not unreservedly recommended, but I've heard worse.
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In and Out of Focus (1970, 36.04) ***½/TTFocus (vocal)Black Beauty Sugar Island Anonymous House of the King Happy Nightmare (Mescaline) Why Dream Focus (instrumental) |
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Moving Waves [a.k.a. Focus 2] (1971, 41.44) ****½/TTT½ |
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| Hocus Pocus Le Clochard ("Bread") Janis Moving Waves Focus II Eruption Orfeus, Answer, Orfeus Answer, Pupilla, Tommy Answer, The Bridge |
Euridice, Dayglow, Endless Road Answer, Orfeus, Euridice |
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Hamburger Concerto (1974, 33.48) ***/TT½ |
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| Delitiæ Musicæ Harem Scarem La Cathedrale de Strasbourg Birth Hamburger Concerto Starter Rare Medium I Medium II |
Well Done One for the Road |
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Ship of Memories (1976, recorded 1970-73, 36.32) ****/TTTP's MarchCan't Believe My Eyes Focus V Out of Vesuvius Glider Red Sky at Night Spoke the Lord Creator Crackers Ship of Memories |
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Masters From the Vaults (2004, recorded 1970?-76?, 62.19) **½/½ |
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| Hocus Pocus House of the King Focus I Hamburger Concerto Cathedral de Strasbourg Sneezing Bull Angel Wings Anonymous II |
Eruption Focus II Sylvia |
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Focus are widely known as the Netherlands' biggest prog export; a good draw on UK and US stages in the early '70s, they produced less 'classic' work than you might expect. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that they recorded just one (almost) flawless album, their second, Moving Waves. They actually formed in 1969, from several other Dutch acts, and quickly released their first album, In and Out of Focus, utilising a little Mellotron, along with keyboard player Thijs Van Leer's prime instrument, the organ. It's a bit of a hodgepodge, to be honest, opening with several vocal tracks (including the anti-Castro rant, Sugar Island, removed from the US version), which were not the band's forté. As for the 'Tron, there's an ordinary strings part on the jazzy Happy Nightmare (Mescaline) and a more overt part on one of the album's best tracks, Focus (instrumental).
The following year, Focus released the storming Moving Waves (Focus II in the Netherlands), complete with 'novelty' hit single Hocus Pocus, fondly remembered by many for Van Leer's bizarre yodelling! The album features the full six-minute plus version of the track, which belies its 'novelty' status by actually being a great piece of music with some truly stupendous playing from guitarist Jan Akkerman. Second track in, Le Clochard is where the Mellotronic interest kicks in; a gorgeous classical guitar and 'Tron strings instrumental, less than two minutes long, this surely has to be classed as one of the Mellotron Classics. After another beautiful (if 'Tron-less) instrumental, Janis, and the title track, the album's only real weak point, comes another jazz-inflected instrumental, Focus II (the band have recorded eight of these 'theme' tracks to date), with some more 'Tron strings. I would guess that they were using a Mark II on these sessions, recorded at the same Dutch studio as their debut, but it's hard to tell. Focus never (to my knowledge) used a Mellotron on stage, and I'm not sure if they ever even owned one themselves, or just hired them in for sessions.
Side two of the album is taken up with the superb Eruption, a multi-part piece with all the band's disparate influences thrown into the melting-pot to create a unique piece of music. The Mellotron drifts in and out of the piece, probably only appearing for a minute or two of the track's 22 minutes, but so effectively that it hardly matters. The music is stunning, with common themes coming and going, and fiery playing from all quarters. This track demonstrates why I shouldn't copy tracklistings from reissue CDs; the multifarious parts of the track are listed differently on the LP and CD, so the listing above is from the original release.
Focus 3 (****), while a good album, falls rather short of great; a sprawling double, much of it sounds improvised, and there's definitely some excess baggage that could easily be lost, although it does include one of their best pieces ever (and their biggest hit), Sylvia, with Van Leer sticking principally to the organ. After a live album, they dug out the 'Tron (an M400 this time) for their next lot of studio sessions, which were abandoned after internecine squabbling amongst band members, although they salvaged some of their work for their next studio album proper, Hamburger Concerto. I have to say that I find this a rather lesser piece of work than its illustrious predecessors, although it definitely has its moments. There's some 'Tron to be heard on the title track (which sadly comes nowhere near the heights attained on Eruption), probably on parts 1, 2 and 6.
During a lull in the band's career, the abandoned '73 sessions were exhumed and released, with a few outtakes added to bring the album up to a decent length as Ship of Memories. Listening to the tracks makes you wonder what the problem was at the time, as recounted in producer Mike Vernon's sleevenotes. There's some excellent material here, with some fine Mellotron work on several of the tracks. I have to say that I feel most of it outclasses the Hamburger Concerto material; it's certainly more digestible, with nothing exceeding the six-minute mark.
Fast-forward a few decades... In 2002, a reformed Focus, sans Akkerman, began wowing audiences in Europe and America, touring regularly and even releasing new albums. In response, various old recordings, both audio and visual, began crawling out of the woodwork, looking for a quick buck. I haven't seen the DVD version of Masters From the Vaults, but I hope to hell it's better than the CD of the same name. To be succinct, this is shit. It sounds like what it probably is: the unadulterated audio tracks from several video clips, probably recorded straight to two-track, spread over several years, with highly variable sound quality. The volume levels fluctuate not only from track to track, but also within tracks, and Hamburger Concerto has a track marker inserted about four minutes before the end, running into the following one. Shoddy. "But what about the music?", I hear you cry. "Surely this is a Focus album?" It is, and the music itself is excellent, even the two later-period pieces, but the disc's appalling presentation (no recording dates, indeed, no sleevenotes of any consequence at all) shoots the entire project down in flames. The Mellotron? A few seconds of strings in the Hamburger Concerto excerpt, as on the studio version, proving that the band must have used one live, even if only occasionally. Focus were and are a wonderful band, but this is a complete rip-off. Avoid.
So; In and Out of Focus is good, but rather formative. Buy Moving Waves NOW, if you don't already own it; a true classic. Ship of Memories is well worth the effort, but don't spend too much on Hamburger Concerto. Both Focus 3 and Live at the Rainbow (****½) are good albums, but outside the scope of this article.
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Simple Gifts (1972, 40.31) ***/TT½ |
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| Simple Gifts Baby Day She's Far Away My Song Let it Be Madelaine I Wasn't Born to Follow Kitty Starr |
Was it Only Yesterday How Come the Sun Nobody Knows The Very First Time Take Your Time Old Moot Hall Simple Gifts... |
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Foggy (originally Foggy Dew-o) were the duo of Danny Clarke and Lennie Wesley, who had a strong Strawbs connection over the course of their three-album career. Future Strawb Brian Willoughby played with them briefly, they covered no fewer than four Strawbs songs on Foggy Dew-o's second album, Born to Take the Highway, and half of the band guested on the sole Foggy album, 1972's Simple Gifts.
It's a reasonable enough folk-rock release, although nowhere near the level of Fairport, Steeleye et al., or even some of the better lesser-known acts (Trees, Mellow Candle). Much of the album has a faint country flavour, which doesn't do it many favours with the benefit of hindsight, while ill-advised covers (The Byrds' I Wasn't Born To Follow, The Beatles' Let It Be) would have been better left quietly on the shelf. The occasional song stands out, notably the Eastern-flavoured She's Far Away and the opening and closing versions of the title track, an old Shaker hymn whose tune was annexed for Sydney Carter's Lord Of The Dance, but I'm afraid there's far too much filler here for this to be regarded as in any way a lost classic.
Like most of The Strawbs' contemporaneous releases, there's some Mellotronic input here. Then-Strawb Blue Weaver plays full-on strings on My Song and Kitty Starr, plus flutes (under a real one) on Old Moot Hall, although they don't always enhance the material in quite the way you might expect. Top playing from Blue, though, with a high-speed flute run in the last-named that you'd have trouble doing on a well-gigged machine. All in all, then, a passable album with some nice 'Tron work, but nothing you desperately need, unless you have to a) own every British folk-rock album from the early '70s, or b) have to own every album containing Mellotron. Who said, "Me"?
See: Strawbs
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Foghat (1972, 37.44) ***½/TI Just Want to Make Love to YouTrouble, Trouble Leavin' Again (Again!) Fool's Hall of Fame Sarah Lee Highway (Killing Me) Maybelline A Hole to Hide in Gotta Get to Know You |
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It may surprise some of you to learn that Foghat were actually British, formed by three ex-members of Savoy Brown, obviously feeling, from the evidence here, that their parent band were lacking a little in the energy stakes. On their eponymous debut, vocalist/guitarist 'Lonesome' Dave Peverett (now THERE's a British name for you!) led his crew through a rocking set; short on originality, it rocks far harder than the band they'd just left, with a cool twin-guitar attack, with Peverett and Rod Price trading, er, 'licks' with abandon. Dave Edmunds' production helps things along, too, stopping just the right side of pastiche.
No-one's credited with keyboards, although their version of Chuck Berry's Maybelline has some ferocious piano playing, with a more straightforward part on lengthy closer Gotta Get To Know You, along with some Wurly and some subtle Mellotron strings. So; not bad blues-rock, although there is better about, and one decent 'Tron track. Your choice.
See: Savoy Brown
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Way to Normal (2008, 40.28) ***/T |
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| Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head) Dr. Yang The Frown Song You Don't Know Me Before Cologne Cologne Errant Dog Free Coffee |
Bitch Went Nuts Brainwascht Effington Kylie From Connecticut |
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Ben Folds, late of his Ben Folds Five, went (fully) solo at the end of the '90s, although he'd already released one (sort of) solo album in 1998's Fear of Pop. Way to Normal (as in 'Normal, Illinois'), is Folds' third solo album 'proper', carrying on the humorous, piano-driven approach he's taken for most of his career. Tracks such as Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head) and Bitch Went Nuts are amusing enough, but Folds' frequently anti-PC humour could easily be misconstrued, and doubtless has already been many times. Musically, it's probably safe to say that if you don't like the rockier end of Elton John's catalogue, you probably aren't going to be blown away by this; it has the same 'middling rock with piano' feel as much of Elt's work, albeit updated.
Folds is credited with Mellotron, and while neither the strings nor the flutes on You Don't Know Me sound particularly Mellotronic, the cellos do, so given that the album's string section aren't credited on the track, maybe we should just assume all three sounds are Mellotronically-produced. Of course, they could be samples, but it's difficult to tell. Anyway, those who like Folds' previous work will almost certainly enjoy this; the rest of us may like the odd track and sit there slightly bemused at the rest of it. Not enough Mellotron to be worth bothering with, though, even if it's real.
See: Fear of Pop
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There is Nothing Left to Lose (1999, 50.09) ***/½ |
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| Stacked Actors Breakout Learn to Fly Gimme Stitches Generator Aurora Live-in Skin Next Year |
Headwires Ain't it the Life M.I.A. |
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In Your Honor (2005, 83.16) ***/0 |
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| In Your Honor No Way Back Best of You DOA Hell The Last Song Free Me |
Resolve The Deepest Blues Are Black End Over End The Sign Still What if I Do? Miracle |
Another Round Friend of a Friend Over and Out On the Mend Virginia Moon Cold Day in the Sun Razor |
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Skin & Bones (2006, 73.04) ***/T½ |
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| Razor Over and Out Walking After You Marigold My Hero Next Year Another Round Big Me |
Cold Day in the Sun Skin and Bones February Stars Times Like These Friend of a Friend Best of You Everlong |
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Godzilla: The Album (1998, 5.45) ***/T[Foo Fighters contribute]A320 |
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If Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters are the living legacy of Nirvana, then I'm a Chinaman, as the saying goes. Their third album, There is Nothing Left to Lose, is a commercial pop-rock record with slight punky overtones, which is probably why they're as huge as they are; you can sing along to everything here, should you feel so inclined, even more than you could with Nirvana. It's not actually a bad record, but it's not a particularly good one, either, being just too bland and mainstream to really make an impact. Er, except that it did, but you know what I mean. Chamberlin flutes on Next Year, player unknown (Grohl?), with an understated flute part running under most of the song, though I can't say it especially enhances it.
The Foos released a double-disc set in 2005, In Your Honor, split between electric and acoustic discs. I still can't understand why anyone would get excited over this indie/metal hybrid, but then, I'm probably a decade or two too old for it, I suppose. My loss. Not. Anyway, no less a personage than John Paul Jones guests on the acoustic disc and allegedly plays Mellotron, though given his notorious antipathy to them, I'd be stunned if it was real. What's more, I can't trace any specific credit; there's a mention of his playing it on Oh Yeah, although there's no song of that name - the nearest any of them get is Free Me on disc one that includes the phrase in its lyrics. What's even more (and here's the clincher), I can't hear it anywhere. OK, it may be hiding away in there somewhere, but I doubt it. Given its publicity, though, I'll leave this here until/if I should find out otherwise.
The following year, the band opted to release an 'unplugged' live album, Skin & Bones which, to my surprise, proved that some of their songs actually work better in a stripped-down format. Opener Razor is the best of the bunch, but overall, this failed to irritate me as much as most of their studio work. Its chief fault? It's too long, although in the grand tradition of double live albums, I suppose it has aright to be this long. Rami Jaffee plays (real?) Mellotron, with strings under real violin on Over And Out and Marigold, faint flutes on Walking After You and far more obvious ones on Next Year, although it seems to grind to a halt fairly early in the evening.
So; two fairly nothing sort of records and a passable live album, though streets ahead of a lot of the drivel I've reviewed recently; at least they have a patina of rock credibility and real guitars and stuff. Next to no tape-replay work, though.
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The Ultimate Diet (2000, recorded 1981-84, 74.00) ***½/½ |
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| All You Need is Jazz Cream Always Rises Pink Dishes Cosmo's Credo Mr. Twister We Represent the Symbol First Grade The Worm is the Word Child's Play |
Out of True Moderately Severe Another Still Nite Diet of Worms No Idea Gloom Club No One Said it'd Be Easy Weather is Permanent How I Spent My Summer Vacation |
It Needs a Haircut It Takes a Summer Job Johnny Vette Neil's Stick Primal Bridal Passion Privilege Kiss of Death Los Gusanos |
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This odd little item came free with an issue of US prog mag Progression, and turns out to be the entire collected works of the early-'80s outfit that grew out of mental Baltimore proggers OHO, with all tracks recorded between 1981-4. Fittingly, given when they were active, Food for Worms have that quirky 'new wave' sound about them, with short but action-packed songs, vocals that owe a not-so-minor debt to Talking Heads et al., and the then-fashionable Farfisa organ. Plenty of squelchy synths, jagged rhythms and general weirdness, but the only Mellotron I can hear on the whole thing (from Mark O'Connor) is some strings on It Takes A Summer Job, and they sound like they've been processed in some way. So; good, if odd album, very little 'Tron indeed. And no, I've no idea whether this was ever released commercially (probably not), or where you might be able to find a copy.
n.b. I've recently found a reference to the possibility of this (or at least part of it) originally coming out in 1985, though I don't know how accurate this may be. It appears to be currently available through the The Orchard label, in case you're trying to find a copy.
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Spark of Light (2004, 59.22) ****/TTTRamaSpark of Light Keep it Alive Brown Cloud Mouse Life Changes |
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Forever Twelve (great name!) are a new(-ish) US prog outfit who do their level best to ignore the simplification of the genre that has blighted it so heavily over the past couple of decades. They've actually been around in one form or another since the early '90s, releasing their debut, Remembrance Branch, in 2002. Two years on, Spark of Light appears, and while I can't compare it to its predecessor, it stands up pretty well, although I suspect it'll take some listens for the material to sink in. Forever Twelve rarely use one note where several will do, which may drive some of you mad, but this approach avoids the tedium induced by many newer bands, who appear unaware of the existence of key and tempo shifts, not to mention the odd chord change... Cat Ellen's vocals, while good, start sounding samey after a few tracks, but that's probably a criticism you could level at many singers; suffice to say, she does a decent job without particularly standing out.
Keys man Steve Barberic plays a range of instruments, including a (borrowed) MiniMoog and no less than two borrowed Mellotrons. He gets 'em in on all but one track, although most of his use is pretty restrained, concentrating on strings. There are a couple of flute sections (I think he plays alongside Cat's real one at one point), but surprisingly, only one short burst of choir. 'Tron highlight? The one-minute strings solo (no overdubs, apparently) at the end of the last track, Life Changes.
So; while Forever Twelve have yet to release something that will really make them stand out from the pack, Spark of Light is a solid album, with plenty of scope for repeated listening. Nice 'Tron work, too - more of that next time please, Steve...
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Non Stop (1977, 33.04) ****/TTT½DynamicPower and the Glory Ten Years After Free Hands Reflection Green Door My Town Intermezzo |
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II (1978) ***½/TTDawnMorning Three Harmonies Playing the Gamut Gold Song For Goodbye |
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FSB are a bit of a weird one; just about the only Bulgarian prog band I can think of, and they sound like... Santana. Well, a little. I'm actually having trouble tracing their main influences, but there's an awful lot of West Coast fusion in there, along with the Latiny stuff, with maybe a touch of the incomparable Happy the Man or similar. Mind you, they were quite jazzy too; take it as read that if you heavily dislike fusion, you're not going to feel too at home with this lot.
Saying that, on their debut, Non Stop (from the Brian Aldiss novel?), Gentle Giant have a heavy presence on the record, with a straight cover of the non-album Power And The Glory and an instrumental mis-titled Free Hands, along with various other covers, including the excellent Dynamic and Intermezzo, both from Patrick Moraz' i. Suffice to say, this is a fairly major 'Tron album, with a massive choir intro on Dynamic, with extra added strings, while Ten Years After (Le Orme) is string-soaked, as are Green Door and Intermezzo, while My Town features the rarely-heard Mellotron pipe organ at its close. Track this album down.
I believe their later releases are pretty awful, but II's a good, if not great album, with excellent playing and dynamics, and vocals on only a couple of tracks, thankfully. I'm not much of a fusion fan myself, but it sounds to my ears to be as good as plenty of better-known names, with more of a 'prog' feel than many of them. There isn't an awful lot of Roumen Boyadjiev (or possibly Konstantin Tsekov)'s 'Tron, with naught but background choirs on a few tracks, and some more upfront stuff on Playing The Gamut (I think - this is being reviewed from a tape), under a solo female voice, which turns out to be a spectacular, and unique combination. Well worth hearing.
So; two slightly strange records, but worth picking up if you should happen to run into copies. Non Stop's a bit of a Mellotron classic, and although II isn't, it's an unusual album to which you may well find yourself returning. Oh, and thanks to Mike for spotting the other covers on their first album.
Balkanton was (is?) actually Bulgaria's primo studio facility, active since the '60s, so I presume the band were the cream of their session players, using the studio's equipment, so who knows how many other Bulgarian albums may feature the studio 'Tron? For what it's worth, after a recent trip to Bulgaria (not actually for this reason - honest), I can confirm that the rumoured 'Tron on their third (mini-)album, The Globe (**½), is nonexistent, and the music's pretty rotten, too, keeping the band's jazziness, while allying it to some awful soul-inflected pop, with only the occasional interesting chord sequence to pep things up. As for their later live album... I refrained from buying a copy (this was all at an open-air flea market near the main cathedral), as the pictures showed a horrendous early-'80s pop act, with a bevy of dullsville synths, and zero Mellotron. Funny, that. I think there's an early single that features the 'Tron, but its two sides have been compiled onto different volumes of a three-vol compilation; they were only £4.00 each, but apart from a handful of tracks from the above albums, they would've been largely rubbish, so I (stupidly?) passed on them. No sign of CD versions of either Non Stop or II, either - nor did I find them on vinyl.
Official site (in Bulgarian)
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7" ( 1974) ***/TT½ Charade You Mean Everything to Me |
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The Four Tracks were a pretty typical Birmingham, Alabama vocal quartet specialising in the soft, Philly-style soul of the period. Their sole single, 1974's Charade is apparently now a Northern Soul fave (note to US readers: this is a weird, exclusively British scene, in case you were wondering which part of 'the north' it refers to), although I can't say it's especially memorable by the standards of the genre. The b-side, You Mean Everything To Me, really is cheesy, but... it's every bit as good as major hits by The Stylistics, The Chi-lites et al., so why was it stuck on the flip?
And this is here because... David Lynch (not that one) told me both tracks are full of Mellotron. And... he's right! I'd imagine their recording budget didn't stretch to real strings, so the 'Tron makes a reasonably good substitute, although the rising line at the beginning of the b-side is very clearly Mellotronic, in case they thought they were fooling anyone. If you'd like to hear these, they've recently been released on Eccentric Soul: The Tragar & Note Labels; they're actually unusual examples of the Mellotron used on a small-label soul 45, making them worth hearing for that alone.
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Fourth World (1994, 65.00) ***/0 |
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| Esperanza River Sao Francisco Starfish Povo da Lira Africa Earthquake Lua Seven Steps |
Firewater - Jive Talk Santa Anita |
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Fourth World were a 'world fusion' outfit, I suppose, formed (in London, I believe) by legendary percussionist Airto Moreira and his equally legendary wife, Flora Purim. 1994's Fourth World, was, unsurprisingly, their debut album, being the expected jazz/world crossover, although Purim's contributions seem strangely limited. There are moments on here, not least the jammed-out part of the 13-minute Starfish, which almost cross over into prog territory, but only almost, the bulk of the album being typically happy-go-lucky Brazilian-type stuff, with a European edge in places.
Gary Meek plays Mellotron, amongst other keys, but you'd be hard-pushed to say where. Is that a background flute chord on Povo Da Lira? Near-inaudible strings on Lua? Impossible to say, though I'm sure it's on there somewhere. So; decent enough world fusion, should you be into such a thing, but forget it for the 'Tron.
See: Airto Moreira
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Frame of Mind (1972, 36.38) ***/TFrame of MindCrusical Scene All I Really Want Explain If Winter Penny for an Old Guy Childrens Freedom Truebsal |
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In decades to come, assuming they're not entirely forgotten, it's quite possible that Uriah Heep's lasting legacy won't be seen as their first few albums, which helped to define a very British style of hard rock, but their overwhelming influence on a host of contemporaneous European bands, including Norway's Titanic, Hungary's Omega and more German bands than I care to name. Amongst them are Frame, a one-off outfit whose Frame of Mind is... entirely average. OK, it's not a bad listen, but the songs are pretty ordinary and it's hard to find anything on this album that hasn't been done better by someone else. There's some marvellous broken English amongst the track titles, so I hate to think what the lyrics are like; All I Really Want Explain is a personal favourite on that front, and is actually one of the album's best songs, as well as the longest.
Cherry Hochdörffer plays keys, mainly the ubiquitous Hammond, with only two Mellotron tracks to be heard; Winter has some rather background strings, but extremely brief closer Truebsal consists of nothing but a national anthem-style tune played on queasy 'Tron brass, the wobbly tuning of which is clearly deliberate. So, not what you'd call a classic on any front, really, although Truebsal manages to do something a little bit different, if not wholly essential.
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Wind of Change (1972, 43.23) **½/½ |
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| Fig Tree Bay Wind of Change Lady Lieright Jumpin' Jack Flash It's a Plain Shame Oh for Another Day All I Want to Be (is By Your Side) The Lodger |
Hard Alright |
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By 1972 and the age of 22, Peter Frampton had already had a couple of careers, fronting late-'60s popsters The Herd (also including Andrew/Andy Bown, later of Judas Jump and, er, Status Quo), then co-founding Humble Pie with ex-Small Face Steve Marriott. He was still four years away from his career-defining moment, '76's inexplicably huge Frampton Comes Alive!, when he released his first solo album, Wind of Change. If you've heard the soporific Comes Alive, you'll have some idea what to expect; Frampton was never really a rocker, largely preferring soft rock balladry. Even his version of The Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash has a naff brass part that neuters the arrangement, while other 'rock' efforts like It's A Plain Shame or Alright just fall flat.
Anyway: Mellotron. The previously-mentioned Andy Bown (they presumably stayed mates post-Herd) plays a muted string part on All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side), not to be confused with the real strings on a couple of tracks. Do they add anything to the song? Not really, no; the song's a typical example of the album's sound and a good two minutes too long, and the 'Tron's mixed too low to have any real effect, anyway. All in all, you really don't need this album unless you're a Frampton fanatic (er...); it's pretty typical of bland, mainstream early-'70s rock, with fairly minimal Mellotronic input.
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Fire & Water (1970, 36.05) ***½/½Fire & WaterOh I Wept Remember Heavy Load Mr Big Don't Say You Love Me All Right Now |
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Highway (1970, 35.58/58.56) ***/T½ (TT) |
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| Highway Song Stealer On My Way Be My Friend Sunny Day Ride on a Pony Love You So Bodie |
Soon I Will Be Gone [CD adds: My Brother Jake (single) Only My Soul (b-side) Ride on a Pony (BBC Session) Be My Friend (BBC Session) Rain (alternative version) Stealer (single version) |
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7" (1971) **/T½ My Brother Jake Only My Soul |
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Free Live! (1971, 40.36/77.15) ****/T |
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| All Right Now I'm a Mover Be My Friend Fire and Water Ride a Pony Mr Big The Hunter Get Where I Belong |
[CD adds: Woman Walk in My Shadow Moonshine Trouble on Double Time Mr Big All Right Now Get Where I Belong] |
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Free at Last (1972, 35.46) ***/TCatch a TrainSoldier Boy Magic Ship Sail on Travellin' Man Little Bit of Love Guardian of the Universe Child Goodbye |
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Free are one of those bands that I feel I should like, but about whom I find it difficult to get excited. Part of the problem is that I don't feel their sound has dated very well, unlike, say, Zeppelin's; their blues/rock hybrid sounds rather laid-back for modern tastes, although I know there's many of you out there who'll disagree violently with this. As a result, these reviews may seem rather unenthusiastic, although I bear the band's 'classic' status in mind.
Fire and Water is rated as their 'classic' by many fans, and while it's a good album, the first thing that strikes you about it is the soporific pace of most of the material, with even the ubiquitous All Right Now being 'sprightly' at best. Apart from 'the hit', Mr Big is probably the album's standout track, which whips up a bit of a storm, admittedly in a laid-back kind of way. Bassist Andy Fraser plays loads of piano on the album, too, and there's a couple of MkII Mellotron string (mixed with brass?) notes on Heavy Load, but that seems to be it on the 'Tron front this time round.
I'm sorry, but I can't help but find Highway rather... dull. It's relentlessly mid-paced, consisting mostly of ballads, and completely belies Free's reputation as a band of any great intensity. The playing is, of course, excellent, although there's very little of Kossoff's famed guitar work in evidence (I believe the band were heading towards burnout at the time). Mellotron on a surprising three tracks, with a few background string notes on Be My Friend and Love You So, but a rather more upfront part (if still quite subtle) on closer and probable best track, Soon I Will Be Gone. My Brother Jake's added to the remastered CD, but none of the other bonus tracks is relevant here.
Speaking of which, the uncharacteristic (and not very good) My Brother Jake, a good-time singalong sort of thing from '71, has some 'Tron strings from Fraser; a brief part comes in during the second verse, with another few notes at the end of the song, and that's it. Really not worth the effort.
While Free Live! still isn't going to convert me unreservedly to their cause, it's a good live album with some great performances, not least the kicking All Right Now that opens proceedings. Not so sure about Be My Friend or Ride A Pony, to be honest, and the whole thing sounds a little dated, but The Hunter makes up for any earlier deficiencies. Now, I can't work out what's going on here, but Get Where I Belong features a piano part, along with Fraser's bass, when suddenly a handful of Mellotron chords pop up from nowhere then disappear again. There's a little more towards the end of the song, but it's not exactly overwhelming. So, who plays it? And how come they bothered to haul one along for just one song? Given that Paul Rodgers is a perfectly respectable pianist, it seems he's the prime suspect; more info should I ever find out. Incidentally, no keys of any sort on the bonus version of the same song; it doesn't even actually sound live to me.
Free's fifth studio album, and the first after their much-publicised reformation, Free at Last, carries on in pretty much the same vein as their earlier work, being a straight blues/rock crossover. Having never been the band's biggest fan, I find it difficult to pick out highlights, although the album's chief Mellotron track, Magic Ship is probably about the best. There's a few notes of very background 'Tron on the album's hit, Little Bit Of Love, but that's it.
So; if you like Free you probably own these already. For the Mellotron fan, pickings are slim indeed, although Soon I Will Be Gone, My Brother Jake and Magic Ship have some passable strings. Oh, and check out the Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit review to see what some of Free did in their gap year.
See: Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit
