Mephistopheles  (1974,  34.33)  **½/T½ Mephistopheles So Sad Dreamer of Dreams Paradise Dear People Finale

Current availability:

• Mason (Germany)

Mellotron used:

• Peter Harris' M400

While on my second Aussie trip over the 2005/6 Christmas/new year period, I met up with friends in Sydney (hi, Shane), including a guy who tried to sell me a copy of Mephistopheles. I declined, not only because I couldn't afford it, but because it isn't actually that good. It's something of a moot point as to whether this should be filed under 'Gaffey', 'Mephistopheles' or even 'Various Artists'; Gaffey is credited on the sleeve as 'vocalist', but does that make it his album? In actuality, there isn't an artist credited at all, so Gaffey will do given no sensible alternative. The title track opens with a (real) string part, and isn't too bad until the vocals start. Oh dear... This is a seriously overblown concept effort in the grand (?) tradition, that may have a pseudo-religious agenda (hard to tell without the lyric sheet), but is pretty duff even if it doesn't; not exactly a classic of Aussie prog, then.

Although most of the album's string and choir work is real, for some odd reason, Peter Harris (of Madden & Harris) provides the same sounds from a Mellotron here and there. So Sad has both real and 'Tron strings and choir, with more of the same at the Paradise/Dear People crossover point, though we're really not talking classic stuff here. You're not going to find this cheap (note: now out on CD), so I suggest you don't bother finding it at all; dull, pompous music with little discernable melody and not even much 'Tron to liven things up. Avoid.

Jeffrey Gaines  (US)

	Galore  (1998,  57.52)  ***/½
	First Chapter's Last Page Right My Wrongs A Simple Prayer Step By Step Belle de Jour Everything Praise or Blame Toast and Tea	Goodbye To Love Her Inside Anything New Alone Leave Her to Me

Current availability:

• Rykodisc

Jeffrey Gaines is one of those artists who seems to have bucketloads of talent, but hasn't yet found a really suitable vehicle for it. His third album, Galore, has plenty of Sidemen To The Stars on it, including Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie) and the excellent David Sancious, but ends up having a rather bland, generic 'adult pop' sound to it, despite Gaines' wonderful voice. Relentlessly mid-paced, this is radical easy-listening for couples no longer young, yet not quite ready to wholly disengage with their past, although Gaines' songwriting isn't really up there with others of that ilk (Elvis Costello et al.).

Gaines plays 'Melotron' himself on album closer Leave Her To Me, though I'll be buggered if I can hear it over the string quartet, although it may be providing the string chords. Gaines has definitely used a Mellotron on at least two other albums, 1994's Somewhat Slightly Dazed and 2001's Always Be, though if it's no more overt than here, I doubt if they're worth the effort. Galore is a perfectly good album within its genre, but if you're looking for excitement (or Mellotron), you'd be advised to go elsewhere.

Official site

Galahad  (UK)

	Nothing is Written  (1991,  61.49)  ***/½
	Face to the Sun   Otherworldly Pleasures   Another Misguided Soul Chamber of Horrors Evaporation Motherland Room 801 Aqaba (a Matter of Going!)	Bark in D Minor Legacy The Automaton Don't Lose Control Richelieu's Prayer

	Year Zero  (2002,  56.05)  ****/TTT
	Year Zeroverture Belt Up Ever the Optimist The Charlotte Suite Haunted Democracy Baroque and Roll Dementia A Deeper Understanding?	The Jazz Suite Take a Deep Breath and Hold on Tight Hindsight 1 - Piano and Clarinet Hindsight 2 - A Very Clever Guy Indeed The September Suite World Watching Deceptive Vistas/Postscript - Perspective

Empires Never Last  (2007,  61.45)  ****½/T De-fi-ance Termination I Could Be God Sidewinder Memories From an Africa Twin Empires Never Last This Life Could Be My Last...

Current availability:

• All titles: Avalon (UK)

Mellotrons used:

• Nothing is Written: IQ's M400
• Year Zero: my M400
• Empires: Clive Nolan's M400

Galahad formed in the mid-'80s on the south coast of Britain, in direct response to the brief upsurge in popularity of prog of a few years earlier. Apparently, their first keyboard player owned a Mellotron, along with several other killer pieces of gear, but he left after one single, anthologised onto Other Crimes & Misdemeanours II. Nothing is Written was their first album 'proper' (there were earlier cassette releases), which is solidly in the neo-progressive vein of Marillion et al. Keyboardist of the day Mark Andrews obviously favoured the digital end of the spectrum, but was persuaded to play a few older bits of equipment, including IQ's Martin Orford's M400. As a result, it's almost inaudible on the finished product, although I've had it confirmed that there is a bit of choir on album closer Richelieu's Prayer.

I was contacted back in (I believe) 2000 by Galahad's mainman Stuart, with a view to using my M400 on their next album. As is the way of such things, it took until Christmas 2001 for us to coincide sufficiently to be in the same studio at the same time, and my MiniMoog and Taurus pedals came along for the ride, although they only crop up occasionally on the finished product. The band have progressed (ho ho) by leaps and bounds in the decade since Nothing is Written (just look at the difference in the cover art), with each album quite distinctly progressing from its predecessor (remember progression?). Year Zero has a pleasingly organic sound, with long-time guitarist Roy Keyworth cranking it up a good bit more than in days gone by, and current keys man Dean Baker using both real and fake analogue gear. In Year Zeroverture, he uses one of the newer crop of analogue-soundalikes to produce an almost-techno heavily-filtered sequencer part, with Mellotron choir chords breaking through the mix.

The material itself still has some of that 'love it or hate it' neo-progness about it, particularly in the vocal melody department, but the bulk of the album avoids that trap, giving the impression that Galahad have been listening as much to Korn or Rammstein as Genesis or Marillion. The album should really be viewed as one hour-long track in fifteen parts, although I've listed the tracks separately, as on the CD sleeve. I'm not entirely sure what the album's concept is actually getting at, but it seems to be relevant and contemporary, without going all Misplaced Childhood on us. Above all else, Year Zero rocks, which it's been difficult to say of previous Galahad releases, although they're (thankfully) not about to enter Dream Theater territory.

Anyway, Mellotron use: Dean used the choirs more than anything; in fact, they're to be heard floating away ethereally within the first few seconds of Year Zeroverture, with some more serious use later on in the piece, carrying on into Belt Up, where they alternate with some nice strings work, while Ever The Optimist opens with some great, filter-rich MiniMoog, with the choirs lurching back in later on. Democracy, despite its near-ten minute length, only features the 'Tron in the last minute of the song, with a piercing discordant string line dissolving into chords before it slides into the short Baroque And Roll Dementia and more choir. Take A Deep Breath And Hold On Tight returns to the alternating strings and choir of Belt Up, while Deceptive Vistas/Postscript - Perspective features a classic 'prog ending riff' repeated ad infinitum, complete with choirs. Now, I'm pretty sure Dean played both the flutes and cellos, but I can't hear either of them anywhere, so either my ears are defective (fairly likely), or they're lost somewhere in the mix.

Five years on (take their time, these boys), and Empires Never Last hoves into view. Recorded at Pendragon/Arena man Clive Nolan's studio, his 'Tron gets a look-in on a couple of tracks, though nowhere near as much use as on Year Zero. The album itself is even better, with Galahad (now woefully mis-named, though far too late to change) really finding their feet after a twenty year career. I saw the material previewed 18 months earlier, and wasn't the only punter blown away by what I heard; modern, hard-edged metal-tinged prog, managing to sound like absolutely no-one else, and of how many other current bands can you say that? De-Fi-Ance opens with angelic female choristers, before lurching into a 'beat you to death' riff, setting the tone for the rest of the album. Best track? Possibly I Could Be God, featuring a section of Martin Luther King's infamous 'I have a dream' speech, but it's difficult to pick one out from the pack, to be honest. On the Mellotron front, both Dean and guitarist Roy get some in, though barely enough to make a difference, really. The choirs on Termination could almost be from any generic synth you care to name, while This Life Could Be My Last... has some 'stabbed' flute chords, which at least sound like a Mellotron.

If you like your prog neo, you'll like Nothing is Written, but it's not exactly a 'Tron classic. Year Zero, however, is a good album with some great instrumental passages, and Empires Never Last takes their sound a stage further, making Galahad one of the UK's best prog exports in the early 21st century. They seem to have developed their own brand of modern progressive, bringing in influences that most prog outfits would shun, but still sounding like themselves. Recommended.

Official site

Galaxy  (Germany)

Nature's Clear Well  (1975/78,  37.21)  ***/T Nature's Clear Well Warning Walls I've Come From a World You've Really Got it Fixed Dreams Out in the Rain Wish I Were Happy

Current availability:

• Spalax (France)

Mellotron used:

• Band's own M400?

There seems to be some confusion surrounding Galaxy, not least in relation to their home country, oddly. The truth appears to be that they were actually called Waniyetula, a multinational band based in Frankfurt, although they (under both names) are frequently quoted as being Swiss. So where does Galaxy come in? Their US label decided to rename the band, without their permission, for their 1975 recording, released three years later as Nature's Clear Well, although they also managed a German release, A Dream Within a Dream, in '83, in a Saga vein.

To be honest, Galaxy/Waniyetula were one of those European progressive bands of variable quality, making it unusual that they had an American release at all. Nature's Clear Well is rather ordinary, if truth be told, with a good dollop of that 'German sound' that was so ubiquitous at the time; not that much variation in key/tempo, lots of string synth, you know the score. Saying that, the album does have its moments; You've Really Got It Fixed has some fairly frenzied instrumental parts, and Nature's Clear Well itself isn't bad, but it's all a little unadventurous, and I keep finding myself wishing they'd push the boat out a little more.

Norbert Abels only plays Mellotron on two tracks; choirs on the lengthy title track and flutes on Dreams Out In The Rain, but it's hardly over-used, to say the least. I believe the CD has a couple of bonus tracks, though I've no idea whether or not they have any Mellotronic input. So; an OK album, nothing too exciting, but not that bad, either. Damned with faint praise?

Galileo II  (US)

	Transmissions  (1999, recorded 1984,  71.54)  ***½/TTTT
	Ethereal Sky Waiting at the Speed of Light Automaton Future Roads I Can't Wait Coming on Song of the Siren Orbiter 102	To the Stars Man of the Hour Circle of Fire Illusion Don't Look Back Don't Take the Number Automaton Event Horizon

Current availability:

• See below

Mellotron used:

• Thaxton's own M400

Galileo II were an American hard rock/prog crossover outfit operating in the early '80s, with the inimitable Charles Thaxton on keys (see my Char-El reviews for coverage of Charles' recent work). Although the odd track features an unfortunate commercial influence (either AOR or, oddly, Cars-ish 'new wave'), most of them fall somewhere between a sort-of late-'70s science fiction-influenced US sound (think Rush) and, oddly, contemporaneous British prog. The sound quality on this disc isn't of the highest, but the tracks seem to have mainly been recorded live in the studio, I'd guess straight to a stereo master, and their resurrection fifteen years later unfortunately highlights sonic deficiencies that may not have been apparent at the time. Transmissions obviously isn't actually an 'album' per se, more an archive collection of all the tracks recorded by the band. It's a shame more lesser-known bands don't do this; I'm sure there's a wealth of decent material out there that could all too easily be lost forever.

Charles layers Mellotron all over the disc, with most tracks featuring at least a little, all strings and choir by the sound of it. Highlights include the excellent string chords on Future Roads and the powerful string part on Event Horizon, but it's all pretty good on the 'Tron front, unusually for any band of that era. Transmissions isn't commercially available as such, but you can mail Charles here to enquire about getting hold of a copy; also available on the same ad hoc basis is the similar archive CD-R of Magik Dayze material.

Galleon  (Sweden)

Heritage & Visions  (1994,  67.43)  **½/T Lullaby Sniper Permanent Vacation Intentions Beat of a Different Tree Lights Bobo the Gardener Short Story Tribute

Current availability:

• Progress (Sweden)

I was surprised to find that Heritage & Visions was only Galleon's second album, after '93's Saga-influenced Lynx (***). Sadly, Saga seem to've been dropped in the interim, to be replaced by generic neo-prog as the band's overriding musical mentor, their sound having slipped into 'bastard offspring of Marillion with bits of Rush' territory, like so many other bands around the same time (Short Story's intro is effectively Rush's Subdivisions, only less punchy and with no atmosphere). Suffice to say, despite a reasonable analogue keys input (actually, so what?), this is tedious run-of-the-mill stuff, pretty much indistinguishable from dozens of other Euro-progsters of the time, only with impeccable English pronunciation.

Both Ulf Pettersson and bassist/vocalist Göran Fors (whom I once met - a lovely guy, despite his music) plays keys on the album, both playing analogue Oberheim polys, with Pettersson also using (his own) MiniMoog and Korg MS20, and a borrowed Mellotron (from where, I have no idea). Unsurprisingly, we're not exactly talking the heaviest use ever, with flutes in the quiet section of opener Lullaby, a little burst of strings in the lengthy Permanent Vacation (haven't we heard that title somewhere before?) and what I think are background strings and choir in Short Story, along with various digital recreations.

So; save your money, buy something else. Sorry, 'cos I know Galleon work hard, and now have a considerable back catalogue, but this is utterly derivative, and not even of anything good. The bulk of the keyboard work is tediously digital, and the band take no risks anywhere. Rubbish 'Tron, too.

Official site

Vincent Gallo  (US)

	When  (2001,  42.59)  ***½/TT½
	I Wrote This Song for the Girl   Paris Hilton When My Beautiful White Dog Was Honey Bunny Laura Cracks	Apple Girl Yes I'm Lonely A Picture of Her

	Recordings of Music for Film  (2002, recorded 1979-98,  59.21)  ***½/½
	Her Smell Theme The Girl of Her Dreams A Brown Lung Hollering The Way it is Waltz Glad to Be Unhappy Brown Storm Poem Good Bye Sadness, Hello Death Brown Daisies And a Colored Sky Colored Grey Fishing for Some Friends	Six Laughs Once Happy Sunny and Cloudy No More Papa Mama Fatty and Skinny Her Smell Theme (Reprise) Lonely Boy A Falling Down Billy Brown Drowning in Brown A Somewhere Place A Wet Cleaner	Sixteen Seconds Happy With Smiles & Smiles & Smiles A Cold and Grey Summer Day Brown 69 Dum Beet Me and Her Ass Fucker Ass Fucker (Reprise) I Think the Sun is Coming Out Now

Current availability:

• Both titles: Warp (UK)

Noted independent director/producer/screenwriter/artist/model/actor/musician Vincent Gallo seems to irritate and delight people in approximately equal numbers; notorious for his arrogant and vindictive pronouncements, he's nothing if not a 'character', and maintains several different careers simultaneously. What we're interested in here, of course, are his musical endeavours; he's played in bands since his teens in the '70s, including a stint with the not-yet-famous New York artist Jean Michel Basquiat, and while he's actually appeared on very few recordings, he's notorious 'round these parts for including material by both Yes and King Crimson on the soundtrack to his best-known production, Buffalo 66.

His first non soundtrack-related solo album, 2001's When, released on small-but-trendy UK label Warp, is a vinyl-length CD of windswept, haunted songs and instrumental pieces, ideally suited for films, strangely enough. He maintains the album's vibe pretty well for most of its length, but it does all get a bit wearing towards the end of the disc, to be honest; the last track, A Picture Of Her, with its out-of-tune-and-time guitar, is really quite unnecessary, though I'm sure Mr. Gallo would disagree. Gallo plays and sings everything on the album, proving himself reasonably competent at most of them, though his drumming leaves something to be desired, and although his tremulous voice may not be to everyone's taste, it actually suits this material perfectly.

Gallo is known as a Mellotron/Chamberlin owner, once boasting of having given a stupidly rare Chamby M4 to his friend Sean Lennon. It seems likely that he's using an M300 on this album; every sound used falls within the M300A tape set (there were two slightly different sets, A and B). A fractured flute melody opens the ridiculously-titled I Wrote This Song For The Girl Paris Hilton, with low strings (the M300's two violins) on My Beautiful White Dog and clunky vibes on Was. I'm assuming (maybe wrongly) it's M300 organ on Honey Bunny, which may or may not be inspired by either his band with Lukas Haas, Bunny, or his other well-known celluloid production, the infamous The Brown Bunny, which apparently caused some consternation at Cannes that year.

A year later, Gallo released another album on Warp, Recordings of Music for Film. Exactly what it says on the tin, this is his original soundtrack work to not only Buffalo 66, but also three early works, If You Feel Froggy, Jump ('79), Downtown '81 (er, '81) and 83's The Way It Is. All of them, even the late-'90s work, were recorded on low-tech gear; two-track reel-to-reels, various acoustic instruments and analogue keyboards. It seems Gallo has owned at least one Mellotron since the late '70s, although, unlike on When, he hasn't used it/them overmuch on his soundtrack work, to the point where I think that's M300 cellos, possibly treated, on The Way It Is Waltz, but I wouldn't actually swear to it.

One amusing/disturbing facet of this album is Gallo's sleevenotes. Six closely-typed pages of invective, where he manages to say nice things about precisely two people, while dismissing practically the entire female gender at a stroke, not to mention specific unpleasantnesses. Vincent Gallo makes interesting films and fascinating soundtracks, but you get the feeling you probably wouldn't want to spend an evening with him in the pub. Especially if you're a woman. Especially if you don't possess a B cup, as "I like B's", apparently, and he ain't talking Hammond organs. If Gallo isn't a total misanthropist, he's doing a good impression of one, but it has made for some interesting work. Hey, since when did 'normal' people make great art?

Anyway, these albums are very similar, proving that Gallo invented post-rock about 15 years early, and if you like low-fi, blasted weirdness, you'll probably love these. I quite like them myself, as you can see from my ratings above, but I doubt if I'll play them too often. They make me want to see his films, though, so they've achieved something. When is borderline 'worth it for the 'Tron', but Recordings, unless I'm missing a whole load of odd Mellotron work, is practically devoid of the instrument, despite Gallo's claims that it was used on all of the soundtracks contained within.

Official site

Unofficial site concentrating on Gallo's music

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