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Full Blown Possession (1997, 54.08) **½/0 |
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| Re-Entry Blues Fireflies Spaced Out Centuries Sweetest thing Happy Wickedthing Blood Thirsty Lovers |
Hours You Be the Stranger Cigarette Contact Me Now |
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I've seen the Grifters described as 'the kings of swampy blues/rock swagger', which just goes to prove that I obviously have no rock'n'roll in my soul, as I thought they were dull US indie. Actually, I'm of the opinion that I do have a bit rock'n'roll in my soul, prog leanings notwithstanding, which may be why the Grifters' brand of mid-paced pointlessness gets me down. It's not even that Full Blown Possession is awful. It isn't; it's just... dull.
Scott Taylor, one of the band's two vocalist/guitarists, allegedly plays Mellotron, but I'll be fucked if I can hear it. Extraordinarily background strings on Cigarette? Who knows. Nothing that I can pinpoint, anyway. So; dull record, no obvious 'Tron. No thanks.
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The Sound is in You (1998, 50.17/60.06) ****/TT½ |
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| Intro In Waking Dreams Ready and Waiting Morning Rain Every Minute A Piece of My Own Tomorrow Everything and All You Feel |
What I Believe is You Better World Games Down to the Wire Strange Bird What's in Your Mind We're Not Getting Through Inca |
[Reissue adds: Outro Lazy Day I Can Hear the Grass Grow] |
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Summer of a Thousand Years (2001, 57.37) ***½/TT |
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| Save My Life She Surrounds Me Rainy Day #3 Don't Look Over Your Shoulder Is it Showing Future Move Window Love's Lost on You |
Changed Life and Love, Times to Come Love That Never Ends Melancholia Moving Circle Summer of a Thousand Years |
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The Grip Weeds are named for John Lennon's character, Private Gripweed, in 1967's How I Won the War, which probably gives you some idea where they're coming from. Actually, their chief influence on their second album (they seem to record infrequently), 1998's The Sound is in You, is The Byrds, some of their harmonies being spot-on copies of McGuinn's mob, which isn't a criticism. Stylewise, the album' stuffed full of joyous powerpop with all the usual shimmering 12-strings, heavenly harmonies etc., some of the best tracks being Every Minute, Games and In Waking Dreams, although, in truth, there isn't one duffer here.
Just to heavily confuse the issue, the band reissued the album in 2003 with a completely rejigged tracklisting (the above order's the original), adding three bonus tracks. Andy Burton and Rick Reil play Mellotron, along with (confusingly) Chamberlin samples, which explains a couple of things, principally the strings on Intro (listen to those ropey pitchbends), repeated on Outro, although I've left the tracks highlighted, just in case. Hopefully, all the rest is genuine, with strings on In Waking Dreams, Tomorrow and Better World, plus flutes and cellos on Inca.
2001's Summer of a Thousand Years is ostensibly the same as its predecessor, only I feel the material is somehow marginally less transcendent, although the album's no slouch, top tracks including She Surrounds Me, Love's Lost On You and Moving Circle. Andy Burton handles the 'Tron chores on his own this time round, with strings on all the highlighted tracks above, mostly to good effect.
There's a third Grip Weeds 'Tron album, 2004's Giant on the Beach, which I shall review when I get to hear a copy, plus the sample-only Strange Change Machine, reviewed here. As far as these two go, I have to rate The Sound is in You over Summer of a Thousand Years both musically and Mellotronically, which isn't to say the latter's a bad album in any way. Recommended.
See: Samples
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The Grits (2008, 34.57) ***/½ |
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| Ug Ug Aah Tramp Boom Boom Chickin Pi It Ain't Easy Being Greasy Jan Jan Hamhock Crazy Legs |
Funky Soul Brother No Man's Land |
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Not to be confused with the 'Christian rap duo' (spare us), The Grits are a British authentic '60s soul/R&B outfit, whose eponymous 2008 debut consists of slightly over half an hour of groovy instrumentals, funky Hammond to the fore. While not for everyone, I can see this stuff going down a storm in a sweaty club, even if it's been decades since people regularly went out to dance to a real, live band.
Stuart Carter plays Mellotron, but only just; the only place it even might be is on closer No Man's Land, with some deep cello (actually double bass) notes and a few pitchbent somethings. The Grits is a fine debut, if slightly one-dimensional. Still, better no vocals than some egotistical twat spouting nonsense all over the place, eh? Worth hearing for soul aficionados, but don't bother for the Mellotron.
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Veckatimest (2009, 52.20) ***/TT |
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| Southern Point Two Weeks All We Ask Fine for Now Cheerleader Dory Ready, Able About |
Hold Still While You Wait for the Others I Live With You Foreground |
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Grizzly Bear are difficult to categorise, which is probably a good thing. Jazz-folk? Psych-Americana? Elements of all those styles and more infiltrate their third album, 2009's Veckatimest, named for a small, uninhabited island in the Cape Cod area, apparently. It's the sort of record people grow to love, full of heavenly harmonies, unusual instrumentation and emotional honesty (did I hear someone say Beach Boys?), although I'm afraid to say, it has yet to grow fully on me. Don't get me wrong; it's a good record, but possibly not as good as people think it is, or as good as it thinks it is itself.
An uncredited someone (most likely Ed Droste) plays the Mellotron they found in an old studio up in the Catskills, one of three recording locations for the album. Three obvious tracks, with wobbly cellos on All We Ask, choking to a halt at the end of the song, proving the machine's veracity, muted flutes on Cheerleader and finally, some very pre-war-sounding flutes opening I Live With You, with cellos later on. I have to say, it's nice to hear a definitely real machine being used by a young band; I'm sick to death of the rampant sample use (for other keyboards, too) that has almost become the norm these days. Go the extra mile. Use real gear.
Anyway, a reasonable album that may or may not grow on me, with some nice, genuine Mellotron. Quite possibly worth an hour of your time.
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Illuminations (2010, 49.52) */0 |
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| The Wandering Kind (Prelude) Bells of New York City Galileo (Someone Like You) L'Ora dell'Addio Hidden Away Au Jardin des Sans-Pourquoi Higher Window If I Walk Away |
Love Only Knows Você Existe Em Mim War at Home London Hymn Straight to You |
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Josh Groban is a startlingly mainstream American singer of the 'multi-million sales' variety; to no-one's surprise whatsoever, I hate him. 2010's Illuminations is his fifth album, which, amazingly, starts passably well with the instrumental The Wandering Kind (Prelude), but quickly deteriorates, Groban's 'posh pub singer' vocals and the cheesy arrangements dragging the whole thing down into a mire of horrid Lloyd-Webberisms and other mock-Broadway schlock.
Shockingly, this drivel's produced by the legendary Rick Rubin; hey, we all have to make a living, eh? I don't know if it was Rubin's decision to add a Mellotron (played by Andrew Scheps) to the already-cluttered arrangement on War At Home, but whatever it's doing is, unsurprisingly, completely inaudible under the layers of credited orchestra and choir. Pointless. In pact, pointless and horrible.
Grobschnitt (Germany) see: |
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7" (1969) **½/½The Wind Play That Song |
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The Groove were a medium-successful Aussie soul group of the late '60s who, like so many others, made the trip to London, funding it from the proceeds gained by winning a major battle of the bands-style competition back home. The Wind was their last single (of six) released under their original name, although one more appeared with them billed as Eureka Stockade. It's a rather overblown ballad, slightly reminiscent of The Tremeloes from a year or two earlier, backed by the respectable rock'n'roll of Play That Song.
Presumably keyboard player Tweed Harris adds Mellotron to the A-side, though only towards the end, with a string part that doubles the Hammond chords running through the song. The A-side was included on Rubble 14, now apparently included in the Rubble 11-20 box set, but I don't know if the flip's available anywhere - all information welcome. But do you want to hear it? Do you like Aussie '60s pop? Then yes. No? Draw your own conclusion.
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Presenting Winston Groovy (1974, 33.26) **½/T |
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| Hot Blooded Man People So Easy What Good is Life Things Scientist Please Don't Make Me Cry Wheel and Jig |
Give a Little Love Sing and Dance Let Me Be There Fall in Love |
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Winston "Groovy" Tucker moved to the UK from Jamaica in 1961, relocating to London at the end of that decade; although he'd been involved in music for a while, like many Caribbean artists, he concentrated on singles, explaining why his first album, Presenting Winston Groovy, didn't appear until 1974. It's a long way from The Wailers' revolutionary reggae, veering far closer to the pop end of the spectrum, the sleeve portraying Groovy as more of a Johnny Nash-style crooner than a dreadlocked warrior. The material's decent enough for what it is, many songs embellished with Clavinet or rudimentary synth parts, although it's hardly the kind of thing that sets the world alight these days.
An unknown session man played Mellotron on a re-recording of Groovy's 1970 hit, Please Don't Make Me Cry, with a pseudo-orchestral string part, although the strings and brass on the soul/reggae Scientist are real. Fans of '70s pop/reggae may well go for this, although I can't imagine anyone else getting too hot under the collar about it, either for the music or the Mellotron.
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Who Will Save the World? The Mighty Groundhogs! (1972, 35.40) ****/TT½Earth is Not Room EnoughWages of Peace Body in Mind Music is the Food of Thought Bog Roll Blues Death of the Sun Amazing Grace The Grey Maze |
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Hogwash (1972, 39.04) ***½/TT½I Love Miss OgynyYou Had a Lesson The Ringmaster 3744 James Road Sad is the Hunter S'one Song Earth Shanty Mr Hooker, Sir John |
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Solid (1974) ***½/TTLight My LightFree From All Alarm Sins of the Father Sad Go Round Corn Cob Plea Sing, Plea Song Snow Storm Joker's Grave |
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On Air 1970-1972 (1998, recorded 1970-72, 73.30) ***½/TT |
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| Garden Eccentric Man Split, Part 1 Split, Part 2 Mistreated I Love Miss Ogyny You Had a Lesson Earth Shanty |
3744 James Road Sad is the Hunter Split, Part 4 Cherry Red |
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The Groundhogs had been together since the late '60s, and leader Tony 'T.S.' McPhee was already something of an old blues warhorse even then. They're best remembered for albums such as Thank Christ for the Bomb and the seminal Split, where they redefined blues rock, adding a stoned psych/jamming ambience to it, before discovering progressive rock and heading in another direction. Who Will Save the World? The Mighty Groundhogs! is a pretty good album, if beginning to show its age somewhat, although its cartoon sleeve still amuses and sadly, is still quite relevant today. Ever the iconoclast, T.S. had bought himself a Mellotron and an ARP 2600, in sharp contrast to his blues contemporaries' organ and piano, and proceeded to make good use of them both, although I'm assured it's actually a hired-in MkII on this album (thanks, Chris).
I have to say, there's not a bad track on the album, although Bog Roll Blues (toilet paper, for the non-Brits out there) is probably slightly unnecessary, and I'm not sure there was really much point in a guitar and harmonium version of Amazing Grace, although it's far from bad. The Grey Maze is a pretty cool stretched-out piece, though, and they don't put a foot wrong anywhere on side one. As far as the 'Tron's concerned, Earth Is Not Room Enough (title adapted from a Robert A.Heinlein story) is full-on progressive blues, with a repeating Mellotron string line, although I don't know how McPhee can have played this live. Music Is The Food Of Thought has a flute melody, alternating with brass chords, and Wages Of Peace has a weird, unidentified sound which has to be 'Tron, as McPhee's only credited with 'guitar, Mellotron and harmonium'. Oboes, maybe? Hard to say. Anyway, a good album, albeit rather bluesy.
Wasting no time at all, The Groundhogs released Hogwash later that same year. Sticking to their new progressive blues template, they produced another good album in a similar vein to its predecessor, although I detect slightly more jamming, possibly to fill a quickly-recorded follow-up. On the 'Tron front, You Had A Lesson has some nice string chords, double-tracked with brass at one point, but the album's other Mellotronic track is most certainly its highlight. Earth Shanty opens with wave sounds from McPhee's ARP 2600, before a strong 'Tron strings part, lasting some time, leads into the main part of the track. Further along, a cello line underpins the acoustic guitar, and some brass chords ride over the top. Excellent.
Two years on, Solid's another, er, solid record, despite now sounding rather dated. As on its predecessors, the band sound (to my ears, anyway) at their best when they're at their furthest from the blues, taking the style somewhere else. Light My Light and Plea Sing, Plea Song are particularly good examples, although I'm personally less keen on the twisted acoustic blues of Corn Cob. Only two Mellotron tracks this time (and full instrumental credits on the lyric sheet): Sins Of The Father has an excellent string part, as has Snow Storm, making you wonder why ol' T.S. didn't use it more often. His synth use is pretty damn' good, too; maybe they should've got themselves a full-time keyboard player? Now, I know the Groundhogs used their 'Tron live; what's the chances of an official live album from this era?
Well, to answer that semi-rhetorical question, in 1998, Strange Fruit released On Air 1970-1972, although I've only just picked up on it, over a decade later. It seems to consist of sets from those two years, with the earlier one concentrating on the then-new Split and the latter on Hogwash, with a couple of Split tracks thrown in for good measure. The performances are great all round, but I have to assume the 1970 recordings were a studio session, given the two guitar parts, although the '72 stuff's definitely live. Mellotronically speaking, about halfway through You Had A Lesson, the guitar drops out for a few moments, then McPhee cuts in with the studio version's major 'Tron strings part, followed by brass, before he goes back to guitar. Earth Shanty opens with ARP 2600 wind, as in the studio, followed by 'Tron strings, before the song 'proper' kicks in. A lengthy brass part later on shifts into strings, then to flutes, giving us a nice overview of the contents on McPhee's M400. There's little here that you won't hear on the studio versions, but it is nice to have live takes of the tracks...
So; three good albums and an archive release, assuming you like their take on progressive blues. Good 'Tron work all round, although not that much of it. Best track? Earth Shanty - no contest.
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37 Minutes of Group Therapy (1969, 34.08) ***/TT½ |
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| Remember What You Said Wait River Deep, Mountain High A Very Happy Day I Got to Live Can't Stop Lovin' You Baby I Must Go Cheer up Baby |
Willie I Can't Believe it |
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One of several '60s bands of that name, this Group Therapy recorded two albums at the end of the decade, 1968's People Get Ready for... and the following year's 37 Minutes of... (despite actually only being 34 minutes long). Their schtick was Vanilla Fudge-alike heavy psych workouts, including their mentors' propensity for rocked-up covers, notably their take on Ike & Tina Turner/Phil Spector's River Deep, Mountain High, although most of the album's material is in a similar vein. To be brutally honest, it hasn't really dated that well, given that it's essentially a copy of The Fudge, who in turn couldn't really be said to sound particularly contemporary. Best track? Probably the driving hard rock/psych of Willie
Given the time and place of recording, it seems likely that organist Jerry Guida's tape-replay work is Chamberlin, with a clicky brass part on opener Remember What You Said and a minor string part on I Must Go, leaving his coups de grâce for Wait and Can't Stop Lovin' You Baby, with full-on strings parts to rival anything else being done at the time in those (relatively) pre-Mellotron days in the States.
So; you're not going to find this one too easily, unless you go the blogspot route. But is it worth it? If you're going to pay good money, probably not, although the Chamby work is pretty good, probably comparable to Birmingham Sunday, although in a less ubiquitous manner.
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White Flag (2005, 45.22) *½/½ |
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| What's Wrong With This World Sad Song Amen White Flag Crave Hummingbird Heaven Hang on Bless the Lord |
Only My Peace Has Broken Out Narrow |
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I'll tell you all you need to know about Shaun Groves in three words: Modern. Rock. Christianity. White Flag (so to whom are you surrendering, you wuss? OK, don't tell me) combines upbeat stuff like opener What's Wrong With This World or Hummingbird with Coldplay-lite (!) (Amen, Bless The Lord) or gloomy acoustic stuff (Heaven Hang On, Narrow), all to little effect, all smothered in Groves' awful, whiny voice. However, the album's major failing for those of us not in thrall to an imaginary deity is its lyrical content: fuck me, why can't Christians get their heads out of their arses for long enough to write about something REAL? OK, I know perfectly well that to them, their weird fantasy world is real, but the rest of us just find it a scary place where American presidents can use phrases like 'the reality-based world' with not a hint of irony. Fucking terrifying.
Mellotron from Mellotronist To The Christian Community John (Mark) Painter, with some so-so strings on Sad Song, which means I listened to the other eleven tracks on this album for absolutely no reason, which I resent. What a horrid album. You seriously don't need its minor 'Tron use, and you need its anodyne music and tedious lyrical content even less. Avoid.
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2001 Keys: Piano Conclave (1974, 35.28) ***½/TFlight 6-2A-A5For Dennis They're Coming, They're Coming Suite for Harold (Dedicated to Harold Rhodes) Intermission |
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The excellently-named George Gruntz appears to have been the leader of a Swiss keyboard jazz conglomerate, Piano Conclave, with no fewer than six different players on their debut, 1974's 2001 Keys (just look at that sleeve...). To run through them quickly, Gruntz, Fritz Pauer, Gordon Beck, Jasper Van't Hof, Joachim Kühn and Martial Solal all play electric piano, with all but Van't Hof on acoustic, too. Gruntz and Pauer play harpsichord and synth, Beck plays organ and Van't Hof Mellotron. It's a rather 'out there' '70s fusion album, basically, heavy on the atonality and bonkers Rhodes work, with, unsurprisingly, several different keyboards playing at once in places. Prog fans may find that they prefer the lengthy Intermission to the rest of the album, although it has its dissonant moments, too.
Vant'Hof's Mellotron strings turn up on two tracks, with a handful of atonal chords on For Dennis, then some of the fastest playing I've ever heard from one on They're Coming, They're Coming. Believe me, you're not going to find this easily, and unless you're a dedicated fusion fan who prefers his jazz on the weird side, you're probably best off not bothering. Given my limited knowledge of the genre, it sounds good at what it does, but there ain't a lot of 'Tron work, so don't go paying a fortune for this. Incidentally, there was one more Piano Conclave album (that I know of), the following year's more straightforwardly jazzy Palais Anthology (***½), but although Van't Hof's on it, there's no 'Tron.
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Public (1998, 51.08) **/½ |
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| Hello Aquarius Wisdom Bus Summerlong Death is a New Day Phonecall 45 Acid The Good You Make Your Sort of Human Being |
The End July 89 Days of Alcatraz This Mad |
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Asianblue (2002, 39.10) **/T½ |
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| Symphonic Beautiful Things Northern Holiday Free Young Rebel Siamese Star Lonestar Christopher |
Divine Like You East Coast Angel Green Goodnight |
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Emm Gryner is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose career kicked off when her second self-released album, 1996's The Original Leap Year caught the ear of producer Warren Bruleigh. Within three years, she'd released several major-label records, toured supporting several big names and played in David Bowie's band, which isn't bad going for a newcomer. Although Stuart Brawley is credited with Mellotron on The Original Leap Year, not only is it nowhere to be heard, but I seem to recall running across a mention of a fake credit, although I can't find it now.
The first of said major-label efforts, Public, appeared in 1998, overproduced to within an inch of its life, not that its insipid songs were ever going to sound particularly radical. Sadly, I struggle to find something nice to say about this record; OK, Gryner sounds like she really means it, which is more than you can say for a lot of her contemporaries, and she plays a mean Wurly on several tracks, which doesn't really go that far in the 'albums I like' stakes. She also plays Mellotron, with a minor flute part on The Good You Make, although that would appear to be your lot.
Several albums on, Emm's back on her own label for 2002's Asianblue (she's half Filipina), Dead Daisy, although her style still sits firmly in the 'mainstream pop/rock' category. This time round, I can actually pick a 'best track': Christopher, nicely underproduced, just piano and voice. No, it's not a classic, but it's the least irritating thing here. More of Gryner's 'Tron this time round, with strings and flutes on opener Symphonic and strings on Free and Lonestar; nice to hear, though nothing you haven't heard before.
I'm sorry to be so hard on Ms Gryner's work, but it really is at the lighter end of a light genre. Look on the bright side - she could've opted to write (if 'write' is a suitable word) so-called 'R'n'B'. This is, amazingly, vastly preferable. And in case you feel the need to hear her Mellotron work, go for Asianblue over Public.
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Raindance (1975, 40.53) ****/TDown the DogRaindance Mother Nature's Son 'Le Cambrioleur est Dans le Mouchoir' Ormolu Fontinental Version Wallbanger Don't Say Go (Ein Klein) Heldenleben |
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Treason (1977, 37.31) ****/TSpring SongRound & Round Flash in the Pantry Falero Lady Snakes and Ladders Fall of the Leaf Major Disaster |
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About as Curious as it Can Be (2002, recorded 1974-75, 54.23) ****/TRenaissance Dance MedleyMidnight Mushrumps Ethelion Wallbanger The Last Flash of Gaberdine Tailor Le Cambrioleur est Dans le Mouchoir Ein Klein Heldenleben Jigs |
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Gryphon were formed in the early '70s as an attempt to recreate early English musical forms, in which (in my opinion) they were rather more successful than, say, Amazing Blondel or Magna Carta. Their debut, Gryphon (1973, ****) sticks pretty closely to their original manifesto, but by their second outing, Midnight Mushrumps (1974, ****), they'd caught the prog bug, and created a fascinating fusion of the two styles, with medieval instrumentation mixed in with the contemporary. Red Queen to Gryphon Three (****) (you may know it for its fantastic cover art) moved further towards the prog 'mainstream', and by the time they released Raindance they were essentially a progressive band with medieval flourishes.
Raindance opens with a synth and clavinet part that would have been completely out the question three, or even two albums earlier. Krumhorn/recorder/keyboard player Richard Harvey had moved across mainly to keys by this point, proving it with inventive arrangements and excellent playing (Royal College of Music, I believe); I suspect their US support tour with Yes may have had a lot to do with this... The songwriting is excellent, fitting perfectly into the 'very British' school of prog, with common themes cropping up on different tracks; compare the title track to (Ein Klein) Heldenleben, for example. The band's medievalisms show up on the more acoustic material, like Ormolu, or the cover of the Beatles' Mother Nature's Son, complete with recorders and Brian Gulland's bassoon, but they tend to be more the exception than the rule by this point. Harvey's Mellotron only turns up on a couple of tracks, with a short string part toward the end of Fontinental Version and strings dipping in and out of the album's pièce de resistance, the sixteen-minute instrumental (Ein Klein) Heldenleben, harking back slightly towards Red Queen.
Treason turned out to be Gryphon's last album; sunk by punk, no doubt, like so many of their second division contemporaries (which is no slur on the quality of the music). It's about as near the 'mainstream' as the band ever got, which isn't that near, but the song structures are certainly more conventional (read: mostly shorter), but without sacrificing their customary invention in the process. There's some excellent material, including Spring Song and Major Disaster, but once again, very little Mellotron. Rather like Raindance, there's a little strings towards the end of two tracks, but it's extremely spare use for a band who would appear to have owned their own machine.
In 2002, a CD of two BBC In Concert tapes from 1974 and '75 suddenly turned up, titled About as Curious as it Can Be, from the gryphon in Alice (and no, I didn't know that offhand; that's what sleevenotes are for...). Apart from the rather dodgy mixes (only stereo masters have survived), these sound great, with two otherwise unavailable tracks in Renaissance Dance Medley and Jigs (both pretty much as you'd expect). The rest of the material is from Midnight Mushrumps and Raindance, and is all performed excellently; 'with gusto', in fact. Richard Harvey's keyboard rig had obviously expanded exponentially by 1975, and you can hear the Mellotron parts on Ein Klein Heldenleben reproduced faithfully on stage, but that's it on the 'Tron front for this one. To prove the tapes' authenticity (as if you'd need to), you can hear what sounds like a mic falling over on the track at around the four-minute mark. So; well worth the purchase for Gryphon fans, but minimal Mellotron.
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Great Sage, Equal of Heaven (2001, 41.12) ****½/T½Mountain of the Five ElementsBlessed Albania Zero for Conduct Five Cornered Square Ten Years of Heisei Sakura Perfect Blue El Topo |
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Five Suns (2004, 61.48) ****½/TTTFive SunsMictlan Topan |
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Black Oni (2005, 44.34) ****/T½Black Oni |
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Well, I'm not entirely sure I should be reviewing this at all, due to personal bias; Guapo was my brother Matt's band, and I actually guest on Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, playing MiniMoog for all of thirty seconds on the last track, El Topo. For all that, it's an extremely good album; all instrumental, lots of bass, lots of drums, bits of guitar, keys and sax. They performed live as a two-piece at the time, just bass and drums, but various people helped out in the studio, as did the modern marvel of multitracking...
Bassist Matt Thompson credits himself with 'bass and electronics' on the sleeve, but he actually plays practically all the keys himself, including my Mellotron on Mountain Of The Five Elements (in one take, fact fans). The track slowly builds, including a killer ascending strings part on the 'Tron, rising to a crescendo of multi-overdubbed keyboards. Hard-hitting, but, er, rather wonderful actually! My personal favourite track is the album closer (nothing to do with my involvement, either), but the whole thing's worth hearing, as long as you can handle a bit of serious intensity.
Although recorded in 2002, a sought-after deal with US weird progsters Cuneiform delayed the release of Five Suns until early 2004, adding two shorter tracks to the original album-long effort in the process. The band had expanded to a trio by this point, adding keys/guitar man Daniel O'Sullivan, which must make this something like their fifth different instrumental setup in eight years... Dan adds hugely to the band's sound, and the band have 'progressified' all round, with drummer Dave Smith adding a gong to his kit, extensive use of my vintage gear in the studio, not to mention Dan's new Fender Rhodes. Five Suns itself is 45 minutes long, broken into five sections purely for the CD, and it's more Magma-influenced mayhem, with Smith's drumming (and gurning) having only become wilder since Great Sage. The piece's Main Riff is superb; a grinding, Mellotron-driven, bass-heavy zeuhl-fest to rival the masters themselves. The 'Tron (all strings) dips in and out of the piece, along with occasional bursts of Hammond, MiniMoog and Taurus pedals, although the Rhodes is the album's chief keyboard, heard to even better effect on the two later compositions, along with 'Tron strings and flutes on Mictlan. Superb.
Black Oni, again recorded some time earlier, finally appeared in spring 2005 on ex-Faith No More Mike Patton's Ipecac imprint. Described as 'the second in a trilogy', it shows the band at their best, although it's their first release to sound anything like its predecessor; I imagine a stable lineup helps. It's extremely difficult to assess properly on one listen, but it seems to lack the central riff that made Five Suns such a joy, while otherwise not sounding dissimilar to it, but suffice to say, if you like their sound, you won't be disappointed. Rather less Mellotron this time round, too, with strings and choirs towards the end of the piece.
What was I saying about a stable lineup? After over ten years, my brother's left his own band. C'est la vie. They've produced one album since his departure, 2008's sprawling Elixirs, Mellotron credited, but a) sampled and b) inaudible. Anyway, Great Sage and its worthy predecessor, the sadly-'Tronless Hirohito (****) should still be available from Pandemonium while stocks last, but Five Suns and Black Oni should be easy to find, with (at last!) some sort of worldwide distribution. Anyway, all titles recommended, nepotism notwithstanding. Buy.
p.s. Have a look at the reviews for Matt's new project, Rashomon.
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Bottle Rocket (1997, 50.30) **/TT |
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| Are We Feeling Comfortable Yet? Bottle Rocket Coffee Can Revelation What Does it Take? Babble on Blue Light Special Break Me Down |
The Water is Fine My Queen Esther Hell to Pay Fear the Auctioneer Harder Than it Seems Salvation |
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Myrrh? Aren't they a Christian label? Yup... Guardian were that most incongruous of genre-clashes, a Christian metal band, heavily influenced by the entirely ludicrous Stryper, with whom they toured in 1992. All the Christian music I've heard has one thing in common: the message is more important than the medium. As a result, Guardian swung with the wind, incorporating R'n'B elements in the early '90s, sounding more like a several-years-too-late grunge outfit by their last release, 1997's Bottle Rocket. Musically, it veers between the genuine heaviosity of the likes of Blue Light Special and Salvation, and more insipid, 'radio-friendly' material like Revelation and What Does It Take?, none of which is especially appealing if you're not interested in the lyrics.
Mellotron-player-to-the Christian-community John Mark Painter is credited with Mellotron on the title track, My Queen Esther and Hell To Pay, so what exactly are we hearing on Coffee Can? Mellotron strings, that's what. Anyway, full-on strings on Queen Esther and Hell To Pay, although the strings on the title track are apparently combined with real ones. I'm tempted to think (careful with that temptation, Thompson - there's Christians about) that it's a misprunt, and the credit's actually meant to be for Coffee Can. Incidentally, I don't know what produces the cello on What Does It Take?, either, but without proof, I feel disinclined to highlight it.
So; watered-down Christian metal. Oh joy. This album isn't entirely horrible, but it's pretty bloody dull, with too little Mellotron to really be worth bothering with. Pass.
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Isolation Drills (2001, 47.10) ***½/T |
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| Fair Touching Skills Like This Chasing Heather Crazy Frostman Twilight Campfighter Sister I Need Wine Want One? The Enemy |
Unspirited Glad Girls Run Wild Pivotal Film How's My Drinking? The Brides Have Hit Glass Fine to See You Privately |
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Robert Pollard's Guided By Voices epitomised the US low-fi scene throughout the '80s and '90s, although their sound became more 'professional' in the years prior to their split in 2004. Isolation Drills is their 13th album, including several very limited home-made efforts, and sounds to my ears like no more or less than a well-crafted powerpop album, albeit one with more originality than most in the genre. The songwriting's good throughout, highlights probably being opener Fair Touching, Twilight Campfighter and Glad Girls, the latter apparently nominated as 'pot song of the year' by notorious weed-fan mag High Times.
Mellotron (real? Who knows?) on Unspirited, with a decent string part, possibly from Pollard, with a couple of other is it?/isn't it? moments in the background strings on The Enemy and the flutes and strings on closer Privately, although these could all easily be generic sounds. So; a good album of memorable powerpop, more distinctive than most practitioners of the Art Of Rickenbacker. I have no idea how it stands up to the rest of their catalogue, never mind Pollard's various other projects (he is alleged to have written over 1000 songs), but it seems to do pretty well on its own, if you ask me. Worth hearing, though not necessarily for the Mellotron.
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Isaac Guillory (1974, 31.18) ***/½ |
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| St. Peter Staying Awhile Brusselles Steamboat Sidewalks of America The Carbondale Strutt Movin' on Ice Cream Phoenix |
El Jadida Karma Blues |
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Isaac Guillory is often mistaken for a Brit, as he based his career here from around 1970 onwards, though he was born at the naval base at the now-infamous Guantánamo Bay, in Cuba, and was brought up in the States from the age of eleven. After a spell in The Cryan' Shames, he moved to Europe and began playing acoustically, becoming known as a bit of a 'guitarist's guitarist', releasing albums sporadically up until his untimely death on new year's eve, 2000. Isaac Guillory (sometimes erroneously known as 'Side One', after its rather poor sleeve design) was his first solo album, mixing together the various acoustic styles Guillory had assimilated up to that point. His vocals, while better than, say, his contemporary Gordon Giltrap's, are only slightly above perfunctory, but his playing is excellent, particularly on The Carbondale Strutt and El Jadida. Don't think of this as a guitarist's album, though; it's more about songwriting, with occasional flashes of fiery playing amongst the more ordinary acoustic backdrop of the bulk of the record.
I can't work out if the astounding cheapness of the cover was a deliberate, 'arty' ploy, or exactly what it looks like: an artwork budget somewhere in minus figures. Each side features the same, unsmiling picture of Guillory, surrounded by a large red ring emblazoned with the side number. A narrow blue edging lists production credits, with tracks and musicians' credits being found to either side of Guillory's pic. Very cheap, very nasty. Side two lists Guillory's own credits, managing to misspell his name as 'Gillory' in the process. Aside from vocals, guitar and bass, he's also credited with ARP and Mellotron, although the latter can only be obviously heard as a background flute part on Staying Awhile, with the flutes on Ice Cream Phoenix being real, although I wouldn't swear that the background part isn't 'Tron, too.
Anyway, this is a pleasant enough album, although slightly unengaging, and not really a patch on Giltrap's work of the period. It sounds to me as though he would've liked to let rip a little more, but record company constraints made the album more of a singer-songwriter effort, though I could be barking completely up the wrong tree. It seems that nine of its ten tracks are available on Personal's 1997 compilation, The Atlantic Years, 1973-1974, with only the brief Karma Blues missing, making it all the more odd than they chopped it off. Not bad, not great, your choice.
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Revolution on Ice... (1994, 42.05) ***½/T |
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| Revolution on the Rocks Free Grazin' With a Little Rain Nights on Fire Whatcha Gonna Do? Breath Away Gone to the Moon It Ain't Nothin' |
Read the News The Boat Race Trudge She's as Beautiful as a Foot |
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Gumball were a pretty raucous bunch, going by their third (and last studio) album, Revolution on Ice.... It fuses hard rock, punk and even powerpop into what was by then known as grunge, I suppose, although they predate the style by a year or two. In retrospect, they weren't really doing anything new, but they did it with such verve that it seems churlish to mark them down for unoriginality. Top tracks include Revolution On The Rocks, Free Grazin' and Breath Away, but the album's pinnacle is its closing track, their note-perfect version of the Blue Öyster Cult's She's As Beautiful As A Foot; these guys know their stuff - how often does anyone cover BÖC and not tackle (Don't Fear) The Reaper, usually badly? (See: the on/off excellent Big Country). And Albert Bouchard sings on it! Result.
Mellotron on one track, from keys man Malcolm Riviera, with strings all over Gone To The Moon, although that seems to be your lot, depending on what produces the repeating keyboard line in Trudge. To be honest, unless you're into the noisier end of things, you probably aren't going to go for this, but it does what it does well, although its highpoint isn't the 'Tron use, but the BÖC cover.
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The Joy of Molybdenum (2000, 47.02) ***½/½ |
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| The Joy of Molybdenum The Glove Hard Winds Redux Rune Song: The Origin of Water Untune the Sky Sozzle Gate of Dreams |
Brief Encounter Tehlikeli Madde |
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Trey Gunn was a member of King Crimson for a good decade until late 2004, playing Warr Guitar (a Stick variant); his fifth album, 2000's The Joy of Molybdenum, is a strange record, instrumental, with far more 'ethnic' influence than you might expect, particularly in the percussion department. I'll freely admit it didn't really grab me, although there's nothing wrong with the music at all, so I can't really pick out highlights.
Gunn credits himself with Mellotron, amongst other things (no, no idea where he got hold of one), but unless my ears are heavily deceiving me, all I can hear is a quick burst of background choirs on Brief Encounter, barely making for even a half-'T', to be honest. So; decent enough record, if the idea of a more ethnic and less full-on Crimson appeals to you, but don't bother for the 'Tron.
See: King Crimson
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Chinese Democracy (2008, 71.20) ***/½ |
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| Chinese Democracy Shackler's Revenge Better Street of Dreams If the World There Was a Time Catcher in the Rye Scraped |
Riad n'the Bedouins Sorry I.R.S. Madagascar This I Love Prostitute |
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For the handful of you unaware of the furore surrounding the amusingly grammar-free Guns N'Roses' Chinese Democracy, the story goes something like this: recording begins in 1994, members leave, arrive, leave and arrive again, millions of dollars' worth of studio time are consumed, rock trends come and go, some leaving their mark on proceedings. The album takes over from Boston's Third Stage (for the handful who even remember it) as 'most anticipated album ever', making that record's mere eight years' gestation look like a drop in the ocean in comparison. Release dates start being mooted in 2006 and the album finally creeps out of its lair in November 2008, fourteen years after recording started, and seventeen years after the band's last album of new material, the obscenely bloated Use Your Illusion sets.
So after all that, is it any good? Well, the rock press all masturbated furiously en masse at the thought of getting their hands on the actual artefact, but then, they all seem to think Velvet Revolver had something to offer the world. As a non-Guns fan (yes, they do exist), I can say that it's... a perfectly ordinary late-'00s metal album, a bit dated, with a dearth of particularly memorable material, but then, Appetite for Destruction's the only G N'R album to feature any halfway decent songs, and I didn't like them either. For once, I can't complain at the album's 70-minute length, as after fourteen years, I expect at least six hours of releasable material, so I'm hoping this is the cream of the sessions, not their entire product. Basically, there's a reasonable level of diversity on the album, although the huge number of musicians contributing to each track serve only to clutter the mixes and knacker any chance the album may have at consistency. Listen, you can read hundreds of reviews of the music elsewhere on the 'Net, from people who actually like the thing and are familiar with the band's work, so I'm leaving this one here. For what it's worth, the one track that grabbed me in any way was Sorry, which has a slow-burn feel to it and a nice, bluesy guitar solo instead of the album's usual fretwank.
Chris Pitman, one of two keyboard players who seem to have lasted the course during the recording process, apparently adds Mellotron to There Was A Time, but alongside the real and synthesized orchestrations on the track, it's impossible to tell what it might actually be doing, although doubling some of the strings seems the likeliest option. All in all, then, not what you'd call a 'Tron album, although I'm sure it'll sell by the bucket(head)load to Guns fans, assuming they don't all download it for free first. I don't think you need me to tell you that if you don't like what they do, you REALLY aren't going to like this record.
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Parachute (1995, 43.36) **½/T |
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| Fall in Two Mona Lisa Love for Me Window Eden Scars & Stitches The Prize Dissolve |
Cocoon Happy Frappy Parachute |
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Keep it Together (2003, 48.16) **½/T |
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| Diane Careful Amsterdam Backyard Homecoming King Ramona Jesus on the Radio Keep it Together |
Come Downstairs & Say Hello Red Oyster Cult Long Way Down I Hope Tomorrow is Like Today Two at a Time |
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In many ways, Guster typify US wet'n'windy indie (ha!), with their 'two acoustics and harmonies' approach. Of course, that can work brilliantly, but in Guster's case it all falls a bit flat, largely due to their insipid approach to the style and shoddy rhythm work, although it's better than many UK indie bands, to be fair. 1995's Parachute was their debut and fails to hold my interest, I'm afraid. It's not all bad, but whiny vocals and limp musicianship do not a great album make. A certain Mike D. plays Chamberlin, with solo cellos on Dissolve, flutes on Cocoon and more cellos on Parachute, but nothing outstanding, to be honest.
Eight years and three albums later, 2003's Keep it Together has more of a band feel, but isn't honestly any better than Parachute. The title of Red Oyster Cult made me smile, but has no obvious references to the band in question, either musically or lyrically. Ron Aniello plays Mellotron this time round, with near-inaudible flutes but perfectly audible strings on the title track and string and flute parts on the bonus track, Two At A Time. Nice, but inessential. The albums themselves are pretty inessential, too, unless bland US indie happens to be your thang. Not much tape-replay work, either, so nothing to get excited about here. Move along.
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Saturnalia (2008, 51.05) ***/TT½ |
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| The Stations God's Children All Misery/Flowers The Body Idle Hands Circle the Fringes |
Who Will Lead Us? Seven Stories Underground I Was in Love With You Bête Noire Each to Each Front Street |
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The Gutter Twins are yet another Greg Dulli project, this time a collaboration with his separated-at-birth cojoined twin, Mark Lanegan. As you'd expect, 2008's Saturnalia is an intense, virtual ride on the wheel of death, tracks like opener The Stations and Each To Each beating you into submission, only slightly alleviated by the gentler (I use the term advisedly) likes of The Body and Seven Stories Underground.
Dulli and co-Twilight Singer Mathias Schneeberger play Mellotron, with distant strings on The Body and Idle Hands, cellos and strings on Circle The Fringes, brass and most upfront strings on Each To Each and more of those eerie, strident strings on closer Front Street. I think I can wholeheartedly recommend this to fans of Dulli's and Lanegan's work, although the rest of us may wish to be a little more cautious.
See: Greg Dulli | Mark Lanegan | Twilight Singers
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Soy (2001, 37.09) **½/T |
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| Diablo De Verdad Quiero Vivir Volveré a Amar Caramelo Todo Vagabundo Corazón Soy Tu Lluvia |
Abrázame Labios de Fuego |
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I don't really feel qualified to review anything by Alejandra Guzmán; she plays a kind of Latin pop/rock that sits way outside my normal listening parameters, not even bearing that much reference to the mainstream stuff the US spews up on a daily basis. She's apparently known as 'The Queen of Rock' in Latin America and, indeed, her ninth album, Soy, recorded in Miami, has a level of rock input, not least Tyler and Perry from Aerosmith on Vagabundo Corazón and a ripping Joe Satriani solo on closer Labios De Fuego, which isn't to say that the album rocks per se; it's still a pop record at heart.
Anyway, audible Mellotron from Randy Cantor on just one track, with some fairly obvious strings on Caramelo; perfectly nice, but do they really enhance the track, or the album? Well, they don't make it sound any worse, but when did a Mellotron ever do that? So; perfectly competent if uninspiring Latin pop/rock, one 'Tron track. Next...
