Farewell Aldebaran  (1969,  34.47)  ***½/T½
	Snowblind Horses on a Stick Lullaby St. Nicholas Hall Three Ravens Raider Mrs. Connor Rapture	Charity Farewell Aldebaran

Current availability:

• Bootleg issue on Radioactive (UK)

Vocalist Judy Henske married folkie Jerry Yester of the Modern Folk Quartet, and later of the Lovin' Spoonful, in the early '60s, making the one-off Farewell Aldebaran in California at the end of the decade. Almost inevitably released on Frank Zappa's Straight imprint, it's almost impossible to categorise, although 'folk/psych' will probably have to do for now. Every track is essentially a different style, from the pseudo-sea shanty Raider through St. Nicholas Hall's satirical take on the Anglican hymnbook to the more straightforward folk-rock of Charity. Nobody much bought it at the time, probably due to its eclecticism, and even now, its availability seems to be due solely to a super-dodgy UK-based pirate outfit, Radioactive, who specialise in unauthorised reissues of overseas material (see: the Marshall Brothers Band), making potential lawsuits prohibitively expensive.

The reason this album's here is a couple of tracks featuring the Chamberlin. St. Nicholas Hall opens with a female voice that fools the listener into thinking it's real for a moment, until a pitch change alerts you to its keyboard origin. The male voices appear later (is this a keyboard split, or two sounds overdubbed?), making for one of the clearest recordings of the sound I've ever heard. More of the same, but less so, on the closing title track, along with some fantastic early Moog modular (belonging to Bernie Krause of Beaver & Krause, apparently), including an emulation of a vocoder, before such things actually existed.

This is a pretty strange record, it has to be said, but those of you with slightly more eclectic tastes may just go for it. Until/if an authorised issue appears, however, PLEASE don't buy this new, putting money into a pirate's pocket. Bootlegs of unreleased material are one thing, but ripping off official albums and the artists concerned is another. Bootleg the boots, and get someone to copy this for you. As far as its Chamberlin input's concerned, while interesting, it probably doesn't make it actually worth paying decent money for, but as I've just said, you don't want to do that anyway, do you?

Nick Heyward  (UK)

	Tangled  (1995,  43.52)  ***/½
	Kill Another Day Blinded Backdated She Says She Knows The World Carry on Loving I Love the Things You Know   I Don't Know	Can't Explain Believe in Me Rollerblade The Breadwinner London She's Another Girl 1961

Current availability:

• Epic

Anyone remember Haircut 100? Nick Heyward was their slightly unlikely heartthrob singer, though, let's face it, nowhere near as unlikely as ex-Undertone Feargal Sharkey... Seems he left the Haircuts as early as '83, after just one album, kicking off his sporadically successful solo career the same year, releasing his fifth solo effort, Tangled, in 1995. It's a major move away from that '80s pop sound, having more of a '60s influence about it, in line with the then-current Britpop movement, albeit without the naffness of Oasis et al, while still capturing some of that '90s zeitgeist. It's also not terribly exciting, but then, I don't think 'exciting' was where Heyward was coming from at the time, more 'well-crafted' and 'very listenable'. There's a surprising rockiness about several of the tracks, not least opener Kill Another Day and Carry On Loving, which would doubtless have appalled his jangly early-'80s self.

'Melatron' (aargh!) credited on one track, with Phil Taylor (not that one, stoopid) playing a faint flute part on London, but there's also uncredited flutes on Kill Another Day, that are actually more audible. Nothing to get too excited about, mind, but at least it's there... Heyward released another album with some 'Tron content, '98's The Apple Bed; as always, more news when I get to hear a copy. As far as Tangled goes, it's a perfectly acceptable '90s pop/rock album, which is vastly preferable to an '80s pop/rock album, but it's unlikely to blow you away on the singer-songwriter front. Not much 'Tron, either, but I've heard worse. Incidentally, Nick's elder brother, Pete, who has also worked as Nick's road manager, has been 'David Gilmour' in London Floyd tribute Pink Fraud (ho ho) for some years now, one of the best such efforts doing the rounds, also featuring Billy Surgeoner from The Mynd on keys.

Official site

The High & Lonesome  (UK)

	From the Playground  (2002,  49.18)  **½/T
	Ambulance Chasers Two Tall Trees Remember (the Water) Weightless You Can Only Fall Breaking Down the Walls Gone	I Go Low (the One You Thought You Knew) Revelations Genki Riders on the Line Out in the Longtime

Current availability:

• Db (UK)

David Blazye, a.k.a. The High and Lonesome, is a serious young man from south London with a wispy beard, who seems to be under the impression that if he makes an album that sounds like the awful David Gray, or the quieter (quietest?) bits of Coldplay, he will be every bit as successful. Unfortunately, the success of these artists seems (to my ears, anyway) to be based less on their songwriting than on... I dunno, actually - what IS it based on? Image? Nope. Personality? NO! Sheer fluke? Maybe. Anyway, whatever it is they have, it would seem that Blazye doesn't, although From the Playground doesn't sound any worse to me than the debut efforts by the above-named artists. Maybe that's the problem - while exceedingly bland, maybe Blazye isn't quite bland enough.

Anyway, an album full of string-laden ballads is enough to send me off the deep end, so at least I'll (hopefully) never have to hear it again, although the pace does pick up just occasionally (Riders On The Line). Mellotron on Out In The Longtime from Tim Oliver, with an arpeggiated string line cropping up here and there, along with real strings, though hardly enough to make this worth buying. So; not very interesting, and low 'Tron content.

Hobotalk  (UK)

12"/CDS  (2000,  10.19)  ***/TT I've Seen Some Things Hymn to the Boards Kelley's Heels

	Beauty in Madness  (2000,  46.30)  ***/TT½
	Walks With Me I've Seen Some Things I Wait for You Letter Dime Motion Picture Scarecrow Jackdaw Never Said When	Beauty in Madness When They Call Us in

Current availability:

• Both titles: Hut (UK)

I believe Beauty in Madness is Scots quartet Hobotalk's first full album, although it was preceded by the I've Seen Some Things EP. They fall into the 'insipid pseudo-Americana' category, at least as far as I'm concerned; all country-inflected acoustic guitars and heartfelt lyrics about love and loss - you know the kind of thing. I usually like melancholy albums, but this one pushes the whole thing too far, almost into parody, in fact. It takes a lot to make me say this, but LIGHTEN UP, CHAPS!

Mellotron's credited on four tracks, largely played by Marc Pilley, although that's quite clearly 'Tron strings on opener Walks With Me, too. Of the credited tracks, Letter has cellos and flutes, while the only unidentifiable sound on Dime (I though these guys were Scottish?) is some muted brass that really doesn't sound like 'Tron. The title track has more flutes, played this time by guitarist Ross Edmond, and When They Call Us In finishes things off with some ultra-melancholy strings.

On the EP, the instrumental Hymn To The Boards is actually the nicest thing I've heard them play, with some spectral 'Tron strings over a quite beautiful melody, while Kelley's Heels has cellos and flutes over a rather less interesting song. Actually, while Beauty in Madness irritated the hell out of me, it has to be said that it's quite impeccably done; the Mellotron work's really quite nice, and used liberally, not just the 'faint flutes on one track' trick that you get so often. So, if folky Americana from Scotland's your bag, go for it.

Lauren Hoffman  (US)

	Megiddo  (1997,  39.00)  **½/TT
	Blood Rock Star Lolita Fall Away Cold and Gray Hope You Don't Mind Strange Man Persephone	Alive The Cannibal Ed Build a Home The Ashram Song

Current availability:

• Virgin America

Lauren Hoffman was an impossibly young twenty when she recorded her debut album, Megiddo, although she seems to've managed to avoid the usual clichés into which American (in particular) female performers of that age often fall. In other words, no Alanis or Fiona Apple tricks here. Unfortunately, unlike many other reviewers, I can't say I find her material that exciting, to the point where, although the album is under forty minutes long, I eventually found myself wishing it would finish just that bit sooner.

The inimitable Jon Brion plays Chamberlin on several tracks, with mixing engineer Ethan Johns chipping in on closer The Ashram Song. Blood has an effective string part, with a couple of seconds of solo male voice at the end (not a sound it's easy to miss...), while Lolita has what sounds to my ears like uncredited Chamby sax, and possibly cellos. I can't hear anything obvious on the single, the pointed Rock Star, or Cold And Gray, although it's definitely cellos on The Ashram Song, with a string part towards the end.

So; those of you with a bent for young female singer-songwriters (their music, their music...) may like this, but it's all a bit bland for my tastes, and I suspect many of you will agree. Not bad Chamby work, but not enough of it. Pass.

Official site

Cosmic Hoffmann  (Germany)

	Beyond the Galaxy  (1999,  65.37)  ****/TTTT½ Beyond the Galaxy The Gate of Lahore Part 1 Howling Wolves The Gate of Lahore Part 2 Wanderers of Time
	Shiva Connection  (2000, recorded 1977-99,  73.55)  ***½/T½ Shiva Connection Interstellar Rollercoaster Lightstar Rising Space Arbour A Few Miles Beyond Infinity Hi-Flyin' Shiva

Current availability:

• Both titles: Heart and Mind (Germany)

'Cosmic' Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock is a veteran of the electronic music scene, spending most of the '80s leading Mind Over Matter, who produced seven or eight albums, all apparently bursting with Mellotron. In fact, at one time or another, Klaus has owned at least 26 different 'Trons, of all models, although he now, unbelievably, owns none, preferring his multi-sampled 'Megatron'. However, his first album as Cosmic Hoffmann (that's very apt, Klaus!) features The Real Thing, with a nice picture on the back of him playing an M400.

Now, much as I like this area of the electronic scene, I find it difficult to review objectively, as I tend to use it as background music, and quickly get bored if I listen to it too closely. Saying that, Beyond the Galaxy is a fine album, indistinguishable (to my ears) from its '70s influences, and all the better for it. Most of the modern, computerised EM I've heard has quickly sent me to sleep, I'm afraid, but Klaus has produced a warm, organic album bursting with vitality and real playing. Remember that? Unlike some other practitioners of the art, there's no real dissonance here, but it's quite intense in places, so it's certainly not purely a chill-out experience, although it can work on that level too.

There's Mellotron all over the thing, of course. The lengthy title track doesn't feature any until about 12 minutes in, when the strings swell up in the loud section in their usual majestic fashion, carrying on into the subsequent lull. The Gate Of Lahore Part 1 is a gentle, rhythmless piece, with swathes of strings and flutes all over it, and Part 2 has some quite unique echoed strings that I haven't heard anyone else do in quite the same way. Howling Wolves is a more rhythmic piece, though slower than Beyond The Galaxy, with not only the rather ubiquitous strings, but some nice phased choir, too. Wanderers Of Time is the other lengthy piece contained herein, and is again relaxed and drifting, pretty much evoking its title in music, with loads more strings and the odd burst of flute chording.

The following year, Shiva Connection appeared, recorded in 1977, '94 and '99, meaning, I presume, that only the older tracks feature real 'Tron. The music is very similar to that on its predecessor, unsurprisingly, to the point where the uninitiated probably couldn't tell the two albums apart; not sure I can, tell the truth... The '77 track, Lightstar Rising, sounds pretty much exactly like those recorded over twenty years later, so at least you can't fault Klaus on the consistency front. The more recent material is co-written with Ramp's Stephen Parsick, a man known to use a Mellotron when he can get his hands on one, although I'm pretty sure the four newer tracks here utilise Klaus' Megatron, although the opening title track has no obvious recording details. Very little 'Tron, too, for that matter. As far as the older tracks go, Lightstar Rising has some distant flutes, while '94's A Few Miles Beyond Infinity has more of the same and a more overt string part towards the end of the piece.

Well, I don't really feel like I've really reviewed the music on these albums, to be honest, only their Mellotronic content, but if you're into this stuff to any degree, I can wholeheartedly recommend Beyond the Galaxy, although Shiva Connection seems to be less of the same.

Official site

Hölderlin  [a.k.a. Hoelderlin]  (Germany)

	Hölderlin's Traum  (1972,  34.44)  ***½/T Waren Wir Peter Strohhalm Requiem für Einen Wicht Erwachen Wetterbericht Traum
	Hoelderlin  (1975,  42.10)  ***½/TT Schwebebahn I Love My Dog Honeypot Nürnberg Deathwatchbeetle

Current availability:

• Both titles: on CD, label(s) unknown

Hölderlin, as they were originally known, released their first album, Hölderlin's Traum (that's, er, 'Hoelderlin's Dream'), in 1972, mixing folk influences into their fairly Germanic take on progressive rock, though this is not to confuse them with 'Krautrock', which is a different kettle of fish altogether. It's not a bad album - some would say a classic of the era; it certainly finds its own 'dark folk' style, well away from what most other bands were doing at the time. The only Mellotron, though, from Jochen Grumbkow, is on opener Waren Wir, kicking in along with the whole band after a typically gentle intro.

After considerable label hassles, it took the respelt Hoelderlin three years to follow their debut, finally producing their eponymous second album in 1975. A far rockier proposition than their first, Hoelderlin opens with the excellent Schwebebahn, with duelling viola (from Christoph Noppeney) and 'Tron strings (from the also respelt Joachim Grumbkow), which turns out to be the album's Mellotronic highlight. Honeypot has a few background string chords, and apart from what may possibly be some brass at the beginning, the 17-minute Deathwatchbeetle features only a short (but potent) string part towards the end.

I don't know of any other Mellotron use by the band, although I heard (unfounded) rumours of some on '78's Live Traumstadt. These are both good albums, though if you're not heavily into the 'German sound', I'd avoid their debut. Neither one's a Mellotron Classic, either, but they're both worth a listen.

Holding Pattern  (US)

		Holding Pattern [a.k.a. Majestic]  (1981/90,  28.53/77.10)  ***½/TT
		Another Point of View Honor Before Glory Jigsaw Dream Out of the Tunnels [CD adds: From the Clouds Majestic Iraqiroll	Was it You? Mercenary Tunnels Arrival Around the Square Ten Passed Midnight Ground Zero]

Current availability:

• On CD, though out of print. Oddly, mini-album is available again on Cleefo (US)

Holding Pattern were a late-period US prog outfit, led by guitarist Tony Spada, who released a self-titled mini-album in 1981, reissuing it on CD nearly a decade later, retitled Majestic and expanded to over an hour. The music on the original four-track release is instrumental guitar-led prog, less complex than many US bands, with Out Of The Tunnels being the standout track, bringing exemplary US proggers Happy the Man to mind. I don't know when the multifarious extra tracks on the CD were recorded, but they cover a variety of styles, with vocals on a handful, and a couple even recorded live.

Mark Tannenbaum played Mellotron, amongst other keys, with some epic string work on Honor Before Glory, underpinned by Taurus pedals, and a few background string chords on Out Of The Tunnels. Of the extra tracks, there's some 'Tron strings and choir on the gentle Was It You?, with some full-on choirs on the intro to Mercenary, though that would appear to be about it, despite some slightly 'Tronnish strings on a couple of other tracks. I've seen several rave reviews of this on the 'Net, but it's not really inventive enough to float my personal boat, although I've heard an awful lot worse. I believe Majestic (which came in an LP-sized case) is long unavailable, but apparently the four-track Holding Pattern has just been reissued. Weird. Anyway, not bad, so-so 'Tron.

Official site

Christopher Holland  (UK)

	Brother Sun Sister Moon  (2004,  51.02)  ***/TTT½
	Summer Girl Gone With the Wind Same Way Again Daffodil Sky Miss U No Disco Kid Long as We're Together Don't Walk Away	Without You in My Life Velvet Zone Hey You Love is the Answer It'll Be Alright Lost in Space Other Side of the Sky This is the Way Forward

Current availability:

• Beautiful (UK)

Christopher Holland is the younger brother of the irritatingly smug host of 'Later With Jools Holland' (late-night UK music show for non-residents), and grew up with his elder sibling's Squeeze colleagues wandering in and out of the family home. I have to say it shows in the songwriting on Brother Sun Sister Moon; classic British pop mixed with rather unnecessary white-boy funky stuff, which tends to spoil it a bit, unfortunately. The end result is an album that starts really nicely (Summer Girl is gorgeous), but quickly gets bogged down in rather dated mid-'70s mainstreamish stuff, which didn't sound particularly good at the time, to be honest. Holland's voice is a little bland, though serviceable enough and, as if to prove my point, rather better on the softer material. It seems the album was done on something of a budget - it sounds fine, but the sleeve looks like someone with little knowledge of graphics knocked it up on their home PC. Those fonts...

In a recent magazine interview, Holland mentions his love of 'classic' keyboards and indeed, Hammond, Rhodes and Moog (?) are all to be heard, as is the man's trusty Mellotron, which can be heard on about half of the tracks here. He favours the flutes, with several really upfront parts, although the strings crop up here and there, too. In case there was any doubt as to the machine's veracity, by the way, there's some obvious key-click on the flutes on a couple of tracks.

So; although Holland crams 16 tracks into 50 minutes, a few less attempts at funkiness would've made a nice, short album heavier on really good material. As it is, I can recommend maybe half the album, with the opening and closing tracks probably being the best. Reasonable.