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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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Dangerous (1991, 77.08) **½/½ |
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| Jam Why You Wanna Trip on Me In the Closet She Drives Me Wild Remember the Time Can't Let Her Get Away Heal the World Black or White |
Who is it Give in to Me Will You Be There Keep the Faith Gone Too Soon Dangerous |
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In the late '80s, there was a great little independent record shop near where I lived in north London called Terrapin Trucking, run by an eccentric bloke called Steve, sadly no longer with us. He had a large poster at one end of the shop for Michael Jackson's Bad, upon which he had scrawled in black marker, "Bad, I'll say it's bad, Mr Jackson!", or words to that effect. Childish? Maybe, but it completely summed up Steve's disgust with the bland mainstream, where everyone listens to the same faceless, pointless music, rarely interacting with it on anything more than the most basic level. OK, there's no rule saying anyone should have to, but isn't it nice when you run into people who do? And they don't listen to Michael Jackson?
I'm surprised to learn that Dangerous has sold nearly 30 million copies to date, as its general perception is that of a failure, although its sales have now equalled those of Bad. However, unlike its predecessors, it's exceedingly thin on decent tunes, despite its double-album length, which merely gave Wacko Jacko the freedom to, er, 'stretch out' on most of the tracks, i.e. refuse to edit, in a similar manner to many artists when first given CD's extra half-hour over LP length, without any extra pressing cost (see: Oasis' dreadful Be Here Now). I can see that much of the material would appeal to his core fanbase, but it was the casual buyers who backed away here; I mean, anyone who wasn't utterly repelled by the stomach-turning Heal The World has to have a screw loose, although for sheer revulsion, it can't touch 1995's Earth Song, and as for the full chorale at the beginning of Will You Be There... Most of the material is his patented mixture of, er, 'pop, rock and soul', but it's all starting to sound a bit tired by this point, although it seems nearly 30 million people would disagree.
Unusually for 1991, there's what sounds like a genuine (credited) Mellotron on one track, Give In To Me, played by Bill Bottrell. The song starts with a cranky-sounding strings pitchbend, and while the major verse/chorus string part sounds like regular string samples, the 'Tron weaves in and out of the song fairly pleasingly, if rather ineffectually. So; all in all, this is one to avoid, in case you hadn't guessed. It gets the star rating it does for not being too overly offensive, but there is absolutely nothing here for the discerning music fan. Music for lifts. Not much 'Tron, either.
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King Progress (1970, 36.00) ***/TMr ScrewSince I Last Saw You Sunshine Freak King Progress Doubting Thomas Insomnia Cry of Eugene |
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Jackson Heights (named for the area of New York) were formed by bassist Lee Jackson after the demise of The Nice, with the remit of making music as unlike The Nice as possible. As a result, King Progress is largely acoustic, although the occasional burst of electricity seeps through. From over three decades' distance, I'm afraid it all sounds a bit insipid, although I'm sure it made more sense in those post-hippy days. Best tracks? Probably the title track and opener Mr Screw, although none of it exactly leaps out and grabs you by the throat, to be honest.
Guitarist Charlie Harcourt is credited with 'Melatron' (I know, I know), but, given that the strings on the title track are real, you'll only hear it on Insomnia, with a rather weak MkII string line that adds little to the song. So; neither a very interesting album nor one that contains any sensible 'Tron work, so don't go too far out of your way. There's supposed to be some 'Tron on their '73 opus, Bump'n'Grind; more news if I get to hear it.
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What We Must (2005, 46.05) ***½/TAll I Know is TonightStardust Hotel For All You Happy People Oslo Skyline Swedenborgske ROM Mikado I Have a Ghost, Now What? |
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Jaga Jazzist are a particularly difficult band to place, genre-wise: jazz? Nope, not really. Post-rock? Sort of. Progressive? Not as such, although that's a good description of their overall outlook. I think I was actually expecting something a bit more, well, you know, radical, of What We Must; it's actually a lot smoother than I'd expected, and consequently slightly less interesting. Saying that, there's some excellent material on board; opener All I Know Is Tonight has a great melody line, and Oslo Skyline is particularly powerful, although some of it sails a little too close to smooth jazz for its own good.
The album's much-heralded Mellotron use, from Lars Horntveth and Andreas Hessen Schei, actually only amounts to flute chords on All I Know Is Tonight and choirs on Stardust Hotel, although the strings on the latter sound like generic samples, and I suspect the flute you can hear at the of Mikado is real. So; not a bad album, but less striking than its reputation would have you believe, with very little 'Tron use, to be honest, so don't go buying it on that account.
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Goddess in the Doorway (2002, 56.21) **½/T½ |
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| Visions of Paradise Joy Dancing in the Starlight God Gave Me Everything Hideaway Don't Call Me Up Goddess in the Doorway Lucky Day |
Everybody's Getting High Gun Too Far Gone Brand New Set of Rules |
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Why does Mick Jagger bother making solo albums? She's the Boss used to be a second-hand shop perennial, presumably until all known copies became landfill fodder, and since then no-one much seems to have bought anything else he's done. Goddess in the Doorway takes four tracks to pick itself up from the mid-paced chug of its opening numbers, at which point God Gave Me Everything then outstays its welcome by at least a minute. There are some more energetic efforts, to be fair, but overall, it's a pretty unexciting affair.
Matt Clifford gets some passable Mellotron work onto the album, though, with a high repeating string line in the title track and an orchestral string arrangement in Brand New Set Of Rules, although it's rather less audible in the other two credited tracks. Not exactly a 'Tron classic, then, and certainly not a classic of any other sort. File under 'dull'. Stick with The Stones, Mick.
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Here We Are (1973, 33.33/47.46) **½/T |
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| Redskin Out in the Rain Dandelion Moving Waterfall Like a Queen Here We Are |
[CD adds: Daytime Hangman Here We Are Redskin] |
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Like so many other similar outfits, Jane are usually lazily dubbed 'Krautrock', although what their brand of psychedelic-ish bluesy hard rock has to do with the wild experimentation of Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel et al. is completely beyond me. I expect they were better live, but having now heard three of their albums (including Jane Live...), I have to say that in the cold light of thirty years later, they're a pretty unexciting proposition generally. Did they sound this clichéd in early-'70s Germany, I wonder? I believe they did pretty well; they certainly have a large back catalogue, but I shan't be rushing out to buy any more of it, to be honest.
While none of the material on their second effort, Here We Are is specifically bad, none of it's really that good, either, so I'd better refrain from comment on the subject, to be honest. Organist Werner Nadolny contributes (doubtless hired-in) Mellotron strings to Out In The Rain and Like A Queen, but I'm sure I can hear string synth on the latter, too, so this is also a long way from 'essential' on the 'Tron front, too. Mediocre.
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The Services of Mary Goode (1999, 64.13) **½/TA Twist in the Tale of Earth History'OLDMAN' Beneath the Boy The Services of Mary Goode I The Services of Mary Goode II The Birth of Mary Goode III Mary Goode and the Dwarf of Dreams Joker Julie Lies The Services of Mary Goode IV The Day That I Fall |
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Janison Edge have considerable connections with other current UK neo-prog acts, including Landmarq, Shadowland, Threshold and Arena, so it comes as no surprise at all to find out that The Services of Mary Goode is a bog-standard neo-prog album; it takes keyboard player Mike Varty less than seven minutes into the first song to break into a Marillion-esque 'widdly' synth part à la, er, just about everything they've done. Basically, if you don't like neo-prog, yer ain't gonna like this; it does nothing new with the genre, although Sue Element's vocals are far easier on the ear than those of several of her contemporaries. Naming no names. The album has a loose concept, based around, funnily enough, an unfortunate young lady named Mary Goode, although only half the tracks are actually about her. Like most (all?) neo-prog, the vocals and lyrics assume a greater importance than with most first-wave prog, so if you're really not that fussed about what the vocalist might be singing about, you're going to miss a great deal of the album's raison d'être.
Varty is credited with 'Hammond, Mellotron, Roland, Korg and Yamaha synths', so guess what gets used the most? You goddit. The band's site mentions their acquisition of a Hammond (model unknown), but says not a dicky-bird about the 'Tron, although it refers to at least two sample-players that could easily produce the background choirs and strings that can be heard on a handful of tracks, with the exception of the near-solo string part towards the end of the last track, The Services of Mary Goode, Part IV. As a result, although I'm putting this in with the regular reviews, it remains highly suspect until its 'Tron use is proven one way or the other. Suffice to say, what little you can hear is nothing to write home about.
So; average neo-prog, very little 'Tron, real or otherwise. One for the Pendragon fan in your life. The band's website promises activity 'sometime soon', but without any indication of when this may've been written, it sounds like a rather hollow promise. Oh well.
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Oxygene (1977, 39.45) ****/TOxygene (Part I)Oxygene (Part II) Oxygene (Part III) Oxygene (Part IV) Oxygene (Part V) Oxygene (Part VI) |
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Equinoxe (1978, 39.10) ****/TEquinoxe Part 1Equinoxe Part 2 Equinoxe Part 3 Equinoxe Part 4 Equinoxe Part 5 Equinoxe Part 6 Equinoxe Part 7 Equinoxe Part 8 |
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Oxygene 7-13 (1997, 41.13) ****/TTT½Oxygene 7Oxygene 8 Oxygene 9 Oxygene 10 Oxygene 11 Oxygene 12 Oxygene 13 |
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Oxygene (New Master Recording) (2007, 40.13) ****/TOxygene (Part I)Oxygene (Part II) Oxygene (Part III) Oxygene (Part IV) Oxygene (Part V) Oxygene (Part VI) |
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Jean Michel Jarre tends to be regarded as a lightweight by Electronic Music aficionados, but upon re-listening to his first two widely-available albums, Oxygene and Equinoxe, I'm really not sure what the problem is. Too much melody, maybe? Any melody? You may think you've never heard these albums, but you have. Ideal background music on TV, Jarre would've made millions even if nobody bought the things. But they did. And then some. I suppose they're the 'easy listening' end of EM, but they're way better than just about any 'new age' drivel you're likely to hear, although I wouldn't exactly call them 'challenging'. But then, why should they be? I think most of us like the proverbial 'good tune', at least every now and again, and Jarre expertly combined an innate tunefulness with an understanding of synthesized music that was second-to-none.
Oxygene actually contains a major hit single in the snappily-titled Part IV, but Part II is equally memorable, and it has to be said, the album works really well as a complete piece, despite its status as a second-hand shop regular. There's not actually that much Mellotron to be heard; in fact, all I can hear is flutes and choirs on Part II, although I've heard rumours that it's all over the thing. That'll be the really quite lifelike Eminent string synth then (I believe it was the forerunner to the infamous Solina). If you're reading this, you probably own a copy anyway, but if not, I can recommend it highly, if only as background listening.
A first glance, Equinoxe seems to be Oxygene revisited, but it takes a while to get going, sounding at first like Jarre's melodic invention has deserted him. Part 4 gives the lie to that, however, and by Part 5, we're back in Oxygene (Part IV) territory. So why is it that he put the catchiest track at the beginning of side two on both of these albums, anyway? The rest of the side keeps up the quality levels, so I think it's fair to say that if you like Oxygene, you'll like Equinoxe. Even less Mellotron than last time round, with what sounds like male voice choir on Part 4, so don't go buying it expecting any sort of 'Tron-fest.
After nearly twenty years of increasingly infrequent releases, none of which adequately matched his first two albums for consistency or quality, Jarre gave in and recorded the belated follow-up to Oxygene, Oxygene 7-13. It's amusing to note just how many of the instruments he used on the original are listed again here: apart from the Mellotron, there's an ARP 2600, a VCS3, an AKS synth, something by RMI and the inimitable Eminent. Unsurprisingly, Oxygene 7 opens with Oxygene Part IV's long-lost brother riff, before moving through various typical Jarreisms over its 11 minute-plus length. The rest of the 'album length' album (no hour-plus effort here) sticks fairly closely to the original template, while adding a certain contemporary 'something', mainly in the drum programming and sounds. Jarre has finally discovered Mellotron strings; 7 has both choir chords and echoed 'stabbed' strings, with more regular string parts on 8 and 9. 11 has some expertly-played string pitchbends (hope they're genuine), with the other two listed tracks featuring less of the same.
Jarre's released three albums since Oxygene 7-13, but I don't believe there's any 'Tron on any of them. There is, however, a video available from a gig he played in Moscow a few years back, where he not only features a perspex-backed and interior-lit Mark II (!) on one piece, but also has a regular M400 hidden away on stage, played by someone else. It seemed like he'd mothballed his analogue gear again, until ten years after Oxygene 7-13, when, to mark its 30th anniversary, he recorded Oxygene (New Master Recording), a total re-recording of the whole album, using three other musicians and a raft of old gear. To absolutely no-one's surprise, it sounds an awful lot like the original version, to the point that, without doing a note-by-note comparison, I can't tell the difference. Of course, the 'Tron part is the same, with choirs on Part II, although this time it's played by Dominique Perrier.
As far as the albums listed above are concerned, you'll either like what he does or you won't, basically. It's not difficult to listen to, but many people are put off by their seemingly bland approach, although I maintain that they all have hidden depths. The two '70s albums, while very good, really aren't worth it on the Mellotron front, but 7-13 most certainly is, so if that's what you're after, that's where I'd start.
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7" (1969) ****/TTT½ A Place in the Sun Black Mass |
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Collected Works of Jason Crest (1968-69/1999, 52.55) ****/T |
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| Turquoise Tandem Cycle Teagarden Lane Patricia's Dream A Place in the Sun My House is Burning King of the Castle The Collected Works of Justin Crest Black Mass |
Charge of the Light Brigade (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree You Really Got a Hold on Me Two By the Sea Juliano the Bull Education Waterloo Road Good Life |
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Jason Crest (who he?) were yet another late-'60s UK psych outfit who managed to skilfully evade fame and fortune, despite being as good as many of their better-known contemporaries. Metamorphosing from Kent outfit The Good Thing Brigade, they were signed by Philips, but a combination of bad luck and label mismanagement conspired to scupper their career over the course of five unsuccessful singles. After beginning with the excellent Turquoise Tandem Cycle, they were manoeuvred into releasing the almost-kid's song Juliano the Bull, the Move cover (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree and the rather limp Waterloo Road, before being left to their own devices for their final effort, the truly excellent A Place In The Sun, backed with the disturbing Black Mass. There seems to be a little confusion over which track was on the 'A', but I think it's safe to say, no record company in their right mind would've allowed Black Mass anywhere near an A-side, with its backwards drumming, doomy organ and vocalist Terry Clarke's unearthly screams.
The band's odd name came from a slight reworking of their own song The Collected Works Of Justin Crest; maybe the "Who exactly is...?" confusion aided their undignified plummet into obscurity? It certainly wasn't the quality of their songwriting; Turquoise Tandem Cycle is a marvellous slice of '67-style psych-pop, A Place In The Sun is truly excellent, and several of the non-singles could well have passed muster on 7". Maybe their style was the problem; things were changing so quickly at the time that being a whole year behind the times in '68 was enough to finish a band off. A pity.
There's a (currently) vinyl-only set, Radio Sessions, that does exactly what it says on the tin, while Collected Works gathers together their entire studio output, that being all ten sides from their five singles, plus six tracks from acetates. Although a handful of their single sides are rather disposable, the bulk of their material is excellent; it's a real shame the band didn't get to record the album they'd planned at the time. Given that they didn't have a keyboard player, at least half the tracks are smothered in period instrumentation, including harpsichord, organ and (if only on one track) Mellotron; A Place In The Sun is a gentle, 'Tron-laden ballad with flute melodies scattered throughout, with some sublime string chords underlying most of the song. A must.
So; an excellent compilation of an underrated band's output, a must for UK psych fans. OK, only one 'Tron track, but it's a bit of a monster, and several other tracks (notably Black Mass) are must-haves, too. Top marks to Wooden Hill for this one. Buy.
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The Sound of Lies (1997, 55.44) ***½/T½ |
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| The Man Who Loved Life Think About it Trouble It's Up to You Stick in the Mud Big Star Poor Little Fish Sixteen Down |
Haywire Dying on the Vine Bottomless Cup Sound of Lies |
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Smile (2000, 53.22) ***½/½ |
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| Smile I'm Gonna Make You Love Me What Led Me to This Town Somewhere in Ohio A Break in the Clouds Queen of the World Life Floats By Broken Harpoon |
Pretty Thing Mr. Wilson (In My) Wildest Dreams Better Days Baby, Baby, Baby |
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Rainy Day Music (2003, 50.47) ***/T½ |
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| Stumbling Through The Dark Tailspin All the Right Reasons (Rotterdam) Save it for a Rainy Day The Eyes of Sarhjane One Man's Problem Don't Let the World Get in Your Way |
Come to the River Angelyne Madman You Look So Young Tampa to Tulsa Will I See You in Heaven Stumbling Through the Dark (reprise) |
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1997's The Sound of Lies was the Jayhawks' fifth album, and the first after losing founder member Mark Olson, prompting premature obituaries for the Minneapolis-based outfit. Having not heard their earlier material, I can't comment on how they may have changed, but I can say that they produced an excellent, Americana-flavoured album. Hard to pick out favourites after a single listen, but the Neil Young-esque Think About It works particularly well, and there isn't actually a bad track on the record. Band leader after Olson's departure, Gary Louris and George Drakoulias are credited with Chamberlin, and I believe pianist Karen Grotberg plays Mellotron, though I'm not entirely sure about the latter. Jessy Greene's violin, viola and cello confuse the issue somewhat, but after thinking the album was going to be tape-replay free, the last three tracks are smothered in it, with strings on Dying On The Vine and flutes on Bottomless Cup and the title track, although not really enough to give it the coveted 'Mellotron Album' designation.
They followed-up with the cheekily-named Smile three years later, and while it's every bit as good as its predecessor, it's also a further departure from their Americana roots, being more intelligent pop (sorry, can't think of a better description for the style...) than anything else. Best tracks? Hard to say: maybe the title track and the insistent What Led Me To This Town? Very little obvious tape-replay this time, which probably means there's loads buried in the mix, although all I can hear is some strings on Broken Harpoon, presumably from either Karen Grotberg or renowned producer Bob Ezrin.
Another three years, and the Jayhawks birthed Rainy Day Music, pleasing long-term fans by returning to their country-fuelled roots, although sadly, they lost any experimental edge they may have had in the process. Decent enough songs, but nothing especially outstanding, at least on an initial listen. Supposedly Chamberlin from producer Ethan Johns and Richard Causon, with a nice full-on string part on Don't Let The World Get In Your Way and more of the same on You Look So Young and Tampa To Tulsa, though the strings on Will I See You In Heaven sound real.
So; two faces of the Jayhawks, and I think I actually prefer the more electric one, personally. Anyway, three good albums, though my personal preference is for the first two. Reasonable tape-replay on The Sound of Lies and Rainy Day Music, which Smile can't hope to match, although it may just possibly have the best songs.
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Bark (1971, 44.17) ***/T |
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| When the Earth Moves Again Feel So Good Crazy Miranda Pretty as You Feel Wild Turkey Law Man Rock and Roll Island Third Week in the Chelsea |
Never Argue With a German if You're Tired or European Song Thunk War Movie |
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Bark was Jefferson Airplane's sixth album, audibly chronicling the band's slow dissolution with its severe lack of focus. I know the Airplane were always pretty varied, but hardly any track here sounds like any other, aside from the vocal harmonies, which act as some sort of musical glue. That isn't to say there aren't any decent tracks here, but it's a long way from their classic, Surrealistic Pillow, all of four years earlier.
I've no idea who played the Chamberlin on the bizarre Never Argue With A German If You're Tired Or European Song, complete with Grace Slick's deadpan delivery of her cod-German lyrics, but it features flutes, brass and, above all, that exceedingly strange male solo voice that can be heard on the Indescribably Delicious and Judy Henske/Jerry Yester albums, amongst others. Maybe Slick herself? Anyway, on the remote offchance that you could hear this and not realise what it was, at one point you can hear a vocal tape choke off, fact fans.
So; probably not the Airplane's finest hour, but surely their finest (OK, only) Chamberlin performance. Do you buy this album? Yes for Airplane fans who haven't heard it, maybe for Chamberlin obsessives, probably not for the rest of you.
Official site (yes, they have one)
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Dragon Fly (1974, 42.00) ***/TTRide the TigerThats for Sure Be Young You Caroline Devils Den Come to Life All Fly Away Hyperdrive |
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Around 1974, the estimable Jefferson Airplane fragmented, and Jefferson Starship rose from the ashes, like a slightly bedraggled, rather mainstream phoenix. Dragon Fly isn't really any more than a typical mid-'70s US hard rock album, to be honest, despite the accumulated talent it boasts; the songs are OK, but not the sort of thing anyone's really going to take much notice of these days.
Keyboard and bass duties are shared between Pete Sears and David Freiberg (who'd previously been part of the Kantner/Slick/Freiberg trio who released the Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun LP a year earlier), but even without proper credits, it's obvious that it's Freiberg playing the Mellotron. Four tracks only, by the sound of it, with Ride The Tiger and Be Young You featuring reasonable amounts of rather low-in-the-mix 'Tron strings, and Caroline and Hyperdrive (probably the album's best track), with even less of the same. The most interesting thing about their 'Tron use is when Papa John Creach's fiddle rides over it; a combination not heard often enough, in my opinion.
So; yet another 'difficult to really recommend on any front' album, sadly; timewise, it falls into that awkward area between hippy idealism and all-out commercial claptrap (both generally and in relation to the Airplane/Starship axis), and I suppose the same could be said of the music. I paid 50p for it (under a dollar); I suggest you pay little more. Not unpleasant, but highly undemanding.
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Split Milk (1993, 46.17) ****½/T |
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| Hush Joining a Fan Club Sebrina, Paste and Plato New Mistake The Glutton of Sympathy The Ghost at Number One Bye, Bye, Bye All is Forgiven |
Russian Hill He's My Best Friend Too Much, Too Little, Too Late Brighter Day |
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Jellyfish were a short-lived powerpop outfit, heavily influenced by The Beach Boys and Queen, with sublime chord changes and heavenly harmonies to spare. Unbelievably, they only lasted two albums (their debut, Bellybutton (****½), is equally good) before disbanding due to lack of punter interest. It's a sick world we live in.
Split Milk is absolutely marvellous, chock full of classics such as Joining A Fan Club and Russian Hill; how did they fail? The CD booklet unfolds to reveal a composite picture of the studio, gazing around from the centre point, with band members cropping up in various places. They used a panoply of vintage gear, with pride of place going to a gorgeous B3 and a perspex grand piano (!), and if you look closely, a pristine M400 in the background. They only obviously used it on one track, probably played by main keys man Roger Manning (later of the infamous Moog Cookbook and many others), with a flute line on He's My Best Friend, but it would've fitted seamlessly onto at least another half dozen tracks. Sometimes, more is more.
Listen, if a good tune is your prime criterion, you badly need both Jellyfish albums. Among the cognoscenti, they're beginning to be mentioned in the same breath as the aforementioned Beach Boys, The Beatles, Big Star and all the other 'B's. Buy or die. NOW!
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Time Ride (1972, 41.03) **½/½Time RideThere Are People Blind Man To Be Alone Sunshine Indian River Do You Still Remember Ice Dream Gone |
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Jeronimo had considerable success at the end of the '60s with two major hits, Heya Heya and Na Na Hey Hey (gets round the language barrier, I suppose), while their first album was a split compilation with Creedence Clearwater Revival (!). Time Ride was their fourth and last full album, and is best described as a budget Uriah Heep, a major influence on many European bands. Areas covered go from the rather dated hard rock of Time Ride itself through the balladry of To Be Alone and all points in between, and although it's quite listenable for a few tracks, I found myself losing the will to live towards the end.
Guitarist Michael Koch doubled on keyboards, adding some low-in-the-mix Mellotron brass to There Are People and To Be Alone, but it's hardly what you'd call essential listening, to be honest. So; a dated, dreary, really rather average album with a little inessential Mellotron. Not what you'd call a winning combination, is it? One for fans of the era, I think.
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Blueprint (2000, 43.19) ***/½ |
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| Lies By the Thousands Best Way to Die The Night it Went Too Far Blueprint The Goodbye Letter Baby, Cool Your Jets After the Rain Tinfoil Star |
Afterglow Suddenly [bonus track: Best Way to Die (original version)] |
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I have to say I agree with the 'Net reviewer who, upon hearing Jet Set Satellite's Blueprint, commented that 'they're trying so hard to be 'alternative rock' that they end up sounding almost like pastiche', or somesuch. A duo at time of recording, Canadians Trevor Tuminski and Dave Swiecicki have made a reasonable enough album, although I found it all a bit unengaging, though that could be my fault rather than theirs. None of the tracks actually stand out in any particular way to my ears, although there's enough variety across the album to stop the casual listener from being too bored.
The only tape replay track is Blueprint itself, with Swiecicki on Chamberlin and John Webster on Mellotron, along with a real string arrangement. Unsurprisingly, it's almost impossible to isolate the taped instruments from the real ones, and I can't hear any likely non-string sound, so don't go out of your way for this one. Average.
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7" ( 1970) ***½/T½ Witches Promise Teacher |
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Aqualung (1971, 43.34) ****½/T½ |
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| Aqualung Cross-Eyed Mary Cheap Day Return Mother Goose Wond'ring Aloud Up to Me My God Hymn 43 |
Slipstream Locomotive Breath Wind-Up |
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Living in the Past (1972) ****½/T½ |
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| Song for Jeffrey Love Story Christmas Song Living in the Past Driving Song Bourée Sweet Dream |
Singing All Day Witches Promise Teacher Inside Just Trying to Be By Kind Permission of Dharma for One |
Wond'ring Again Locomotive Breath Life is a Long Song Up the 'Pool Dr. Bogenbroom For Later Nursie |
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Songs From the Wood (1977, 41.22) ****½/TSongs From the WoodJack-in-the-Green Cup of Wonder Hunting Girl Ring Out, Solstice Bells Velvet Green The Whistler Pibroch (Cap in Hand) Fire at Midnight |
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Tull are a bit of an odd one on the Mellotron front; they toyed with using one a handful of times, then gave it up as a bad job. First heard on their early 1970 single, Witches Promise, a 'properly' arranged string part is played by new recruit John Evan (actually Evans) to great effect. For some unknown reason, this track seems to be spelt in several different ways, including Witch's Promise and both spellings with or without a 'The'. A later single, Life's A Long Song is also known as Life Is A Long Song, so maybe the band just had trouble with their spelling. Who knows.
Come '71, and Tull produced what many still regard as their classic, Aqualung, containing mainman Ian Anderson's views on life, the universe and, well, everything really. The title track and Locomotive Breath are still played at every Tull gig to this day, but it's second track in, Cross-Eyed Mary that concerns us here. A creepy ascending strings part is played under Anderson's flute intro, leading up to the first verse, where it stops dead. And that's it. No more Mellotron, apart from a very brief burst several years later. Jethro Tull went on to greater fame and fortune with their first concept album proper, Thick as a Brick (*****), about which Anderson (seen here in classic pose) recently expressed amazement that no-one realised they were taking the piss out of their contemporaries. Trouble is, it's so good that it didn't really occur to anyone that they weren't supposed to take it seriously, despite the rather silly lyrics. Well, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Between Aqualung and Thick as a Brick, Tull released Living in the Past, a wittily-titled double album of odds'n'sods from the first few years of their career and a few unreleased tracks, containing Witches Promise, among others. The original issue came bound like a hardback book, with a booklet inside including both LPs; sadly, the age of the CD has made such packaging redundant. A shame. It also seems to've made complete tracklistings redundant, as Witches Promise isn't on the single CD, although it is on the remaster of 1970's Benefit.
1977's Songs From the Wood, surprisingly, features a little Mellotron, too. After the rather formless Too Old to Rock'n'Roll, Too Young to Die (***), the album was a distinct change in direction, being both folk-influenced and very progressive, providing a home for several songs still played regularly by the band to this day. The title track is a wonderfully complex piece, with more stops and starts than, er, something that stops and starts a lot, while Hunting Girl is not only a fantastic song, but also features probably the filthiest lyric in the Tull canon, against, er, stiff competition. 'Spur necks the size of my thumb' indeed! Pibroch is one of the band's lesser-known prog epics, and Ring Out, Solstice Bells (a UK hit single) has to be the best non-Christmas Christmas song ever recorded.
By this point, Tull had expanded to include orchestral composer/arranger David Palmer on additional keyboards, but it's impossible to tell who played the 'Tron, as John Evans (who seems to have regained his 's') is credited with 'piano, organ and synthesizers', while Palmer has 'piano, synthesizer and portative organ', a wonderful mini-pipe organ they actually used to tour. No Mellotron, though. I reckon it's Evans, but who knows? Anyway, it can be heard on Cup Of Wonder, with some clearly audible strings, and is that the 'Tron flute, rather than Anderson's real one? Highly recommended, although not really for the 'Tron.
So; to buy or not to buy? Three good songs, three excellent albums, some OK 'Tron. It's up to you, really.
