The Stranger  (1977,  42.34)  ***/½ Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) The Stranger Just the Way You Are Scenes From an Italian Restaurant Vienna Only the Good Die Young She's Always a Woman Get it Right the First Time Everybody Has a Dream

Current availability:

• CBS

It's funny to think that once upon a time, Billy Joel wasn't actually a byword for appallingly cheesy pop/AOR along the lines of the horrid Uptown Girl or the truly offensive We Didn't Start The Fire; no, Billy - just gleefully fanned the flames. The Stranger was his fifth album, and is, by and large, well-crafted singer-songwriter stuff; Joel certainly knows how to put a song together, even the rather cringeworthy Just The Way You Are has better lyrics than I'd remembered. I've surprised myself by not loathing his early work, although I can't see myself exactly playing it on a regular basis.

On what appears to be the only 'Tron track of his career, Joel (presumably) plays a Mellotron flute melody on She's Always A Woman, but it's fair to say that it doesn't especially make the track; I suspect a studio 'Tron that he used on a whim. So; don't go out of your way (big surprise there, then), but a lot less nasty than his later work. Incidentally, extra special low marks for rhyming 'Garden of Eden' with 'bleedin''.

Official site

Elton John  (UK)

	Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player  (1973)  ***/T
	Daniel Teacher I Need You Elderberry Wine Blues for My Baby and Me Midnight Creeper Have Mercy on the Criminal I'm Going to be a Teenage Idol Texan Love Song	Crocodile Rock High-Flying Bird

	Goodbye Yellow Brick Road  (1973)  ****/TT
	Funeral for a Friend Love Lies Bleeding Candle in the Wind Bennie and the Jets Goodbye Yellow Brick Road This Song Has No Title Grey Seal Jamaica Jerk-Off I've Seen That Movie Too	Sweet Painted Lady The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-34) Dirty Little Girl All the Girls Love Alice Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock'n'Roll) Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting Roy Rogers Social Disease Harmony

	Caribou  (1974)  ***/½
	The Bitch is Back Pinky Grimsby Dixie Lily Solar Prestige a Gammon You're So Static I've Seen the Saucers Stinker	Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me Ticking

7"  ( 1974)  ***/TT½ Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds One Day at a Time

	Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy  (1975)  ***½/T
	Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy Tower of Babel Bitter Fingers Tell Me When the Whistle Blows Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket Better Off Dead Writing	We All Fall in Love Sometimes Curtains

Rock of the Westies  (1975)  ***/½ Medley (Yell Help, Wednesday Night, Ugly) Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future) Island Girl Grow Some Funk of Your Own I Feel Like a Bullet (in the Gun of Robert Ford) Street Kids Hard Luck Story Feed Me Billy Bones and the White Bird

	Blue Moves  (1976)  ***½/T
	Your Starter for... Tonight One Horse Town Chameleon Boogie Pilgrim Cage the Songbird Crazy Water Shoulder Holster Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word	Out of the Blue Between Seventeen and Twenty The Wide-Eyed and Laughing Someone's Final Song Where's the Shoorah? If There's a God in Heaven (What's He Waiting for?) Idol Theme From a Non-Existent TV Series Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)

	A Single Man  (1978)  ***/½
	Shine on Through Return to Paradise I Don't Care Big Dipper It Ain't Gonna Be Easy Part Time Love Georgia Shooting Star	Madness Reverie Song for Guy

	Songs From the West Coast  (2001,  54.12)  ***½/½
	The Emperor's New Clothes Dark Diamond Look Ma, No Hands American Triangle Original Sin Birds I Want Love The Wasteland	Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes Love Her Like Me Mansfield This Train Don't Stop There Anymore

Current availability:

• All albums: Mercury
• 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds': Greatest Hits 1970-2002, Mercury

Now, I'm approaching Elton's considerable back-catalogue as a self-confessed non-fan, so apologies to those of you who love this stuff; I've tried to be as fair as possible, given the constraints under which I'm working (i.e. I don't like most of the music), but every now and again, a heartfelt opinion's liable to slip through. As a result, like some of the other artists on this site, I'll review the music more from a Mellotronic viewpoint than a musical one; after all, I expect there are plenty of sites which cover that angle already... Incidentally, thanks to Mark for the loan of the albums.

After several years as the critics' darling, Elton (that's Reginald Dwight to you), together with his long-term collaborator, lyricist Bernie Taupin, broke through commercially with his fifth studio LP, 1972's Honky Chateau and its hit, Rocket Man, followed by '73's Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player. Its second hit, the balladic Daniel, has a melodic 'Tron flute part drifting in and out of the song, with some block chords towards the end, while Teacher I Need You has some string chords bolstering up the chorus. That's it for the 'Tron, although the album's best moments are probably first single, Crocodile Rock and the affecting Have Mercy On The Criminal.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is regarded by many fans as Elton's musical peak; a highly-ambitious double album (shockingly, his second release of the year), it opens with my personal favourite from his oeuvre, Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, with the instrumental first part being effectively full-on prog, with an inventive synth arrangement by future Genesis producer David Hentschel. It also contains two of his best-ever vocal melodies in Candle In The Wind (forget the hideous abortion of the 'Diana' version) and the title track; love 'em or loathe 'em, you'll certainly remember 'em... Looking at the tracklisting, I can't believe that this album produced four hit singles, at a time when two was considered excessive; we're still a long way from the '80s 'single overkill'. As far as the Mellotron's concerned, This Song Has No Title, a solo vocal and keyboard number, has a typical 'orchestral' flute and string arrangement, Grey Seal has some excellent backing string chords, and Dirty Little Girl features a few brass chords; at least Elton's habit of track-by-track instrumental credits doesn't allow for any dissent over where it's used.

Around this time, Elton played 'Tron on three tracks on his sometime co-singer Kiki Dee's Loving and Free, although I don't know of any other sessions for his mates (John Lennon, Rod Stewart etc.) where he used one. I'm told that he regularly used a Mellotron on stage, too, played by his back-up keyboard player, Ray Cooper, with rather more use than in the studio. The only officially-available live recording from the time is 1976's Here and There (Cooper's first performances with the band, apparently), and I believe it's entirely 'Tron-free. Can't see him releasing anything else from the era in the near future, if ever, sadly.

1974's Caribou, sounds, to my ears, like a somewhat weaker effort, although it still spawned two hit singles in the rather anodyne rocker The Bitch Is Back and big ballad (again), Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me, with some almost completely inaudible 'Tron strings from David Hentschel. Best track is probably closer Ticking, a sad tale of dysfunction and spree-killing. Later that year, Elton released a version of the Beatles' classic drug song, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds as a non-album single, something he was quite prone to doing at the time. Not as good as the original, it does, however, feature 'Tron flutes and strings, including a great flute melody line, key-click and all, which I'll admit may've sounded good on Sgt. Pepper. It's available on various compilations, including '77's stopgap Greatest Hits Vol.2 (the 'cricket' sleeve).

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is more of the same, compositionally, with the more acoustic guitar-based title track being one of the better tracks. On the Mellotron front, We All Fall In Love Sometimes has a lovely flute melody, but Curtains, despite a credit, has no audible 'Tron whatsoever. I haven't actually been able to get hold of two of these albums for review, the first being Elt's second album of '75, Rock of the Westies, although I've tracked down a copy of its sole Mellotron track, the single Island Girl. Saying that, there's startlingly little 'Tron on it, with nowt but a fast flute melody from James Newton Howard, so don't go out of your way for this one.

1976's Blue Moves, another double, is slightly stronger than its immediate predecessors, with highlights including the orchestral Tonight, the rocking One Horse Town and the (relatively) lengthy instrumental Out Of The Blue, although its best-known track is the typical big ballad Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. A really rather good flute part on Cage The Songbird, again from James Newton Howard, is the only Mellotron this time round; never one to overuse it, I suspect Elton was tiring of it by this point, with polysynths obviously just around the corner. The other album I haven't actually heard is '78's A Single Man, which closes with the six-minute Song For Guy, written as an elegy for Guy Burkett, a messenger at his label, Rocket, who died in a motorbike accident. An almost-instrumental solo keyboard track, most of the keys are piano and synths, but a brief 'Tron flute line comes in halfway through in typical Elton style.

Elton abandoned the Mellotron at this point, switching to polysynths like everyone else, although the story doesn't quite end here. After twenty years of going with the flow, recording-wise, he went back to his roots on 2001's Songs From the West Coast, recording onto 24-track analogue, and refusing to use Pro-Tools, sampling etc. He's working with Bernie Taupin again, not to mention guitarist Davey Johnstone and drummer Nigel Olsson from his regular '70s band, marking what everyone's calling a remarkable return to form. To prove his point, producer Patrick Leonard plays Mellotron on Love Her Like Me, although a background string line isn't really in the same league as some of his better '70s 'Tron Tracks.

So...; hmmm. If you like Elton (you can't refer to him as 'John', can you?), you'll like most, if not all of these albums, and you'll probably own them anyway. He has to be considered a fairly major Mellotron user, though more like David Bowie than Genesis, say (!), so none of the above albums even comes close to 'Tron classic status. Of the dozen or so listed above, I'd say the best tracks for their 'Tron content would be Daniel, This Song Has No Title, Grey Seal, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, We All Fall In Love Sometimes and Cage The Songbird. Every highlighted track above wouldn't fill a CD-R, but it's nice to see a mainstream performer use it on a whole string of albums. Songs From the West Coast is a definite move in the right direction, but next time round, could we have a bit more, please? Ta.

Official site

Zachary Jones Band  (US)

	Homestead Deluxe  (2004,  50.13)  ***½/TT
	Static on Country Radio High Sierra Household Accessories Shady Lane Drive Lullaby Pioneer's Lament Of Dreams and Dreaming The Ballad of Rachel Corrie	The Lesser Traveled Road Tale of the Tall Oak Homestead Deluxe Letter From a Frontier Town Driving West Virginia Reprise

Current availability:

• Longview (US)

The Zachary Jones Band describe themselves as 'traditional American-folk harmonies converging with intense blues-rock riffs and exotic Latin/jazz percussion', which loosely translates to 'slightly countryish American folk-rock', which is no bad thing, certainly in comparison to the mush that comes out of Nashville these days. Homestead Deluxe is their debut album, and is actually a very pleasant listen, with gorgeous picked guitar work on several songs, not least excellent opener Static On Country Radio. Quite who Zachary Jones may be is another matter; like Max Webster and others before him, the elusive Mr. Jones is nowhere to be found in the credits. Maybe I should file them under 'Z'?

Electric guitarist Bill Bechtel doubles on Mellotron, laying down a highly evocative string part on Static On Country Radio, with more of the same, plus opening cellos on Shady Lane Drive and some very nice flutes indeed on Lullaby. More of those strings on Pioneer's Lament, and that's yer lot, sadly. So; a very pleasant album, with some genuinely moving moments, mostly clustered together at the beginning, although it all tails off slightly towards the end. Several decent 'Tron tracks, too; Bill tells me it's M400 #809, and if you think a couple of those string notes seem to hold just a little too long, they may have been digitally 'stretched' in the recording process...

Jonesy  (UK)

	No Alternative  (1972,  43.21)  ***½/TTTT No Alternative Heaven Mind of the Century 1958 Pollution Ricochet
	Keeping Up...  (1973,  40.13)  ****/TTTT Masquerade Sunset and Evening Star Preview Questions and Answers Critique (With Exceptions) Duet Song Children
	Growing  (1973,  39.03)  ***½/T½ Can You Get That Together Waltz for Yesterday Know Who Your Friends Are Growing Hard Road Jonesy
	Sudden Prayers Make God Jump...  (2003, recorded 1974,  35.47)  ****/TTT Dark Room Running Bad Dreams The Lights Have Changed Old Gentleman's Relief Anthem

Current availability:

• No Alternative/Keeping Up/Growing: RCA (Japan)
• Sudden Prayers: Night Wings

Jonesy were put together by John (Evan-) Jones after he released a solo singer/songwriter-type album for German label BASF with keyboard player Jamie Kaleth. No Alternative is a little dated for '72, being a bluesy prog album, nearer to the 'proto-prog' of Gracious! or Cressida than the market leaders of the day. It's by no means a bad album, but is very much of its time, failing to transcend the decades the way their best contemporaries have. Kaleth only plays pianos and Mellotron, so there's a good bit of it to be heard; all six tracks, in fact. Plenty of brass and strings; I'm told they had an M400, but I'm sure I can hear the Mark II brass/strings mix. Maybe not. Anyway, 'Tronnic highlights include the occasional strings pitchbend/swells on Mind Of The Century and the string work on Pollution. Keep an ear out for Kaleth's 'choppy' chords, where he tries to play the thing more like a organ. Key-click warning, key-click warning...

After some lineup changes, they quickly followed-up with Keeping Up..., with veteran hornsman Alan Bown firmly ensconced as a full member. It's an immediate improvement on its predecessor, with considerably more adventurous material, although a vastly improved production may have helped. There's an excellent string arrangement alongside 'Tron strings and flutes on Masquerade, with more of the same on Sunset And Evening Star and a killer string part on Questions And Answers. I keep finding myself thinking 'King Crimson' as I listen to this album; several tracks have some of that Islands weirdness, or Poseidon 'Tron-epic feel to them, particularly the imaginatively-titled Song. Children finishes the album off in grand style, with more Crimsonisms and 'Tron brass alongside the real thing. Recommended.

Growing was more of a group-written album, which shows in its relative lack of direction, and it's often regarded as the weakest of the three. More Crimsonesque stuff, particularly the jazzy dissonance on their, er, 'theme song', Jonesy. Not that much of Kaleth's Mellotron this time round, with just regular strings on Can You Get That Together, and the rarely-heard Mellotron Hammond on Know Who Your Friends Are, but all the rest of the strings seem to be real ones, ditto the brass.

A fourth album was recorded in 1974, but the tapes were stolen and never recovered. When an Italian fan got in contact with Evan-Jones recently, after hearing a copy dubbed from a surviving cassette, he offered to release it. Sudden Prayers Make God Jump... (now, is that a modern Crimson title or what?) saw the light of day in 2003, and although Kaleth had left, Ken Elliott of Second Hand/Seventh Wave fame stepped in on 'Tron duties. The album's an immediate improvement on Growing, making it even more tragic that the masters were lost, although the mastering job that's been done here is excellent, all things considered. Elliott gets plenty of that 'Tron in, with major use in lengthy opener Dark Room and some upfront flutes and strings in Bad Dreams, amongst others.

So; what to recommend? Keeping Up... is definitely their best, but the other three are worth hearing (particularly Sudden Prayers), if not of quite the same quality, with No Alternative being the most straightforward, and Growing the weirdest. The first two are obviously the better 'Tron albums, so I think I have to say, start with Keeping Up..., then maybe move onto the others. Although it's by far the easiest way to find these albums, be careful of the Australian 'Progressive Line' issues. There's two CDs, No Alternative and Keeping Up..., with the first half of Growing after their second album and the second half on the first... The mastering is pretty awful, with all three albums varying in volume, a minuscule silent gap on Keeping Up..., and worse, what sounds like a few seconds missing at the beginning of Growing, and two listed tracks indexing as one. Sloppy. The Korean Si-Wan releases will be more expensive, but are probably better.

Official site

Journey  (US)

	Departure  (1980,  38.02)  **½/½
	Any Way You Want it Walks Like a Lady Someday Soon People and Places Precious Time Where Were You I'm Cryin' Line of Fire	Departure Good Morning Girl Stay Awhile Homemade Love

Current availability:

• Sony

Journey's sixth album, Departure, was their third since their early jazz-rock phase, although we're not exactly talking Mahavishnu, even then. 1978's Infinity was their first breakthrough AOR album with new singer Steve Perry, catapulting the band into the upper echelons of the US charts, even if other territories were slower to succumb to their charms. Basically, you either like this stuff or you don't; it's utterly ludicrous, but despite its cheesiness, I find it difficult to hate Journey unreservedly, although their awful ballads push me perilously close... The more listenable moments on the album are easily its longest track, People And Places and opener and major hit Any Way You Want It (containing NO double-entendres, amazingly), with several moments of pure cheese that are best skipped over.

Gregg Rolie, on his last album with the band before being replaced by ex-Babys man Jonathan Cain, only used the hired-in Mellotron on one track, with some background strings on Any Way You Want It. According to the liner notes on the Time³ box set, the instrument he used didn't work too well (no maintenance, as usual), but co-producer Geoff Workman got some useable stuff out of it, doubling it with Hammond, not to mention their usual massed backing vocals. Real strings on the last two tracks, so with one minor 'Tron track, don't even think about buying this for that reason. In fact, don't even think about buying this unless you're big on Radio Rock, or whatever you want to call it. Listen to the vastly superior New England instead.

Official site

Joy Division  (UK)

Closer  (1980,  44.28)  ****/T Atrocity Exhibition Isolation Passover Colony A Means to an End Heart and Soul Twenty Four Hours The Eternal Decades

Current availability:

• London (UK)

Joy Division first appeared at the height of punk in 1977 under the rather non-PC name of Warsaw, complete with Hitler Youth-inspired cover art. Tell you what, chaps, Nazi chic has never been cool, and no, I don't care what Lemmy says... Anyway, they soon dropped the more overtly fascistic trappings, although their new name was inspired by the officially-sanctioned corps of prostitutes used by the SS, so no change really... Many fans hold Joy Division up as 'some of the most depressing music ever', or somesuch, but with a few exceptions I feel this is mostly wishful thinking. However, their secret weapon was gravel-voiced vocalist Ian Curtis, a seriously depressed young man who sadly took his own life not long after the release of Closer. Even on the more upbeat songs, Curtis' vocals certainly produce feelings of despair, however, as do his lyrics. Their best-known song (and only real hit) Love Will Tear Us Apart, is definitely one of the most depressing chart singles ever, major key or no.

Closer was the band's second album, and last as an extant unit; its weird, claustrophobic sound doesn't make for easy listening, with Peter Hook's 'lead bass' and their unconventional drum patterns triggering the whole 'post-punk' movement. The cover is no less stark than the monochrome oddness of its predecessor, Unknown Pleasures (****), and is very recognisably in the 'house style' of their label, Factory. The still is actually from the (last?) Rudolph Valentino film, 'The Sheik', another man who died young, not that the band could've known their singer's fate at this point. The album has the occasional keyboard part dotted about (probably Bernard Sumner, a.k.a. Albrecht), mostly string synth, but strangely someone must've brought in a Mellotron at some point, as there's a clearly audible string line during album closer (sorry) Decades, under the string synth melody. The second time round the melody, it's all 'Tron, just in case there are any doubters out there.

After Curtis' death, Joy Division felt they couldn't carry on as they were, and regrouped as the massively successful New Order. It's rumoured that they've used Mellotron somewhere during their lengthy career (still going strong now), but I've yet to discover where. It certainly isn't their first major hit, Blue Monday; those choirs are early samples.

So; Closer: not a Mellotron classic, but an essential album for anyone interested in the UK punk/post-punk scene. Uneasy listening.

Joy Unlimited  (Germany)

	Minne  (1974,  44.04)  ***/T½
	Origo Minne Wunder Kan Din   Guete/Monogam-Polygam Der Din Wip Alrerst Betrouc Cinctura Virginae Swer Gieht, Daz Minne Sunde   Si/Abruptio Venus	Almin Fröide Thermae Roter Mund Wie Du Dich Swachest Bacchanal Flos Lividus I Flos Lividus II

Current availability:

• Not on CD?

Minne was Joy Unlimited's fourth and last album, and is apparently their most laid-back effort, containing a mixture of styles, from the folkish (Minne Wunder Kan Din Guete/Monogam-Polygam, Der Din Wip Alrerst Betrouc) to brass-driven rock (Cinctura Virginae, Bacchanal), and even a track in a Gryphonesque medieval vein (Almin Fröide). Its diversity is probably its downfall, sad though it makes me to say so; the album lacks focus, with its disparate influences refusing to gel sufficiently to create a cohesive whole, sounding one minute like Wind, and the next, Van der Graaf Generator.

Roland Heck's Mellotron work only crops up on two tracks, with some nicely up-front strings on opener Origo and closer Flos Lividus II, bookending the album in a Mellotronic kind of way. This isn't a bad album, and should possibly have been rated higher, but its irritating habit of lurching from style to style makes it a slightly fractured listen, probably due to the band's failure to integrate their influences. Two nice 'Tron tracks, though.

Judas Jump  (UK)

	Scorch  (1970,  37.07)  ***/TT½
	John Brown's Body Rockin' Chair Beer Drinking Woman Medley:   49 Fingers   Purple God Bossa Jump Cry-de-Cry Run for Your Life	Cully Mississippi Turnpike Medley:   Primrose Lady   Scorch

Current availability:

• Not on CD

Judas Jump were apparently considered something of a supergroup at the time, with mainman/guitarist/keyboard player Andrew/Andy Bown and drummer Henry Spinetti being ex-The Herd (with Peter Frampton), while other members had played with various minor British '60s pop outfits. Their sound was that very of-its-time mixture of barroom boogie, hard rock and prog (!), that hasn't really dated very well. Scorch was their sole album, and actually isn't at all bad, though their attempts at barrelhouse stuff (Beer Drinking Woman) or countryish material (Mississippi Turnpike) would probably, with hindsight, have been better left on the cutting-room floor.

Bown plays plenty of Mellotron (presumably MkII) on the album, to the point where sometimes you wonder if it's slightly overdone, although much of it is obviously an attempt to replicate string and brass sections, rather than using it for its own sound. Strings on John Brown's Body, then brass (alongside real sax), plus more strings on Rockin' Chair, with more of the same across the other highlighted tracks, with the most minor use being about three seconds of faint strings at the end of the first part of the second medley, Primrose Lady.

For some strange reason, the US issue appeared in 1972, after the band has split up, and removed the last track, Private Holiday Camp. It's this version I've reviewed here, so I've no idea whether or not there's any 'Tron on it; more info should I ever source the UK version. Anyway, a reasonable enough album, if rather unexciting, but with a fair bit of the ol' 'Tron, though more for proto-prog completists than the general listening public, I suspect. Oh, and if you weren't aware (assuming you care), Bown went on to become Status Quo's onstage keyboard player, before finally being accepted as a full band member many years later, well after they'd gone down the pan.

Jumbo  (Italy)

Vietato ai Minori di 18 Anni?  (1973,  44.00)  ****/TT½ Specchio Come Vorrei Essere Uguale a te Il Ritorno del Signor K Via Larga Gil Vangelo? 40 Gradi No!

Current availability:

• VM 2000 (Italy)

Vietato ai Minori di 18 Anni? is apparently Jumbo's second album containing Mellotron, although I haven't heard the first, DNA. In many ways, it's a typically Italian progressive album of the time, with experimental sections rubbing shoulders with more traditional melodic parts, covering a gamut of styles over its course. Hard to pick out highlights, but opener Specchio and Il Ritorno Del Signor K are particularly good.

Aldo Gargano plays Mellotron on two tracks: Gil is probably the album's most experimental piece, including vaguely dissonant 'Tron strings fading in and out of the mix, 40 Gradi is slightly more straightforward, with similar 'Tron use coming in fairly late in the song, while No! has even more strings, possibly doubled with cellos. Vietato... is a good album, if not actually a classic, although its 'Tron use is relatively limited. Buy anyway.

Junior's Eyes  (UK)

	Battersea Power Station  (1969,  38.20)  ***/T
	Total War Circus Days Imagination My Ship Miss Lizzie So Embarrassed Freak in Playtime	I'm Drowning White Light By the Tree

Current availability:

• Essential

Junior's Eyes' chief claim to fame seems to be that most of the band played on David Bowie's first 'proper' album, Space Oddity, as did a session keyboard player who guested on their lone album, Rick Wakeman. A rather lesser one is that they have to be the inspiration behind the track of the same name from Ozzy Osbourne's last album with Black Sabbath, 1978's Never Say Die. Did the two bands share a bill in 1969? Perfectly possible, although they were from different areas of the country.

I've seen Battersea Power Station described as 'underrated', but I can't say I'm convinced, I'm afraid. It's not a bad album, but with far too many tracks like the meandering By The Tree, or the sub-Stray (although actually predating them) Playtime, it has difficulty justifying its tag as 'a lost psych classic' or somesuch. Side one's seven tracks form one linked sequence of songs, some of which work better than others, with Circus Days probably being the highlight, with the first few holding together fairly well, although they drift off a little by the end of the side.

Mellotron on one track, with Rick adding MkII strings to My Ship, although it's not the most essential use ever; certainly not a patch on the part Rick added to Space Oddity itself, but then, Tony Visconti wasn't producing here. However, although I'm not sure about recording dates, this could actually be Rick's very first recorded 'Tron track, making it of historical importance, at least.

Anyway, the recent Essential CD issue adds loads of bonus tracks, including both sides of all their three singles (including one rumoured to contain 'Tron); I shall re-review when I get to hear a copy. This isn't really any sort of lost classic, although it does have its moments; one for the hardened psych fan, I think.

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