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Fools Paradise (1975, 42.29/48.47) ****/TTT½ |
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| Wishes Fools Paradise Part 2 The Wind at Eve Margaret O'Grady I Heard a Man Say O'Weary Brain Cool September |
Fool's Paradise Children of Ice Will You Be There E.I.E.I.O. End Game [CD adds: Remember Me A Simple Song] |
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Sydney-based Dave Madden and Peter Harris (Madden was Harris' guitar student) have remained completely underneath the prog radar until recently, when their sole album, Fools Paradise [sic.], was reissued on the Korean M2U label. The duo had released a single, Remember Me, in 1974, releasing the album the following year, in a pressing rumoured to be only a few hundred copies. It's a lovely piece of folk/prog, largely consisting of gentle acoustic numbers like The Wind At Eve or I Heard A Man Say, with the only real blip being O'Weary Brain, a jaunty, piano-led song, slightly out of place with the gentle melancholy of most of the other tracks.
Multi-instrumentalist Harris played all the album's keyboards, including Mellotron on a few tracks. There's a beautiful string part on opener Wishes, with a more background one on The Wind At Eve, before something very interesting (well, I thought so) on Margaret O'Grady: male voices in the background, revealing themselves to be Mellotronically-generated at one point. However, this isn't your standard 8-choir, or even the standalone male voices; it has far more of the sound of the infamously not-very-good 16-voice Teddy Taylor, or 'TT' choir. Which Australian Mellotron-owning band had the TT choir? The also Sydney-based Sebastian Hardie, that's who. I can't prove it, but... Anyway, more of those voices on part three of the side-long title track, E.I.E.I.O, and another upfront string part on the closing section, End Game. Maybe surprisingly, the CD's bonus tracks (both sides of the single) also feature Harris on 'Tron strings, and as you're exceedingly unlikely to find the original vinyl, I'll include them in the album's 'T' rating.
All in all, a very good album indeed; top marks to M2U for resurrecting this obscurity and making it available to the sort of audience it should've had first time round. This just proves that, like Quarteto 1111's criminally still-unreissued Onde Quando..., there are almost certainly many classic Mellotron Albums from the machine's heyday out there still waiting to be rediscovered, even if this one 'only' features it on five tracks. This is decidedly worth picking up, though probably more for the music than the 'Tron, though the latter certainly isn't to be sniffed at. Recommended.
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Made in England (1970, 39.03) ***/TWinter's a BummerYou Can't Go Home Mad River Roundabout Chicago, Mon Amour Love Samba Blind Willie Little Cloud |
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Made in Sweden can probably be considered that country's first genuinely 'progressive' group, although Made in England (a.k.a. Mad River) was actually their fourth album in three years, and the first to head in a progressive direction. Saying that, it's more late-period psych than anything, with various influences popping up here and there (notably the jazz/blues of Blind Willie) and I have to admit I don't find it as riveting as some online reviewers, although it's by no means bad. The first few tracks are probably the best, before the band heads off into various musical cul-de-sacs and loses its way slightly.
Bassist Bo Häggström doubles on piano and Mellotron (guitarist/vocalist/main man George Wadenius also doubles on piano and organ), although there's only one 'Tron track here, with some great MkII strings/brass mix pitchbend work on jazzy opener Winter's A Bummer. The upshot of this is; Swedish proto-prog, well-played, not much Mellotron. Your choice.
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Zeitmaschine (1977, 36.53) ***½/0First StepCooking Time of an Egg Next Conceptions Zeitmaschine |
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What appears to be Madison Dyke's sole release, Zeitmaschine (Time Machine, of course), is a bit of a mish-mash of styles, veering between hard rock, prog and ambient German stuff, often within the same track. It's difficult to pick out any one track as particularly superior to any other, although the side-long title track may just have the edge over the rest, with some nice flute work from vocalist Burkard Rittler. Actually, a passable comparison, at least in their more drifting moments, would be Novalis, although they're by no means a clone.
Now, both Rittler and guitarist Jürgen Baumann are credited with 'Mellotron', but all I can hear is swathes of string synth; the only thing that stops me dumping the album straight into Mistaken ID is the two credited players. Maybe it's just buried in the mix? Maybe they had some custom string synth tapes made up? Maybe they thought it would sell more records to prog fans?
Anyway, not a bad album, though a bit run-of-the-mill in places, but bugger-all 'Tron, at least to my ears.
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Tamper-Evident (2003, 42.10) **½/T |
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| Direct Evidence Against Uniqueness It is This Ad Nauseum Tamper Evident Let's Kill the Pig Love is Sometimes Colder Than Ice The Drunkard's Song Period |
Thanx 35 Summers 2 Peter 2:22 Longest Road Gun of Sod |
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Bristol's Madnomad mix techno, metal, pop and just about anything else you can think of into a huge smörgåsbord of, er, something or other on 2003's Tamper-Evident. Does it work? Depends on your point of view, I suppose. I'd imagine they are (or were) the dog's bollocks live, but come across as slightly sterile on record, sometimes sounding like a thirteen-band compilation rather than a cohesive document of the band's sound.
The sleeve design is based around food packaging, including an ingredients list, which puts Matt Sampson's Mellotron at the bottom, with '1%', alongside 'banjo' and 'child'. What you actually get is a flute melody on Direct Evidence Against Uniqueness and what sounds like string section on Love Is Sometimes Colder Than Ice, although I wouldn't swear blind to the latter.
Overall, then, one of those current 'we do everything' type of albums that's not only difficult to categorise (usually a good thing), but difficult to get any sort on handle on, too (a less good thing). Either way, very little Mellotron (real or otherwise), so really not worth it on that front. Incidentally, the demise of the band's domain name makes me think they've probably been consigned to the dustbin of history.
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CDS (1999, 18.40) **½/T½ Beautiful Stranger Beautiful Stranger (Calderone Club Mix) Beautiful Stranger (Calderone Radio Mix) |
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The quite remarkably talent-free Maddy recorded this lightweight piece of fluff for the second Austin Powers film, with the production assistance of the extraordinarily fashionable William Orbit, I believe. Along with the upbeat melody, it's got an irritating synth hook which she echoes in that appalling nasal whine she does so well. You may have guessed that I'm not her biggest fan, but I approached this with a (relatively) open mind, and was comprehensively defeated.
I'm told the flutes are from a Chamberlin; they certainly sound like some form of tape replay, but I've no idea who plays it, even if it's genuine. Orbit? Anyway, nice warbly flutes wandering in and out of the song, quite upfront in the mix, which makes a change, but I wouldn't go out to buy it on those grounds, if I were you.
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Beneath the Greenwood Tree (1973, 32.23) ***/½ |
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| Madrigal Theme Marvellous Clouds Long a-Growing Mammy Blue Sounds of Silence Bye Bye Love The Greenwood Tree One Misty Moisty Morning |
Trains & Boats & Planes Christmas Lullaby (Take Me Home) Country Roads Watch the Changing Faces April Come She Will California Dreaming |
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Madrigal (as against any other band of the same name) were a nine-piece British folk outfit that coalesced from two other groups, specialising in massed male and female harmony/unison vocals with minimal instrumentation. While most of the material is traditional (Steeleye Span tackled One Misty Moisty Morning), several covers creep in, including Simon & Garfunkel's The Sounds Of Silence, The Everly Brothers' Bye Bye Love, Burt Bacharach's Trains And Boats And Planes, John Denver's (Take Me Home) Country Roads and The Mamas & the Papas' immortal California Dreaming. Stylistically, the album's a bit of an acquired taste, being rather too church choir/easy listening for many folk fans, although it's far from offensive, just lacking in personality.
Carolyn Whettell plays Mellotron, although the only definite parts are the flute line and cello on closer California Dreaming, presumably on a studio machine. Given that this is easily available as a download (you really are not going to find an original - a mere hundred were pressed), you can hear it without having to splash out, although if it's Mellotron you're after, you're probably best off going elsewhere.
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School of Time (1977, 39.54) ***½/TThe SeekerMad King's Dynasty Across the Past The Old Clock School of Time The Ghost Dear Mister Fantasy |
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Madrigal's School of Time is a bit of an oddball release, to be honest; after the hard-rock-with-clever-bits of The Seeker, hearing anything especially progressive seems unlikely. However, Mad opens with an intricate vocal arrangement, adding keyboards to the mix, while King's Dynasty rips Queen off something rotten, notably the Killer Queen cop on the chorus. Vocals are in (accented) English throughout, which is rare for a French band, so they must have had one eye on the international market, for all the good it did them. The rest of the album carries on in similar vein, switching between styles in what is actually a rather refreshing manner, given how genre-specific most bands are these days.
Next to no Mellotron, to be honest, with a fairly full-on choir part on Across The Past, with strings sounding like a 'Tron/string synth mix. More string synth and real flute on The Old Clock, but that seems to be it on the 'Tron front. Yet again, you're not going to find this that easily, although copies do crop up on various sites, not least eBay. Do you want it? Well, how badly do you need a 'not bad, not great' semi-progressive late-'70s French album? It's an interesting listen in places, certainly, but one for the hardcore proghead only, I think.
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The Deep End (2005, 59.41/66.23) ***/½ |
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| The Kids Are on High Street On Your Side Hold on to You Stories From the Streets Running Out of Time The Lost Gospel Elektro Vakuum Subterranean Sunlight |
Hard to Come Back Ramona Slow Builder Sail Away [Bonus tracks: Life in the City I'm in Love] |
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Madrugada have been described as Norway's answer to R.E.M., although to my ears, they sound more like a cross between Neil Young and a better version of, say, Counting Crows, at least on their fourth album, 2005's The Deep End. While not a bad album as such, it outstays its welcome by several tracks, sounding a bit anodyne compared to many American bands playing in a similar style.
Kevin Savigar plays Mellotron flutes on regular album closer Sail Away, mixed in with his B3 and Wurly, to the point where they're only fully audible occasionally, all of which adds up to: passable but unexciting with very little Mellotron. The band subsequently split, following guitarist Robert Burås' untimely death in 2007, finishing their last album and playing a farewell tour in his honour.
See: Sivert Höyem
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On the Gulf [a.k.a. Màelstrom] (1973, 37.03/50.10) ***½/TTTT |
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| Ceres In Memory The Balloonist Alien Chronicles Law and Crime Nature Abounds Below the Line |
[CD adds: Opus None Genesis to Geneva] |
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Add Màelstrom to the ever-expanding list of obscure US prog outfits who never got anywhere, despite being rather good. I believe On the Gulf did actually gain a release at the time, unlike many of their contemporaries' recordings, but it had disappeared into the mists of time until recent CD reissue as Màelstrom (hooray!). The band's sound actually owed quite a bit to The Moody Blues in places, who I believe were absolutely massive in the States in the early '70s. Saying that, there are traces of ELP here and there, not to mention the more 'generic' progressive sound prevalent at the time. The band were never destined to be frontrunners, to be honest, although Màelstrom is a decidedly worthy effort, if not exactly the next Yes.
The Mellotron was played by both Roberts Owen and Mark Knox, and it has to be said, they used it to rather delightful excess, with only In Memory escaping. As you'd expect, most of their use is in the strings area, although the odd burst of choir here and there makes a nice change, especially for the time, and there may be some cellos, too. The album does sound a bit dated for the time, to be honest, but it's worth a listen for the music, and definitely for the 'Tron. Incidentally, the CD's two live bonus tracks are from 1980, with one D. Kent Overholser on unusually late use of Mellotron on Opus None.
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One Drop in a Dry World (2004, 51.25) ****/TTT |
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| The Bells, THE BELLS! Blood & Bones A Waiting Game It's U Souk One Drop in a Dry World A.N.S.S. The End of the Road |
Explorers 2 a.m. The Starving People of the World All Thank You for Your Time Carpet |
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Fiddling Meanly (2005, 57.19) ****/TT |
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| Abendrot The Bells, THE BELLS! Deceivers All Has to Be a Reason In Search of England The Iron Maiden Sunday Bells Poor Wages |
The Poet/After the Day Will to Fly Prospect of Whitby Harbour Early Morning Big Organ End |
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Grim (2005, 54.32) ***½/TT |
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| Coming Soon to a Cinema Near You Through a Storm Love is... A Lark That's the Price You Pay The Iceman Cometh Hebden Bridge Loot |
Harp + Carp Birds Location, Location, Location Abendrot Overture: Marsch Burleske Pas de Deux Scene from a London Flat |
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Caterwauling (2007, 66.47) ***½/TT |
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| Caterwauling Soldier of Fortune The Road to Nowhere Matilda Yarrow The Collector Closure Always I Don't Like You |
Tonight Could Be the Night Shoes Strange Worlds Quicksand Blossom Hill Pills |
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Those of you who've been paying attention will realise immediately that there's a Woolly Wolstenholme (ex-Barclay James Harvest, of course) connection to Maestoso, it being the name he used for his band in the 2000s, including guitarist Steve Broomhead from his early'-80s lineup. After his various trials and tribulations over the last decade or more, in many ways it's a miracle that Woolly's managed to release anything at all, never mind an album as good as One Drop in a Dry World, so it must've been particularly galling for him that so few tickets were sold for his comeback UK tour that he only ended up playing one date (London, natch) and that to a half-empty club.
Anyway, the album: while having some stylistic components in common with BJH, in many ways it's more typically symphonic prog than that band ever were, probably in keeping with Woolly's own influences, which aren't dissimilar to those of his bête noir and former collaborator, The Enid's Robert John Godfrey. The highlight is probably the exceedingly excellent title track, with its rich key changes and full-on 'Tron, but several other tracks all do the job, particularly the opening one-two of The Bells, The Bells!/Blood & Bones. It's sometimes hard to tell where Woolly's using the 'Tron (more echoes of BJH, then), even though he's now using an M400, although it's pretty obvious on most of the highlighted tracks above. 2 a.m. is another Mellotronic highlight, although I'm in two minds as to whether or not there's actually any on Souk at all. So; an excellent return to form, after (deep breath) BarclayJamesHarvestThroughTheEyesOfJohnLees' relatively anodyne Nexus from a few years ago, and the rather low-key live album from the tour, Revival.
February 2005's live Fiddling Meanly (ho ho - it was recorded at the now-demolished Mean Fiddler) hails from the aforementioned lone London show, comprises an hour-long trawl through Woolly's recent and distant past, although studio opener Abendrot actually hails from their then-forthcoming release and closer Big Organ End also sounds like a studio recording. The live tracks delve back to the late '60s (Poor Wages and Early Morning), skate through a handful of Woolly compositions for BJH (The Poet/After The Day, The Iron Maiden, a couple from XII), touch on his early '80s solo period (Deceivers All, Prospect Of Whitby) and come right up to date with material from the previous year's One Drop in a Dry World. The highlight is probably the The Poet/After The Day pairing (originally on And other Short Stories, of course), while some of the acoustic tracks slightly outstay their welcome, but overall, it's a fine document of the band's brief live career. From memory of the event and the audible evidence, Woolly used his M400 less than you might expect, with strings on The Bells, THE BELLS!, Deceivers All (of course), The Poet/After The Day and Early Morning, but it's always good to hear.
Maybe surprisingly, later the same year, Grim arrives. While possibly not as good as the previous year's effort, it's still a fine album, with neo-classical grandeur (Abendrot, Overture: Marsch Burleske), eccentric 'tell it like it is' lyrics (The Iceman Cometh, Scene From A London Flat) and folk-influenced whimsy (Loot, Harp + Carp), although it seems to lack the highlights of One Drop. A reasonable helping of Mellotron, although (guess what?) it's not always easy to tell when it is or isn't being used. The parping Through A Storm features the strings, albeit in a supporting role, with nothing else obvious until the choir (and strings?) on Hebden Bridge and choirs on the oddly-titled Harp + Carp. There are places on the album where it's hard to tell if the cello parts are Mellotronic or not, but they certainly sound like it on Location, Location, Location. More choirs on Abendrot, though the orchestrations on Overture: Marsch Burleske sound sampled. So; another decent album from Woolly and crew, if not quite the equal of its predecessor.
2007's Caterwauling is a rather mixed effort, to be perfectly honest; more neo-symph (the epic Soldier Of Fortune, Quicksand), heavier efforts (The Collector, the angular, Crimsonesque parts of Soldier Of Fortune) and Woolly balladry, so to speak (Closure, Blossom Hill). In fairness, you don't listen to a Woolly Wolstenholme album expecting twelve identical tracks, thankfully, but the diversity on display here possibly just tips the balance between cohesive and its corollary. Once again, it isn't always easy to tell what is or isn't a Mellotron when orchestral instrument samples are also utilised, but I'd put my money on the several large, lush string parts on Soldier Of Fortune, flutes and background strings on Matilda Yarrow, distant strings on Shoes and orchestral ones on Quicksand.
So; Maestoso used to be signed to Eclectic Records, before they went bust - a fitting label for their genre-hopping albums. I'm not sure how many people invariably like all of a Woolly album, but most prog fans should go for some of just about anything he puts out. I personally prefer One Drop in a Dry World and Fiddling Meanly to the band's two later releases, but all have their strong points, particularly on the Mellotron front.
See: Woolly Wolstenholme | Barclay James Harvest
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The Union Themes (2000, 31.04) ***/T |
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| These Parts Being Blind How I Came to Know Best Believe You Love Your Wounds Hollow Reed Give Faith Con Job |
Handwriting Monument |
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Lois Maffeo has been around since the late '80s; amusingly, an early band was called Courtney Love, after a certain housemate of hers (!). Although she has spent much of her time in the '90s on her Lois project, The Union Themes is a collaboration with Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, and is a gentle, acoustic singer-songwriter album. I have to admit I'm not blown away by it, though I suspect the deficiency is in myself, not Lois. I'm sure it does what it does very well; it just doesn't click with my personal taste in this area.
Lois sings and plays acoustic guitar and flute, with Canty covering most of the rest of the instrumental spectrum, including Mellotron. Sadly, it's only to be heard on one track, with a little orchestrally-arranged string part in the middle of Being Blind, making a whole T slightly generous, to be honest. It's difficult to recommend this album to fans of 'standard' singer-songwriter fare, but some of you are going to go for it. Not worth it for the 'Tron input, though.
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Maga (2006, 41.23) **/0 |
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| Al Dictado Dardo y Alicia El Cristal por Dentro Hormiga Pasó el Cometa Año Nuevo Mi Casa de Pájaros Trampa en la Boca |
Nautilus La Otra Mitad Nada Nuevo Bajo el Sol |
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Maga are a Spanish pop/rock outfit who have elected, for reasons known only to themselves, to self-title their first three albums. Aping Peter Gabriel? In that only, I can assure you. Anyway, 2006's Maga is their third release of that name, a thoroughly average effort aimed at the local market, although I can't imagine these songs doing well internationally with English lyrics, but then, what do I know?
Jordi Gil is credited with 'programming, Solina and Mellotron' on several tracks, none specified Mellotronically. As it happens, it's inaudible on all of them, so God alone knows whether he actually used a real one or not and if so, where. Did you need another excuse not to hear this album? You've got one.
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Undecided (2007, 24.59) **½/TUndecidedFear of Sleep The Shooter Tonight Let Somebody in (alt.version) Sissy and the Silent Kid |
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The Runaway (2010, 54.14/72.32) *½/T |
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| The Pulse Hurt So Good Why Did You Call? Once I Had A Start With No Ending Throwing My Heart Away Restless River Only Seventeen Sound of Something |
The Song That No One Knows Dreams of a Revelation I'm Sorry 2-disc ed. adds: Hurt So Good (live) Why Did You Call? (live) Restless River (live) Dreams of a Revelation (live) |
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The double brother/sister foursome The Magic Numbers seem to've captured critics' collective imaginations, although their 2007 EP, Undecided, gives me few clues as to why. A couple of its limp tracks aren't so bad, but six on the trot is enough to make my teeth squeak. Romeo Stodart plays Mellotron strings on closer Sissy And The Silent Kid, one of the aforementioned better tracks, but I'm not at all convinced it's real.
Listening to their third album, 2010's The Runaway, I have absolutely no idea why anyone likes this band. None. None at all. Remember soft rock? This is the same (lack of) style, updated for a new (and not obviously better) millennium, pathetically excused by said critics as 'folk influenced'. Well, if this is folk, I'm the proverbial denizen of the Orient; if it looks like soft rock and sounds like soft rock, then soft rock it bloody well is and a pretty poor example of it, to boot. Michele Stodart plays what might very well be real Mellotron on Dreams Of A Revelation, with strings under real ones and a faint flute part, none of which really improves the album in any meaningful way.
Christ, is this what we've come to? A bunch of hairy musicians who look like they might at least do something interesting, then don't? Drivel.
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Magical Power (1973, 46.51) ***½/TT |
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| The End Amen Cha Cha Tsugaru In a Stalactite Cavern Astoronaus Town Flying Restraint, Freedom |
Open the Morning Window, the Sunshine Comes in, the Hope of Today is Small Bird Singing Ruding Piano Shukuyakushi Nenbutsu Kane-Hari American Village 1973 Look Up the Sky |
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Makoto "Magical Power Mako" Kurita is one of Japan's most venerated psychedelic artists, although the quality of his work apparently varies enormously, making a random purchase a decidedly hit-and-miss affair. He debuted with 1973's Magical Power while still in his late teens, a typically eclectic piece of work, veering between the mad vocal and piano gyrations of Cha Cha, the acid-rock of Flying and the offbeat balladry of lengthy closer Look Up The Sky. No two tracks are alike, making it all the more surprising that Polydor Japan released several of his albums, given the problems they must have had in selling them.
I presume Mako plays the Mellotron (I presume he plays everything, actually), with a brief yet heavy strings-and-choir part on (deep breath) Open The Morning Window, The Sunshine Comes In, The Hope Of Today Is Small Bird Singing, more of the same on American Village 1973, complete with outrageous string pitchbends and the same on Look Up The Sky, with some daringly choppy choirs. Magical Power is a deeply weird album, seriously recommended to psychonauts everywhere, its Mellotron use being simply the icing on the cake. A recent CD reissue from Hagakure should make it reasonably available, too.
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Volume 1 (1978, 73.20) ***½/TTT½ |
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| Mean Metal Men Black Lightning Nobody Can Stop Me Now Leavin' Ain't So Easy Hollywood Highway Blues Red Honey To the Stars |
Sea Me Home UFO/Calling All UFO's For the Ones We Love Rush (Comment) Intergalactic Warrior Traveller Future Roads You're Shinin' Bright Again |
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Magik Dayze were US keyboard whizz Charles Thaxton's (now recording with his solo project Char-El) previous outfit to Galileo II, with a similar mission statement, i.e. keyboard-heavy intelligent hard rock, with a distinct Rush influence apparent, along with other US/Canadian bands of the time, notably Frank Marino's Mahogany Rush and Pat Travers. The quality of the material isn't always upheld, to be honest; Leavin' Ain't So Easy and Highway Blues are both nearer MOR than rock, but opener Mean Metal Men is fantastic, despite the title, and there's plenty of other good stuff on offer. There's also an early version of Thaxton's excellent Future Roads, re-recorded by Galileo II a few years later.
As with the Galileo II CD-R, Volume 1 isn't an album as such, more a collection of demos recorded over a three-year period, available direct from Charles' website, although the sound quality on this disc is better, despite the recordings being older. There's plenty of Mellotron to be heard, mostly strings and choir, though I'm sure I heard brief bursts of both flute and brass at various points; as with Galileo II, Thaxton's use is good without being overbearing, fitting the hard rock format pretty well.
It's good to hear some decent 'Tron playing in this style of music; most similar bands of the era stuck to organ and synths, if they used keys at all. I wouldn't try to claim that this is a 'classic', but there's enough good material to make a purchase worth the effort if '70s US hard rock's your bag, with a considerable bonus on the Mellotron front.
See: Char-El | Galileo II
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Attahk (1978, 38.08) ***½/TThe Last Seven Minutes (1970-71, phase I)Spiritual (Negro Song) Rindë (Eastern Song) Liriïk Necronomicus Kanht (in Which Our Heroes, OURGON & ĞORĞO Meet) Maahnt (the Wizard's Fight Versus the Devil) Dondaï (to an Eternal Love) Nono (1978, phase II) |
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By the late '70s, Magma were moving away from their pure zeuhl stylings, with more of drummer/main man Christian Vander's first love, jazz, creeping in. Attahk is still an endearingly bonkers album, though, with the band's trademark operatic vocals, singing in their own language, Kobaïan, and two bass players (presumably needed to replace the incomparable Jannik Top), credited with 'earth bass' and 'air bass'. Magnificent, if not quite as 'out there' as earlier triumphs like Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh (****½).
Apart from lead vocals, drums, percussion and pianos, Vander also plays Chamberlin on one track, Dondaï (To An Eternal Love), with flutes on the intro and a short strings part near the end. I've no idea a) where he found a Chamberlin in France (the album was recorded at the infamous Chateau Herouville) and b) why a Chamberlin, not a Mellotron? We'll probably never know. Anyway, not a lot of Chamby, but a pretty good album if you're into the style.
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On Your Side (2004, 49.36) ***/T |
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| Everything's Perfect Last Day of Summer Where Happiness Lives On Your Side The Day We Left Town Nothing Hurts Now Lay Lady Lay Overjoyed |
I'll Come Along My Darling Curse Smile to the World |
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The Tourniquet (2005, 40.39) **½/TT |
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| Hold on Duracellia The Pacemaker Believe All You Ask Deadlock Fall at Your Feet Blow By Blow |
Miss Her So Jaws |
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Norway's Magnet essentially consist of singer-songwriter Even Johansen, and while On Your Side is his first album under that name, his solo debut, Quiet & Still, appeared in 2000, although I've no idea whether or not it has any Mellotronic involvement. So, what does Mr. Johansen sound like? Melancholy intelligent pop with an Americana influence, basically, despite being Scandinavian, although I have to say, after the first few tracks I found it starting to drag. You find yourself willing him to up the pace a little, but he never does, with his tedious take on Dylan's Lay Lady Lay being the album's nadir. On the Mellotron front, the only 'definite' I can hear is some nice upfront flutes on Everything's Perfect (no 'buried in the mix' problems here). It's perfectly possible there's more, particularly on the strings front, but I'll be damned if I can tell. Incidentally, it seems there's a 14-track version of the album available, but I'm reviewing the 11-track one, so you never know, there may be more 'Tron on the missing tracks. Maybe.
Johansen released his follow-up, The Tourniquet, a year later, and if anything, it's even more indie-schmindie than its predecessor, although he throws the odd Beach Boys harmony in to throw you off the scent. One famous guest, with Jason Falkner, now long ex-of the sainted Jellyfish who, although he played guitar in that outfit, plays mostly drums here. I have to say, this didn't grab me at all, I'm afraid; too whiny, too indie, too dull. Sorry. Johansen plays all the album's credited Mellotron, with uncredited flutes on Hold On (in fairness, Johansen is credited with 'all playing'), with more upfront ones (credited) on Believe and Deadlock, especially the latter. A final uncredited flute part on probably the album's best track, Blow By Blow, possibly from either Falkner or Jørgen Træen instead of Johansen, and that's yer lot.
So; two OK, not great, albums, very little 'Tron. Your choice.
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What Comes After the Blues (2005, 36.17) ***½/TThe Dark Don't Hide itThe Night Shift Lullaby Leave the City Hard to Love a Man Give Something Else Away Every Day Northstar Blues Hammer Down I Can Not Have Seen the Light |
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Sojourner [including all of 2006's Fading Trails] (2007, 117.19) ***½/½ |
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| Lonesome Valley Montgomery Don't Fade on Me Hammer Down No Moon on the Water Nashville Moon What Comes After the Blues Don't This Look Like the Dark North Star |
Bowery Texas 71 Down the Wrong Road Both Ways In the Human World The Black Ram What's Broken Becomes Better Will-o-the-Wisp Kanawha |
A Little at a Time Blackbird And the Moon Hits the Water The Old Horizon Talk to Me Devil, Again Memphis Moon Hold on Magnolia Trouble in Mind |
Steady Now Spanish Moon Fall and Rise Night Country Shiloh Temple Bell The Spell Take One Thing Along The Lamb's Song Roll the Wheel |
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Josephine (2009, 46.32) ***/0 |
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| O! Grace The Rock of Ages Josephine Shenandoah Whip-poor-will Song for Willie Hope Dies Last The Handing Down |
Map of the Falling Sky Little Sad Eyes Heartbreak at Ten Paces Little Knoxville Girl Shiloh An Arrow in the Gale |
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Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
Magnolia Electric Co. are the brainchild of US singer-songwriter Jason Molina, morphing out of his previous outfit, Songs: Ohia. Amusingly, given his surname, they sound a lot like Neil Young in places (Crazy Horse member Ralph Molina is no relation), mining the same well of folk, country, blues and rock that marks Young's best work. What Comes After the Blues is their first official studio album, after a live album and the last Songs: Ohia record that named the new band. It's unusually short, to the point where I at first thought it might be an EP, although, of course, it would once have been considered merely at the shorter end of 'normal' length for something released back in the vinyl era. It combines Neil-like numbers (The Dark Don't Hide It, Leave The City) with country-influenced songs (Give Something Else Away Every Day) and sparse, acoustic material, strangely closing the record with two of the latter. Jim Grabowski plays piano and Mellotron, with dense cellos and high strings on Hard To Love A Man, although that seems to be it on the 'Tron front.
2007's two-hour, four-disc Sojourner is actually a full release of the source material for the previous year's Fading Trails, four recording sessions, one (wastefully) per disc. It's a pot-pourri of Molina's influences, discs one and two (Nashville Moon and Black Ram) sounding more like What Comes After the Blues, while the brief three (Sun Session) is more country and four (Shohola) pretty much solo acoustic. Alan Weatherhead is credited with Mellotron on disc two, but the only even vaguely audible use is some background strings on Will-O-The-Wisp, unless it's buried away in the mix elsewhere.
Molina followed up with 2009's Josephine, a laid-back, countrified record with little of that Neil influence left, sadly, although it can vaguely be heard in the title track and The Handing Down. Saying that, it's a good, mournful Americana effort, better tracks including Shenandoah and Hope Dies Last, although possibly not matching up to the band's earlier work. Michael Kapinus is credited with Mellotron, but I'd love to know where, as it seems to be completely inaudible.
Anyway, three good albums, albeit with a mere one decent 'Tron track between them; worth picking up if you see 'em cheap.
Magnum (UK) see: |
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Phantom Blues (1996, 48.01) ***½/0 |
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| Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes Cheatin' on You The Hustle is on Here in the Dark Fanning the Flames I Need Your Lovin' Ooh Poo Pah Doo Lonely Avenue |
Don't Tell Me What am I Living for? We're Gonna Make it Let the Four Winds Blow (You've Got to) Love Her With Feeling The Car of Your Dreams |
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Current availability:
Chamberlin used:
Henry St. Clair "Taj Mahal" Fredericks is by no means a typical black American bluesman, being a full generation younger than most of the big names and having formed his first band while at university, the attendance of which should, in the eyes of many, disqualify him from the genre altogether. Thankfully, those of a more open-minded persuasion have taken him to their hearts as a far more 'authentic' proposition than the rather anodyne Robert Cray, despite his frequent forays into other world musics, not to mention his more recent flirtations with the American mainstream.
1996's Phantom Blues is still chiefly blues, funnily enough, and is apparently effectively a covers collection, though I can't say I recognise any of the titles myself. Best track? Fanning The Flames is a searing, slow blues with some killer guitar work from the man and overall, I feel the slow tracks are better, though there isn't one dog here. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any of Jon Brion's credited Chamberlin, either, yet again; what is it with this instrument? Do producers want to have it in the credits for some sort of retro cool, as long as they don't have to hear the damn' thing?
Anyway, a fine modern blues album, but don't expect to hear any tape-replay.
