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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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P (1995, 57.16) ***½/TT | |
| I Save Cigarette Butts Zing Splash Michael Stipe Oklahoma Dancing Queen Jon Glenn (Mega Mix) Mr. Officer White Man Sings the Blues |
Die Anne Scrapings From Ring The Deal |
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The irritatingly-named P (you try searching for it on Google) were a seemingly one-off 'supergroup' (yuck) of the inimitable Butthole Surfers' inimitable Gibby Haynes on his patented effected vocals and Johnny Depp (yes, that one...) on guitar and bass, plus two of their friends and several guest players. P is pretty much what you'd expect, being largely raucous rock'n'roll with bonkers vocals and huge lashings of irreverence all round. Haynes is on top form, but you wouldn't have a clue Depp was involved if the booklet didn't tell you, with fairly faceless guitar work throughout. A handful of tracks border unlistenable: Jon Glenn (Mega Mix) is a lengthy (and tedious) dub experiment and White Man Sings The Blues is funny for about a minute, while lasting an interminable six-plus, but even the eight-minute weird-fest Scrapings From Ring is worth hearing, and several tracks are genuinely good.
Andrew Weiss plays bass and Mellotron, with a lovely string part on Michael Stipe, which brings me to the Butthole Surfers' Stipe story. They were apparently obsessed with the REM frontman, presumably before his band's dropping of all musical standards and attendant rise to fame'n'fortune (or maybe not?). The Surfers' old tour van finally died, so they towed it to Stipe's house and left it outside, allegedly painting on the windscreen something along the lines of (quotes vary):
| "Michael Stipe, despite the hype, We'd like to suck on your long tall pipe" |
Which may or may not've pleased Mr. Stipe. Who knows? More 'Tron strings on their twisted cover of Abba's Dancing Queen, and it's by no means the strangest instrumentation used on the song... Two more minor 'Tron tracks, with the occasional single string note on Scrapings From Ring, and some distant choir and flutes on The Deal, but they make little difference to the album's overall rating.
So; you're not going to find this all that easily, despite its major-label origins, as it's out of print and pretty collectable among Depp's large fanbase, but it's worth hearing for Butthole Surfers fans, and anyone who likes a bit of grime with their avant-rock. Decent 'Tron on two tracks, too.
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Slightly Sorry (2007, 38.53) ****/½ |
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| United Micro Mini The Dance Strange Messages Cover Art Reprised The End of Winter I've Been Traveling Bless These Blues Not I the Seed |
Lily of the West Sweet Music |
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P.G. Six are effectively Pat Gubler plus friends, whose fourth album, 2007's Slightly Sorry, condenses a slew of folk-rock influences into an appealing stew of acoustic and electric guitars, male and female vocals and all kinds of Fairport Convention-esque things, without actually sounding like a Transatlantic clone (there might be a joke in there, had Fairport been on Transatlantic. Sorry). It's all good, but its top track has to be the beautiful Lily Of The West, sounding exactly like the kind of English folk ballad that Fairport might have tackled around Angel Delight. Actually, it's credited to that wealthiest of songwriters, Trad. Arr, so it's probably sheer bad luck that didn't lead Fairport to it, er, nearly forty years earlier.
Gubler plays all manner of elderly keyboards, including Mellotron; its one probable sighting here is the rather un-Mellotronic cellos and flutes on Strange Messages, although in lieu of anything else, and no credits for those instruments, I'll have to assume that's it. So; a very good album, should you be of a folk-rock disposition, but don't bother for the Mellotron.
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7" (2001, 10.18) ****/TTT½ Perception Tea |
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Timeloss (2002, 39.47) ****/TTTTSensorHypnotique Téa They Are Beautiful Quits |
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Kallocain (2004, 51.36) ****/TTTGasolineHolding on Happiness Absinth Minded Look at Us Reality Stream Won't Be Coming Back In Time |
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Silence of Another Kind (2006, 42.08) ****/TT½ShameYour Misery Falling Still Standing Is That All? Procession of Fools There Will Be No Miracles Not a Sound Silence of Another Kind |
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Paatos were formed by two ex-members of Swedish prog revivalists Landberk, one of whom (guitarist Reine Fiske) has since left for the wonderful Dungen, leaving only Stefan Dimle, also owner of renowned Stockholm shop/label Mellotronen. The band pick up where Landberk left off, playing gentle, melancholy progressive rock on largely vintage gear, though this time with female vocals (Petronella Nettermalm), which suits the music perfectly.
They set out their stall with 2001's vinyl-only single, Perception, backed with the misspelt Tea (corrected on the album version), in honour of Petronella and drumming husband Huxflux's baby daughter. Both tracks feature a long, slow build-up, with Mellotron strings from Johan Wallén breaking in at the nearest each track gets to a crescendo. This isn't going to be easy to get hold of, unless you a) see them live or b) visit Stockholm (just done both), but it's worth the effort if you can find a copy.
The unusually short Timeloss carries on in the same excellent vein, with four medium-length tracks of quiet beauty, although the band aren't immune to picking up the pace every now and again, not to mention the odd Mellotron-fuelled crescendo. The album's 'oddity', though, is lengthy closer Quits, with a drum'n'bass-inspired rhythm, which actually works really well. It's the only non-'Tron track, with Wallén on (unspecified) electric piano. I can confirm that the band own their own M400, painted a fetching baby blue, sans feet, with very odd little spoked wheels replacing the knobs. They seem to have a strings/flutes/oboes tape frame, and the oboes are used here and there, making a welcome change from the usual sounds. One minor gripe, though, is the intro to Téa, which is copped straight from Änglagård's Sista Somrar from Epilog, although I didn't notice the rip on the single version. What were they thinking of? These bands all know each other...
Two years on, Kallocain starts in uncharacteristically upbeat mode with the Eastern-flavoured Gasoline, but soon shifts down a couple of gears back to by-now familiar Paatos territory. There are no actual standout tracks here, but nor are there any surprises like Quits, with the rest of the album being the same type of laid-back but curiously intense progressive as the bulk of Timeloss. An interesting feature of the album is Wallén's Mellotron use (all strings, by the sound of it); it's on seven of the nine tracks, but by and large, used with great restraint, making the occasional heavier use stand out all the more (the 'Tony Banks' trick).
While Silence of Another Kind produces no major surprises, it's another very good album, if sitting pretty in familiar territory. It opens with the uncharacteristically heavy Shame, sounding not unlike Anekdoten, but soon settles into their regular groove; this is not, by the way, a criticism... Procession Of Fools is a very short instrumental piece, and the closing title track consists chiefly of various effects, leaving Not A Sound as the album's probable highlight, as well as longest track. Wallén's Mellotron is use mostly as restrained as on Kallocain, although Not A Sound sees him let rip on the strings in fine style, but again, low-ish on the 'Tron front.
So; Timeloss is a seriously 'Tron-heavy album, Kallocain and Silence of Another Kind less so, although both are excellent. If you liked Landberk, or even if you've never heard them, I can wholeheartedly recommend Paatos. More, please.
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Walking Into Clarksdale (1998, 60.52) ****/T |
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| Shining in the Light When the World Was Young Upon a Golden Horse Blue Train Please Read the Letter Most High Heart in Your Hand Walking Into Clarksdale |
Burning Up When I Was a Child House of Love Sons of Freedom |
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In 1994, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant did what everyone had wanted for the previous 14 years, i.e. work together again. The resulting live 'unplugged' effort, Unledded (****) (ho ho), gave an interesting new perspective on many Zeppelin songs, but the four new pieces of music were, at best, pretty average (Wah Wah, anyone?), causing concern among fans over the quality of any further new material. '95's world tour was spectacularly good, but consisted entirely of Zep stuff, so it was quite a surprise when the duo suddenly came up with Walking Into Clarksdale in '98 (the title referring to the supposed 'home of the blues' in the Mississippi Delta). The album achieved the almost impossible, by updating the Zeppelin formula without being crap. Plant's vocal quirks and Page's guitar stylings are evident all over, and while I wouldn't rate most of the material as highly as most Zep stuff, there's some good songs scattered across the album, including When The World Was Young, Most High and When I Was A Child.
Jimmy Page is known as a Mellotron owner, notably the Mark V prototype John Paul Jones played on stage in the mid-'70s (a weird, unfinished-looking device), and he apparently bought a standard M400 in the mid-'90s. There's (uncredited) 'Tron on one track only here, the opener Shining In The Light, with a nice complementary string part, possibly played by Tim Whelan, who's credited with 'oriental keyboard'. Anyway, a good album, particularly if you're into their '70s oeuvre. Buy anyway. Note: at the time of writing (late 2002), rumours abound of a 'full' Zep tour in 2003, with JPJ and Jason Bonham (oh dear), but I wouldn't hold out too much hope of any live 'Tron, given Jones' views on the subject...
See: Led Zeppelin
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The Cycle is Complete (1971, 35.41) **½/TTAlpha Omega ApocalypseInterlude Oxo Calm Before the Storm |
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Bruce Palmer is best known as bassist for Buffalo Springfield, although he played with his old compadre Neil Young in the early '80s, too. The Cycle is Complete is his only solo album, and while the influence of Hendrix's 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) is fairly evident on side-long opener Alpha Omega Apocalypse, I'm not at all certain that its spirit is anywhere to be found, probably due to Palmer (and possibly everyone else concerned's) heroic drug intake. The country fiddle is an interesting addition to the already well-worn 'tripped-out jam' format, but, although this actually sounds strangely contemporary in a way, it's still an acid jam that's probably designed (if that isn't too strong a word) to be listened to in the same spirit in which it was made. The rest of the album's pretty similar, albeit shorter, with more tablas and the occasional vocal, but overall, it's pretty stoned stuff, and not that good at it, either.
Edward Roth or Jeff Kaplan (or both?) plays what's likely to be a Chamberlin on closer Calm Before The Storm. A major string part runs right through the ten-minute track, overlaid with that distinctive Chamby solo male voice, which pretty much confirms its use, I'd say, although I suppose it could be 'Tron strings and Chamby voice? In fact, the only instrumentation on the track is acoustic guitar, Palmer's lead bass, tablas and two Chamberlins, making it a surprise minor Chamby classic, especially considering the general tedium induced by the rest of the album.
So; a rather second-rate jamming album with one great (and unexpected) Chamby track, although whether it's worth picking up for that alone can be a decision only you can make, dear reader. As a sad postscript, Palmer's lifestyle caught up with him eventually, and he died of a heart attack in 2004, aged 58.
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Paloalto (2000, 53.15) **/T | |
| Depression Age Sonny Monolith Throw the Brick Home Some Things Must Go This Way The Mayor and the Seizure Pills Coming Back From the Sun |
Too Many Questions Swim Beauty of Disaster Made of Stone |
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Paloalto seem to be yet another in a long line of production-line US indie outfits, a bit grunge, a bit fifth-rate folk-rock, a bit, well, a bit what? This is apparently the reality of 'alternative rock', which, I have to say, is the equivalent of much 'alternative comedy', i.e. an alternative to it rather than of it. Even when the overlong Paloalto rocks, it doesn't really, as if the musicians concerned had never actually heard any actual rock music, but had made an album based on a description of it, which they hadn't fully understood. I can't tell you what its 'best tracks' are, as there aren't any; they're all a horrible whiny mess, and I can only urge you not to bother picking this up under any circumstances whatsoever.
The wholly ubiquitous Patrick Warren plays Chamberlin on the record, with flutes and strings on Home, and while it could be hiding in the mix elsewhere, in true Chamby style, it's just as likely to be sustained guitar. Thankfully, the band appear to have called it a day, although they managed to spit out one more slice of tedium before they imploded, 2003's Heroes and Villains, which you can be absolutely sure sounds nothing like The Beach Boys.
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No Illusions (1979, 36.15) ***/TTTMust Miss Your SmileFire and Rain Songs Dream Deltaland No Touch of Illusions Autumn Leaves I Try |
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Going by 1979's No Illusions, Pancake were more of a hard rock outfit than the more expected prog, although their female vocalist softened their edges slightly. Saying that, Dream Deltaland and Autumn Leaves are pretty damn' prog, although they never really escape their hard rock background.
Much of the album's keyboard work is rather average, but they get some 'Tron onto five out of six tracks, although it doesn't always sit comfortably with their style. Dream Deltaland has some background strings from Uli Frank earlier in the song, before some seriously grandiose choirs towards the end, rivalling just about anyone's use, really, although they never quite hit those heights again. Otherwise, there are 'Tron strings on Fire And Rain Songs and No Touch Of Illusions, then more choir on Autumn Leaves and I Try, but despite fairly heavy use, the album isn't really any sort of 'classic'. Pick it up if you find it cheap.
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Things Are Strange (2004, 50.12) **½/½Legally TenderTheory is Famous We Are Louder Stroke My Genius If You Were Once Young, Rage Walk of Shame Thank Me With Your Hands My Commodities Have Been Fetishized Weird Birds |
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Panthers are a Brooklyn-based hardcore band who defy the genre's 'rules' by slowing down and giving their music more of a groove. I'm not saying you'll necessarily like this, just what it is. Their second album, 2004's Things Are Strange, irritated me almost immediately, largely due to Jayson Green's infuriatingly tuneless vocals and the band's insistence on one-dimensional riffing when I'm sure they're capable of actually doing something interesting. And why are the songs so bloody long? Nine tracks in fifty minutes? Four over seven minutes? Closer Weird Birds is about the best of a fairly sorry selection, managing to find a decent riff halfway through and some genuine power, but that's not really much of a recommendation.
Simon Wojan guests on trumpet and keys, including, rather self-evidently, Mellotron, with rather discrete strings, briefly, on Walk Of Shame, though that seems to be your lot. Hardly worth the effort, really. Anyway, not a very interesting album, unless you happen to like post-hardcore stuff by one of its lesser practitioners.
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Le Souffle Noir (1981, 43.41) ***½/TLes Chevaliers de RolonLa Cité des Golodhrims Tres Précieux Tresor de Gollum Arwen Normaire Le Spectre des Minas Morgul Le Dernier Chant des Elfes Les Havres Gris |
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Didier Paquette's Le Souffle Noir ('the black breath') is a lesser-known entrant in the 'music inspired by Lord Of The Rings' category, the title referring, of course, to one of the Nazgûls (Ringwraiths)' secret weapons. Er, not that I've actually read the book or anything, you understand... Musically, the album veers between mostly instrumental progressive rock (Arwen Normaire's treated vocals being the sole exception) with a slightly Germanic feel, and an even more Teutonic electronic style (notably on the brief Tres Précieux Tresor De Gollum). I have to say that none of it exactly inspires image of Tolkien's great work; Bo Hansson's Lord of the Rings does a far better job of that. Saying that, we all see and hear different things in literary works, so who's to say that this album has no connection with the book?
Paquette's Mellotron work is actually quite limited, with a large proportion of the album's keys coming from still relatively-new (thankfully pre-digital) polysynths and more traditional monosynths. The most obvious 'Tron comes within the album's first minute, with a short string part on Les Chevaliers De Rolon, with Le Dernier Chant Des Elfes having no more than some distant, heavily-treated choirs. Both Arwen Normaire and Le Spectre Des Minas Morgul have something similar, but with note-lengths way over the eight-second mark, while I have no idea what it is, it's most unlikely to be a Mellotron.
So; not a bad album, but no classic, and given its relative rarity, certainly not worth the large sums some dealers may wish to charge you. If, however, you find it cheap (it does happen), or you get the chance to obtain a CD-R, go for it.
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Vanessa Paradis (1992, 37.39) ***/T½ |
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| Natural High I'm Waiting for the Man Silver and Gold Be My Baby Lonely Rainbows Sunday Mondays Your Love Has Got a Handle on My Mind |
The Future Song Paradis Just as Long as You Are There Gotta Have it |
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Vanessa Paradis is probably better known as an actress than as a singer, particularly in her native France. Remembered best elsewhere for her teenage hit Joe Le Taxi (1987), Vanessa Paradis was her third album, effectively in collaboration with Lenny Kravitz, with whom she was apparently in a relationship at the time. It's far better than I expected, I have to say, although at times it sounds more like a Kravitz album with a girly singer (Paradis was all of twenty at the time of its release), although when you consider that he wrote most of it, produced it and played on every track, that's hardly surprising. To my ears, it begins to drag after a few tracks, and actually seems to become more 'commercial' as it goes along, although maybe I was just becoming fatigued at the sound; it's still an awful lot better than you'd ever expect of an album by a young French actress (sorry, but you know what I mean...). Saying that, both the near-instrumental Paradis, and the frankly bizarre Gotta Have It that closes the record, are well off the mainstream, providing a much-needed antidote to some of the blander material surrounding them.
Other interesting tracks include the Velvet Underground's Waiting For The Man, which, when heard being sung by a woman, accentuates the sexual ambivalence implied by the title, and the album's two ballads. Both have Mellotronic input, with Kravitz playing flutes all the way through Silver And Gold, and more of the same, uncredited, on Lonely Rainbows, which is probably Kravitz again, but could possibly be his regular keyboard player, Henry Hirsch, who plays on several tracks here.
So; do you? Not if you're after heavy-duty prog, but then you probably aren't even reading this anyway. Vanessa Paradis is actually a much-better-than-expected pop/rock album, not a million miles away from Mr. Kravitz's usual material. Couple of OK 'Tron tracks, but certainly not worth purchase on their behalf, even though that's exactly what I did.
See: Lenny Kravitz
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To Mock a Killingbird (1993, 49.55) **½/½ |
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| Anesthesia Did I Hear You Say...? Make Believe (Jesus Freak) Powerless Junk Mail Love to Turn You on Nobody Listens Do You Know How to Rock |
Letter to Myself Torn and Tied This Means War Love Sick Kid |
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After an independent release, Pariah released their sole major-label album in 1993, To Mock a Killingbird (ho ho), by which time the metal scene had suffered a major upheaval with the arrival of grunge and the total collapse of the '80s 'hair' style (hurrah!). Not that it's a full-on hair-metal album; they'd clearly been listening to the mighty King's X, amongst others, but there are too many pointers on the record to the previous decade to ignore, frankly. I mean, Alice in Chains managed to make the transition, not to mention Pantera, even if the latter uselessly tried to deny for years that their first three albums were by the same band... Anyway, this album has its moments, mostly the quiet ones (notably brief acoustic guitar piece Love), but overall, you can see why Geffen wasted their money on them; derivative, few decent songs and a seeming inability to decide what they actually wanted to sound like.
Jeffrey C.J. Vanston plays Mellotron, but only just, with a few seconds of strings in the dying seconds of closer Sick Kid. All in all, then, unless you're really into that late '80s/early '90s hard rock thing, you do not need this album and don't even mention the Mellotron.
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Paris (1976, 40.54) ***/½ |
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| Black Book Religion Starcage Beautiful Youth Nazarene Narrow Gate (La Porte Etroite) Solitaire Breathless |
Rock of Ages Red Rain |
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After American Bob Welch (here credited as Robert) left Fleetwood Mac in disgust at their infighting, he formed a power trio, Paris, with ex-Jethro Tull bassman Glenn Cornick, who doubled on keyboards, and ex-Nazz (Todd Rundgren's first serious band) drummer Thom Mooney. I think it's safe to say that their debut, Paris, rips Led Zeppelin something rotten, with Black Book, Religion and Beautiful Youth being total Zeppalikes, and Welch's vocals on most tracks cutting Robert Plant just a little too close for comfort. Saying that, it's not a bad album, just rather more derivative than it might and should have been. It does feature tricks that Zeppelin never used, such as the sequencer lines on Starcage, and when Welch gets funky, he sounds nothing like Jimmy Page whatsoever.
This is actually one of those albums that I put on with no expectation of Mellotron use whatsoever, and after a false alarm re. the string synth on Beautiful Youth, I thought I'd got away with it. But no. Come the first track on side two (the longest, and probably the album's best track), Narrow Gate (La Porte Etroite), after a few more Zep-esque minutes, suddenly Cornick's Mellotron strings appear, bolstered with a whiny synth note at the beginning of each chord, making me wonder for a moment if it was more of that string synth. Has to be 'Tron, though, and it lifts the track very nicely indeed, I have to say.
So; one for '70s hard rock aficionados, or Zeppelin fans who just can't get enough of that sound, I suspect. Not enough 'Tron to make it worth hearing for that, although it's not too a bad album overall. File under 'a bit average'. There was a second Paris album later the same year, Big Town 2061, but I understand it's rather funkier than their debut, and is highly unlikely to feature any Mellotron input.
See: Fleetwood Mac | Jethro Tull
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Loneliness Knows My Name (2003, 40.48) **½/0 |
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| Thunderbolt Honest Skrew Suns of Guns Nothing's Wrong Your Smile's a Drug Something Pretty Silver Girl Desperation Eyes |
Past Poisons Bullets By the Door Home for Now Untitled |
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Patrick Park is an Americana-informed singer-songwriter, whose debut album, 2003's Loneliness Knows My Name veers off into near-MOR territory too often for comfort. I suspect that's more to do with his then label, Hollywood, who are very mainstream indeed, than his own inclinations, but it's hard to say. Don't get me wrong, it has its moments (Past Poisons almost rocks out for a minute), but Park's rather insipid voice tends to drag most of the material down to the same level.
Michael Krassner allegedly plays Mellotron, but I'll be buggered if I can hear where; maybe there's some cellos buried in the mix somewhere? All the strings appear to be real, so I've really no idea. All in all, this is pretty dull fare, albeit heartfelt, which is better than dull and corporate. No obvious 'Tron, anyway, just on the offchance you were thinking of ignoring the rest of this review and shelling out for a copy.
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Phantom Orchard (2004, 39.20) ***/½JezebelSavage Flower Miura Ghostlake Deft 39 Steps Transparent Things Contraband Blue Noon |
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Zeena Parkins is a harpist who's stepped way outside most players' comfort zone, having worked with the likes of Björk, John Zorn and Fred Frith, while Ikue Mori is a Japanese-born drummer who operates mainly in the New York Tzadik label scene. What both women clearly have in common is a disregard for doing things the way they 'should' be done, being more interested in finding new routes. Their 2004 collaboration, Phantom Orchard, is a highly experimental work involving synthesized sounds, plus the occasional actual harp or percussion part, which is probably only going to appeal to the more avant-garde crowd, although that isn't to dismiss this fascinating album in any way.
Parkins is credited with Mellotron, but the only things on the album that even might be one are the distant strings and possible other stuff on Ghostlake, although they could be pretty much any modern keyboard, to be honest. Far more exciting then the Mellotron, though, are Parkins' synths of choice, among them a Moog III modular, a Buchla 200 and a Gleeman Pentaphonic Clear. Gleemans (Gleemen?) are rare enough in any form, but they only built a few perspex ones, not that its case affects its sound in any way, of course. Enough synth fan-boyness.
Anyway, you're not going to buy this for its minimal Mellotron input, but as an experimental work, it's second to none.
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Astray (2004, 68.14) ****/TTT½NowDistracted Dirty Mind Another Vision Some Fear Growing Old Between Me and the End Modern Times |
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Horror Express (2008, 60.14) ****/TT |
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| In the Dark O Cesare Escape Into the Future Kaiju Snug Bottom Flute and Starveling Golden Child Monsters From the Id Polly New |
All Done (Horror Express) The Cutting Room |
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Throughout the '90s, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Parmenter was the leading light in US progsters Discipline, releasing one live and two studio albums, including the excellent Unfolded Like Staircase. Although the band are now history, Parmenter is still very much active, releasing his first solo album, Astray, in 2004. Downbeat and intensely personal, the album's tempos rarely rise above adagio, while the ghosts of Discipline's Peter Hammill/Van der Graaf influences still hover in the background, particularly on Modern Times, though not enough to actively intrude. The seven lengthy pieces unfold slowly, driven (albeit slowly) by Parmenter's ever-present piano, with other keyboards appearing when necessary. Parmenter actually plays every instrument on the album except, strangely, bass, so that must be his violin on Some Fear Growing Old, not to mention the infrequent drum parts. Mellotron on four tracks; largely strings, although there's a flute part in Distracted and some choirs in Dirty Mind. Mostly used with great subtlety, the 'Tron is even more startling when it leaps to the front of the mix, as at the beginning of the longest track, Modern Times.
Four years on, Parmenter follows up with the even more Hammillesque Horror Express, following in its predecessor's footsteps. He's not lying; much of this piano-heavy album could be used to soundtrack a 'scary rather than bloody' horror flick, although it has its more upbeat moments, notably Polly New. The Jacksonesque sax work on All Done (Horror Express) is possibly a Van der Graaf too far, but the album's well worth the four-year wait, despite its lack of originality. Rather more minor Mellotron use this time round, with occasional strings on opener In The Dark, more of the same on O Cesare, strings and choirs on Polly New and closer The Cutting Room. Would it be unfair of me, though, to say, "Matthew, old son, please could you develop your own voice?". Like its predecessor, this is an excellent album, but it's an excellent Peter Hammill album, and I want to hear a Matthew Parmenter record.
All in all, these are excellent albums by a considerable talent, although liking Discipline's music doesn't necessarily qualify you for liking them. However, if you feel that melancholy but powerful (albeit heavily Hammill-influenced) progressive rock is your bag, not to mention some good 'Tron, these comes heartily recommended.
See: Discipline
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Fuzzy Warbles Volume 2 (2002, recorded 1979-2000, 49.38) ***½/T |
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| Ridgeway Path I Don't Want to Be Here Young Marrieds No One Here Available Obscene Procession Miller Time You're the Wish You Are I Had Ra Ra Rehearsal Ra Ra for Red Rocking Horse |
Everything'll Be Alright 25 O'Clock GOOM Chain of Command All of a Sudden Summer's Cauldron Then She Appeared It's Snowing Angels Ship Trapped in the Ice |
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Fuzzy Warbles Volume 3 (2003, recorded 1983-96, 57.41) ***½/T |
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| My Train is Coming Lightheaded Goodbye Humanosaurus Humble Daisy You Like Me? Great Fire Work Mopti Fake 1 Collideascope Mopti Fake 2 |
When We Get to England Train Running Low on Soul Coal Holly Up on Poppy Strawberry Fields Forever Autumn Comes Around Child's Crusade Little Lighthouse This is the End Put it on Again |
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Fuzzy Warbles Volume 4 (2003, recorded 1979-9?, 56.03) ***/T |
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| Tunes Bumpercars The Art Song (Something Good With Your Life) I'm Playing My Fano Zonked Right Out on Life All I Dream of is a Friend Peck the Ground Like a Chicken That's Really Super Supergirl Brainiac's Daughter |
Blue Beret Gangway, Electric Guitar is Coming Through Mechanical Planet Helicopter Ugly Underneath OMGO Where is Your Heart? Hey, it's Alan Burston! Season Cycle Countdown to Christmas Partytime |
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Fuzzy Warbles Volume 7 (2006, recorded 1982-2003, 60.36) ***½/T |
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| 2 Rainbeau Melt Thrill Pill Sonic Boom I'm Unbecome Ballet for a Rainy Day 1000 Umbrellas Ejac in a Box (MGOO) C Side Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her Ladybird |
Candymine Visit to the Doctor Cherry in Your Tree Desert Island Scarecrow People Hold Me My Daddy Books Are Burning Bobba De Boop De Ba De Boobay Open a Can (of Human Beans) |
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Andy Partridge has been, of course XTC's chief mover and shaker for over thirty years now (and, of course, chief Duke of Stratosphear), although the band have been on hiatus for the better part of the last decade. After the two Apple Venus demo sets (Homespun and Homegrown), Partridge elected to release a slew of demo albums under his own name, the Fuzzy Warbles series (a Clockwork Orange quote, fact fans), starting in 2002. They've been compiled with no regard for continuity, so I'm not sure what criteria Andy used when piecing them together, making every one of the eight regular volumes a bit of a mixed bag of experiments, one-man-and-an-acoustic run-throughs of familiar material, near-full band arrangements obviously used as works-in-progress and demos of never-released stuff. As a result, the boringly consistent ratings basically tell you that one volume's as good (or bad) as another, and if you like one you'll almost certainly like all. And the corollary, of course. Partridge's unique voice and phrasing shine through most of the tracks on offer here, while his way with a melody line makes it impossible they could be written by anyone else.
To add complication to complication, it seems quite a few of the tracks from the series have actually been released before, largely on North American fan club cassette releases, including Jules Verne's Sketchbook (1987) and The Bull with the Golden Guts (1992), plus cassette, vinyl and CD EPs scattered across the years, sometimes as XTC, sometimes as Partridge. I'm afraid I've made no real attempt to log all the different original releases, although I've tried to note when the Mellotron tracks have been previously available. After releasing Volumes 7/8 in 2006, Partridge stuck the whole lot into a box set, The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album, with a ninth disc, Hinges, which must've pissed his devoted fans off big-time, since they'd presumably already bought the previous eight volumes.
Volume 1 (***½) is Mellotron-free, but Volume 2's 1985 opener Ridgeway Path (originally on The Bull with the Golden Guts) is the most Mellotron-heavy track in the entire series, being an infuriatingly-incomplete just under a minute of full-on multiply-overdubbed string and flute madness, accompanied only by a drum machine. The rest of the disc's the expected hodge-podge, not least the 18-second Jamaican answerphone message No One Here Available and the excellent, otherwise-unavailable Ra Ra For Red Rocking Horse (excepting its original release on Jules Verne's Sketchbook). Oddly, there's one other possible 'Tron track, Then She Appeared, although it seems to fall in completely the wrong part of XTC's career (around 1990), being a(nother) '60s psych spoof, this time credited to The Golden, with what could well be a few seconds of a 'Tron flute melody at the end.
Volume 3 is the by-now usual mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar, the fully worked-out and the bare bones, the excellent and the WtF? Possibly the album's oddest track (against stiff competition) is Dave Gregory's note-perfect home-recorded Strawberry Fields Forever, complete with Mellotron flutes and cellos, Partridge singing. It seems Dave's 'kinky thing was reproducing his favourite records in atomic exactitude', according to Andy, to which I can only say: job done. He adds: 'Just don't ask to hear his McArthur Park or Twenty First Century Schizoid Man'. The track has actually been available before, on a 1990 various artists effort, 1967: Through the Looking Glass, listed as Colin's Hermits (ho ho).
Volume 4, for some odd, reason, seems marginally less appealing than its predecessors, although it's still an essential listen for (should be) committed fans. Maybe it's the cumulative effect of Partridge-style melodic twists and turns? Maybe he'd already dug out all the best stuff? Four/five vols to go, folks... One 'Tron track again, with choppy, distorted flutes and in-yer-face cellos on another shorty, 1983's Peck The Ground Like A Chicken, previously unavailable. There's nothing Mellotronic on Volumes 5/6, leaving Volume 7 as the last relevant release for Mellotron fetishists, with no fewer than two 'Tron tracks, with what sounds like string section on Partridge's original demo for The Big Express' Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her and distant strings on the one-off 2003 Dukes reformation track, Open A Can (Of Human Beans). The rest of the disc's, well, pretty much like the rest of the set, to be honest, highlights including the three rather filthy 'single entendre' tracks Partridge wrote for a quicky-abandoned 'bubblegum' album in the early '90s (Candymine/Visit To The Doctor/Cherry In Your Tree). As he says re. playing them to Virgin, 'You should have seen their faces...'
So; do you invest? The set isn't cheap, although I've seen it for around £40 sterling, which isn't bad for a nine-disc set, is it? If you're a fan, there's no point buying individual volumes, as you're going to want all of 'em and will just kick yourself for trying to pick 'em up piecemeal. And you'll miss out on the set's 'bonus disc', Hinges (carrying on the philatelic analogy, clearly), which, although it's the shortest disc in the set (don't tell me Partridge was actually RUNNING OUT of barrels to scrape?), is still essential for anyone interested in the backroom workings of XTC, or anyone who simply wants to hear a bunch of 'as good as the albums' stuff that you're not going to hear anywhere else. The five definite 'Tron tracks are, of course, spread over four volumes, the one absolute essential being Ridgeway Path, despite its brevity. Look, if you like XTC, you can't really go wrong here. Buy.
See: XTC | Dukes of Stratosphear
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Hand Made (1973, 38.22) ***½/T½AbracadabraThe Connexion Yellow Dream Proclamation Hand Made Puzzle The Quiet Man |
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Cross-Collateral (1975, 38.35) ***½/TTHomunculusCross-Collateral Jadoo Will-o'the-Wisp Albatros Song Damals |
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Ever wondered what German fusion would sound like? (Well, you never know). Wonder no longer. It sounds an awful lot like fusion from anywhere else. Unlike prog, jazz of all hues tends to sound American wherever it comes from; instead of musicians bending the style to their own, they are forced to bend to it. I could be talking complete crap here, but I've yet to hear any jazz (or at least fusion) with any noticeable ethnic input, although it must exist. The same goes for hard rock, incidentally; maybe it's an American thing.
Klaus Doldinger's long-running Passport produced a whole string of albums like Hand Made and Cross-Collateral in the '70s, crossing jazz-fusion with prog, creating a heady brew of high-energy playing, great chops and tight arrangements, irresistible to anyone who understood what Miles Davis was doing a few years earlier. I'll freely admit that this isn't really my kind of thing, although I can appreciate the fantastic musicianship, as with any similar outfit (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever etc.), not to mention fellow (though far less successful) German fusioneers the Release Music Orchestra.
Hand Made was the band's third album, and the first to feature Doldinger's Mellotron, although he's a saxophonist by trade. The music is... well, it's fusion. How else do you describe this kind of stuff? To my ears, it doesn't differ from any other fusion in any particular way, although it's sax- and keyboard-led, rather than guitar, so don't expect anything like Mahavishnu. To be fair, there's a reasonable variety of styles across the tracks, from the laid-back to the full-on, but it's all very recognisable as fusion, for better or worse. Mellotron on a handful of tracks, with some nice string pitchbends in opener Abracadabra and more full-on chords (and more of that pitchbending) in Yellow Dream, though that would seem to be your lot.
I haven't heard '74's Looking Thru, but the following year's Cross-Collateral seems to be one of the band's most highly-rated efforts (that's Doldinger's trademark glasses on the excellent sleeve). Picking out highlights is a bit of a problem, as outlined above, although the title track held my interest throughout its considerable length. As far as the Mellotron's concerned, this is jazz, so don't expect 'standard' playing; Will-O'The-Wisp has some interesting flute and string work (and are those stabbed choir chords?), and Albatros Song has some more overt and 'typical' string work, although that seems to be it.
So; if fusion's your bag, but you haven't stumbled across Passport before, you're in for a treat, although I'm not convinced they were actually saying anything new. The 'Tron use is fairly spartan, though, on both these records, so not really worth it on that front. There are several more relevant Passport albums, including Looking Thru and Ataraxia (a.k.a. Sky Blue), which I shall attempt to track down for review at some point. Incidentally, although Doldinger's been playing since the '50s (he was born in 1936), in the grand tradition of jazz and blues players, he's still musically active to this day.
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Brighten the Corners (1997, 46.09) ***/T |
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| Stereo Shady Lane Transport is Arranged Date With IKEA Old to Begin Type Slowly Embassy Row Blue Hawaiian |
We are Underused Passat Dream Starlings of the Slipstream Fin (a.k.a. Infinite Spark) |
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Brighten the Corners was Pavement's fourth album, which many critics seem to compare very favourably with their previous efforts, the general consensus being that it's better than its predecessor, Wowie Zowie. I don't really know how to describe this, to be honest; scratchy indie? Post-hardcore? Mainman Stephen Malkmus knows how to write a lyric, I'll admit, even if I'm not always so enamoured with the music; clever lyric-writing always adds points, when you look at the meaningless toss that most 'artists' peddle to their unthinking public.
'Tron flutes (player unknown - Malkmus?) on Transport Is Arranged, with a nice part running through most of the song, but that appears to be it. Despite rumours, there's no audible 'Tron on their follow-up, '99's Terror Twilight (***), which, in all honesty, I found a little dreary. So; one nice 'Tron track on Brighten the Corners, but that's your lot.
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Pampered Menial (1975, 33.55) ****/TTTT½JuliaLate November Song Dance Fast Gun Natchez Trace Theme From Subway Sue Episode Preludin Of Once and Future Kings |
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At the Sound of the Bell (1976, 33.28) ***½/TTShe Came ShiningStanding Here With You (Megan's Song) Mersey Valkerie Try to Hang on Gold Nuggets She Breaks Like a Morning Sky Early Morning on Did You See Him Cry |
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St. Louis Hounds [a.k.a. Third] (1977, 33.54) ***½/TTT |
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| Trafalger I Love You Still Jenny It's All for You Suicide While You Were Out Only You Today I Feel |
Painted Ladies Falling in Love |
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Pavlov's Dog (originally called Pavlov's Dog and the Condition Reflex Soul Revue and Concert Choir, apparently) were one of America's chief entrants in the 'progressive pop' stakes, along with Ambrosia, sticking mainly to the short song format, but with noticeable progressive tendencies. Their debut, Pampered Menial, was produced by Blue Öyster Cult movers and shakers Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman, but sounds nothing like the BÖC boys. Their unwieldy seven-piece lineup only managed to hang together for this one album, but a violinist and flute/Mellotron player gave them an edge missing in many of their contemporaries, the rest of the band consisting of a more standard vocals/two guitars/bass/keys/drums setup.
The material's excellent, with songs like Julia and Natchez Trace sticking like glue, and the mini-epic Of Once And Future Kings cementing their prog credentials. Doug Rayburn's Mellotron use is well over the top, with great slabs of strings oozing from every track, with the odd bit of ('Tron) flute here and there. It's difficult to pick out highlights, although Julia and Theme From Subway Sue have some especially clear string parts. If the 'Tron use had been slightly more original, this would've been a full five-T effort, but it's still an essential for the Mellotron fan. Incidentally, particular mention should be made of David Surkamp's helium-fuelled vocals, his bizarre nasal high-pitched tones still sounding absolutely unique. An acquired taste, he could be the reason Pavlov's never broke through to the mainstream, although it never stopped Rush...
By the following year's At the Sound of the Bell (ho ho), the drummer and violinist had gone, with Bill Bruford, of all people, guesting on drums, plus a guest violinist. The material is less memorable, too, although still several stages above mainstream slop. I'm sure I read somewhere that Pavlov's had two Mellotrons by this point, with regular keys man David Hamilton playing the other one, although he doesn't get a specific credit. Anyway, the first sound on the album is the 'Tron choirs at the beginning of She Came Shining, but it has to be said that the 'Tron use is right down overall, quite possibly because of the use of real strings on a couple of tracks. Valkerie tries to make up for the rest of the side by going completely bonkers on strings and flutes, but the only other obvious use is the upfront strings on Did You See Him Cry, along with what sounds like an early polysynth.
After the defection of some more members, the remains of the band recorded a third album, which received a bootleg release as St. Louis Hounds in '77 (without the band's name on the sleeve), although it didn't become easily available until the '90s, as Third. The material's actually more memorable than on its predecessor, although it's also slightly more mainstream, with tracks like Trafalger (nice spelling!) and Suicide sounding familiar on replaying. Rayburn's Mellotron work is clustered around the middle of the album, with heavy strings, plus occasional choir and flutes on tracks 4-7, with maybe the best use being the string part on the lush, instrumental While You Were Out.
So; Pampered Menial's the best of the bunch, both musically and Mellotronically, but if you like that, get the other two as well. There was a fourth album released in 1990 called Lost in America, but it has little in common with their earlier releases, and of course, has no Mellotron. There's a version of the band still in existence called Pavlov's Dog 2000, who released End of the World in 1995, and I played on the same bill as a Surkamp-led Pavlov's in 2005, but the 'Trons are long gone.
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Jordan's Sister (1999, 55.18) **/T |
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| Closer to Myself Supermodels Wonderland Hollywood Honest The Second Day It's Not the Time On My Bones |
Modern Day Moses Perfect By Thursday Formerly Known as Never Leave Fatherless at 14 |
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Kendall Payne plays rootsy Christian AOR, essentially, although more in its current sense than the 'stratospheric vocals and screaming solos' '80s variety. Unsurprisingly, her 1999 debut, Jordan's Sister, is as dull as ditchwater, full of cheeso ballads and cheery, uptempo numbers that sound like a million other artists, with extra added God. On My Bones is particularly bad, but absolutely nothing here made me think, "Hmmm...", even for a second.
Ron Aniello plays Mellotron and Chamberlin, with Chamby (?) strings on opener Closer To Myself and Mellotron (?) flutes on Hollywood, heard on their own at the end of the track, although most of the album's strings sound real, even going by Chamberlin standards. It may be hidden in the mix elsewhere, blah blah blah. You know what I'm going to say here, so I won't even bother saying it.
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Pazzo Fanfano di Musica (1989, 49.35) ****/T½ |
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| Preludio Fiori per Algernon Sospiri del Fiore La Dolce Follia Agilmente Intermezzo I Affettuoso Fragoroso |
Intermezzo II Onde Anniversario |
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Well, here's an oddity for you (again); a late-'80s Japanese progressive band pretending to be an early-'70s Italian outfit, although I believe it was a quite deliberate 'tribute'. Mind you, finding that weird is really only cultural imperialism; we're quite used to artists worldwide copying the English-speaking model, so what makes another culture any less admirable and worthy of emulation? At least Pazzo Fanfano di Musica (which almost translates as 'mad fanfare of music') were honest enough to admit their real names etc., unlike the frankly bizarre Ballettirosadimacchia, who were probably Japanese, yet actually trying to pass themselves off as Italian (!).
Pazzo Fanfano di Musica itself is a beautiful album, in the grand Italian tradition, completely different to the 'typical' Japanese '80s sound, aside from the occasional female vocals. They were more of a project than a band per se, with ten members credited, including four different keyboard players (one of whom was the semi-legendary Motoi Sakuraba), a violinist and a flautist, with several of the players being from known outfits (Teru's Symphonia, Outer Limits). This gives the album something of a pseudo-classical sound in places, with much solo violin, and frequent periods of drumlessness; in fact, it's quite a shock when the full band first comes in during track two, Fiori Per Algernon ('Flowers for Algernon', presumably inspired by the book). Actually, all the titles make more-or-less sense in Italian, so I suspect a little genuine Italian input, although all band members were Japanese.
As far as the Mellotron (assuming it's real; it is credited) goes, Katsuhiko Hayashi and/or Tomoki Ueno play an ominous string line on La Dolce Follia, then flutes and strings (mixed with presumably real Hammond) on lengthy closer Anniversario - suspect they do one each. Shame it wasn't used more, but given the project nature of the album, it may only have been available for short periods, or in one of several studios.
So; an excellent effort, far better (to my ears) than most of their Japanese contemporaries, many of whom sound pretty damn' cheesy in retrospect. If you go for 'that Italian sound' (whadd'ya mean, you don't?!), this won't disappoint. The bad news is, it appears to be long out of print, so you'll have to track someone down who's prepared to copy it, or haunt eBay like some sort of prog-obsessed spectre.
