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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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The Geese and the Ghost (1977, 47.33/55.12) ****/T |
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| Wind - Tales Which Way the Wind Blows Henry: Portraits From Tudor Times Fanfare Lutes' Chorus Misty Battlements Henry Goes to War Death of a Knight Triumphant Return God if I Saw her Now |
Chinese Mushroom Cloud The Geese and the Ghost Part 1 The Geese and the Ghost Part 2 Collections Sleepfall: the Geese Fly West [CD adds: Master of Time (demo)] |
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Sides (1979, 50.03/57.01) **½/½ |
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| Um & Aargh I Want Your Love Lucy Will Side Door Holy Deadlock Souvenir Sisters of Remindum Bleak House |
Magdalen Nightmare [CD adds: Magdalen (instrumental)] |
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Invisible Men (1983/4, 43.20) **/0 |
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| Sally Golden Bodies Going for Broke Exocet Love in a Hot Air Balloon Traces I Want Your Heart Falling for Love Guru |
The Women Were Watching My Time Has Come [UK version loses Exocet and adds: It's Not Easy CD contains all tracks and adds: Trail of Tears The Ballad of Penlee Alex] |
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Private Parts & Pieces IV: A Catch at the Tables (1984, recorded 1979-82?, 52.29) ****/T |
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| Arboretum Suite Set Piece Over the Gate Flapjack Lights on the Hill Earth Man Dawn Over the Lake Bouncer |
Eduardo Heart of Darkness The Sea and the Armadillo Sistine |
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Archive Collection Volume One (1998, recorded 1969-90, 93.53) ***½/T |
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| Back to Pluto Promenade (alternate) Take This Heart (demo) Beside the Waters Edge (demo) The Geese & the Ghost (kiddies mix) Which Way the Wind Blows (alternate) Rowey Song Lucy Will (demo) God if I Saw Her Now (demo) |
In Memoriam AD (demo) Hunt Song (demo) Rule Britannia Closing Theme Exocet (instrumental mix) Study in G Holy Deadlock (vocal mix) Catch You When You Fall F Sharp (demo) The Geese & the Ghost (demo) F Sharp 2 (demo) |
Rowey Reprise Slow Dance (single demo) The Burnt-Out Cattle Truck Hits the Road The Women Were Watching (instrumental mix) Kip PJ Queen Bettine (demo) What is the Meaning? (demo) Farewell (demo) Cradle Song |
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Ant Phillips left Genesis as early as 1970, citing stagefright, although the real reason may never be known. He recorded sporadically throughout the '70s, but for one reason or another nothing was released until '77, just in time for punk. Good timing. The Geese and the Ghost isn't even an 'in-your-face' sort of prog album; it's a gentle, reflective record, mostly acoustic, and thoroughly out of step with the prevailing ethos of the time. It is also quite wonderful, its pastoral lyricism an antidote to the (admittedly righteous) anger of punk.
Largely instrumental, largely acoustic, The Geese and the Ghost shows the direction Genesis may have stayed in had Phillips not left; they probably wouldn't have been half as successful as they were, but they would have made some beautiful music along the way (not that they didn't, of course). Ant is credited with a whole slew of instruments, including Mellotron, but I can only hear it in two isolated bursts: a few strings chords on part four of Henry: Portraits From Tudor Times, Henry Goes To War, and a strings and choir swell in part two of the title track. There may be the odd other bit here and there, but I think they're probably the credited real violins, cellos and flutes.
Ant's Mellotron got its next airing two years later, on the generally speaking, very poor Sides. An album well-titled, it seems, as side one is truly awful, lifeless pop-rock, while Ant's better ideas were kept back for side two, although if you're expecting a re-run of The Geese and the Ghost, I'm afraid you're barking up the wrong tree. 'Better' is decidedly subjective, as Souvenir is the first track that couldn't be considered actively offensive. The album's best track is almost certainly closer Nightmare, although even that starts badly, only coming into its own during the long instrumental section. The CD's bonus track, a vocal-free version of Magdelen, proves that it's actually a pretty decent piece, spoilt in its original form by the vocals. Next to no Mellotron, with a few faint string chords in Bleak House, although there are a couple of other moments where a 'Tron part could be hidden in the mix. Overall, a bit of a disaster.
There's supposed to be some 'Tron on the second of Ant's never-ending Private Parts & Pieces (ho ho) series, but the next relevant album I've heard is 1983's Invisible Men. Anyway, it's not often you'll see me review the US version of an album over the UK one, particularly when it's by a British artist, but the album not only came out in the States several months earlier than in the UK, but also contains two 'Tron tracks as against the UK's one (Exocet is replaced by It's Not Easy, for some reason). The CD, incidentally, contains all tracks plus three extras. The album? A million miles away from The Geese and the Ghost, to be honest; a collaboration with Richard Scott, whose chief contribution seems to be drum machine programming, it entirely consists of dodgy pop-rock of the sort you hoped had disappeared along with that horrible decade. Analogue synths may be superior to digital (don't bother arguing), but not when they're used like this. Credited Mellotron on two tracks from Ant, but I can't hear a thing, unless that faint background sound on My Time Has Come is 'Tron choirs. Invisible? Shame they're not inaudible.
The following year brought the fourth in Ant's ongoing 'bits'n'pieces' collections, Private Parts and Pieces Part IV: A Catch at the Tables, containing tracks recorded between 1979 and '82. My relief at putting it on and hearing some soothing solo classical guitar after Invisible Men was quite palpable, I can tell you, although, like all of Ant's work, it's not the most exciting album you're going to hear all year. There aren't that many keyboards on the album, and most of what there is consists of very Tony Banks-influenced Polymoog, although Heart Of Darkness, recorded in 1980, has a pleasant 'Tron flute melody running through it.
For Anthony Phillips, and to an extent, Genesis fans, Archive Collection Volume One is an invaluable document, collating an assortment of rare recordings, including many previously thought lost for ever. The most fascinating are Ant and Mike Rutherford's 1969-70 demos, including the legendary F Sharp, which, of course, mutated into The Musical Box. And Ant doesn't get a writing credit? Hmmm... The rest of the album's a bit of a mixed bag, with fragments such as Holy Deadlock (vocal mix) being for diehards only, although Study In G is a stunning guitar instrumental that belies Phillips' reputation for being a bit on the meandering side. Hunt Song (demo) is the album's sole Mellotron track, being a demo of Wise After the Event's Now What (Are They Doing To My Little Friends)?, although the final version is 'Tron-free; the demo has a string part running through most of it, though somewhat in the background, and is that brass I heard at one point? Anyway, despite its inevitably patchy feel, Archive Collection has enough material of interest to make it worth buying.
So; The Geese and the Ghost is a beautiful album, if not exactly something to leap around the room to, and Private Parts IV and the first Archive Collection are really rather good, too. Anthony Phillips has few equals in the field of acoustic prog, and I can wholeheartedly recommend these albums, though not really for the Mellotron. Avoid Invisible Men like the plague, though.
See: Genesis | Mike Rutherford
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Abulum (2000, 45.44) ***½/TT |
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| Careless Men Just Leave Back on My Feet Fred Meyers My Own Town It Takes Time Drive By Darkest Hour |
Professional Victim Train Wreck Maya ['bonus track': Sleep of the Blessed] |
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It seems Glen Phillips is the ex-mainman of the Pythonically-named Toad the Wet Sprocket (not the NWOBHM outfit, for those of you who have any idea what I'm talking about). I've never heard the estimable (?) Toads, but Phillips has actually released a pretty decent album on his own, containing several notable tracks, principally the excellent Men Just Leave, which says more about the War Of The Sexes in one short song than many people manage in lengthy learned tomes. I suppose the album's best described as being in 'melancholy singer-songwriter' territory, tipping over into Americana in places, although full-blown country is thankfully a no-no. Not all the tracks caught my ear by any means, but enough did to more than justify its purchase from the 'three for a fiver' racks in Steve's Sounds.
Quite a bit of Mellotron/Chamberlin use here, with an upfront Chamby flute part on opener Careless from Richard Causon, who, despite being Phillips' band's regular keyboard player, doesn't get to touch any other tape-replay instruments. Phillips himself plays the discreetly credited 'M400' on two more tracks, with an entirely inaudible part on Back On My Feet and some only slightly more audible flutes on Maya. Producer Ethan Johns provides the rest of the album's tape-replay input, with 'Mellotron strings' (actually separate 'strings', i.e. violins, and cello) on My Own Town, although I can't hear his credited Chamberlin on either Darkest Hour or Professional Victim.
So; not a bad album, albeit very downbeat (is this a problem?). Passable 'Tron/Chamby work, though nothing you haven't heard better before, to be honest. Worth a flutter.
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Nineteeneighties (2006, 43.56) ***/T½ |
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| Wave of Mutilation Age of Consent The Eternal I Often Dream of Trains The Killing Moon Love My Way Under the Milky Way City of Refuge |
So. Central Rain Boys Don't Cry Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me |
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Grant-Lee Phillips was, of course, frontperson and all-round mainman of Grant Lee Buffalo, carrying on in solo mode after their dissolution in the late '90s. After three 'regular' solo albums, 2006's Nineteeneighties is, unsurprisingly, Phillips' covers album, pretty much every track being from that decade. Why, you may ask? Why the '80s? Presumably because it was the decade when he turned twenty (he was born in '63), when all his formative influences came together, culminating in the formation of Grant Lee Buffalo and thus of considerable emotional importance to him. And, maybe surprisingly, he's actually come up with a good set of songs from the decade.
I'm afraid to say I'm not conversant with most of the originals, so direct comparison is difficult, but I'm aware of the general styles of most of the covered artists and I think it's safe to say that Phillips has definitely tackled the songs in his own inimitable way, largely as haunted, lovelorn alt.country ballads. Which work best? Probably Joy Division's The Eternal, The Church's Under The Milky Way, R.E.M.'s So. Central Rain and the one I spotted straight away, The Cure's Boys Don't Cry, non-coincidentally four of the slowest numbers here.
Phillips plays the Mellotron himself, with strings on New Order's Age Of Consent, flutes on Robyn Hitchcock's I Often Dream Of Trains and both sounds on The Smiths' Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, closing the album. I vastly prefer this album to anything I've heard by Grant Lee Buffalo, although having not heard any of Phillips' other solo work, I can't comment with regard to it. If you like your country alt., you could do an awful lot worse than to give this a listen; at least you're guaranteed the songwriting's good. Three reasonable 'Tron tracks, but nothing too exciting on that front.
See: Grant Lee Buffalo
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Cruel Inventions (1991, 36.25) ***/T½ |
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| Lying Go Down Cruel Inventions Standing Still Tripping Over Gravity Now I Can't Find the Door Private Storm Raised on Promises |
Hole in Time Where the Colors Don't Go |
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Martinis & Bikinis (1994, 46.12) ***/T |
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| Love and Kisses Signposts Same Rain Baby, I Can't Please You Circle of Fire Strawberry Road When I Fall Same Changes |
Black Sky Fighting With Fire I Need Love Wheel of the Broken Voice Gimme Some Truth |
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Omnipop (it's Only a Flesh Wound Lambchop) (1996, 42.15) ***½/TTTT |
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| Entertainmen Plastic is Forever Animals on Wheels Zero Zero Zero! Help Yourself Your Hands Power World (Skeleton) |
Where Are You Taking Me Compulsive Gambler Faster Pussycat to the Library! Slapstick Heart |
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Leslie "Sam" Phillips (quite clearly nothing to do with the Sun Records/Studios man) was married to noted producer T-Bone Burnett (d'you think she called him 'T-Bone' at home?), who produced and played on her third solo album 'proper', Cruel Inventions. 'Proper'? Apparently, she made Christian albums in the '80s under her real name, but let's not hold that against her, as not only did she renounce her faith, but this is actually a halfway decent record. Theoretically, I should hate this, as it's basically a '90s pop album, but it's quirky off-beatness lifts it way above the common-or-garden dreck that everyone else was producing at the time (er, at the time?), with a hint of late-'60s psychedelia thrown in here and there, not least the Beatles-esque faux-trumpets on Hole In Time.
Proving that she was ahead of the game, there are no less than three Chamberlin players on the album, years before everyone was using them, although as so often with this strange instrument, it's not always that easy to spot it. Is this the musical equivalent of camouflage? Anyway, Phillips herself, Burnett and the legendary Van Dyke Parks all play the thing, with flutes and something stringy on Lying, solo trumpet and mutated male voices on Hole In Time, and what has to be a left-hand manual rhythm track of a repeated banjo motif (!) at the end of Tripping Over Gravity. Interesting how the very American Chamberlin rhythm tracks were largely replaced by terribly English ones on the early Mellotrons... Wondrously, there's no credit for generic 'keyboards', so aside from the small string section and piano, anything that isn't obviously guitar or bass should therefore logically be Chamberlin, but I still can't hear it on more than three tracks, which isn't to say it isn't there.
Her follow-up, 1994's Martinis & Bikinis, seems to have no specific instrumental credits, although it only takes a cursory listen to reveal (presumably) Chamberlin use on a couple of tracks. The album itself is more inventive than its predecessor, although no innovator, despite brief opener Love And Kisses, Strawberry Road and the thoroughly odd Black Sky. Of course, there's no real clue as to who actually plays the Chamby: Phillips herself? Burnett again? Guest Benmont Tench? Any of the above or all three? Anyway, we get cellos on Same Rain and Strawberry Road, although that seems to be it, at least to my ears.
1996's Omnipop (it's Only a Flesh Wound Lambchop) (the subtitle's apparently a quote from Mel Brooks' The Producers) is a vastly less mainstream effort than its immediate predecessors, probably influenced by friend and past tourmate Elvis Costello, amongst others. There's remarkably little here to disappoint followers of skewed, offbeat pop, plaudits going to the oddball Plastic Is Forever, strange little waltz Animals On Wheels and Zero Zero Zero!, to name but three. Chamberlin from Phillips, Patrick Warren and Jon Brion, with cellos all over oddly (but correctly) titled opener Entertainmen, nicely upfront strings and flutes on Animals On Wheels, flutes on Zero Zero Zero!, vibes on Help Yourself, strings on Your Hands... You get the picture.
So; three albums, getting weirder as they go along (makes a nice change, that), with Omnipop definitely being the one to go for if you're after something a bit different. It's also the only one worth it on the tape-replay front, notching up an outrageous (and outrageously unexpected) four Ts. Worth the effort.
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Furthermore... (1974, 44.14) ***/T |
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| January First Starbright Breakthrough Ninety Two Years See You Planscape Troof Capé Barres |
Song for Northern Ireland Mr President Talking in the Garden Furthermore |
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In some quarters, Shawn Phillips is still best-known for his work with Donovan in the late '60s (his trademark 12-string acoustic sound is all over Don's early albums), but he's still playing today, and recording, albeit sporadically. Furthermore... appears to be his 7th album, and veers between something approximating his '60s folk whimsy and prime '70s fusion, sometimes in the same track (the lengthy Planscape), which can give a slightly schizophrenic feel to the record. The lyrics are all most heartfelt, and obviously where Phillips' heart really lies (his father was a renowned author), so the jazzy muso stuff (from the likes of über-session dude John Gustafson) just seems out of place.
One credited 'Tron track, with Ann Odell playing flutes and (presumably) choirs on Starbright, but the same choir sound crops up on Planscape, so it's probably safe to assume that 'regular' keys man Peter Robinson played it here. So; an odd album, and a rather dated one, I'm afraid to say, with pretty minimal Mellotron use. Next...
See: Donovan
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Snake in the Radio (2006, 45.50) ***½/0 |
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| Forest Fire Come Home Blues A Town Too Fast for Your Blues I'll Wait Graffiti Girl Ask the Wind, Ask the Dusk Don't Look Back You'll Be Mine |
Sin Tax Dance Snake in the Radio Town Without the Blues |
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Cody's Dream (2008, 54.50) ***½/T½ |
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| Cody's Dream Let Me Down Easy The Last Leaves She Calls One More Cup of Coffee Leaving with the Swamptones Cherokee Grove |
I Promise And So Be it Then The Closing Theme She Sleeps Through the Sirens Deep Inside Your Shade Cody's Last Ride |
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Mark Pickerel's had a varied career, originally known as drummer with The Screaming Trees, alongside Mark Lanegan, later jamming with Nirvana, before co-forming Truly with Robert Roth. He now runs a solo career with his band, His Praying Hands, contemporaneously with Truly, producing two albums to date, 2006's Snake in the Radio and 2008's Cody's Dream.
Snake in the Radio is a full-on Americana album, full of dark country ballads and the occasional foray into country/punk along the lines of the excellent A Town Too Fast For Your Blues. Steve Fisk (now apparently a REAL Mellotron owner) is supposed to play one on the album, but I'll be buggered if I can hear where. Whenever I think I can hear it, it turns out to be pedal steel or synth (Fisk also plays Moog and ARP monos), so no idea where it's supposed to be.
Cody's Dream is possibly more adventurous than its predecessor, with Pickerel playing with song structures (see: Deep Inside Your Shade) more than previously. Mellotronically speaking, Fisk's Mellotron makes its first obvious appearance in Pickerel's oeuvre with a high string part on One More Cup Of Coffee (nothing to do with any other song of the same title), switching to flutes later in the song, with more strings on She Sleeps Through The Sirens.
One of a small number of (semi-)successful drummers-turned-singers, Pickerel's produced a couple of good alt.country records here, although only the latter has any obvious Mellotron work. Pick up if seen at decent price, methinks.
See: The Screaming Trees | Truly
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Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney: From a Window (2003, 50.25) ***/TT½ |
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| I'm in Love (Kate Pierson) I'll Keep You Satisfied (Bill Janovitz) From a Window (Graham Parker) Step Inside Love (Kate Pierson & Johnny Society) It's for You (Bill Janovitz) Bad to Me (Graham Parker) That Means a Lot (Johnny Society & Robin Zander) Hello Little Girl (Bill Janovitz) Love of the Loved (Kate Pierson) |
Tip of My Tongue (Graham Parker) Goodbye (Bill Janovitz) Come and Get it (Graham Parker) A World Without Love (Bill Janovitz) Once and One is Two (Graham Parker) Nobody I Know (Kate Pierson) Woman (Bill Janovitz) I'll Be on My Way (Johnny Society) |
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Pierson, Parker, Janovitz are Kate Pierson of The B-52's, Bill Janovitz from Buffalo Tom and inimitable Brit pub-rock supremo Graham Parker, whose remit on Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney: From a Window is to tackle a bunch of songs John and Paul gave away. Of course, the project has one major flaw: it's the songs they gave away bit. Re-listening to the early Beatles albums recently, it became apparent that everything before, say, Rubber Soul contains a highish level of filler, so their cast-offs aren't likely to be that great, by modern standards... Correct. The best track here is Come And Get It, a major hit for the ill-fated Badfinger, leaving the substandard likes of Love Of The Loved and Step Inside Love (both originally by Cilla Black), Tip Of My Tongue (Tommy Quickly) and the title track (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas) to fill up the record. As you can see, each vocalist takes between four and six leads, with 'Tron users Johnny Society on a few tracks, including a duet with Cheap Trick's Robin Zander, although even he can't rescue a song as average as That Means A Lot.
Producer Jim Sampas had the good sense to have a fairly consistent house band throughout the album, including ex-Fairport Conventioneer Dave Mattacks on drums and bassist Paul Bryan. Bryan doubles on Chamberlin on several tracks, with a strings pitchbend on Parker's From A Window gives the Chamby game away, cellos and flutes on Bad To Me and strings on It's For You, Come And Get It, Nobody I Know and Woman, the last two named sounding as close to real strings as the Chamby can manage (damn' sight closer than a Mellotron, then).
This can be seen as a companion piece to 1979's The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away compilation, with more consistency, although I suspect a few performances here fall slightly short of the original recordings, not least Pierson's painfully 'out of her range' wail on Step Inside Love. Overall, then, a potentially decent album let down by surprisingly weak songwriting, given whom we're talking about. Good Chamberlin use across the album, though, so possibly worth it on that front.
See: Beatles
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LP (2006, 46.30) *½/T½ |
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| Can't Let Go Last Stop Just Like I am Eggshells Keep Looking Up Trickery Magnetism Sailed on |
Great Companion Perfectionist Tin Man On the Other Side |
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Landon Pigg's yet another young, good-looking singer-songwriter types who has his thoroughly ordinary songs made over by top-notch producers until they turn into something that can be used on deeply mainstream US TV shows like The O.T. or something. His first full album, LP (his initials; passable pun), is every bit as drippy as that description would have you believe, otherwise, duh, I wouldn't have written it.
Patrick Warren plays Chamberlin once more, with strings on Just Like I Am, flutes on Great Companion and strings and surprisingly high-in-the-mix flutes on Tin Man, plus the usual several false alarms. Or are they? All of which is no excuse to even remotely consider buying this heap of elephant dung. Landfill wussy singer-songwriter drivel?
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Quick Look (2002, 37.03) ***/TT½ |
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| I Loved the Way On a Day Like Today The Flight Cold Storm Josephine Bring Me a Biscuit The Lady The Tower |
Debt Song I See the Blue |
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Guess You Got it (2005, 46.25) ***/T |
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| I Was Walking Brand New Face Burning Butterfly On Such a Lovely Day Darkblue and Gold Bucket of Love Luise Luise |
You Can't Be My Love Sweet Love |
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Pina Kollars is an Austrian emigrée living in Ireland, after her divorce, 'discovered' by Peter Gabriel. Her debut album, 2002's Quick Look, was recorded at and released on Real World and is a bit difficult to describe, to be honest; a bit folk, a bit goth, a bit indie and a lot rock, although none of those really cover it. It's by no means a bad album, but you'll have to be quite into that 'modern singer-songwriter' sound to get much out of it, I suspect. Pina plays Mellotron on several tracks, with background strings on On A Day Like Today, a flute melody and strings on The Flight, vague background strings (plus real cello) on Josephine, cellos on The Lady, strings on The Tower and strings and cellos on closer I See The Blue. Little of the Mellotron use is upfront, but it's all good to hear.
She followed up with 2005's Guess You Got it, stylistically not dissimilar to her debut. In all honesty, this really didn't grab me, although plenty of online reviewers are swooning over her Mittel-Europa tones, to the point where I can't even attempt to rate any one track over any other. Pina plays much of the guitar and all of the keyboards on the album, including the 'Mellatron', which can be heard on a couple of tracks. There's a brief flute part on On Such A Lovely Day, and what sounds like 'Tron strings on Bucket Of Love, although given that the sampled variety have already been used, they have to remain slightly suspect.
So; if you'd like to hear what Kate Bush may've sounded like had she been 25 years younger, Pina may be for you, but having found myself unable to engage with two albums that, on the surface, are perfectly 'good', I really can't recommend these, I'm afraid. More 'Tron on the first than the second, but not that much.
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The Promise (1976, 31.11) **½/T (T½) |
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| Free as a Dove You'll Make it Through I Only Want to Love You Someone to Believe in Carry on Air Message The Seed |
The Promise [CD adds: One Step Into the Light Island to Island] |
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Off the Shelf (1993, 20.01) *½/TThe Best Things in LifeWhen You're Sleeping Hurry on Home Fantasy Flight Waters Beneath the Bridge |
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Among the Stars (1994, 41.35) *½/T |
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| The Power of Love (Can Survive) You Can't Take Love Away The Best Things in Life Hurry on Home When You're Sleeping Fantasy Flight Among the Stars Upside Down |
Waters Beneath the Bridge The World Today |
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Rime of the Ancient Sampler: The Mellotron Album (1993, 3.16) **/TTT[Mike contributes]Waters Beneath the Bridge |
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Well, I'd better come clean and say at this point that I'm not the Moody Blues' biggest fan, and that goes for their solo work too, but with knobs on. Sorry, but I just find it all a bit bland for my taste. The music on The Promise is that sort of rather middle of the road country-tinged singer-songwriter stuff that was all the rage in the mid-'70s; extremely professional, but deeply unexciting. Think the worst end of the Strawbs and you're getting close. Mike Pinder's actual playing is fantastic; he's frequently fêted as one of the all-time Mellotron greats, particularly with regard to his manipulation of the notoriously difficult Mark II. Unfortunately, there's very little of it to be heard here, though I don't know whether or not that was because he was sick of it after using it almost exclusively with the Moodies. Saying that, his last recording with them had been four years earlier, as The Promise was actually released towards the end of the band's period of self-imposed exile. Pinder rejoined them for their reformation album, Octave, but ended up only playing on half of it before leaving again, leaving the keyboard slot to Patrick Moraz.
Anyway, the 'Tron strings (MkV, I believe) on I Only Want To Love You aren't bad, but the song isn't really worthy of them, and the title track's strings could easily be mistaken for a rather distant string section, although those choirs may be 'Tron. The only track that caught my ear at all is the short The Seed; shame there isn't a little more instrumental experimentation like it on offer here. As a result, I'm afraid to say that it's difficult to recommend this as a 'Mellotron album' at all, despite its pedigree. incidentally, the CD (on Mike's own label) adds two tracks, one of which is One Step Into The Light, a remake of a track from Mike's last Moodies album, Octave, including the immortal line, "There's one thing I can do, play my Mellotron for you". It appears he does precisely that: the flutes and pitchbent strings on the track don't sound that much like a 'Tron, although they probably are (I don't actually know when this was recorded), but the strange little flute coda most definitely is.
Incidentally, on his site, Mike has this to say about Mellotrons:
| "In 1976 I held a 256K digital memory chip in my hand and I saw the future....again." (correct), which leads inexorably to: "I still play the Mellotron, and when I do it never breaks down because I have all of the sounds stored in my digital samplers". |
No you don't, Mike; you play samples of a Mellotron. Have your samplers never broken down? Lucky you.
In 1993, Mike contributed an insipid little piece called Waters Beneath The Bridge to the legendary Rime of the Ancient Sampler: The Mellotron Album, but like most of the album's tracks, it isn't actually worth the money you'll probably be asked for a copy, despite some nice 'Tron strings. The song also found its way onto Pinder's first solo effort since The Promise, '93's mini album, Off the Shelf, expanded to full length the following year as Among the Stars. Unexpectedly, the bulk of the material finds the point where AOR meets MOR, and is thoroughly insipid throughout. When I tell you that When You're Sleeping, a faux-country ditty featuring Pinder's infant children is one of the least cheesy songs contained herein... I can only strongly urge you to avoid this album unless you're a die-hard Moodies fan. I mean, it actually makes Justin Hayward's appalling Songwriter look dynamic... I'm reliably informed that Waters Beneath The Bridge is the only genuine 'Tron (or quite possibly Chamby) track on the album; the rest of the 'Mellotron' work is almost defiantly fake, backing up Pinder's aforementioned assertions re. computer memory chips.
See: Moody Blues | Mellodrama
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The Executioner's Last Songs, Volume 2 & 3 (2003, 90.08) ***½/T |
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| Tim Rutili with Sally Timms, Rebecca Gates, Jo Walston & Jon Langford: Gallows Pole Dave Avlin with Dean Schlabowske: Louis Collins Kurt Wagner: The Fall of Troy Otis Clay: Banks of the Ohio Skid Marks with Sally Timms: Homicide Kelly Hogan: Green Green Grass of Home Rico Bell: Death Row Lu Edmonds with John Rice: Gulag Blues |
Chris Mills with Dean Schlabowske and Dave Alvin: Horses Diane Izzo with John Rice: Strange Fruit David Yow: One Dyin' & a Buryin' Jon Langford with Sally Timms: Delilah Charlotte Grieg: Willie O'Winsbury Alejandro Escovedo & Jon Langford with Dave Alvin: Bad News Rebecca Gates: The Ballad of Billy Joe Rhett Miller: Dang Me Rex Hobart: Forever to Burn |
Pat Brennan: Death Where is Thy Sting Sally Timms & Edith Frost: Long Black Veil Mark Eitzel: God's Eternal Love Gurf Morlix: Hangin' Me Tonight The Meat Purveyors with Rick Cookin' Sherry: John Hardy John Rauhouse: Pardon This Coffin Kevin Coyne: Saviour Dave Alvin: Green Green Grass of Home Tom Greenhalgh: Angel of Death The Sundowners: Tom Dooley |
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The Pine Valley Cosmonauts are a Jon Langford (Mekons, Waco Brothers) side-project, bringing in whoever's needed to realise his punk/alt.country vision. A covers outfit, The Executioner's Last Songs, Volume 2 & 3 is their fourth (or maybe fourth and fifth) album, with all proceeds going to anti-death penalty causes. Interesting how it takes an ex-pat Brit to curate an album dedicated to such a noble cause, eh? Every song on both volumes is about death in one form or another, frequently judicial (Green Green Grass of Home, Death Row), always grim, even when they do it cheerfully. The two volumes together are quite a listen when taken in one hit, although listening to them that way possibly intensifies the message, although ninety minutes of alt.country might be a bit much for some of you.
Pat Brennan plays Mellotron strings on his own Death Where Is Thy Sting, while Ken Sluiter adds credited but very un-Mellotronic strings to Mark Eitzel (American Music Club)'s God's Eternal Love. Overall, then, a very worthy effort, although taking it a disc at a time would probably be the sensible option. Very little Mellotron, but it's hardly the album's focal point.
See: American Music Club | Rhett Miller
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Make Believe (1996, 44.22) ****/TTT½ | |
| Cup Noodle Song Unleashed General Carter Accordingly Teenage Alex Barbie Poor Little Man Märklin Lines |
French Connection Smile, Flash, Snap Trees |
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Watergarden (1998, 52.29) ****/TTTT | |
| America Shangri-la Beauty Wallgazer Have You Lost Me? Hey Little Girl Water These Flowers Walk Away |
Pardonsong Watergarden Close |
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Panamarenko (2001, 40.16) ****/TTTT | |
| Situation Endless Queen of the Nineties Collegeradio Listeners Slowly Wake Up Innocent Romantic Strings Car Crash |
Coronation Leave it All Behind Happy Valentine |
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If The Cardigans represent the most successful Swedish pop of the '90s, Pineforest Crunch represent the best. Including Änglagård drummer Mattias Olsson, they play bright, breezy and above all tuneful summery pop, with little of the programmed sound peddled by so many of their contemporaries, bar the occasional loop. Female vocalist Åsa Eklund has a gorgeous voice, and I can only think that a simple matter of lack of overseas promotion has prevented them joining their countrymen in the land of fame and fortune.
I don't really hear a huge variation in style between these three albums; the band seem to know what they're good at, and operate on the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' theory. Apparently Make Believe was a (relative) runaway success, selling over 100,000 copies, since when the band have 'downsized', using their own studio facilities. If you find any reference to an album called Shangri-La, it's essentially a Japanese reissue of Watergarden with two extra tracks.
So, the Mellotron. Mattias bought Änglagård's M400, and has used it on many projects over the last few years. It's actually played by bassist/keyboardist Mats Lundgren, rather than Olsson, and after a tentative start on Make Believe, they've really gone to town with it on Watergarden and Panamarenko; orchestrally-arranged strings, flutes and cellos mainly, although various other sounds creep in here and there, including pipe organ, viola and various woodwinds. There's even a couple of Chamberlin sounds (played via Mellotron) on Panamarenko, along with some Optigan (optical disc player).
So; for uplifting summery pop, you really can't beat Pineforest Crunch, and there's loads of 'Tron too. Excellent albums. Just don't expect anything like Änglagård!
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Chronolyse (1976, 52.56) ****/TTVariations I-VII Sur le Theme de Bene GesseritDuncan Idaho Paul Atreides |
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One from Scott Hamrick. Note the heavy 'Dune' references, incidentally.
Richard Pinhas has made a long and illustrious career out of combining uncompromising rock and cutting-edge electronic music. He is most known as the founder of the pioneering French techno-prog group Heldon (which had close ties to Magma and Lard Free), but he has several fine solo albums to his name as well. Chronolyse is the second of these solo albums and has much to offer to the prog/electronic aficionado while offering the bonus of Mellotron usage.
Side one is comprised of a series of slightly dry, clinical sounding studies in early sequencing techniques where different repetitive rhythms are pitted against each other in various configurations. The first seven short tracks are all variations on similar themes using nothing but Moog synthesizers. It's good stuff if you like the idea of polyrhythmic synth bleeps and wooshes, but probably a little tedious for those who don't.
Side two is quite different, however, and only here does the Mellotron make its appearance. The entire side is occupied by a single, incredibly protracted and spaced-out jam titled Paul Atreides. Here cold, spacey synth explorations (ARP 2600?) mingle with a rock framework to create what sounds a whole lot like Klaus Schulze sitting in during a King Crimson improv circa 1973. Pinhas' guitar, synths and Mellotron are augmented by Didier Batard's bass and Francois Auger's hypnotic drums, so this is basically a Heldon recording. It lives up to any expectations that name might imply too. Mellotron strings and cello are present through much of the middle section of the piece, but are rarely too prominent in the mix, as Pinhas' multitracked guitar solos tend to dominate much of the affair.
Not really a classic on Mellotronic grounds alone, but a fine and very adventurous album.
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See: Heldon
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Missundaztood (2001, 55.11) ***/0 |
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| Missundaztood Don't Let Me Get Me Just Like a Pill Get the Party Started Respect 18 Wheeler Family Portrait Misery |
Dear Diary Eventually Lonely Girl Numb Gone to California My Vietnam |
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Try This (2003, 55.53) **½/½ |
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| Trouble God is a DJ Last to Know Tonight's the Night Oh My God Catch Me While I'm Sleeping Waiting for Love Save My Life |
Try Too Hard Humble Neighborhoods Walk Away Unwind Feel Good Time Love Song |
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Missundaztood (or M!ssundaztood) was Alecia "Pink" Moore's second album, after the completely mainstream pop of the previous year's Can't Take Me Home, but it isn't exactly Henry Cow (who he?), if you know what I'm saying. It's actually a mixture of hip-hop influenced mainstream pop (Get The Party Started) and more reflective personal material (Family Portrait, Dear Diary), but isn't anywhere near as offensive as that sounds. It is, unfortunately, rather dull, but that's probably because I'm not a 16 year-old girl. Incidentally, Pink got her idol, 4 Non Blondes' Linda Perry in to rock things up a little, and in fairness, she seems to have done precisely that. Marti Frederiksen plays Mellotron on Misery, but I'll be fucked if I can hear it; there's the odd bit of strings or cello that could just possibly be tape-replay, but I wouldn't want to stake anything of any great value on it. Anyway, if you like Pink, you probably a) already own this and b) aren't reading this anyway, and with bugger-all Mellotron, it's all a bit irrelevant.
Two years on, she followed up with Try This, getting Perry in to produce a few tracks again. Musically, it's the same mish-mash of mainstream pop, dance and rock with vaguely amusing efforts like God Is A DJ ("If God is a DJ, life is a dancefloor". Whatever) or the slightly harmonically interesting Feel Good Time rubbing shoulders with the considerably blander likes of Catch Me While I'm Sleeping and Save My Life. Perry produces three tracks and without specific credits, it seems likely she doesn't play Mellotron anywhere else, so all I can hear is possible background strings on the drippy Catch Me While I'm Sleeping, along with Perry's sitar.
P!nk. You try searching for a 'name' spelled like that. Anyway, mainstream pop with an occasional rock edge: why would you? Next to no Mellotron, either.
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Flight Recorder: From Pinkerton's Assorted Colours to The Flying Machine |
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| Mirror Mirror She Don't Care Don't Stop Loving Me Baby Will Ya? Magic Rocking Horse It Ain't Right Mum and Dad On a Street Car There's Nobody I'd Sooner Love Duke's Jetty Kentucky Woman Behind the Mirror Smile a Little Smile for Me Maybe We've Been Loving Too Long |
Send My Baby Home Again Look at Me, Look at Me Baby Make it Soon There She Goes Hanging on the Edge of Sadness The Flying Machine The Devil Has Possession of Your Mind Hey Little Girl Yes I Understand Pages of Your Life Smile a Little Smile for Me My Baby's Coming Home A Thing Called Love |
Marie Take a Chance Waiting on the Shores of Nowhere That Same Old Feeling Broken-Hearted Me, Evil- Hearted You Memories of Melinda Mirror Mirror Don't Stop Loving Me Baby Magic Rocking Horse Shine a Little Light on Me St. Louis Child Strawberry Fool Angel (She Was Born Out of Love) |
People Say One Man Band The Lies in Your Eyes Me Without You Can't Break the Habit Shadows on a Foggy Day If You Were True 4 o'Clock in New York Hard, Hard Year Fools Rush in The Flying Machine |
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Pinkerton's Assorted Colours were a pretty typical mid-'60s pop group, although, for all the money poured into them, they managed just the one hit, Mirror Mirror, although their sound was as post-Beatles as you could ask for. Maybe that was the problem - lack of originality, although it didn't seem to do, say, Herman's Hermits any harm. Like so many other acts of the day (The Tremeloes spring to mind), they mutated into a psych-lite outfit come 1967, changing their name to The Flying Machine and releasing a million-seller in the States, the infuriatingly catchy Smile A Little Smile For Me. Those nice people at Sanctuary have compiled what must be every note ever recorded by both incarnations of the band onto Flight Recorder: From Pinkerton's Assorted Colours to The Flying Machine, disc one dealing with their singles A and B-sides, while disc two mops up album tracks, demos and the like. As you'd expect, it's a bit of a rag-bag, the occasional more inventive track like Flying Machine sitting next to '60s pop by-numbers like Mirror Mirror and There's Nobody I'd Sooner Love with, regretably (if unsurprisingly), vastly more of the latter than the former.
Mellotron (MkII, of course) on a mere one obvious track, player (as so often with '60s groups) unknown, with a cool flute part on Look At Me, Look At Me, that couldn't sound more like Manfred Mann if it tried. It's posible there's some more hidden away here and there (see: the backing flutey sound on Angel (She Was Born Out of Love)), but chances are they're regular orchestral instruments. I've read that Smile A Little Smile... has some, too, but neither version here obliges.
Generally speaking, it seems that both eras of the band relentlessly pursued commercial success at the expense of any real attempt at inventiveness. Pop music, I think it's called. This gets the rating it does more for its professionalism than its quality, although it's perfectly good as far as its oeuvre goes. Whether you'll like it or not's another matter entirely; the vast bulk of this lengthy set is far too cheesily mainstream to really appeal to anyone interested in anything outside the accepted boundaries of '60s pop, and with only one 'Tron track in over two hours of music, I really can't recommend it on that front, either.
