|
|
|
|
||
|
 |
 |
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.
 |
Khnosti (2008, 91.39) ***½/TTT |
|
| Justify He and She (Again) Bring it on Life Song The Man in These Clothes Don't Hurt Me Mitchell and Shaw (Inverted) Long Haul |
Learn Again Spy in the Atmosphere Just for the Record Louise Dawn of a New Day The Dawn The Day Louise (acoustic) |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Sanctuary Rig are a London-based four-piece who've been around a few years, releasing an EP, Sail on, in 2005. I'll admit here to a slight air of nepotism, as keyboard player Mark Rae (ex-In the Cage) is an old friend, and the only reason Khnosti's here at all is that Mark plays my M400 on several tracks. Unbelievably, it's a double CD, as the band seemed unwilling to drop anything, and while this makes listening to it in one sitting a bit of a marathon, but hopefully there's enough variety to keep the listener interested. It's difficult to know how to describe the music herein: prog? Singer-songwriter? Maybe we should just stick with the band's own description: "rock, blues, prog, Mellotron, bass pedals, religious imagery, space murder, ex-wives and astral sex", or mine, which is: "rock clearly made by people who lived through the '70s". Several tracks sound slightly like Bob Dylan (particularly on Louise) as played by a slightly proggy mid-'70s outfit with a couple of albums out on Harvest, while others have that prog-blues feel that hasn't been sighted since the days of The Groundhogs, although they don't actually sound anything like them. Confused? Me too. Maybe you should just listen to the clips on their website.
Opener Justify has elements of The Who in its construction, while He And She (Again) starts as a slow blues before shifting gear into a rockier thing altogether, while the rest of the tracks on disc one ("Jipamari") juggle a prog feel (in places) with vocalist/guitarist Jim Faupel's 'could be played acoustically'-type songwriting. Disc two ("Famcrasl") opens with an odd little instrumental, Long Haul, which sticks a few late-'70s Genesis chords in for good measure, and incorporates a straight-ahead rocker, Spy In The Atmosphere, an almost straight blues, Just For The Record, and a jaunty Caribbean-flavoured (!) number in (proper) closer Dawn Of A New Day. The acoustic version of Louise that closes the album shouldn't really be considered part of the album 'proper', and wouldn't be here at all if they didn't have space to fill on disc two.
Most of Mark's keyboard work consists of (sampled) Hammond and piano, with the occasional faked analogue synth part and a couple of more obvious samples or more modern sounds. His first Mellotron interjection is towards the end of He And She (Again), with a string part that morphs into choirs just as the song shifts into Yes impersonation mode, while Bring It On features Mark playing a repeating part on successively more and more notes, proving, if nothing else, that my 'Tron's stable up to eight-note chords. All the rest of the 'Tron work juggles the strings and choirs, as the flutes on Just For The Record are samples (Mark felt he couldn't play the fast part on the real thing), and Bring It On's strings/brass mix is sampled. One of the album's best 'Tron parts is the instrumental second half of Dawn Of A New Day, The Day, with its 'extremely real' strings, with Mark doing his 'strings into choir' trick again into the fade.
If Khnosti has an obvious fault, it's that it's too long. An hour and a half is a hell of a long time to sit listening to one album, especially when there's no Lamb-style narrative thread to hold the contents together. The (necessary) two-disc format means that if you only like half the album, you can't just skip the tracks you don't like, but have to mess about ejecting discs and so forth. Still, a small problem, as the album gives great value for money, and you can always burn your faves onto one disc, or just load them into your iPod or whatever. As far as my M400 goes, there's a fair bit of it scattered around, usually used more as an 'accent' than the basis for any track. This won't cost you a fortune, and since you can hear clips of every track on the band's website, I'd do that if I were you, and decide for yourself.
See: In the Cage
 |
Eastern Terrace (2002, 43.13/75.29) ***½/TT |
|
| My Sensation Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed Moving Too Fast One Time at Sundown The Big V Dirty The Sundowner Charmed |
Moving Too Fast (the Director's Cut) ['bonus disc' contains: Noah's Ark Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed My Sensation Dirty Hey, Let Me in Things Have Changed] |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Australia's Sand Pebbles (named for the film) play what I believe is termed 'alternative rock', whatever you take that to mean, although, just for once, I don't mean it disparagingly. I haven't heard their debut single, Noah's Ark, backed with their first 'Tron track, an early version of The Sundowner, but Eastern Terrace is really quite good, although the band's experimentation doesn't always work. I like the way they don't actually have a consistent sound throughout the album, though, tailoring the instrumentation to the song's needs, rather in the manner of XTC, say, although the two bands don't really sound alike. Notable tracks? Their version of Julian Cope's Out Of My Mind On Dope And Speed is pretty cool, while My Sensation is probably the best of their home-grown numbers.
Their mate Beck Zack plays Mellotron on two tracks, with a string line on the aforementioned My Sensation, alongside Ben Michael X's '$150 1979 string synth'. He really goes to town on the lengthy instrumental The Sundowner, though, with loads of flute and string work, including, effectively, a 'Tron strings solo towards the end. So; a good album, displaying considerable promise, and some decent 'Tron work to boot.
 |
Sandrose (1972, 40.07) ****½/TTTTTVisionNever Good at Sayin' Good-Bye Underground Session (Chorea) Old Dom is Dead To Take Him Away Summer is Yonder Metakara Fraulein Kommen sie Schlaffen Mit Mir |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Now, the Sandrose album is something special; a much-fêted 'Mellotron Album' that actually lives up to its name. Usually described as 'early progressive', it was one of the first albums of the new genre to come from France, along with Ange's debut. However, Sandrose are often rather unfairly compared to Dutch pop-prog outfit Earth & Fire, mainly due to the similarity of their female vocalists; Sandrose's Rose Podwojny is more shrill than Earth & Fire's Jerney Kaagman, though, more in the 'torch' mode, really. Sandrose definitely has French chanson influences amongst the more familiar late-'60s/early-'70s stuff, making its sound quite unique.
Basically, this album is quite literally Mellotron-swamped; the first six tracks all feature it heavily, particularly Old Dom Is Dead, a song guitarist Jean-Pierre Alarcen brought with him from a previous band. Underground Session is less jam-based than it sounds, but is the album's longest track by several minutes, also featuring waves of Mellotron strings (note: not 'washes'; this is an unacceptable cliché, and will not be used on this site). While much of the music is proto-symphonic, this isn't a 'symphonic' album in the style of, say, early Genesis. It may or may not appeal, mainly depending on your capacity for accepting 'outside influences'; then again, with a style as new as prog in 1972, all influences could have been considered 'outside'. Six of the album's seven proper songs feature lashings of 'Tron (the last track is a thirty-second muckabout), so the much-maligned 'Mellotron Classic' label can be firmly applied. The whole concept was apparently Alarcen's, including the heavy Mellotron use, although he found organist Henri Garella to play it along with his usual instrument.
A vinyl original will set you back several limbs (£100+ for the UK release last time I heard), but French reissue heroes Musea put it out as one of their first projects, including, as you can see, some marvellous live pics in the booklet. In this rather heavily-cropped one, note the already rather battered-looking black M400 played by Garella's temporary replacement, Georges Rodi, with its weird, customised sled-like feet. Maybe it doubled as a toboggan.
Buy? An unequivocal yes.
 |
Take Off (1978, 32.36) ****/TTT½Time ControlSaffo's Gardens Take Off |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Keyboard whizz Antonio Sangiuliano's lone album, Take Off, was an oddity on the Italian scene, sounding more like a symphonic version of Tangerine Dream, though with a distinctly Italian edge to his composition, setting it apart from the myriad German keyboard-led outfits. At only 32 minutes, the album doesn't have time to outstay its welcome, though unlike many other 'electronic' artists (naming no names), the record could've been longer without dragging, such is the quality of the material. It's difficult to describe the music without getting bogged down in the minutiae of 'at 3.16 a Polymoog string theme enters...' etc.; suffice to say, it constantly surprises with its adventurousness and melodic invention, particularly during the superbly-orchestrated 'string' arrangement on the title track.
Although the CD booklet give very few details of Sangiuliano's setup, my Italy-via-Japan copy has a Japanese insert, from where I can pick out English words such as 'Stockhausen', 'Pierre Boulez' and, er, 'Mellotron'. Actually, it gives his full rig, including his much-used Polymoog, ARP 2600, Eminent string synth and MiniMoog, with the only other occasional instrumental input being from drummers Derek Wilson and Enzo Restuccia, and soprano Elisabetta Delicato (thanks to Augusto Croce's fantastic Italian Prog site for that information). His 'Tron use concentrates entirely on different choirs; I suspect he uses male, female and 8-voice, though it's not always easy to tell. There's an awful lot of it, anyway; the male voices are one of the first sounds you hear on the side-long Time Control, and can be heard across all three tracks, supplying the requisite 'epic' quality that his music required, with the Wagnerian stabs on Take Off itself being particularly noteworthy.
It's a real tragedy that the fantastically-haired Sangiuliano didn't go on to have a long and honourable career, although like so many others in the '80s, he could've gone completely down the pan, so maybe we should be grateful for this one-off marvel. Anyway, excellent music (although I'm not sure I can confidently give it more than four stars), and plenty of Mellotron choir. Buy.
 |
Welcome (1972, 50.30) ***½/TGoing HomeLove, Devotion and Surrender Samba de Sausalito When I Look Into Your Eyes Yours is the Light Mother Africa Light of Life Flame-Sky Welcome |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Santana (the band's) fifth album, Welcome, followed Carlos Santana's collaboration with erstwhile Mahavishnu Orchestra leader John McLaughlin, Love, Devotion Surrender, also naming a track title here. McLaughlin also guests on the album, which may have helped to give it its smoother, jazzier feel, although Santana had already begun moving in that direction on Caravanserai. The overall feel of this album is definitely easier on the ear than their first three (all classics), and I feel the songwriting seems to be taking a back seat to the spiritual message held within, although I accept that this may be an unfair criticism.
Whatever, Welcome's a perfectly listenable Santana album, just not a particularly exciting one. If you're not into it, the jazzy keyboard work grates after a while, and the smooth, soulful male and female vocals are a far cry from the impassioned, bluesy tones of original organist Gregg Rolie. Unless I'm badly mistaken, the first guitar solo isn't until track five, Yours Is The Light, which explains the missing element on which I couldn't put my finger. Yeah, that's the one; guitar. Funky rhythm sections are all very well, but without that searing, neck-pickup guitar work it could be any old Latino band, not the one who rewrote the rule book. There is some good material on offer here, particularly the 11-minute Flame-Sky, but I'm afraid it doesn't come anywhere near the heights of their early albums.
The only Mellotron on the album (played by Richard Kermode) is on instrumental opener Going Home; layered strings over an arhythmical backing with some unusual chord changes, leading into Love Devotion And Surrender. Very nice, but not worth the purchase price of the album, really.
 |
Envoy of Death (1981, 37.32/43.55) ***½/T½ |
|
| Envoy of Death The Deadly Game Wheels of Destruction Insane Rebels Die to Win Stolen Salvation Black Contract |
[CD adds: Kuoleman Kauppias Moottorilinnut] |
|
 |
Core Values [as Sarcofagus Ltd] (2007, 59.57) ***/TT |
|
| Life By Proxy Techgnostic Core Values Is This it? (No Flying Cars Yet) Collateral Damage Self Dysmorphic Disorder No Collective Memory of Failure ADHD |
Radical Rethinking of the Processed World 2nd Coming Chemical Sunglasses 2nd Coming (French Version) |
|
Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
Sarcofagus are fêted as Finland's first heavy rock band, which seems surprising given that by the time they appeared, the rest of Europe was entering its third (count 'em) phase of overdriven Marshallness; even neighbours Sweden had a healthy music scene, with one massive worldwide pop success and countless local bands. In fairness, Finland had a scene of its own, but not in this genre, it seems. Their debut, 1980's Cycle of Life, was a pretty formative affair, being a concept album about the afterlife, involving Egyptian deities, all put to a primitive hard rock (not metal) backing. Envoy of Death was a distinct improvement on its predecessor, although, strangely, it's another concept effort, this time going the whole way on the Ancient Egyptian front, with each track telling the story of someone hauled up in front of the afterlife's equivalent of Juke Box Jury. Most of the album sounds like the more uptempo end of the Black Sabbath repertoire, notably the opening title track, with the occasional foray into near-prog territory, principally on lengthy closer Black Contract and Wheels Of Destruction (who said 'Confusion'?).
Producer and guest keyboard player on the album was none other than Esa Kotilainen, one of Finland's chief movers-and-shakers for the past thirty years or more. Unsurprisingly, as well as his Hammond, Kotilainen stuck some of his M400 on the album, and given that he produced, it has to be his fault that it's mostly so low in the mix. The male choirs on the title track may or may not be Mellotron, although the strings and flutes on Wheels Of Destruction and, specifically, the repeating flute melody on Die To Win are definitely 'Tron.
25 years on... Sarcofagus reappear, reinventing themselves as Sarcofagus Ltd, launching themselves into an upside-down world where Finnish metal bands achieve worldwide fame; there's a turn-up for the books, eh? Core Values is, by and large, mainstream metal, with little of the charm of their early work, although eccentricities like the indie-pop/metal crossover Self Dysmorphic Disorder worm their way in somehow. Kotilainen's still involved, adding ripping Hammond to several tracks, and Mellotron to a few, too. The amusingly-named Is This It? (No Flying Cars Yet) has some background strings, with strings and flutes on Collateral Damage and cellos on the aforementioned Self Dysmorphic Disorder, with a final string part and some nice choppy somethings on Chemical Sunglasses. Incidentally, the final track, the 'French version' of 2nd Coming, is well worth hearing just for its accordion work. No, really.
Envoy of Death is an album for the rock fan who's exhausted the mainstream end of '70s hard rock, and isn't interested in '80s and '90s metal. It's never going to be anyone's favourite album (go on, prove me wrong), but it definitely has its moments, not least one decent 'Tron track in a genre where it's unfortunately fairly thin on the ground. Core Values possibly has a higher 'Tron input, but is rather less appealing, although Kotilainen's Hammond (and, er, accordion) work separates it from yer run-of-the-mill metal stuff.
See: Esa Kotilainen
 |
The Glitter Odd (2001, 47.31) **½/TChrysolisBliss Still Life A Trick of the Light Ozimuth/Menadel Organo Borealis The Glitter Odd |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Portugal's Saturnia fall into the same grey area as several other bands re. sample use: they've 'used' a real Mellotron, belonging to a friend, and admit sampling it, but don't state explicitly whether or not they actually put the real thing onto their records. Their second album, 2001's The Glitter Odd, barely even sounds like they used it, but an online interview assures me the 'flutes are all Mellotron', so I have to assume they're simply very heavily effected.
The album itself is a bit of a letdown, to be honest; a sort of psych/drone/prog/raga thing with some contemporary touches in the rhythm department that sounds like it should be better than it is. OK, it's not terrible, but the programmed beats are offputting and most of its musical content drifts past without ever really impinging itself on your consciousness. Maybe that's the idea? Plenty of early Floyd vocals and organ drones, plenty of sound FX and twirly synths and vaguely Porcupine Tree-esque atmospherics, although little actual substance, sadly.
On the Mellotron front, there are rather tuneless (sometimes completely out of key) flute warblings on all the highlighted tracks above, with the exception of a brief string part on (presumably) the 'Menadel' part of Ozimuth/Menadel. The claustrophobic mix doesn't help matters any, to be honest; most of the keyboards are buried away under layers of real and programmed percussion and reverb, making accurate 'Tron-spotting a Thing Of Difficulty.
Overall, then, a rather dull album, to be honest, with 'Mellotron' flutes that actually sound more like real ones than anything else. Odd. Saturnia used more 'Tron on their next album, 2003's Hydrophonic Gardening, but whether or not it sounds any better than the one here can only be a matter for conjecture.
 |
All Your Summer Songs (2003, 39.04) ***/T |
|
| Untitled Meet Me By the Water Underwater Heartbeat Ambulance The Sun Doesn't Want to Shine Caught All Our Summer Songs No Good With Secrets |
Alcohol You Work All Weekend Typing Ultimate Stars Last Hour |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
The, er, 'quirkily'-named Saturday Looks Good to Me tend to be described as 'experimental indie'. They actually sound a bit like an indie take on '60s soul and '50s rock'n'roll, which is probably unlikely to appeal to anyone who doesn't already subscribe to the indie aesthetic. Alcohol is the only track that caught my ear in any way, largely because it's the rockiest, but while the album's perfectly good at what it does, it left me a little cold, I'm afraid.
Mellotron from Dave Shettler, with a really quite full-on string part in Ambulance, sounding quite authentic, although the flutey thing on Typing sounds more like a badly-played recorder than Mellotron flutes. So; competent, but very indie, albeit with one good 'Tron track.
 |
Waiters on the Dance (1973, 32.47) ***½/TT½Child of the Night 1 and 2Stranger The Death of Alda Dance of the Golden Flamingoes Cycle Soldiers of Time |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Julian Jay Savarin was/is a science fiction writer, still active today, but in the late '60s he formed a band to try to realise his ambitions in the musical field as well as the literary. Julian's Treatment recorded one album, the proto-prog A Time Before This in 1970, utilising themes from his Lemmus trilogy, although the band split up soon after. Undeterred, Savarin released its logical follow-up, Waiters on a Dance (sharing a title with the first Lemmus book), under his own name in '73, in a broadly similar musical vein, which unfortunately rather dates it these days. The material, sung by Jo Meek (the first album's vocalist, Cathy Pruden, had returned to Australia by this time), is good, though not outstanding, although the album succeeds in not really sounding much like anyone else, which has to be a bonus. Best track? Probably the longest, Dance Of The Golden Flamingoes.
A Time Before This is sometimes quoted as a Mellotron album, the confusion arising from the See For Miles CD, which adds all but one track from Waiters on a Dance (the exception being Dance Of The Golden Flamingoes, typically), although Bevis Frond (Nick Saloman)'s sleevenotes obfuscate the issue slightly. Anyway, Savarin certainly does play Mellotron on the latter release: Child Of The Night 1 And 2 has a 'Tron flute part that dips in and out of the track, before some mental, full-on strings come crashing in near the end, with strings and what I presume is 'Tron brass on The Death Of Alda and just about everything on the album's longest and best track, Dance Of The Golden Flamingoes. I suspect this will take a good few listens to assimilate properly, and at least it's now available properly, albeit only on the Italian Akarma label (or is that 'Akarama', Shane and co?). Worth hearing.
 |
In Reverie (2003, 33.56) ***/T |
|
| Anywhere With You What Went Wrong Driving in the Dark Rise In Reverie Morning in the Moonlight Monkey In My Waking Life |
She Where Are You? Wednesday the Third Tomorrow Too Late |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
In Reverie marked the point at which everything went tits-up for Saves the Day, as their new label, Dreamworks, stopped supporting the album days after its release (allegedly), dropping the band soon after, as many of their fans concurrently decided they didn't like the band's new 'mainstream' sound. To an outside pair of ears, it's a melodic, punkish pop record, complete with the sort of halfway decent songwriting that makes it stand out in a sea of similar-sounding dross. Not that it's a classic, you understand, but how many albums are? It seems to be good at what it does, which is often enough.
Reed Black guests on Mellotron on two credited tracks, although there's also a very obvious string part at the end of What Went Wrong, presumably also played by Black. Of the two credited tracks, Wednesday The Third is decidedly better on the 'Tron front, with a cool string part, sounding nice'n'cranky, with a rather lesser cello line on She. So; while most of you are unlikely to like this album, it manages to be reasonably good in a fairly poor genre, which has to be applauded, as does its brevity, in a world of overlong CDs, 'because we can'. Two OK 'Tron parts, worth hearing, but not really buying.
 |
Reasons to Stay Indoors (2001, 54.03) **½/TT½ |
|
| Reasons to Stay Indoors If You Won't Come to the Party Face Half of the Time Once Upon a Year Fear List I Would Not Change a Thing Paramount |
The One That Got Away Against the Sun Five Million Years Overgrown |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Savoy is essentially the trio of A-Ha keys man Paul (originally Pål) Waaktaar-Savoy, his wife, Lauren and drummer Frode Unneland, whose fourth album, 2001's Reasons to Stay Indoors, veers between very listenable pop and the kind of overwrought nonsense that gives the mainstream a bad (OK, badder) name. Best tracks? Fear List brings A-Ha's original electro-pop stylings to mind, Paramount is about the rockiest thing here and Against The Sun's a passable ballad, but nothing really leaps out and grabs you by the throat, I'm afraid.
Waaktaar-Savoy uses his MkVI on several tracks, with strings on If You Won't Come To The Party, an electric harpsichord/celeste mix on the intro to Half Of The Time (no, I didn't know anyone had recorded those sounds, either), reiterated later in the song, with background strings on Fear List. I Would Not Change A Thing sounds like it features another rare-as-rocking-horse-shit sounds, the Mellotron guitar (very plinky, actually), plus cellos on The One That Got Away, although I believe the rest of the album's strings are real. Incidentally, thanks to MkVI developer Markus Resch for his unwitting Mellotron info here, rescued from an ancient saved e-mail.
So; a fairly mainstream 'adult pop' album with a decent chunk of Mellotron, including some unusual sounds. Enough to make it worth buying? Only if seen very cheap indeed, I'd have to say. Nice to hear something a bit different on the 'Tron front for once, though.
See: A-Ha
 |
Jack the Toad (1973, 46.19) ***/½Coming Down Your WayRide on Babe Hold Your Fire If I Want to Endless Sleep Casting My Spell Just Cos' You Got the Blues Don't Mean You Gotta Sing Some People Jack the Toad |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Savoy Brown (previously the Savoy Brown Blues Band) formed during the mid-'60s UK blues boom, and are still going today, led by the one remaining original member, guitarist Kim Simmonds. They survived most of their lineup jumping ship in 1969 to form the equally-successful-in-the-US Foghat, going on to lose members to fellow blues-boomers Fleetwood Mac, before Simmonds recruited the members who would play on what I believe was their tenth album in six years, Jack the Toad. The album is... blues. I'm not quite sure what I can say about this; it's a blues album, and the band plays blues. They don't appear to play it with any great originality, although they by no means stick rigidly to the 12-bar blueprint, but ZZ Top they ain't. There are better tracks; Endless Sleep has a nice feel to it, but it's largely pretty much blues by numbers, to be honest.
One notable feature of the album for me personally is the inclusion of future UFO member Paul Raymond on keyboards, not to mention 'friend of the Quo' Jackie Lynton on vocals (I supported his band once in the late '80s - talk about a mismatch...). Admittedly, Raymond mostly plays piano, but he's also credited with Mellotron, with a slightly pointless cello part on the closing title track.
Personally, I find the appeal of this kind of workaday blues-rock utterly mystifying, although I'm a big fan of those artists who took the blues somewhere (ZZ, the much-missed Rory Gallagher). Plenty of people, particularly in the States, seem to love this stuff though, so who am I to argue? Don't bother with Jack the Toad for its Mellotron use, though.
See: Foghat
 |
Endless Flight (1976, 37.04) */½ |
|
| Hold on to My Love You Make Me Feel Like Dancing Reflections When I Need You No Business Like Love Business I Hear the Laughter Magdalena How Much Love |
I Think We Fell in Love Too Fast Endless Flight |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
The diminutive Gerard "Leo" Sayer's career began with him writing songs for other artists, notably Roger Daltrey, whose very un-Who like debut album, Daltrey, featured several of his compositions. Sayer's own singing career kicked off with 1973's The Show Must Go On, providing the template for his next few hits, being very mainstream pop, nowadays bizarrely sometimes referred to as 'guilty pleasures'. Nothing pleasurable about this, mate... Spitting out an album a year, Endless Flight was Sayer's fourth, catching him at the point where he discovered the delights of disco (with the horrid falsetto-driven You Make Me Feel Like Dancing), and the extra moolah playing it would bring him. It also contains one of the cheesiest sloppy love songs ever, in When I Need You; I'd actually forgotten that this existed, so no thanks to this album whatsoever for reminding me. The rest of the album consists of what passed for singer-songwriter material in the pop world at the time, veering between nasty and nastier; well, just one look at that cover tells you everything you need to know about this, I think.
Mellotron on one track, with flutes (of course) on Magdalena, one of the less offensive tracks, by Jimmy Phillips, presumably the same guy who slapped shitloads of 'Tron strings all over Small Wonder's debut album the same year (this was recorded in LA). Unsurprisingly, they're not exactly enough to drag the album up from the considerable depths it inhabits, so it rather goes without saying (although I'm going to say it anyway) that you really, REALLY don't need a copy of this dreck within spitting distance of your town, never mind your stereo. Avoid with prejudice. Oh, and according to the pics on his website, although the little git is now almost unrecognisable from his '70s heyday, he's still got that bloody hair. And he's still a shortarse.
Official site (why, why?)
 |
Acquatica (1996, 70.38) ***/T½ |
|
| The Tones of Peloponnesus Ionia Parisia Acquatica All Fish Go to Heaven The Isle of Caldra Deserted Shores Improvia |
Angelica Dronia The Ionic Curve Aga Aludoma Sidereal Hands at the Temple of Omphalos Modula Raga Et Tu, Dronius? Untitled |
|
 |
The Acid Gospel Experience (2002, 73.12) **½/T½Year of the RatLightspeed The Acid Gospel Under a Wing Lunar Afternoon Skylight Lightcord The Spheres A Journey Through the Outer Reaches of Inner Space |
Current availability:
Chamberlins used:
How to describe Scenic? Maybe their name gives the game away. 1996's Acquatica is a widescreen, cinematic travelogue through their influences, with the traditional Velvets-style guitar drone juxtaposed with ambient keys and vaguely prog leanings. An instrumental safari? "Look! There's Mt. Kilimanjaro!" Scenic are capable of rocking out, too (Angelica), but their default setting seems to be vaguely psychedelic drone rock, heavy on the atmosphere. Patrick Warren turns up to do his usual Chamberlin thing, and also as usual, you can't always spot where it's used. Probable Chamby strings on Ionia, the lengthy Modula Raga and Et Tu, Dronius?, although what sound like slides between notes on the latter two tracks make you wonder. Incidentally, there are several minutes of silence after Et Tu, Dronius? before an untitled piece, so they've been removed from the timing above.
2002 brought The Acid Gospel Experience, which probably tells you even more about where the band are coming from than their name. If I'm going to be brutally honest, these hour-plus albums of ambient whatever bore the crap out of me after a while; no doubt I'm not doing the right (or any) drugs. It seems to be good at what it does, but please don't ever make me listen to this again. Wrong generation, I think. Chamberlin from Robert Loveless and James Brenner this time, with strings on opener Year Of The Rat and occasional choirs and strings on (deep breath) A Journey Through The Outer Reaches Of Inner Space, although the strings on Lightspeed and others seem to carry on far too long to be tape-driven.
So; space-rock, anyone? These albums are certainly psychedelic, but altered states are probably recommended all round. Very little obvious Chamby use on either, so I'd only delve in if their mind-altering thang sounds like it might be yours, too.
 |
Le Carnaval des Animaux (1978, 34.53) ***½/½ |
|
| Introduction - Marche Royale du Lion Fossiles Aquarium L'Eléphant Le Cygne Hémiones Poules et Coq Volière |
Le Coucou au Fond du Bois Tortues Personnages à Longues Oreilles Le Carnaval des Animaux - Finale |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Ton Scherpenzeel was/is keyboard player and joint chief songwriter with one of the Netherlands' top progressive outfits, Kayak, but he chose a classical adaptation for his first solo album, some years into his band's career. Le Carnaval des Animaux (I really hope I don't need to translate that...) is Scherpenzeel's version of one of noted French composer Saint-Saëns' best-known pieces and is, for the most part, extremely well executed. The narrow gap between classical and progressive is rarely more clearly illustrated than on this album, as it's quite possible to listen to it believing you're hearing Scherpenzeel's own compositions. While not knowing the history behind the piece, it's obvious that the music is meant to represent a dream of, well, a carnival of animals, as the sleeve design makes quite clear.
The individual pieces, all named after animals, oddly enough, are all short; none more than four minutes long. The instrumentation is typically progressive; instrumental, with guitar/bass/drums and loads of keyboards, including a largely inaudible Mellotron. In fact, the only place I can even faintly hear it is at the end of side one, where some strings become apparent at the end of Hémiones. It's interesting to note that although the original 'song' titles are in French, they're also printed on the sleeve in Dutch and English, but not German, although my copy originates from that country.
Not being terrifically au fait with the original work (although I have heard it), I find it difficult to tell just how well Scherpenzeel has adapted it, particularly with regard to the drum parts; it's very noticeable how most drum parts added to classical adaptations sound very 'tacked on', as the pieces weren't written with strict rhythm in mind. As a result, some of the rhythm tracks here (by Kayak percussionist and sometime Mellotron player Max Werner) sound a little awkward, but others fit perfectly. The original composition, as you'd expect from any 'known' classical composer, is quite faultless, with a dollop of humour frequently missing from the classical oeuvre, notably the lengthy quote from The Can-Can, taken at an amusingly slothlike pace in the middle of Tortues; Tortoises - what else?
So, all in all, not a bad album at all, with a sound vaguely akin to Kayak's. The Mellotron use is almost nonexistent, but if you're into symphonic progressive or adaptations of classical works, you could do worse than pick this up.
See: Kayak
 |
Symphonic Pictures (1976, 35.55) ****½/TTTTTTaoSolution Dialog Sundrops Pictures |
 |
Sunburst (1977, 35.16) ****/TTTTWizzardAutumn Sun in Cold Water Artificial Energy Driftin' Troja 1580 Explorer |
 |
The Collected Works of Schicke Führs Fröhling (1976-8/93, 121.17) ****½/TTTTT |
||
| Tao Solution Dialog Sundrops Pictures Wizzard Autumn Sun in Cold Water |
Artificial Energy Driftin' Troja 1580 Explorer Open Doors Song From India |
Ticket to Everywhere Spain Span Spanish Here and Now Slow Motion Folk'n Roll Every Land Tells a Story (live) Explorer/Wizzard (live) |
|
 |
Live 1975 (2002, 72.20) ***** (or **)/TTTTT+TaoDialog Gedankenspiel Modimidofre Prickel Pit Ammernoon Dadadam Ticket to Everywhere |
Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
Schicke Führs Fröhling, better known as SFF, metamorphosed out of Spektakel (an archive CD came out in '96), and were already playing live in 1975, sporting two Mellotrons, along with a butchered Ricky 4001/gold top Les Paul twin-neck and sundry other instrumentation. Their style was classic lush instrumental symphonic progressive with an electronic edge, with little of the 'German' feel of so many of their countrymen; the now sadly late Gerhard Führs played various keyboards, Heinz Fröhling tripled on guitar/bass/Mellotron, with Eduard Schicke on drums.
Symphonic Pictures is absolutely fantastic, although it almost pales in comparison to a live recording doing the rounds from '75 (see below). Anyway, the four tracks on the album's first side are pretty bloody good, with Mellotron all round; mostly strings, with the odd bit of flute thrown in. The side-long Pictures is the album's (and their career's) pinnacle, though; sixteen minutes (cut down from nearly half an hour live) of 'Tron-soaked prog, moving through various moods, including a choppy single-note choir part near the beginning that I'd swear Änglagård heard somewhere along the way. This one piece justifies the band's entire career, just in case it needed justifying. An essential album, whose only fault is its brevity.
Of course, Sunburst could never quite live up to the hype, so while it's pretty damn' good, it doesn't quite match Symphonic Pictures for sheer welly, or indeed, quality of composition. Don't get me wrong; it's still a great album, but not quite up there with its predecessor. I suspect much of it was recorded live in the studio, as an Eduard Brumund-Rüther plays bass on most tracks, but I suppose SFFB doesn't have quite the same ring to it. There's Mellotron on all but one track, but the use is more 'subtle' (i.e. background) than on their debut, although there's some nice string and choir parts to be heard, particularly on the album's best track (along with Troja), the opener Wizzard, despite its dodgy synth intro.
Sadly, by third (and last) album, the synth-heavy Ticket to Everywhere (***), SFF had gone pretty much off the boil, even including the odd vocal part; the album isn't quite as awful as I remember it, but it really only shows the occasional spark of their previous genius. It doesn't even have the saving grace of any Mellotron, despite the pictures on the back cover, cribbed directly from the Symphonic Pictures sleeve of two years earlier. Before its release, Führs and Fröhling had formed a subsidiary duo, er, Führs and Fröhling, whose Ammerland is every bit as good as the first two SFF albums, if very different in feel. The duo lived beyond the trio, but still split around the turn of the decade, like so many other prog outfits of the day.
That could've been it, but in the mid-'90s a double CD was released, The Collected Works of Schicke Führs Fröhling, consisting of all three albums plus a couple of live tracks. This is, basically, utterly essential, given that none of the original albums are otherwise available on CD. I'm not sure when the live tracks date from, but while the otherwise unavailable Every Land Tells A Story is mainly a piano piece, the segue of Explorer/Wizzard, with the two pieces linked by a drum solo, features 'Tron strings and flutes on the first part, and strings on the second, but too far down in the mix.
Some years after the Collected Works set, an album called Live 1975 appeared, also known as Live in Papenburg. I don't quite know how to review this because, on the surface, it's an incredible document of an excellent band, until you learn that it's edited down from a rather longer recording. The trouble is, rather than chop a track or two, what the compilers of this disc have done is (wait for it...) edited almost every track, the only survivor being Modimidofre, better known as Pictures from their first album, here nearly half an hour (!) long. The worst-hit is Gedankenspiel, which loses around five minutes, but despite a tape-speed issue, and a considerable amount of between-song faff being edited, I reckon over ten minutes of music has gone up the swannee.
To add insult to injury, the editing (from the original 90 minutes) is so heavy that they've found room to stick a later (and highly inferior) live track on the end, and still leave eight minutes of empty space on the disc. Gee, thanks, chaps... I've never heard of anything so stupid; what on earth are they trying to achieve by chopping lumps out of pieces like this? OK, so they've kept costs down and got it onto a single disc; big, fat, hairy deal. I think fans of the band would be happy to fork out a bit more for the full set, and given that there's obviously more live stuff in the vaults, why not flesh out the second disc with more 1980 material? This is cretinous.
Given that the non-bowdlerised version isn't officially (I do stress 'officially') available, I really can't do any more than review this album as it stands. The music is stupendous, as you'd expect, clearly stating their unique style well before the release of their first album, with several excellent otherwise unreleased tracks. Apart from Modimidofre/Pictures, parts of Gedankenspiel sound familiar, and Ammernoon eventually turned up on the first Führs & Fröhling album, but most of the material is unfamiliar, edited or otherwise. The instrumental interplay between Führs and Fröhling is excellent, with both 'Trons going at once at some points, and the band sounding considerably larger than a three-piece. This is a total Mellotron classic, in case you hadn't noticed, with more 'Tron per square inch than almost anything else in my collection, leading to my first-ever 'TTTTT+' rating, as five Ts just don't seem to be enough to describe such monumental 'Tron overkill. It isn't just the amount of Mellotron on offer here, as much as the frequently innovative playing and unusual chord structures the band employed.
Anyway, Symphonic Pictures is utterly essential, and Sunburst is well worth the effort, both progressively and Mellotronically, so I highly recommend tracking down the Laser's Edge double-disc set. As for Live 1975, given that the full version isn't officially available, you're left with this, or nothing, in which case this will have to do.
See: Spektakel | Führs and Fröhling
