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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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Sing-Sing Sinkadus Sinoia Caves Sister Hazel |
Sixpence None the Richer Skafish Skamasutra Skin Alley |
Sky Cries Mary Slack Alice Sleater-Kinney |
Sleep Station Small Faces Small Wonder |
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The Joy of Sing-Sing (2001, 53.14) **½/0 |
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| Everything Tegan I'll Be Me and My Friend Far Away From Love Panda Eyes Command |
Feels Like Summer Emigré You Don't Know Underage I Can See You |
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I've seen Sing-Sing described as 'dream pop', which seems as good a description as any for their rather fey indie stylings. Essentially the duo of vocalist Lisa O'Neill and ex-Lush vocalist/guitarist Emma Anderson, they recorded a mere two albums in their decade together, the first being 2001's The Joy of Sing-Sing. It is, frankly, pretty wet, although I'm sure it sounds exactly as it's meant to; I think you've really got to be into the limper end of British indie to get anything much out of this...
Producer Mark Van Hoen supposedly plays Mellotron, along with stacks of great synths (and a DX-7), with many excellent synthpop-era sounds cropping up. Unfortunately, the Mellotron is essentially inaudible; I thought I spotted some strings on Underage, but they turned out to be real. So; despite a couple of better tracks (notably closer I Can See You), this is a rather drab album, although indie fans probably love it to bits. No obvious Mellotron, either, so maybe not.
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Aurum Nostrum (1997, 58.49) ****/TTT½SnålblåstManuel Ågren Ättestupan |
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Live at Progfest '97/Aurum Nostrum, Version 1 (1998, studio tracks recorded 199?, 75.07/60.33) ***½/TTTT / ****/TTTT |
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| (Spoken Introduction) Manuel Ågren Jag, Änglamarks Bane Snålblåst Ättestupan |
Snålblåst Manuel Ågren Ättestupan |
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Cirkus (1999, 47.30) ****½/TTTTJag, Änglamarks BanePositivhalaren Kakafonia Valkyria Ulv i Fårakläder |
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Kalevala: A Finnish Progressive Rock Epic (2003, 5.43) ****/TT½[Sinkadus contribute]Trubadurens Kval |
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The Colossus of Rhodes: The 7th Progressive Rock Wonder (2005, 23.13) ****/TTT½[Sinkadus contribute]God of Silence |
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Dante's Inferno: the Divine Comedy, Part I (2008, 6.44) ***½/TT½[Sinkadus contribute]Stuck in Hell |
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The first the world heard of Sinkadus was a demo version of Manuel on the Third Cyclops Sampler from '96, which made one comparison unavoidable: Änglagård. Their website says the band formed in 1991, and while I don't dispute this, I have difficulty with the concept that they came up with an almost identical sound to Änglagård's without hearing them, reinforced by the fact that it took them five years longer to release their debut album. They make all the same compositional and instrumental moves, with nowt but analogue gear, playing lengthy 'linear' pieces with little repetition, although (Swedish language) vocals are slightly more prominent.
However, given the constraints they seem to have set themselves, they do a pretty decent job, only with less invention and lesser musicianship than their erstwhile mentors. All four pieces on '97's Aurum Nostrum have great moments, particularly Manuel (possibly their best song?), but these are tied together with a little too much, er, 'arrangement', rather than melody, especially on Ättestupan, which does, to be honest, drag a little. They certainly make all the right moves, but the end result is slightly unsatisfying, making you wish they'd spread their ideas a little less thinly, making a shorter, but tighter album. For all that, it's a damn' good record; it just isn't very original, even within the rarefied prog world where, as in so many genres, a change that would appear infinitesimal from the outside assumes major significance, and often precipitates the invention of a whole new sub-genre. However, it knocks seven shades of unholy shite out of the likes of Pendragon, so that's quite enough sniping, thank you.
There is, of course, more of Fredrik Karlsson's (borrowed, though I don't know from whom) Mellotron than you can shake a stick at; pretty much all strings and choir, but used effectively and tastefully, along with the other analogue keys on offer (no Manticore-style digital unpleasantness here), mostly organ with a bit of string synth here and there. Incidentally, the band featured both a flautist and a cellist, both female, though sadly, both have now left, taking some of the band's vocal and instrumental diversity with them. I actually find it quite difficult to pinpoint any major 'Tron moments; suffice to say, there's a lot of it about. 'Troniacs will not be disappointed.
Sinkadus played LA's Progfest the same year, with Malcolm Parker at Cyclops (their European label) releasing the recording of the event as Live at Progfest '97 the following year, packaged with a bonus disc entitled Aurum Nostrum, Version 1, containing that original version of Manuel, 'Tron to the fore. The trouble with putting out a live recording this early in a band's career (see: Spock's Beard) is their lack of material, usually resulting in a run-through of their sole album with a new track or two thrown in. Well, that's exactly what you get here, although at least they changed the album's track order around. The album has a great sound, very 'in your face', with the standard Progfest vintage keyboards to the fore. It's certainly a very 'live' document, with occasional dodgy musicianship, but it makes up for that with a real energy lacking in their studio work. Unsurprisingly, Sinkadus play the Aurum Nostrum versions of the tracks, so slightly less Mellotron than on the original demos, but still enough to earn the much-coveted 'Mellotron-drenched' award.
The trouble with Aurum Nostrum, Version 1 is that, without knowing an album fairly intimately, it's usually difficult to spot the differences in a slightly different version, so apart from the extra added Mellotron in Manuel, I'm really not sure what differentiates it from the official version. Mind you, every track on this version is slightly longer, though they may just be slower, of course. Unsurprisingly, the tracks sound less 'polished', but what they lose in sound quality, I'd say they gain in passion and all-round rawness. I prefer this version to the finished article, personally, but it's horses for courses on this one. There seems to be a little more 'Tron, too, though I refer you to my remark above re.how well you know an album.
'99's Cirkus is an improvement on their debut compositionally, although there's no one highlight like Manuel. Track lengths are noticeably shorter all round, which is probably a good thing, with the compositions avoiding the extraneous faff that marred some of the Aurum Nostrum material. The songs are definitely melodically stronger, with better structure, and less obviously Änglagård-influenced, although they're still pretty close, to be honest. The Mellotron work is more upfront this time, with flutes used here and there, sometimes under Linda Ågren's real one, and is that 'Tron brass on Kakafonia? Anyway, more 'Tron, more to the front of the mix, so no complaints whatsoever.
It's hard to know which of the three versions of Aurum Nostrum to recommend, to be honest. Version 1 is the rawest, the official version's more polished, and the live version is, er, livelier; you pays yer money and you takes yer choice. Or something. I don't actually know whether the live album ever appeared minus Version 1, but the latter is definitely unavailable without the former. This is a bit crap of me, really, 'cos a large part of the reviewing process is recommendation, and I honestly can't say which you should go for. At the end of the day, the offical version's probably easier to find, so maybe you should just go with that. Cirkus is probably the better album, but I'd say the committed progger should buy both, for both music and Mellotron.
By the way, one small gripe. Chaps: Please lose that dodgy 'elf' graphic that's splattered all over your CD booklets and website - it just fuels the 'bloody hobbits' variety of anti-progressive sentiment. Take a(nother) leaf from Änglagård's book and use understated and tasteful artwork. You know it makes sense. Stop press: Sad to say, in early 2003 I heard that the band had quietly knocked it on the head, though whether it was due to their inability to find suitable replacements for their departed members or not is unknown. Stop press again: So how exactly does that fit in with their contributions to Musea's Kalevala and Colossus of Rhodes multi-artist projects? The former is from '03, and they could conceivably have recorded their track before they split, but the latter dates from '05. Are they still together, but only as a studio project? Both tracks only seem to have the standard vocal/guitar/bass/keys/drums lineup, so it's possible the four remaining members could have done them... Anyway, two excellent efforts, pretty much the best thing on each album, with plenty of Mellotron to boot. Try to hear them.
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The Enchanter Persuaded (2003, 50.09) ****/TTTDwarf Reaching the Arch WonderNaro Way Through the Valley The Wicker Chair Sundown in the New Arcades (Milky Way Echo) Evil Ball |
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Sinoia Caves (named for a formation in Zimbabwe) are a Black Mountain side-project; effectively Jeremy Schmidt solo, in fact. The Enchanter Persuaded is no more or less an electronic album, at heart, although it utilises Floydian drones (spot the Echoes 'pings' in Sundown In The New Arcades) alongside the Tangsesque synths and yes, Schmidt is an analogue nut, claiming to own 'no modern gear at all', which is pretty hardcore, even by my standards. Track lengths vary wildly; two are under three minutes, while another two top the quarter hour, although all share an instrumental commonality.
Mellotron on several tracks, with choirs on opener Dwarf Reaching The Arch Wonder, strings and choir on Through The Valley, full-on phased strings and a choir melody part on The Wicker Chair and choir stabs and strings on closer Evil Ball, although three of those are on short(er) tracks. All in all, then, a fine electronic album that avoids all the usual EM clichés while getting a load of real 'Tron in there. Result!
See: Black Mountain
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Fortress (2000, 58.11) **/½ |
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| Change Your Mind Backporch Thank You Champagne High Beautiful Thing Surreal Shame on Me Your Winter |
Strange Cup of Tea Save Me Give in Out There Elvis Fortress |
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It took me until the last track on Sister Hazel's tedious Fortress to pin down where I'd previously heard their style: Counting Crows. Yup, the same vapid, empty, scene-stealing bombast allied to a kind of fake Americana, full of pointless anthemic nonsense. So: tell it like it is. Say what you think. Don't beat around the bush. I tried, you know, I tried... I failed. This is rubbish. I've heard worse, which is why it doesn't get an ever lower rating, but fourteen bloody songs of this were enough to well and truly grind me down. Had the album only contained eight tracks, I mightn't have found it quite so relentlessly awful, but it doesn't.
Kim Bullard and Jamie Muhoberac both play Mellotron, allegedly, but the only places it even might be are the strings on Shame On Me and Your Winter. So; not good. Not good at all. Very little Mellotron. Don't.
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Sixpence None the Richer (1997, 47.51/50.33) **/½ |
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| We Have Forgotten Anything The Waiting Room Kiss Me Easy to Ignore Puedo Escribir I Can't Catch You |
The Lines Of My Earth Sister, Mother I Won't Stay Long Love Moving On [Later copies add: There She Goes] |
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Divine Discontent (2002, 55.10) **/T |
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| Breathe Your Name Tonight Down and Out of Time Don't Dream it's Over Waiting on the Sun Still Burning Melody of You Paralyzed |
I've Been Waiting Eyes Wide Open Dizzy Tension is a Passing Note A Million Parachutes |
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Sixpence None the Richer is said band's third album proper, and I have to say, a right load of wussy old crud it is, too. They don't help themselves in my book by being Christians - y'know, I don't bleat on to you about what I believe (or don't); do me the same courtesy. The first two tracks actually sound they could be a continuation of each other, they're that similar - same key, tempo, feel... I don't know how God-bothering this record actually is; I caught a lyrical reference to a 'burning bush', so the omens aren't good, but it's far from being the most offensive thing about it, beaten hollow by their general tediousness and Leigh Nash's irritating, whiny voice. Mellotron flutes on Anything from Mellotron Player To The Christian Community, John Mark Painter, alongside real strings. Anyway, I'm highly amused to see their cover of the La's There She Goes on later copies of the album; I mean, haven't they read the fucking lyrics? Speaking of which, I was force-fed UK radio station Virgin Radio on a job I was on recently, and was exceedingly amused to be played, all in one day, the Stranglers' Golden Brown, The Chilis' Under The Bridge and There She Goes. "Good morning, and today is heroin chic day on Virgin Radio!" Fantastic. All they missed was Waiting For The Man.
For some unknown reason, it took Sixpence etc. (who got their name from a C.S. Lewis book about being a God-botherer, apparently. Yeah, another one) five years to come up with another album, Divine Discontent; well, it wouldn't have been drug addiction, would it? Maybe that was why they covered There She Goes... Conspiracies? We gottem. Anyway, more slushy shite; they manage to bugger up Crowded House's sublime Don't Dream It's Over, simply by playing it in their usual style. I mean, where's the bloody Hammond solo, you tossers? Drivel. Couple of less awful tracks in Melody Of You and Paralyzed, but it's like polishing turds, really. Mellotron this time from Jerry Dale McFadden, with a passable flute part on Waiting On The Sun.
So; do NOT buy these records; they're shite. Y'know, these days, I seem to've lost what little tolerance I had for crud; I just can't be arsed any more. Why bother being nice? Call a spade a fucking shovel, then beat them to death with it. Shitehawks. Very little Mellotron, either (he says, vainly attempting to get back on course for a moment). I hope I never have to hear this band again. Ever.
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Skafish (1980, 35.01) ***½/TTT |
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| Joan Fan Club Maybe One Time Obsessions of You We'll See a Psychiatrist Romantic Lessons Work Song Guardian Angel Disgracing the Family Name |
No Liberation Here Take it Out on You |
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The frankly bizarre Jim Skafish and cohorts burst out of Chicago in 1976, stunning (and frequently repelling) audiences wherever they played, while managing to pick up both critical acclaim and a growing fanbase of similarly alienated weirdos. It took them until 1980 to release their debut, Skafish, and a rather strange album it is, too, the nearest description I can find for it being 'symphonic new wave', which is actually an awful lot better than it sounds. There's considerable musical variety to be found amongst its grooves, with jerky and disturbing opener Joan Fan Club followed by the near-prog of Maybe One Time, with doowop pastiche, show tunes and up-to-the-minute noo wave all vying for space amongst the grooves, usually all in the same song.
Keyboardist Javier Cruz almost makes the album single-handedly, adding a sheen of professionalism to every track, with great piano and clavinet work mixed with contemporary polysynth sounds and, of course, a Mellotron. Half the album is graced with its presence, with string parts on Obsessions Of You, Romantic Lessons and No Liberation Here, with weird, phased choirs on We'll See A Psychiatrist. However, the album's full-on 'Tron classic is Maybe One Time, with a near-as-dammit prog string part, probably emanating more from the band's theatrical background than its musical one.
Skafish released one more album on IRS, with a couple of independent cassettes appearing subsequently. He's paid the price for being original, though, being now largely forgotten, although I remember the huge fuss the British music press made of (or about) him at the time. Do yourself a favour; if quirky, original music sounds like it might just be your thing, try to find a second-hand copy of this, and luxuriate in its eclecticism, not to mention its excellent Mellotron work.
Incidentally, there's apparently one more Skafish 'Tron track available (I use the term loosely); a live recording of Sign Of The Cross was available on Urgh! A Music War, an IRS label sampler released in 1981. Should I ever find a copy...
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Let Come What May (2008, 37.45) ***½/TLet Come What MayKilling Time Run From My Mind Mural War Mother She's Mine Colorblind Rising Sun Pardon My Kicking Your Ass |
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I'll be quite honest here and say I have little knowledge of the US ska-punk scene. I've heard the dullsville No Doubt (well, any band who could foist the blandola Gwen Stefani on the world...), but the rest of the scene remains a mystery to me. Anyway, the nice chaps from Skamasutra (great name) have sent me their debut album, Let Come What May, containing not only some real 'Tron, but a brief burst of ye olde Taurus pedals, too. So, wossit like? Well, nothing like Madness or The Specials, that's for sure. If you haven't heard this stuff before, imagine a ska outfit whose guitarist whacks the distortion on and goes for the full punk/metal riffing thing, usually for the chorus, while the rest of the band carry on as before, with plenty of brass filling in the gaps, in this case, alto/baritone sax and trombone. Lyrically, the band come from the 'life lesson' school; being messed about by unfaithful women (Killing Time, She's Mine), growing up (the fiery title track), war and racism ((Mural War, Colorblind), with reasonable musical variety keeping things interesting.
Vocalist/trombonist Nick Gilbert plays keyboards on a couple of tracks, including Mellotron, with a few choir chords at the beginning of Run From My Mind, and some more at the close of their 'prog epic', Rising Sun, along with those bass pedals, although the wobbly flute-ish sound at the beginning of the song is the credited Korg synth (model unknown). So; while you're not going to go out to buy this for its Mellotron content, if you have any interest in high-energy contemporary music with a bit of thought put into it, you could do an awful lot worse than Let Come What May. Nice one, chaps; let's hope you can keep the momentum up for your next effort.
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Skin Alley (1969) ***½/T½Living in SinTell Me Mother Please Help Your Child Marsha Country Aire All Alone Night Time Concerto Grosso (Take Heed) (Going Down the) Highway |
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Skin Alley's eponymous debut used to be available only as part of a 2-on-1 CD with its follow-up, To Pagham and Beyond, with a track missing, but has subsequently been issued in its own right. It's a reasonably good, jazzy progressive album that usually gets missed out when the roots of prog are discussed although, unlike its more-heralded contemporaries, it hasn't aged that well, to be honest. There's only two Mellotron tracks, played by Krzysztaf-Henryk Juskiewicz and Thomas Crimble; Tell Me has some upfront MkII strings and brass, while Night Time has some more background strings, but that would appear to be that.
It's rumoured that their fourth and last effort, Skin Tight, has some Mellotronic input, but not only does it not seem to be credited, but nothing's audible, either, so scrap that one. Bizarrely, this album and its predecessor, Two Quid Deal, were released in the States by Stax (!), who presumably sold next to no copies of either. So; Skin Alley: OK album, OK 'Tron, nothing special. Your choice.
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A Return to the Inner Experience (1994, 70.03) ***/T |
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| Walla Walla Moving Like Water Gone Circus Church 2000 Light Years From Home When the Fear Stops Lay Down Your Head Rain |
Ocean Which Humanity is Broken Down Rosaleen Buss to Gate 23 Joey's Aria We Will Fall |
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How to describe the Hendrix-paraphrasing Sky Cries Mary? Psychedelic dance indie? They seem to have elements of all those genres on '94's A Return to the Inner Experience, for better or worse, although ultimately, they become mired in the 'indie' part of the equation, at least to my ears, making a 70-minute album a good half hour too long. It has its moments, not least the cut-up Buss To Gate 23 (buss??) and Velvets-esque closer We Will Fall, but it does all drag rather, leaving this listener twitching with boredom after a while.
Joseph E. Howard's Mellotron only obviously appears on a couple of tracks, although several others could include it buried in the mix, not least their 'more psych than the original' cover of the Stones' 2000 Light Years From Home. Of the definite use, there are a few string chords here and there on Ocean Which Humanity Is, and some rather more adventurous stuff on Buss To Gate 23, with dissonant string and flute parts, although that would appear to be it.
So; an overlong psych indie-fest, with decent bits here and there, but a classic neither in the musical nor Mellotronic realms.
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Slack Alice (1974, 39.42) ***/TT½Put Me on the RailroadGravelstone Cottage Mama's Gonna Boogie Slack Alice Mr. Sharpshooter Southsea Island Girl Motorcycle Dream Na-Ma-Nihcam (Soldier of the World) |
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London-based Slack Alice, fronted by Alice Springs (her real name, surely?), were one of the many hopeful outfits who trawled their live show around the UK in the early '70s, when there was still money to be made on the gig circuit for relatively unknown bands. the bulk of their repertoire stuck pretty closely to the R'n'B format - pub rock, if you like - with the occasional diversion into acoustic balladry (Gravelstone Cottage) or, bizarrely, pseudo-vaudeville (Slack Alice), the supposed tale of how the band got their name. Springs' vocal style veers between raucous (the rock'n'roll numbers) and really quite melodic (the quieter ones, funnily enough), when she actually stands out from the crowd slightly.
Keys man John Cook liked his Mellotron, assuming it wasn't a studio machine, adding some pretty major strings to Gravelstone Cottage and Na-Ma-Nihcam (Soldier Of The World) and an unexpected part on Slack Alice, which is far more than I'd expected. This is unlikely to ever get a CD issue, as its style is desperately out of fashion and pretty uncollectible, but if you get a chance to hear it, at least two tracks are worth it for the 'Tron.
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All Hands on the Bad One (2000, 36.58) **½/½ |
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| The Ballad of a Ladyman Ironclad All Hands on the Bad One Youth Decay You're No Rock n'Roll Fun #1 Must Have The Professional Was it a Lie? |
Male Model Leave You Behind Milkshake n'Honey Pompeii The Swimmer |
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Sleater-Kinney are your archetypal Riot Grrrl band: all-female, with a full-on feminist agenda, musically in the 'post-punk indie' camp. All Hands on the Bad One is their fifth album, and while I'm sure fans of the genre swoon over it, it leaves this reviewer a little cold. Their lyrical concerns are probably considered more important than the music used to deliver them (how often have we heard this before?), so anyone looking for a visceral musical thrill is probably best off looking elsewhere.
Sam Coomes plays Mellotron on Milkshake N'Honey, although it's buried under the other instrumentation for most of the song, only coming out to play with a sustained string chord at the end, sounding real enough, for what it's worth, which makes a nice change. So; Riot Grrrl indie. You'll either love it or hate it, I suspect, assuming you know anything about it at all. Next to no Mellotron, anyway, so don't even think about it on those grounds.
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After the War (2004, 47.02) ***/T |
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| Introduction After the War Drums of War Caroline, London 1940 Waiting Come Back Again My Darling Burden to You All That Remains |
Silver in the Sun A Final Prayer 1 A Final Prayer 2 A Soldier's Dream N 49°, W 0° With You Now Lullaby Goodnight to the Moon |
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The Pride of Chester James (2008, 41.13) ***/T½ |
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| Hello Mr. Coughlin Under the Lights What You Hide Settle on Your Name Tired of Me Now Bells Paris Anna |
Thunder Hell Has Come With Me Fall Distance Always in the Fire Our Carnival |
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Sleep Station are effectively the one-man band of David Debiak, although some of his/their albums feature other musicians, too. Debiak's schtick is to release what amount to concept albums, although he doesn't use the term himself (wisely), preferring to refer to them as 'thematic'. 2004's After the War is his fourth full album, slotting loosely into the indie/singer-songwriter area, with tracks often tied together by snippets of British World War II soldiers reading poetry to their loved ones. While I can appreciate that the album's good at what it does, I have to say that it left me entirely unmoved, though I'm sure the fault is mine. Debiak plays Mellotron (real?) himself, with background choirs on the title track, although that appears to be it.
After a few-year break, Debiak resurrected Sleep Station in 2008, releasing The Pride of Chester James, telling the tale of the drifting circus worker of the title. More of a band effort this time, the album's also slightly rockier than its predecessor, although the songwriting style remains the same. Brad Paxton plays Mellotron on Always In The Fire, with an affecting little flute melody that reiterates throughout the song and a stabbed chordal flute part in closer Our Carnival.
These are albums for fans of modern singer-songwriters, which isn't to say that no-one else will like them, just that they didn't really grab me. Not much Mellotron, either, so I can't imagine I'll be playing them again in the near future.
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Small Faces (1967, 30.19) ***½/T |
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| (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me Something I Want to Tell You Feeling Lonely Happy Boys Happy Things Are Going to Get Better My Way of Giving Green Circles Become Like You |
Get Yourself Together All of Our Yesterdays Talk to You Show Me the Way Up the Wooden Hills to Bedfordshire Eddie's Dreaming |
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7" (1967) *****/T½ Itchycoo Park I'm Only Dreaming |
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Ogden's Nut Gone Flake (1968, 38.35) ****/T½ |
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| Ogden's Nut Gone Flake After Glow Long Agos and Worlds Apart Rene Song of a Baker Lazy Sunday Happiness Stan Rollin' Over |
The Hungry Intruder The Journey Mad John Happy Days Toy Town |
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The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette: the Immediate Anthology (1999, 140.43) ****½/TT |
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| I Can't Make it Just Passing Here Comes the Nice Talk to You (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me Something I Want to Tell You Feeling Lonely Happy Boys Happy Things Are Going to Get Better My Way of Giving Green Circles |
Become Like You Get Yourself Together All of Our Yesterdays Show Me the Way Up the Wooden Hills to Bedfordshire Eddie's Dreaming Itchycoo Park I'm Only Dreaming Tin Soldier I Feel Much Better Ogden's Nut Gone Flake Afterglow (of Your Love) Long Agos and Worlds Apart |
Rene Song of a Baker Lazy Sunday Happiness Stan Rollin' Over The Hungry Intruder The Journey Mad John Happy Days Toy Town The Universal Donkey Rides, a Penny, a Glass Wham Bam, Thank You Man The Autumn Stone |
Collibosher Red Balloon Call it Something Nice Wide Eyed Girl on the Wall Don't Burst My Bubble Every Little Bit Hurts Picaninny The Pig Trotters The War of the Worlds Take My Time Mad John (If You Think You're) Groovy Wham Bam, Thank You Man Green Circles (backing) |
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The Small Faces' rise to fame was fairly meteoric, shifting from good, if generic r'n'b through to cockney psychedelia in the space of two years. Their first two albums both bear the same eponymous title, for some unknown reason, so have become known as 'The Decca Album' and 'The Immediate Album', the latter being the only one to concern us here. After leaving Decca, the band, signed to Stones' manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label, producing a brief but incendiary run of hits and two albums. The Small Faces (Immediate version) shows the band on the cusp of their stylistic shift, with straightforward r'n'b like the instrumental Happy Boys Happy rubbing shoulders with more adventurous material like Green Circles. Organist Ian 'Mac' McLagan sticks some Mellotron on opener (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me and some very background brass on Feeling Lonely, but his main use on the album is on the more psychedelically-inclined Become Like You, with its melodic string line, shifting up an octave just before the end of the song.
One of their (possibly the) career peaks was their huge summer '67 hit, the fabulous Itchycoo Park (which I remember from a rather unlikely 1975 reissue, when it hit for the second time round). I could wax lyrical about the song for paragraphs, but I won't 'cos it's not relevant to this site. Its b-side, however, I'm Only Dreaming, features McLagan on Mellotron vibes; I wasn't sure if they were 'Tron or real, until I heard the block chords at the end of the song, complete with key-click. Available on various compilations, it's hardly worth obtaining for its 'Tron input, but isn't a bad song, whatever.
1968 found the Small Faces still mods, but having already dipped their collective toes into the murky world of psychedelia the previous year with Itchycoo Park, they were reasonably well-equipped to take on the late-'60s mob-handed. Anyone who may have any even remote doubts as to the band's drug credentials should give an at least cursory listen to Here Comes The Nice - I mean, how DID they get away with that lyric? Anyway, I don't know how much acid the band were doing, but going by side two of Ogden's Nut Gone Flake there was definitely something in the water down at Wapping Wharf.
Most of the songs are a more laid-back update on the r'n'b style they'd made their own, with Steve Marriott's distinctive 'cockernee' vocals, the best-known being Lazy Sunday, although there isn't a bad track on the album, to be honest. Side two is an odd little concept piece, Happiness Stan, with bizarre narration from Stanley Unwin, speaking his own superb and unique distortion of the Queen's English, Unwinese. McLagan's Mellotron work is unfortunately limited to three tracks; Happiness Stan itself has some reasonable background string work, while The Journey is limited to a few pitchbent string chords and there's a brief 'Tron sax solo on closer Happy Days Toy Town. There's also a brief mention of the instrument in Unwin's rambling on the latter track, where he says something like "And [someone] brought his Mellotrone [sic] and freaked 'em all out". So; great album, but only so-so 'Tron.
After seemingly dozens of reissues, of greater or lesser quality, the reactivated Immediate (through Castle) released the double CD The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette: the Immediate Anthology in 1999. I'm no expert on the band's career, but it apparently includes every studio track they recorded for the label, although the live tracks from their original posthumous odds'n'sods release, The Autumn Stone, are missing. I've also read that a between-song link on Ogden's has mysteriously gone walkies, while the album itself is irritatingly split over the two discs, with the original side division as the split point. Minor quibbles aside, this is an excellent release, mopping up all their single-only tracks, both albums and various extraneous bits and pieces, not to mention a quick, 'hidden' burst of a backing track for Green Circles stuck at the end of disc two, after a gap. All five of the band's 'Tron tracks are present and correct, so if you want to hear what the 'magic midgets' got up to in their two-year Immediate period, and you're not fussed about Ogden's being split, this is the place to go.
Three-quarters of the band went on to become the Faces, of course, while Marriott played in the inexplicably (temporarily, now essentially forgotten) successful Humble Pie. With both Marriott and bassist Ronnie Lane now dead, the Small Faces are about as 'history' as any band can be. Saying that, isn't there a version of Humble Pie doing the rounds consisting of the original rhythm section plus hired-hand frontmen? Heinous.
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Small Wonder (1976, 37.13) **½/TTTTIt Was Meant to BeTime is Passing Me By I'm a One Way Train Pray for the World Be Yourself Why Walk When You Can Dance You and I Midnite Plane Ride Atlantis |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Small Wonder are determinedly obscure; the only information I've been able to find about them is that vocalist/violinist Henry Small is Canadian, an ex-member of Scrubbaloe Caine (who?!) and future singer with AORsters Prism. The band's style was mainstream pop/rock, mid-'70s style, with distinct progressive tendencies in the instrumental department, going by the amount of Moog and Mellotron on their sole album (Atlantis sounds like a pop version of '70s Yes), not to mention Jerry Morin's twin-neck.
Jimmy Phillips slaps 'Tron all over Small Wonder, with strings on every track, although his use sometimes seems a little gratuitous. Mellotron highlights are Atlantis, the intro to Midnite Plane Ride and, most of all, You And I, although you have to fight your way through the layers of rather sickly harmonies and self-consciously upbeat commercialism to get to it. So; difficult to recommend musically, but loads of 'Tron for the aficionado. I got my copy for US$1.00, thrown in with another album, and unless you're really into this type of thing, I wouldn't bother paying a lot more.
