From Here on in  (2001,  70.12)  ***/TTT½
	Broken Head I Paint the Silence Keep Close I Know What You're Like All in for Nothing (reprise) Here on in Run on Time Broken Head II	Sight of Me By the Time You Catch Your Heart Live Between the Lines (Back Again) Recovered Now Southern Climbs By the Time You Catch Your Heart (reprise) All in for Nothing Broken Head III

Current availability:

• Mo'Wax (UK)

To quote from South's website: "Rock, dance, electronica, folksy acoustics, orchestral soundscapes, South have always been impossible to pin down". Y'reckon? Going by their 2001 album, From Here on in, I'd say 'indie-schmindie' covers it fairly well. OK, it's not a bad album, as such, but it does nothing new or exciting, at least to my ears. Maybe I'm the wrong generation to appreciate it. It's also overlong; I mean, what is this obsession with filling a CD, just because you can? 70 minutes is ridiculous; once upon a time this would've been called a 'double album', and a band may have (just possibly) made one in their entire career. OK, so bands don't spit albums out one a year any more, so it could easily be argued that they're actually producing less material by releasing a long CD every two or three years. That doesn't make these behemoths any easier to listen to, though...

Anyway, there's loads of Mellotron on offer here, which is one bonus, played by any or all of the trio: Joel Cadbury, Brett Shaw or Jamie McDonald. The album opens with the huge fuck-off strings of Broken Head I, with a flute melody riding over the top, with strings and cellos on Paint The Silence, cellos on Keep Close, strings on All In For Nothing (Reprise), flutes on Here On In... Basically, it's all over the place, although only a handful of tracks use it to any great effect, to be honest, chiefly the first and third versions of Broken Head that bookend the album. For what it's worth, that's a real, credited cello on By The Time You Catch Your Heart and Southern Climbs.

The problem with all of this is the same problem I have with so many 'Mellotron' albums since the mid-'90s: is it real? You may ask, of course, does it matter? Out there in the real world, no; on Planet Mellotron, yes. OK, so the sound is (loosely) the same, but without the vagaries of a tape-replay system, the sounds become sterile, and just like any other sample. You could well argue that, in the mix, you're not going to notice, but bands have a bad habit of trying to make the samples stand up on their own, which is where it all falls down. Saying that, South could well have used a real Mellotron; it's hard to say. Something about it sounds fake, though; the flutes in the left channel on Here On In are just too 'regular' for their own good - none of the grit you'd expect from a real 'Tron. In absolute fairness, nowhere on the sleeve are Mellotrons mentioned, which puts them well above many other acts I could name, who seem to think that 'Mellotron samples' is actually equivalent to 'Mellotron'. It isn't. Anyway, under UK law, one is innocent until proven guilty, which is where I'll leave this particular case.

So; average UK indie, loads of Mellotron, although it may very well be sampled. Your choice.

Official site

Tony Spada  (US)

Balance of Power  (1993,  54.04)  ***½/T Balance of Power Opposite Ways Touch Sensitive Royal Tradition Heat Treat Matador The Sun Song Rhymes The Final Act

Current availability:

• Out of print

Tony Spada was the guitarist and main move and shaker behind early-'80s US proggers Holding Pattern, whose sole release was an eponymous mini-album in 1981. It took Spada over a decade to follow it with his first solo release, and I think it's fair to say his style has changed considerably in the interim. Balance of Power's base is as much fusion as prog, although without the frenetic energy of a typical fusion outfit. I also hear hints of Steve Hackett, particularly on the opening title track, and I believe there's a large slice of Steve Morse, too. Much of the (mostly instrumental) material is good without being in any way outstanding, although the album's one vocal track (and its longest), closer The Final Act, is really quite excellent.

Although ex-Holding Pattern keys man Mark Tannenbaum plays on several tracks, all the 'Tron parts are played by bassist Tony Castellano, although it has to be said that it's utterly inaudible on the title track. Touch Sensitive fares a little better, with a fairly upfront strings part that sounds shaky enough to be 'real', although The Sun Song is, again, pretty minimal. I can, however, hear what sounds like 'Tron choir on The Final Act, so I do wonder slightly about the veracity of the detailed credits. Hmmm.

So, not bad, but a long way from outstanding. Not really worth it for the 'Tron, either.

Official Holding Pattern site

Sparklehorse  (US)

	Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot  (1995,  47.30)  ****/½
	Homecoming Queen Weird Sisters 850 Double Pumper Holley Rainmaker Spirit Ditch Tears on Fresh Fruit Saturday Cow	Little Bastard Choo Choo Hammering the Cramps Most Beautiful Widow in Town Heart of Darkness Ballad of a Cold Lost Marble Someday I Will Treat You Good Sad & Beautiful World Gasoline Horseys

	It's a Wonderful Life  (2001,  60.33)  ****/TTT
	It's a Wonderful Life Gold Day Piano Fire Sea of Teeth Apple Bed King of Nails Eyepennies Dog Door	More Yellow Birds Little Fat Baby Comfort Me Babies on The Sun

Current availability:

• Vivadixie...: Capitol
• It's a Wonderful Life: EMI

Sparklehorse is essentially Mark Linkous plus friends, who play a melancholy kind of fucked-up Americana/alt.country/whatyouwannacallit. They debuted with '95's Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (no, I don't know), and you know what? It's really rather excellent. Mix equal parts ('real') country, indie guitar-thrash, American folk and probably a few other things, and the end result is a very listenable blend of Linkous' influences, with some damn' good songwriting into the bargain. Although not that long, the album probably outstays its welcome slightly towards the end, but the first half is something I can see myself playing repeatedly if I let myself. Linkous plays Mellotron on a couple of tracks, notably the weird little FX-laden Little Bastard Choo Choo, where a cheap chord organ vies with 'Tron strings (and flutes?), and possibly even FX tapes, although the flutes (?) on Heart Of Darkness are next to inaudible.

There's no 'Tron on '98's Good Morning Spider, but it's on several tracks on 2001's It's a Wonderful Life, along with a Chamberlin. To confuse the issue, Dave Fridmann from Mercury Rev plays on the latter, and he's known for his not-entirely-honest approach to what constitutes a 'Mellotron'. Clue: you can't play one from a MIDI keyboard. Then there's a quote from Linkous about 'the only decent Mellotron's the new Mark VI', so who knows if any of it's real? Anyway, the album is beautiful in its melancholy, downbeat without being miserable for the sake of it; this is what Americana should sound like. Mind you, Dog Door channels Tom Waits, with a truly bonkers vocal, so it's not all 3 m.p.h. stuff [n.b. Upon checking the liner notes, it becomes apparent that it IS Tom Waits. That explains that one, then...). As for the tape-replay (assuming it's real), Linkous plays ghostly Chamby flutes and cellos on the opening title track, with more overt versions of both on Gold Day. He's on 'Tron flutes on Sea Of Teeth, with drummer Scott Minor on Chamby, then nothing until Alan Weatherhead's distant 'Tron and Chamby strings and woodwinds (oboe?) on More Yellow Birds. Dave Fridmann plays Chamby flutes and choir on Comfort Me (sample alert! Sample alert!), and finally, some very wobbly strings on closer Babies On The Sun, with Fridmann on 'Chamby' and Linkous on 'Tron.

So; both albums are well worth a listen, though only the latter for the 'Tron/Chamby, assuming they're real...

Official site

Sparks  (US)

	Kimono My House  (1974,  36.38)  ****/T½
	This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us Amateur Hour Falling in Love With Myself Again Here in Heaven Thank God it's Not Christmas Hasta Mañana, Monsieur Talent is an Asset Complaints	In My Family Equator

	Propaganda  (1974,  33.42)  ***½/½
	Propaganda At Home, at Work, at Play Reinforcements BC Thanks But No Thanks Don't Leave Me alone With Her Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth Something for the Girl With Everything	Achoo Who Don't Like Kids Bon Voyage

	Indiscreet  (1975,  41.10)  ****/T
	Hospitality on Parade Happy Hunting Ground Without Using Hands Get in the Swing Under the Table With Her How Are You Getting Home? Pineapple Tits	It Ain't 1918 The Lady is Lingering In the Future Looks, Looks, Looks Miss the Start, Miss the End

Current availability:

• All titles: Island

Ron and Russell Mael's infamous duo will always be remembered for the insane brilliance of This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us (no 'the', thanks!), but if there was any justice in this world, they'd be known for a string of witty and urbane albums, not 'just' a string of hits. The combination of Ron's songs and Russell's brilliantly camp delivery brought them success in the UK, although it took their native States a while to catch up (if it ever really did); Kimono My House was their third album, following their self-titled debut (originally being released under the name Halfnelson) and A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing.

Kimono opens with Ron's staccato electric piano and Russell's edgy, manic vocal callisthenics on the aforementioned This Town, which surely has to be one of the greatest singles ever, following it with the almost-as-good Amateur Hour. I mean, try these for lyrics, on the subject of... well, work it out for yourself:

'It's a lot like playing the violin, You cannot start off and be Yehudi Menuhin'.

Sheer, utter, unbridled brilliance. All of which has nothing to do with Mellotrons. The only reason I know there's any on these albums is that, sick of listening to stuff purely for its Mellotronic content (hey, I like music for its own sake, OK?!), I resolved to play something else for a break. And heard a Mellotron. Typical... Yup, there it is; strings on Thank God It's Not Christmas, with a sustained note at the end featuring that distinctive 'Mellotron quaver', flutes and strings on the lyrically sublime Hasta Mañana, Monsieur and (according to this excellent page) a Mellotron sax solo on Equator. No idea where the 'Tron came from; the album was recorded in the UK, so I suspect it was a machine that was just lying around the studio. As they do. Or did. So, not the greatest use ever, but an abnormally cool album, so buy it anyway.

Propaganda isn't as consistent as Kimono, but as their second release of '74, they were probably spreading themselves a little thin by this point. It opens brilliantly, with the a capella title track and the rocking At Home, At Work, At Play, but then it slacks off a bit, although the two singles, Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth and Something For The Girl With Everything are pretty cool. Most of the strings on the album are provided by an unnamed string synth, so the album's only Mellotronic interjection is on Never Turn Your Back..., with a few seconds of heavily phased strings halfway through.

Indiscreet picks up somewhat, and is probably their most diverse album yet, with the likes of the string quartet-led Under The Table With Her or the (again) excellent singles, Get In The Swing and Looks, Looks, Looks. Mellotron on one track only, with a few volume-pedalled choir chords on Without Using Hands, so barely any more use than on its predecessor, really. Bloody good album, though.

So, Sparks: one of the best pop groups ever? Discuss. Depends on your definition, I suppose, but it sounds like pop to me, even when it rocks. They're still making intelligent pop records to this day, consistently flying fearlessly in the face of fashion, which can't be bad. None of these three albums are exactly worth it on the 'Tron front, but they're all well worth hearing in their own right. Excellent.

Official site

Spektakel  (Germany)

Spektakel  (1996, recorded 1974,  62.13)  ****/TTTT½ The Eternal Question Big Boss Eyes 7 Pounds Tommy No No Not You (live)

Current availability:

• The Laser's Edge (US)

Spektakel are one of those long-lost bands whose material suddenly pokes its head up above the parapet decades later. The main reason this CD, recorded in 1974, is of note is that two of the band's four members, Eduard Schicke and Heinz Fröhling went on to become two thirds of legendary German synth/prog outfit SFF, or Schicke Führs Fröhling. You can hear a similarity between the two bands in places, although Spektakel are best described as symphonic progressive with improvisational overtones, sometimes with vocals, with less of the electronic influence of the later band. It's powerful stuff, though, standing up well against better-known bands of the era; in fact, I'd go as far as to say that they were potentially one of the best German symphonic bands, beating Novalis, Eloy et al. at their own game. SFF's recently-released Live in Papenburg, Autumn 1975 quite effectively displays the crossover period between the two bands, with longer workouts than those recorded by SFF, though still tightly arranged, fairly reminiscent of much of the material on Spektakel.

There's a shedload of Mellotron on offer here, played by both Fröhling and full-time keyboardist Detlef Wiedecke. All four tracks (the last, No No Not You is listed as a 'bonus live track') have large helpings of strings, with a several minute 'Tron flute solo section plus extra added cellos in the aforementioned live track, which I suspect has been culled from a longer improv piece. It's noticeable how well all the tracks have been recorded, given a total lack of record company support at the time, not to mention the quality of the band's equipment; was somebody bankrolling them, possibly?

Anyway, this is a pretty damn' good prog album, and a minor Mellotron classic. Top marks to US prog reissue specialists The Laser's Edge for exhuming this and making it available in such superb quality. Buy.

Sphere³  (UK)

	Comeuppance  (2002,  52.57)  ****½/TTT
	A Good Example of Arbitrary Presumption Shrimp.Sng Sidewalking Natural Light First Kiss Eat First, Ask Questions Later An Unusual January December Gaze	Tapestries Paralysis

Current availability:

• Cyclops (UK)

Sphere³ (originally just Sphere) have a long and (dis)honourable history on the UK prog scene (such as it is), having been around since the early '90s in one form or another. Their ridiculous flyers (for gigs or just for the hell of it) are legendary, as is their inability to get their shit together and release an album. They've put out a couple of cassette demos; an early, rather formative one, and a far more commendable effort from the late '90s, which saw them moving towards the area they now inhabit. Since drummer Jamie Fisher's return from foreign climes (well, Australia) in '99, they've moved into warpspeed on the activity front, playing at least six times a year and constantly being sighted at all the wrong gigs.

Anyway, it's out at last. Apparently the earliest recording on it dates from 1997, and after their frenetic activities of late, it's understandable how the boys haven't had time to complete their slightly overdue debut. In fact, it's been an amusing spectator sport watching the esteemed Malcolm Parker's Cyclops label catalogue with its increasingly desperate 'Sphere³: due soon' entry over the last few years. All right, I'll stop taking the piss. The truth of the matter is, Comeuppance has been well worth the wait. It's not every day (/year/decade) that a British instrumental fusion-driven progressive band comes along; now they have, I sincerely hope the international progressive community takes them to their hearts. Of course, one advantage of spending so long 'getting it together (man)' is that the band have honed their material to perfection, pruning any dead wood that may have existed, and ending up leaving off great material like Lights Coming Down.

So; Comeuppance: Sphere³ cover various bases within their chosen area, from the epic prog of Paralysis (released as a single in 2001) to the 'Jazz Club' sounds of An Unusual January. Nice. Most of the material is nearer prog than jazz, and to be honest, there's nary a duff track to be heard throughout. Keyboard man Neil Durant bought his 'Tron in the late '90s, fitting it out with an unusual M300 strings/8 choir/church organ tape set, although he only seems to have used to choirs on the album, usually to good effect, particularly on the aforementioned Paralysis, their standard set opener. It has to be said at this point that the musicianship is superb right across the board; Steve Anderson's guitar work is exemplary, and Bill Burnett's bass playing, while occasionally slightly too 'muso', is excellent, slapping or no slapping! Don't let the 'jazz' comments put you off, by the way; I'm no jazzer, but I love this album. Definitely more of a 'prog with jazz inflections' record than vice versa.

So; buy this album, The band need your support, it's a great record and there's some nice 'Tron work. Sphere³ would go down a storm at the international prog festivals - book 'em now! Oh - and buy this album.

Official site

Spïnal Tap  (UK)

	We Are All Flower People  [a.k.a. The Incredible Flight of Icarus P. Anybody]  (1968/69)  **/TTTTT
	We Are All Flower People Get Me Away From the Ground [unknown] To Fly [unknown] I am Flight [unknown] [unknown]	[unknown] [unknown] [unknown]

Current availability:

• You must be joking

The strangest thing about Spïnal Tap (don't forget the umlaut!) is that for a band with so much history, their albums are next to impossible to find. They come from London (Squatney, to be precise), roughly twelve miles from where I live (although, strangely, I've never been able to track the area down precisely), but have I EVER seen any of their original albums in a London second-hand shop? Have I hell (hole). Before 1984's This is Spïnal Tap soundtrack album, they released thirteen (count 'em) albums, including the triple-live Jap Habit, originally on Japanese import only, but I have never, EVER seen hide nor hair of 'em, and to this day, the only Tap records I've ever seen are the soundtrack and 1992's excellent reformation effort, Break Like the Wind.

By a weird coincidence, just after reading the revised edition of Peter Occhiogrosso's 'Inside Spinal Tap' (Abacus, 1992), I spotted a copy of The Incredible Flight of Icarus P. Anybody on someone's trade list, appended 'PQ': Poor Quality. They weren't kidding. My tape (not even CD-R) of this legendarily rare album is almost unlistenable, and that's before you get to its actual content. It sounds like about an eighth-generation recording of a scratched, warped copy of the LP, overlaid with a horrible distortion that may or may not be present on the original recording (nothing would surprise me in the World Of Tap). What little I can hear of the actual music is, frankly, terrible; the very worst kind of pompous, pretentious, 'rock opera' psych you can imagine, making Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow look like the classic it is. The only reason I know anything about it at all is due to an interview with then-new boy bassist Derek Smalls right at the end of the book, where he goes into (slight) detail about the album. As you can see, I don't even have a proper tracklisting for the record, so what you see above is what I've been able to pick out from Smalls' description and the little you can hear of the lyrics.

Originally released in 1968 as We Are All Flower People, in a grotesque (and very Tap-like) cash-in on the previous year's mega-smash, Listen To The Flower People, most of the album consists of a series of linked tracks under the banner The Incredible Flight Of Icarus P. Anybody, under which title the album was reissued the following year, minus its title track, this being the version I've managed to obtain. The concept, such as it is, involves (according to Smalls), "A man who decided, like Icarus, that he would put on wings and fly - but that he would be a jet airliner and sell seats on himself to pay for the project". He describes it as "very acid-influenced", and he ain't kidding. It's also very Tap: its ineptitude is absolutely par for the course, as is its thorough idiocy, not to mention David St Hubbins' ridiculous lyrics and Nigel Tufnel's third-rate guitar histrionics.

So why am I reviewing this pile of junk? Why d'you think? Back to Smalls: "It was probably the heaviest use of Mellotron up until that time on a rock'n'roll album, which idea was stolen from us by you-know-who - by you-know-Moody-who. But we did it first, and I think we got some sort of award from the Mellotron people for it, because it was really thick with Mellotron, it was all the way through. It just covered everything, like a Mellotron soup - which gave the album a distinctive kind of murk. A lot of it was that we were doing some bass work on the Mellotron, just some bass chords - because that was describing the ground that Icarus was trying to escape from. So there was this brooding sense of the ground that was in these heavy, thick fifths being played down in the bass range of the Mellotron. It was very, very dark". Derek, my friend, you're not wrong. None more dark, in fact. Pedantically, I feel the need to take issue with some of his points, however; the Moodies beat the Tap to it by a good year, although I'll give them credit for beating The Who to the concept album post. As for the aforementioned 'award', if dear old Les Bradley was still alive, I might be able to confirm the story one way or the other, but as it is... Basically, apart from two short tracks, the album is, indeed, stuffed with Mellotron, with loads of muffled low-end brass, clearly recorded via the MkII's speakers, rather than its perfectly good quarter-inch jack. There's strings in there too, adding to the general murk, but it's hard to tell what else might be lurking about in the mix. I've no idea who played it, though I suspect a composite of St Hubbins and Smalls, as I doubt whether Tufnel was capable of making any sort of coherent sound on a keyboard at all. Suffice to say, despite the album's overall quality, it's a full five-T effort on the 'Tron front.

So; do you buy this? I think the question is actually, how do you buy this? And even if you could, should you? If you find a copy, you may find that you've purchased something both extremely rare, and simultaneously almost worthless; even hardened psych collectors shy away from this album, I'm told, and after hearing a copy, I can see why. Saying that, it's almost certainly better than their early-'70s hard rock period, with 'classics' such as Nerve Damage and Intravenus de Milo, and as for their, er, 'late-period glam' (read: uselessly after-the-event bandwagon-jumping) Bent for the Rent, the less said the better, I suspect. I am intrigued to hear their attempt at prog, though, with 1975's The Sun Never Sweats, also allegedly containing Mellotron, mainly M400 choirs, in a heavy-handed attempt to ape Genesis, no doubt. It also contains possibly their finest moment, in the deathless Stonehenge, which, although I've heard its original version described as 'side-long', is more likely to be a twelve-or-so-minute effort, edited down for later live versions. As indeed was the monolith itself, but maybe we just shouldn't go there. Anyway, your chances of finding any original Tap albums are rock bottom to zero, and given the torpor that ...Icarus induced in me, that's probably a very good thing. Unusual 'Tron use, but otherwise, avoid.

Fan site

Spinanes  (US)

	Strand  (1996,  53.27)  **½/T
	Madding Azure Lines and Lines Meridian Punch Line Loser Valency Luminous Oceanwide	Winter on Ice Watch Down For No One Else

Current availability:

• Sub Pop (US)

The Spinanes seem to have considerable critical caché, but going by their second album, '96's Strand, their particular brand of 'slowcore', or whatever you wish to call it, is nowhere near as melancholic of tuneful as, say, Low's, although I can sort of see why other people like them so much. A duo of guitarist/vocalist Rebecca Gates and drummer Scott Plouf, they, like the White Stripes, don't seem to miss having a bassist - something to do with the guitar tone in both cases, I suspect.

I can't really pick out anything startling to say about the album, as it left me completely cold, but some of you may like it. One 'Tron track (from Gates), with a passable if inessential strings part on Winter On Ice, but that's yer lot.

Fan site

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