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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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T.Rex T2 Taburiente |
Tales of Justine Talk Talk Tall Dwarfs |
Tamarisk Tantra |
Tarantula Tau |
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Tanx (1973, 35.07/51.54) ***/TT |
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| Tenement Lady Rapids Mister Mister Broken-Hearted Blues Shock Rock Country Honey Electric Slim and the Factory Hen Mad Donna |
Born to Boogie Life is Strange The Street and Babe Shadow Highway Knees Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys [CD adds: Children of the Revolution Jitterbug Love |
Sunken Rags Solid Gold Easy Action Xmas Riff 20th Century Boy Free Angel] |
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Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1974, 46.29/61.00) ***/0 |
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| Venus Loon Sound Pit Explosive Mouth Galaxy Change Nameless Wildness Teenage Dream Liquid Gang |
Carsmile Smith and the Old One You've Got to Jive to Stay Alive - Spanish Midnight Interstellar Soul Painless Persuasion vs.the Meathawk Immaculate The Avengers (Superbad) The Leopards Featuring Gardenia and the Mighty Slug [CD adds: The Groover |
Midnight Truck on (Tyke) Sitting Here Satisfaction Pony] |
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Bolan's Zip Gun (1975, 33.51/38.27) ***/T |
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| Light of Love Solid Baby Precious Star Token of My Love Space Boss Think Zinc Till Dawn Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit |
I Really Love You Babe Golden Belt Zip Gun Boogie [CD adds: Do You Wanna Dance? Dock of the Bay] |
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Futuristic Dragon (1976, 40.45/49.09) ***/½ |
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| Futuristic Dragon (Introduction) Jupiter Liar Chrome Sitar All Alone New York City My Little Baby Calling All Destroyers Theme for a Dragon Sensation Boulevard |
Ride My Wheels Dreamy Lady Dawn Storm Casual Agent [CD adds: London Boys Laser Love Life's an Elevator] |
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Precious Star: The Alternate Zip Gun (1996, recorded 1974, 71.14) ***/T |
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| Light of Love Solid Baby Precious Star Token of My Love Space Boss Think Zinc Till Dawn Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit |
I Really Love You Babe Golden Belt Zip Gun Boogie (live) Do You Wanna Dance? Dock of the Bay Solid Baby Till Dawn (Marc's guide) Till Dawn |
Till Dawn Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit Dishing Fish Wop (Golden Belt) |
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Current availability:
Marc Bolan was never really known for his Mellotron use; all the well-worn hits feature real strings alongside T.Rex's R'n'R-influenced glam-boogie thang, making me wonder how the rumours started. Well, listen to Tanx, and you'll find out. It's widely regarded as the album where Bolan irretrievably 'lost it'; it's certainly bereft of anything resembling a major hit, but don't hold that against it. There's a great deal more blues in this record than in anything the band put out at their peak, although there are too many weak spots to consider it 'classic' in any way. Given the hit-heavy bonus tracks on the CD, it seems Marc wasn't putting his singles on his albums at the time, which could have been a serious error commercially.
Given that Bolan's singles tend to be swamped in real strings, it's quite a surprise that Tanx features so much Mellotron, although producer Tony Visconti was known for using them at the time. In fact, although there are real strings to be heard, too, the first sound on the album is a tortured 'Tron being put through its paces, with Tenement Lady earning the clichéd phrase, 'Mellotron drenched', with strings all over the shop, including the phased middle section. Mister Mister has more of the same, plus flute chords in the verses, as does Highway Knees; there may possibly be 'Tron on a couple of other tracks, but I wouldn't swear to it, and real strings are also used in places (Electric Slim And The Factory Hen, Left Hand Luke And The Beggar Boys), just to confuse the issue. The CD features several single-only tracks; Free Angel features 'Tron strings trying desperately to sound like the real thing.
Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (apparently a dig at the current glam crew) saw Bolan experimenting with American soul textures a good year before Bowie, although he still couldn't manage that all-important US breakthrough. It has a couple of real standout tracks, notably opener Venus Loon, with an almost unearthly harmony in the chorus, but as with its predecessor, far too much of the album sits squarely in the 'also-ran' camp, forgotten as soon as heard. Despite the expanded CD's sleevenotes making a reference to 'an occasional intergalactic Mellotron', the album's real strings fudge the issue to the point where nothing obviously leaps out at you, leaving me no option but to give it a resounding '0' on the 'Tron front.
'75's Bolan's Zip Gun is a bit of a mess, to be honest, with Marc adrift in a sea of coke and booze, having no real idea where he was going; even Bolan's biggest fans have trouble finding nice things to say about it, although to my ears, it comes across as merely a lesser version of its predecessor. Although almost everything here comes across as a pastiche on his earlier style, closer Zip Gun Boogie has a great intro riff that deserved better than its workmanlike boogie verse. Dino Dines played the bulk of the album's keyboard parts, including Mellotron strings on Think Zinc, and a very obvious part on Golden Belt, as against its predecessor's 'is it/isn't it?' approach. Incidentally, the expanded CD's version of Do You Wanna Dance? was kicked completely into touch the following year by the Ramones, leaving Marc musically high and dry, however much he tried to assume the mantle of the 'Godfather of Punk'. Yeah, right.
1976's Futuristic Dragon was something of a return to the T.Rex of old, although as it was recorded over the space of a year or more, in various locations, there is some disparity in style. New York City is as dumb a single as Bolan was ever to write, although Jupiter Liar and Chrome Sitar are excellent. As always, the material gets rather samey about half-way through, making me think that all you really need by T.Rex is a greatest hits and a best of the album tracks, should such a thing exist. Dines played keys again, and although most of the strings sound real, that has to be a 'Tron on Calling All Destroyers, surely?
The trouble with the bonus discs attached to all the above albums is that, unless you're a deeply committed fan, they're a bit, well... boring. Endless demo run-throughs of material you weren't that fussed about in the first place aren't all that enthralling, to be honest, but then, they really are only for Bolan obsessives, meaning that I'm missing the point. Again. Anyway, I've trawled through all of 'em, and the only one featuring any Mellotron is Precious Star: The Alternate Zip Gun, originally released in its own right as far back as 1996. Space Boss has 'Tron strings and a full-on flute solo completely missing from the album version, although Golden Belt's short string part is the same, making it likely that this is a working version of the song, rather than a completely different take. Despite a total lack of instrumental credits for the alternate versions, it seems likely that the 'Tron was played by Dino Dines.
So, despite there only being a Mellotron presence on a few tracks on Tanx, they're all stuffed to the gills with it, so a cautious recommendation on the Mellotron front, ditto the music. The other albums here are 'forget its' on the 'Tron front, with the possible exception of Zip Gun's bonus disc, although if you like Bolan's schtick, you could do worse than give 'em a listen.
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It'll All Work Out in Boomland (1970, 44.28) ****/T½In CirclesJ.L.T. No More White Horses Morning |
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T2 [a.k.a. Fantasy] (1997, recorded 1970, 45.40) ****/TTTHighwayCareful Sam Timothy Monday CD The Minstrel Fantasy T2 |
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T2's lone album during the band's lifetime, It'll All Work Out in Boomland, falls somewhere between the psych, prog and hard rock areas. Its sound is 'very 1970', but it's a bit of a lost gem; the material's excellent, particularly No More White Horses, covered in the '90s by Swedish 'trad-prog' outfit Landberk and the side-long Morning. The only Mellotron here (played by guitarist Keith Cross) is a nice string part on J.L.T., and no, I don't know what it stands for either. The brass on most of the tracks would appear to be real, as there's a sleeve credit for 'additional arrangements by Peter Johnson'.
In 1997, a CD, allegedly of a second, unreleased T2 album slipped out, entitled, with stunning originality, T2, also known as Fantasy, apparently. Although obviously sourced not only from old tapes, but acetates and any other format in which the music could be found, it sounds a little rough in places, which matters not one jot when the band kick off in Careful Sam, for example. It's a great shame it's taken so long for this music to get itself heard, although we should count ourselves lucky it's appeared at all. Surprisingly, drummer Peter Dunton played 'Tron this time round, with brief string parts on both Highway and Careful Sam, before two full-on 'Tron attacks on The Minstrel and the lengthy T2 itself, with swathes of flute and string work, plus brass (I believe) on the former track. If anything, this album's even better than their one official release; it certainly beats it on the Mellotron front, anyway.
So, two good albums, although T2 is the superior 'Tron record. Buy 'em both anyway.
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Nuevo Cauce (1976, 38.40) ***½/TT½Folia del CampesinoNuevo Cauce La Raza Vive Ganerso la Tierra Canción de las Poetas Aguantando Lamento Yo Poeta Declaro Navidad Guancho Canta a Tu Unidad |
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Now, it may say 'Spain' above, but traditional folk group Taburiente were actually from the Canary Islands, specifically La Palma. Nuevo Cauce ('New Riverbed', literally) was their second album, and is likely to be fairly unpalatable to anyone with a low tolerance for Spanish folk. It starts well enough, with Folia Del Campesino, but the title track is a bit cheesy, though still many castanets away from the sort of stuff you can hear in tourist bars on the Costa del Sol, should you really wish to do so. The rest of the album veers between pleasingly authentic and a bit naff, though you'd have to be pretty hard-hearted to really dislike any of it.
I rather suspect the album was recorded on the mainland, with Mellotron additions played by Canarios' Teddy Bautista, as despite their 'traditional' tag, it seems Taburiente branched out a little on Nuevo Cauce. It's all over the album, mostly strings (Folia Del Campesino, La Raza Vive, Aguantando, with pitchbend), but also cellos (Folia Del Campesino again), plus muffled choir on Canción De Las Poetas and Navidad Guancho, with possibly brass on the former, too, although all flute parts appear to be real. There's even a smattering of synth here and there, notably on Canción De Las Poetas and Canta A Tu Unidad.
So; those of you into various European folk musics may well like this; there's some excellent playing, particularly the flute, and some of the harmonies are wonderful. It's not actually bad on the 'Tron front, either, though don't expect anything too ground-breaking; you get the feeling it was a cheap alternative to a string section, as with many bands of the era. Anyway, don't go spending a fortune on this oddity, but it's actually not at all bad, with some decent 'Tron work.
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Petals From a Sunflower (1997, recorded 1967-68, 46.21) ***½/T |
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| Albert (a Pet Sunflower) Monday Morning Sunday School Evil Woman Obsolete Incident Music to Watch Us By Sitting on a Blunestone So Happy |
Morpheus Aurora Something Special Pathway Saturn Jupiter So Much Love to Give You |
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Tales of Justine were one of far too many late '60s psych/pop outfits who should have been bigger, but ended up doomed to obscurity. They released just one single in their lifetime, Albert (A Pet Sunflower), a typically 1967 psyched-up pop song, rather too jaunty for its own good, to be honest, though better than many that made the charts. Fans of the era had to wait thirty years before hearing anything else, when Tenth Planet released a vinyl-only compilation (I do wish they wouldn't do that), Petals From a Sunflower, now sadly out of print. EMI had enough belief in the band at the time to record them at Abbey Road, from where all but one of the album's tracks emanate, despite some 'Net info to the contrary (my info comes direct from David Daltrey - thanks, David). Admittedly, some of the album's contents are a bit psych-by-numbers (Jupiter and So Much Love to Give You spring to mind), but Sunday School is really very good, with a slightly churchy organ part, ditto the oddly-titled Sitting On A Blunestone, although the intro to Aurora is a straight cop from the Lovin' Spoonful's Summer In The City, which is a bit cheeky.
David tells me that the Abbey Road 'Tron is on several tracks, although it's barely audible, one of which isn't the rather inconsequential flutes on So Happy, which are David on recorder. The flutes on Something Special are probably 'Tron, ditto Pathway and So Much Love To Give You, though I wouldn't actually put money on the latter two. So; there are enough decent tracks here to make the compilation worth the effort for the connoisseur, but don't go expecting a long-lost classic. Incidentally, information re. this release is incredibly hard to find on the 'Net, probably because it's never been on CD (I had a bugger of a job even finding a tracklisting), so for your information, side 1 (up to Sitting On A Blunestone) is from 1967, and side 2, '68.
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The Colour of Spring (1986, 45.40) ****/T½Happiness is EasyI Don't Believe in You Life's What You Make it April 5th Living in Another World Give it Up Chameleon Day Time it's Time |
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The Colour of Spring was the album where Talk Talk broke away from their fairly dreadful '80s pop beginnings, becoming more organic and far less mainstream, while still making an album that's relatively easy on the ear and, dare I say it, almost commercial. Saying that, April 5th and particularly Chameleon Day are distinct pointers to the band's future, sparse and effective, with a welcome sense of space to them; definitely of the 'less is more' school. While there's the odd bit of digitalness to be heard on the album, it's nice to see a band in the appalling mid-'80s using not just analogue, but electro-mechanical gear, too.
Life's What You Make It, the album's surprise hit, has Tim Friese-Greene on Mellotron flutes, strings and choir at different points, along with the Hammond that starred in one of their videos from this period (possibly for this song), while Mark Hollis gives it some more flutes and strings on the also almost-mainstream Give It Up, although to slightly lesser effect. Talk Talk went on to greater things, releasing the even-better Spirit of Eden (****½) two years later (no 'Tron, though), before quietly closing their career with '91's Laughing Stock (****½).
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Fork Songs (1991, 67.37) ***½/½ |
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| Dare to Tread We Bleed Love Wings Skirl Thought Disorder Small Talk Lowlands Life is Strange |
Daddy All is Fine Two Humans Oatmeal Boys Think Small |
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The Sky Above the Mud Below (2002, 69.29) ***/T½ |
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| Meet the Beatle Beached Boy Deodorant Michael Hillbilly Room to Breathe Right at Home Time to Wait Melancholy We Are the Chosen Few |
Baby it's Over Cascade The Beautiful Invader Big Brain of the World You Want Me Shimmy How the West Was Won OK Forever Your Unmade Eye |
['The Weidenhaüsen Impediment' EP: Seduced By Rock'n'Roll Amniotic Love Carsick Wax Open Wide Your Pretty Mouths Possum Born Over the Waves The Runout Groove] |
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Tall Dwarfs have been around since the early '80s, ploughing their own furrow of drumless, low-fi folk-influenced 'indie' stuff, whatever you take that to mean. They're pretty unique, which has to be celebrated in these days of homogeneous (NOT 'homogenised' - that's what they do to milk) radio-friendly blandness. As far as I know, they've used Mellotron on various albums, including 1996's Stumpy, released under the name International Tall Dwarfs due to its considerable overseas input, but Fork Songs (ho ho) and The Sky Above the Mud Below are the only ones I've heard to date. I imagine Fork Songs is fairly typical of their oeuvre, with plenty of thrashy acoustic guitar and mucho vocal harmony stuff, reminding me in places of the Velvet Underground, amongst others. Chris Knox plays 'Tron cellos on Small Talk, but they're pretty much inaudible, apart from a hanging note at the end of the song, so I've no idea what their other 'Tron use is like.
They released The Sky Above the Mud Below in 2002 to considerable acclaim, although I believe some of their older fans are disappointed in their recent releases (but isn't that always the way?). The basic album comes with another International Tall Dwarfs EP attached, The Weidenhaüsen Impediment, consisting of the duo plus various friends worldwide, including Jad Fair and Jeff Mangum, although I expect I should know some of the other names on there, too. And no, I don't think 'Jimmy Page' (on vocals?!) is actually, er, Jimmy Page! Maybe he's a Jimmy Page. Anyway, I'm afraid most of the material left me a little cold, although the album starts fairly well, and Baby It's Over is an excellent song. Maybe it's just too long for its own good - when will bands learn that just because you can put 80 minutes of music on an album, that doesn't mean you should? Anyway, two credited 'Tron tracks: Room To Breathe features a nice little flute part, while Melancholy has almost nothing but 'Tron, with Alec Bathgate's harmonising cellos and flute melody underpinning Knox's vocals and, er, 'oventray' percussion (I told you they were lo-fi).
So; if you're into that lo-fi thing, you may very well like the Tall Dwarfs, and even if you're not, you may anyway. From what I've heard so far, they don't use their 'Tron much, but any contemporary Mellotron use has to be applauded, so please don't think I'm knocking them. I may get to hear Stumpy and their other 'Tron albums at some stage; more news if I do.
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Lost Properties (1983 cassette, 23.44) ***½/TT½An Alien HeatMojo Royal Flush No Room at the Top |
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Tamarisk were, unfairly, one of the lesser-known outfits to emerge from the early '80s UK prog revival. Their first demo, the Tamarisk E.P. was released in 1982, along with similar offerings from Marillion, Pendragon, IQ etc., but received less attention than their compatriots/rivals (delete according to taste). To my knowledge, they never gigged that far from their home territory of north-east London, but I'm willing to be proved wrong on that one. If that's true, it may account for their small following; most of their contemporaries were gigging feverishly up and down the country for all they were worth, building up sizeable fanbases as they went. Tamarisk also had trouble holding down a steady lineup, and by 1984 they were still only managing Marquee supports, with not a sniff of record company interest.
Listening to them with the benefit of hindsight, they were never going to bother Genesis, Yes et al for complexity or sheer musicality, but they were every bit as good as many other bands from the original neo-progressive movement. Song structures were simpler than their forebears, and more based around vocal parts in common with Marillion and co., but the tunes were strong and generally well-arranged, which should have given them a clear advantage over several bands discretion leads me not to name...
Their second (and last) demo, Lost Properties, while not actually progressing very much musically from their debut, had the added bonus of keyboard player Steve Leigh (later of just about everybody)'s EMI Mellotron M400. It's hard to tell exactly what he had on his tape frame, but Mojo opens with some rather tremulous top-of-the-keyboard choirs, and An Alien Heat features lower-pitched choir and what sounds suspiciously like Mellotron FX tapes of a crowing cockerel and church bells. It also sounds like there may be some faint choirs towards the end of No Room At The Top, but it's hard to tell.
If you get a chance to hear this stuff, do; Tamarisk's approach should've been different enough to afford them more attention. Criminally, these tapes remain unavailable over twenty years on; rumours appear occasionally that an official release is 'imminent', but nothing ever seems to happen. Anyway, if you like the better end of the neo-prog thing and you find this on a trade list (like mine), give it a listen.
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Holocausto (1979, 43.42) ****/TOmHolocausto/Ultimo Raio do Astro Rei Zephyrus Talisma Ara Π |
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Tantra were Portugal's chief progressive exponents, releasing two albums in the late '70s, before deciding to tread the commercial path, leading to an unpopular album and their eventual split. I haven't heard their debut, but Holocausto's a fine album, if not quite up there with their heroes. The material has a jazzy bent in places (listen to the MiniMoog solo in Talisma), but slightly lacks in originality; the title track's refrain is an obvious steal from King Crimson's The Court Of The Crimson King, though not the part that usually gets 'borrowed'.
Pedro Luis' Mellotron use is fairly minimal; the band borrowed a machine for the recording, but the only audible evidence is a little choir on Holocausto itself (the track also utilises a real choir), and some faint string and choir chords on the most symphonic part of Talisma. It's actually a pretty good album, though, so probably worth it for the prog fan, if not for the Mellotron.
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I (1976) ****/T½RecuerdosLa Arana y la Mosca Singladura Final Un Mundo Anterior Imperio Muerto La Danza del Diablo Lydia Paisajes Pintorescos |
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In all honesty, I know very little about Tarantula; there was a follow-up to I, funnily enough, titled 2 (or II), and the keyboards were played by Vicenti Guillot, but that's about it, really. I's a rather good album, actually, with little of the jazz or flamenco influences heard in many of their Spanish contemporaries.
Opener Recuerdos flies through a bewildering variety of styles, including a brief bright'n'breezy section, darker Crimsonesque guitar and an almost MOR/opera vocal part. A Mellotron flute melody and 'Tronalike string synth lift the track, but it seems a strange piece with which to open the album. The rest of the record is more 'normal', at least by prog standards, although Tarantula refuse to be shoehorned into one style, mixing the rockier likes of La Danza Del Diablo with the more mellow La Arana Y La Mosca. The other Mellotron track is Un Mundo Anterior, with more of that flute melody and what sounds like it may be female choir towards the end of the song; it's a shame they didn't use it a little more, and find space for some strings, unless of course, my ears are deceiving me with that string synth...
I'm not at all sure I is available on CD, but if it isn't, someone should get around to releasing it; a great example of Spanish progressive, although it's a bit thin on the 'Tron front. Buy for the music only, assuming you can ever find a copy.
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Tau (1981, 39.42) ****/TTTTWillkoruinenDer Traum Todesfuge Weuer die Rose Soure Gei McDonald's Versinks un Hauseruren Eines Morgens, im April... Goss L.S.D. |
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Tau were surprisingly progressive for 1981, although, for some reason, the band elected to open each side of the album with its weakest tracks, Willkoruinen and Weuer Die Rose Soure... respectively. By Der Traum, though (the album's longest and best song), the full-on prog kicks in properly and, despite the occasional lesser number, Tau acquits itself very well. It isn't especially German sounding, despite German-language vocals, so don't write this off as 'another Sky label-type thing', like so much lesser German prog of the time (see: Octopus, Shaa Khan et al.). The album finishes with a thoroughly bizarre cover of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, re-titled L.S.D., bearing very little obvious relation to the original, with a new chorus melody (!) and lyrics in German.
There's a fair bit of Mellotron, too, presumably from keys man Michael Barfuss, with strings, choir and flutes on Der Traum, with excellent choirs, plus a polyphonic flute part on Todesfuge, and more choirs on the following two tracks. The aforementioned L.S.D. is smothered in strings, playing the verse melody and some 'violined' and pitchbent chords, making for one of the most bizarre reworkings I've ever heard, almost on a par with the Residents' highly disturbing take on Satisfaction.
Overall, then, a pretty good record, with some pointers towards its year of release, although if you ignore the two non-'Tron tracks (coincidentally, I may add), it's well worth hearing, both for music and Mellotron.
