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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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Third Eye Third Eye Blind Thirsty Moon |
Ian Thomas Band Richard Thompson Thønk |
Three Dog Night Three Man Army Steve Tibbetts |
Tibet Tiger Timesbold |
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Third Eye (1976, 36.24) ***½/TTTProtuberansSound Circle All About Us Eichendorff 8 Serious Basic Train Bloodstream Arco Bass Raga |
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Third Eye were a mid-'70s German prog/fusion outfit, not entirely dissimilar to the likes of To Be, who released three albums, although the last of these, 1982's Third Eye Live! seems to have a completely different lineup to their eponymous debut, including no less a personage than Tony Levin. Third Eye itself finds a happy middle ground between the two genres, which I usually find to have far less in common than you might expect. Eichendorff 8 is a piece for jazz piano, while Serious is more of a classical piano piece with extra instrumentation, while other tracks feature drum solos (Arco), jazzy Rhodes work (Basic Train) or a tabla-driven bass and Mellotron flute duet (Bass Raga).
Mellotron from two members, keys man Jan Huydts and drummer Frank Kollges; Sound Circle features a pretty full-on 'Tron flute solo, along with what sounds like strings mixed with their Hohner string synth, with strings and choir on All About Us. Not sure who plays the skronky violin on Bloodstream, but there are more of those 'Tron strings and another flute solo, plus, as previously mentioned, more flutes on Bass Raga; a nicely set-up machine, I have to say.
This is apparently pretty damn' hard to find, and won't be to all tastes, but fusion fans will definitely go for it, and those of you who delight in well-played Mellotron flute will be in ecstasies.
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Blue (1997, 52.00) **/T |
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| Anything Wounded 10 Days Late Never Let You Go Deep Inside Of You 1000 Julys An Ode To Maybe The Red Summer Sun |
Camouflage Farther Slow Motion Darkness Darwin |
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To my (doubtless uneducated) ears, Third Eye Blind sound like a slightly more interesting version of Nickleback, though only slightly. You know, the middling sort of hard rock/pop peddled by any number of very successful American bands that seems to pass for 'passion' in many people's lives, while actually being soulless, overblown and empty. In my humble opinion, of course. Blue is their second album, and the general consensus seems to be that it's less immediate than their debut, but after a few listens it becomes apparent that it's every bit that album's equal, if not superior, which makes me wonder just what Third Eye Blind itself sounds like. But not that much. Opener Anything actually provides a glimmer of hope, but they sink into a mire of bland, faceless 'alternative' rock almost immediately, and stay there for the next fifty minutes, which is time I'll never get back.
One 'Tron track, with a fairly standard but nicely upfront string part on The Red Summer Sun from Arion Salazar, although (as I've previously stated on the 'more' page), the song speeds up in the middle into what sounds like a pastiche of '77 punk crossed with AC/DC, although I've seen vocalist Stephan Jenkins' performance here compared to Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. Anyway, you really want to avoid this album, and so do I. Next.
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Starchaser (1981, 42.07) **/TTLovers on the RunWho's Gonna Save the World? The Seals Do You Believe in Flying Saucers? Road to Freedom Starchaser |
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This is a very odd one indeed. Thirsty Moon's fifth album, Starchaser, has a rock-end-of-jazz-funk sound which keeps veering off into pseudo-proggy territory, with two of the tracks coming in at over ten minutes. The first of these, Who's Gonna Save The World?, is awful; ten minutes 45 of four-to-the-floor drums, like some terrible 12" version of a bargain-basement disco single, but Do You Believe In Flying Saucers? has some nice drifty bits in amongst the failed attempt at a dance remix. Probably the oddest thing about this album is the presence of guitarist/keyboard man Jürgen Drogies' Mellotron; it's not too out of place on the slower material, but the choirs on the aforementioned Who's Gonna Save The World? don't work at all. The 'Tron use is at its best when they use single-note flute lines, which fit into a couple of songs quite well.
I'm afraid I find it quite difficult to say anything particularly nice about Starchaser, although the band's earlier work may well be better; Thirsty Moon seem to be trying to be all things to all men here, and fall flat on their faces. There are a few nice moments on the album, but I really can't recommend it either musically or on the 'Tron front.
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Still Here (1978, 40.39) **½/T½Just Like YouSally I Really Love You Clear Sailing Still Here Coming Home Faces Tinkerbell Tycoon |
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Ian Thomas' career started in the late '60s, when he was still in his teens, although it took him until 1973 to release his first (self-titled) solo album. His third effort, 1975's Delights, is supposed to contain a 'Tron track or two, but it's his fifth album, '78's Still Here, that concerns us here. Despite everything the biography on his website has to say, the only description I can find for this album is late-'70s soft rock, I'm afraid. Not AOR enough for Foreigner fans, not singer-songwriter enough for the bedsitter types, certainly not 'rock' enough for the mainstream rock crowd, it's dated, rather gutless West Coast-style soft rock; while side two's Coming Home attempts an epic approach, it fails to appeal to prog fans by dint of its sheer wussiness and lack of genuine development, although that really wasn't where Thomas was coming from, in fairness.
His keyboard player was none other than Hugh Syme, known round these parts for his considerable Rush connections, not least playing the gorgeous Mellotron part on their only 'Tron track, 2112's Tears, so I can only assume he was doing this purely for the money, though who knows? Anyway, there's a nice string part on I Really Love You, with a few more chords on Clear Sailing and Tinkerbell, though that would seem to be your lot. [Thinks] Was it this machine he used with Rush? Does anyone apart from me care? [It almost certainly was. Rush ed.] Anyway, while this is perfectly professional, and I'm sure all the songs are well-written etc.etc, it bored me to tears (geddit?), and the Mellotron work is pretty minimal. Maybe not.
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(Guitar, Vocal) (1976, recorded 1967-76, 66.21) ****/½ |
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| Time Will Show the Wiser (Fairport Convention) Throwaway Street Puzzle (Fairport Convention) Mr Lacey (Fairport Convention) The Ballad of Easy Rider (Fairport Convention) Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman (Fairport Convention) Sweet Little Rock'n'Roller (Fairport Convention) A Heart Needs a Home The Dark End of the Street |
It'll Be Me Flee as a Bird Night Comes in The Pitfall/The Excursion Calvary Cross |
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Amnesia (1988, 43.48) ****½/T |
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| Turning of the Tide Gypsy Love Songs Reckless Kind Jerusalem on the Jukebox I Still Dream Don't Tempt Me Yankee, Go Home Can't Win |
Waltzing's for Dreamers Pharaoh |
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Rumor and Sigh (1991, 61.28) *****/TT |
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| Read About Love I Feel So Good I Misunderstood Grey Walls You Dream Too Much Why Must I Plead 1952 Vincent Black Lightning Backlash Love Affair |
Mystery Wind Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands Keep Your Distance Mother Knows Best God Loves a Drunk Psycho Street |
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Richard Thompson first made his name as a callow 17 year-old with Fairport Convention in the late '60s, and has, for his sins, been tarred with the 'folk-rock' brush ever since. Admittedly, there are far worse brushes to be tarred with (?), but it would appear to have become a bit of an albatross round his neck; he apparently sells a consistent 10,000 copies per album in the UK, but despite huge critical acclaim, can't increase his audience. Anyway, to recap: Thompson left Fairport in 1971 and quickly began his solo career. After meeting and marrying his wife Linda, they recorded together for the rest of the decade, before an acrimonious split in the early '80s; I personally much prefer his post-split work, which (to my ears) reached a peak around the early '90s. He's still writing well and playing; after all, he's only in his early fifties now, and as a 'singer-songwriter' (for want of any better term), there's no good reason for him to stop any time in the near future.
The self-deprecatingly titled (Guitar, Vocal) was a stopgap album released during Thompson's self-inflicted three year musical hiatus, when he and Linda became Sufi Muslims and moved into a religious community. It's a double-LP set, one disc a compilation of rarities, the other more recent live material. It's worth it for Fairport's classic Poor Will And The Jolly Hangman, inexplicably left off their Full House LP (1970, ****½), and a storming live rendition of Thompson's solo Calvary Cross. Fairport's b-side Throwaway Street Puzzle (remixed, apparently) has Mellotron credited to guitarist Simon Nicol, but to be honest, I'll be fucked if I can hear it.
By 1988, Thompson's post-split career was well under way, and he began working with noted US producer Mitchell Froom. Now, Froom is (or maybe was) notorious for using Chamberlin on almost everything he produced, and the brilliant Amnesia is no exception. However, because of the instrument's irritating ability to disappear into the mix, I can actually only hear it on one track, Don't Tempt Me, one of the album's lesser songs. There must be a good six classic Thompson songs on the album, and there may be some more Chamberlin on there, but it's certainly not immediately apparent.
Its slightly belated follow-up, Rumor and Sigh (another Froom production) really is a classic record, with no less than eight or nine top songs, particularly the opening three numbers, with no noticeably substandard efforts in sight. The two obvious Chamberlin tracks both use strings, and had me thinking they were Mellotron until I looked at the credits more closely. Grey Walls has a great ascending string line, although You Dream Too Much is a little more ordinary. Thompson's next classic, Mirror Blue (1993, *****) (from 'The Lady of Shalott') was also produced by Froom, but without specific instrumental credits I simply can't tell whether or not there's any Chamberlin on the album or not. Killer record, though...
So, although these albums are all total classics, only Rumor and Sigh has any obvious Chamberlin use, and isn't really worth buying on those grounds alone. However, you should buy these IMMEDIATELY to hear a master at the (artistic) peak of his profession.
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Earth Vision Impact (2001, 51.38) ****/TSulmThønkland Square Root Pomme Insharp Garden Ela Rak |
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Kalevala (2003, 6.38) ***½/T[Thønk contribute]Kapittu 45/46 |
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Thønk (no idea why the Norwegian 'ø' from a Swiss band) are a current progressive trio, with the 'traditional' lineup of keys/drums/bass (/occasional guitar), although they completely avoid the usual 'ELP trap', thankfully. Their music is actually quite difficult to categorise, which has to be a good thing, although some reviewers seem to detect a slight UK influence. Earth Vision Impact is instrumental and piano-driven, both features in short supply these days, and that has to be real grand piano I'm hearing; samples never sound right... (Where have we heard this before?). The material is melodic and complex, but with none of the herky-jerkiness of too many current outfits, with a nice 'flow' to every track, probably assisted by Marc "Rak" Grassi's superb piano playing. Why can't we have more bands like this?
Grassi's other keyboard work is based around Hammond and (unspecified) monosynth, with the occasional polysynth part; the very digital sounds on Rak, for example, actually work in the context of the song, unlike on so many similar efforts. It has to be said, there isn't an awful lot of Mellotron on offer here, with a string part in brief opener Sulm, and a few chords in Rak, but that would seem to be your lot. It seems the album was recorded at Pär Lindh's Crimsonic Studio, which explains the 'real' instruments.
So; a very good album indeed, and one that may be reclassified in an upwards direction if I ever find the time to give it several good plays. Very little 'Tron, but that's not why you should buy this album, anyway. There's one overriding reason: the music. Incidentally, Thønk also contribute a track to Musea's vast Kalevala epic, Kapittu 45/46, in a similar vein to their album material, with some faint 'Tron strings that might even be real.
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Hard Labor (1974, 35.12) **½/TT½PreludeSure as I'm Sittin Here Anytime Babe Put Out the Light Sitting in Limbo I'd Be So Happy Play Something Sweet On the Way Back Home The Show Must Go on |
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Coming Down Your Way (1975, 35.43) **½/T½ |
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| 'Til the World Ends You Can Leave Your Hat on Good Old Feeling Mind Over Matter Midnight Flyer ("Eli Wheeler") Kite Man Coming Down Your Way When it's Over |
Lean Back, Hold Steady Yo Te Quiero Hablar (Take You Down) |
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American Pastime (1976, 35.02) **½/TT½Everybody is a MasterpieceEasy Evil Billy the Kid Mellow Down Yellow Beach Umbrella Hang on Southbound Drive on, Ride on Dance the Night Away |
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Three Dog Night, with their distinctive three-vocalist attack, hit their peak at the end of the '60s, but were losing popularity by the middle of the following decade. From what little I've heard of their earlier stuff (they never meant much in the UK, despite their one major hit here, 1970's Mama Told Me (Not To Come)), they'd become, if anything, even more bland by this stage in their career; soft rock for the masses, to be honest. They were never a band to go out on a limb, but then, wasn't that what they were about? And who am I to argue?
They released Hard Labor in 1974, with a legendarily crap sleeve design (without or without the sticking-plaster). As always, all the material consisted of covers (they had a reputation at one point for recording songs by up-and-coming writers who later made it big in their own rights), with names I recognise including John Hiatt, Jimmy Cliff, Allen Toussaint and Leo Sayer, but any oomph that the songs may have had originally was long gone by the time Three Dog Night had finished with them. New keys man Skip Konte played Chamberlin (a monster four-manual M4, apparently) on several tracks, however, with the most overt use being the strings on I'd Be So Happy and the flute melody on the title track, although Sayer's The Show Must Go On, and Prelude, utilising the same 'circus theme', feature various string and brass parts, too. Incidentally, the rear sleeve pic has a tantalising glimpse of what is almost certainly Konte's Chamberlin, although it's largely hidden behind an amp stack. Bugger.
The following year's Coming Down Your Way (poor sleeve again) actually has track-by-track credits, proving that the 'orchestral' strings on opener 'Til The World Ends are actually Chamby, although I can't really say they make the song any better. They manage to mangle Randy Newman on You Can Leave Your Hat On, and actually break with tradition by playing one of Konte's songs in Midnight Flyer ("Eli Wheeler"). Chamberlin on two other tracks, with flutes on Kite Man and When It's Over, along with a 'proper' string arrangement on the latter.
The band were, to be honest, well past it by the time they released American Pastime, in '76. They were apparently back down at club level by this time, with founder member Danny Hutton no longer part of the band, breaking the triumvirate of singers that had propelled them to fame and fortune just a few years earlier. Anyway, as with their previous few releases, there's some Chamberlin to be heard here, almost certainly played by Skip Konte again. All highlighted tracks feature strings and flutes, often simultaneously, made possible by the multi-manual setup of the gargantuan M4.
So; none of these are the most exciting of albums, although there's some reasonable Chamberlin work on all of them, so maybe they're worth hearing for that. Maybe. There's no Chamby on 1973's live double, Around the World with Three Dog Night, and as far as I can work out, the band retired from recording for some years in the late '70s, returning well into the polysynth era, so this is very probably it for their tape-replay work. Good - at least that means I don't have to listen to any more of it.
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A Third of a Lifetime (1971, 51.28) ***½/T |
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| Butter Queen Daze Another Way A Third of a Lifetime Nice One Three Man Army Agent Man See What I Took |
Midnight Together |
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Brothers Adrian and Paul Gurvitz (a.k.a.Curtis) formed Three Man Army after splitting Gun around the turn of the '70s, carrying on that outfit's predisposition for heaviosity. I'm rather surprised I haven't picked up on this lot earlier, as in around 1977, when I first started buying albums properly; their debut, A Third of a Lifetime, is a prime slice of early hard rock, bearing favourable comparison with the likes of Stray or even Budgie. Hard to pinpoint highlights, although Daze had my foot tapping uncontrollably.
I thought it was going to be 'Tron on the title track, but it turned out to be real strings, leaving closer Together as the only 'Tron track here, with a nice orchestrated MkII strings part throughout much of the song. So; definitely worth it for fans of the era, although not for the 'Tron. Beware: the 1990 German Repertoire issue not only has no bonus tracks, unlike later versions, but has also been mastered from vinyl.
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Yr (1980, 38.08) ****/TTUrHere Come the Sphexes Ten Years One Day Three Primates You and it The Alien Lounge 10 Yr Dance |
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One of Scott Hamrick's:
One of the most refreshing and important musical discoveries I have made in the last year is the music of Steve Tibbetts. While this started with the jaw-dropping and appropriately named 1986 album Exploded View (****½), the only album I have that is of interest to Mellotron enthusiasts is 1980's Yr.
This is Tibbetts' second album, and it hints at the nature of his later work but is more accessible. This is mostly an acoustic affair and is dominated by guitar and a variety of exotic percussion ranging from the African kalimba (thumb piano) to congas and the Indian tabla drum. Imagine an acoustic guitar virtuoso like John Fahey, Leo Kotke or Michael Hedges had recruited Edgar Froese and a couple of hand drum experts to record an album, and you'll get the idea of what Yr has to offer. All the tracks offer moments of brilliance, like when Moog briefly swirls in and out of the mix and across the stereo field on Alien Lounge - or when Ten Years settles into a trance-inducing groove led by the tabla drums. Yr is mostly folksy though, especially on One Day, which has a traditional, Americana feel due to the use of mandolin and fiddle that would not sound too out of place in a country song. The latter was supposedly mixed out of the ECM reissue of the album due to ECM not being able to obtain rights from the fiddle player. So if you must hear the fiddle, you'll have to search out the scarce privately issued LP on the Frammis label.
Tibbetts apparently intended Yr to be a headphone album, as the notes on the back cover include the comment, "Use yr headfones" (sic). Unfortunately, headphone moments, and forays into more progressive and unpredictable territory - like Tibbetts' always exciting electric guitar work - occur sporadically throughout the LP. The result is that listeners may find themselves waiting for the fleeting moments of ecstasy that do occur (as opposed to the rest of the album, which is 'merely' good). Still Yr is a fine, original album and will be more than sufficient to open your eyes to the overlooked genius of Steve Tibbetts.
Mellotronically, Yr is of fairly minimal significance. 'Tron finds its way onto half the tracks, but it's used sparingly and is almost entirely relegated to strings and some very subtle flutes. You And It provides the biggest 'Tron thrills with the machine providing string sounds throughout much of the track and culminating in the veritable Mellotron cadenza at the end of the piece that sounds like it could have come straight out of an early Edgar Froese solo album.
| Scott Hamrick |
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Tibet (1979, 39.12) ***½/TTFight BackCity By the Sea White Ships and Icebergs Seaside Evening Take What's Yours Eagles No More Time |
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Tibet's music is in the grand tradition of late-'70s German prog, comparable to Ramses or Rousseau, and on listening to the album for the first time in several years, I was struck by how I remembered most of the songs, which is more than I can say for many better-known bands. There is a distinct lack of originality on display in places, with White Ships And Icebergs ripping off Yes outrageously, but overall, it's a pretty good album of its type.
The band invited their original keyboard player, Dieter Kumpakischkis, to participate during the recording, alongside his replacement, Deff Ballin, but I believe it's Ballin who plays the Mellotron on the record. The album was actually recorded over three different sessions over the space of two years, which might explain the string synth on some tracks and the 'Tron on others. Plenty of those 'Tron strings on City By The Sea and White Ships And Icebergs, but other tracks with fairly epic moments only have the string synth, leading me to suspect that these two tracks were the only ones recorded at the (last?) session. Hey, roll over Sherlock and tell Poirot the news...
Anyway, despite being rather generic, Tibet is a reasonably good album, though I wouldn't put it at the top of your 'wants' list.
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Tiger (1976, 42.08) ***/TTTLay MeOrdinary Girl Lay Back Stay Back Prayer I'm Not Crying Long Time Suzy Slicker Tyger, Tyger |
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Tiger were an odd sort of band, being basically a vehicle for über-session guitarist 'Big' Jim Sullivan to, er, 'do his own thing', with the end result being only partially successful. Sullivan had already released a dodgy country-flavoured album in '74, Big Jim's Back (**), and the same label, Retreat, opted to release Tiger. To be brutally honest, it's largely undistinguished mid-'70s hard rock, with the occasional country influence creeping through (obviously where Sullivan's heart really lay), with a clever pedal steel imitation from a synth on Lay Back Stay Back. Overall, though, it's not really anything to write home about, although it has its moments.
The main one of these is the sort-of ballad, Prayer, which is absolutely smothered in Dave McCrae's Mellotron choirs and strings, being easily the album's standout track, avoiding the dodgy hard rock trap into which the rest of it falls. More 'Tron on Long Time, while Suzy Slicker has a great strings pitchbend part. Tyger, Tyger opens with solo 'Tron string chords; pity about the distortion that plagues the CD reissue - I doubt if the original sounds like that.
So; was it worth buying? Moot point, really; the first album on this twofer is awful, and while the Tiger LP's OK, the only thing that makes it even remotely worth the effort is the reasonable Mellotron work. I think that leaves it up to you, really. There was a second Tiger album, Goin' Down Fighting (***), which certainly has its moments, but being 'Tron-free I'll leave it for someone else to write about, and I believe a third, Test of Time crept out in '83, some years after being recorded, but I don't know anything about it.
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Woe Be Gone EP (2001, 21.19) ***½/TGin I WinLorili This Field Needs a Reaper Evil I Hear You Hear |
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Timesbold (2002, 45.04) ***½/T |
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| Gin I Win Sewn in Seams Sing e e cummings House Demands Water Barer Word Some Awful Men |
Knife Attack It's Been a Fine Time... Van Gogh George Collins |
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Eye Eye (2004, 44.53) ***½/T |
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| Bone Song Go Down Vengeance Day Wind to Rise Call to Arms All Blues Wings on a Girl Kudzu |
Sometimes the Water Riches and Grief Black Eyed Suzy It's a Sag (When You Lift the World) (Knowwhere) |
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Timesbold are yet another entrant in the 'melancholy Americana' sweepstake, having as much in common with the more miserabilist end of, say Wilco as the relentless downbeatness of the wonderful Low. Suffice to say, there's barely a track spread across these releases where the pace picks up to anything above funereal, but since when was that a problem? After a couple of singles, Timesbold took the plunge into longer formats with an EP, Woe Be Gone, although song titles like This Field Needs A Reaper and Evil prove the lie on that one. I believe Max Avery Lichtenstein plays the Mellotron, presumably amongst other keyboards, with a very minor 'Tron flute part towards the end of Gin I Win, and some background choirs on Evil.
2002 brought their first full-length album, the eponymous Timesbold, and it seems to be business as usual, only more of it, with highlights including Sewn In Seams and their tribute to American poet e e cummings [sic], er, e e cummings. Only two 'Tron tracks, one of which is a repeat of Woe Be Gone's lead track, Gin I Win, although the flute part in Sewn In Seams is far more upfront. Two years on, second album Eye Eye is more of the same, although a couple of tracks pick it up a little. Yet again, two Mellotron tracks (Sometimes The Water and Riches And Grief), yet again, flutes on both, opening the former under the vocals, while the latter has a brief part later in the song, plus an equally brief string part, for the first time.
As with many Americana albums, I suspect Timesbold's work will need several plays to reveal their charms fully, and I'm afraid I simply don't have enough time to really do them justice at the moment. I can, however, recommend them to anyone who likes the style, although they're a bit thin on the ground Mellotronically. Recommended anyway.
