Where is the Truth  (2010,  45.01)  ***/T
	Put My Trust in You Where is the Truth Yourself She's Selda 1979 Your Voice I Need Your Silence Render the Voice	Beautiful Photophone Call Soyuz A

Current availability:

• City Centre Offices (Germany)

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Mark Van Hoen worked as Locust throughout the '90s, releasing occasional albums under his own name, the fourth of which (after a several-year gap) being 2010's Where is the Truth (question mark clearly optional). It's a decent enough album of mostly instrumental electronica, although Your Voice, a vocal number with an irritatingly dance-informed rhythm, could've been left elsewhere without damaging the record's overall prospects.

Van Hoen plays Mellotron, amongst other keyboards, with strings on the title track (although the actual credit is for Yourself) and closer Soyuz A, while the solo voice on the latter sounds more like a Chamberlin than a Mellotron, though not very much like either. So; very competent electronica, should that be your bag, but very little Mellotron. Your choice.

Official site

See: Locust

Vandaveer  (US)  see: Samples

Vanderhoof  (US)

	Vanderhoof  (1997,  57.43)  ***/TT½
	Bleed Machine Take to the Sky Falling to Earth Earth Angel Now Out Alive Beg	50 Cent Sympony Tons of Time 40 Days Down Game is Played

	A Blur in Time  (2002,  53.28)  ***½/TTT½
	30 Thousand Ft. Electric Love Song High St. Nowhere Train 3 A.M. Un-Changed If There's a Song... Brand New Light	Surface of Another Planet Sleeping Giant Sonic Blur

Current availability:

• Both titles: SPV

Mellotrons used:

• Both titles: Kurdt Vanderhoof's M400

Metal Church's Kurdt Vanderhoof formed his own band in the late '90s, moving completely away from the parent band's power metal into '70s hard rock territory, and would you believe it, they do it rather well? OK, they sound almost exactly like classic Uriah Heep with a lesser singer and more Mellotron, but compared to sounding like a third-rate saddo metal band, there's no contest really, is there?

Their eponymous 1997 debut is so close to Heep in places that it could almost pass as a long-lost outtakes album, particularly on Take To The Sky, but I'm not actually complaining... Vanderhoof plays Mellotron himself, with distant choirs and upfront strings on Angel Now and Tons Of Time, lesser ones on Beg and strings and cellos on 50 Cent Symphony. While I understand Vanderhoof owns a real Mellotron (and loads of other old gear), it doesn't always sound genuine, but it stays here until/if I find otherwise.

2002's A Blur in Time carries on the good work while improving on both the style and production fronts, top tracks including Surface Of Another Planet and Sonic Blur. Loads of Vanderhooftron this time round, with strings on 30 Thousand Ft., Electric Love Song, Nowhere Train and Un-Changed, with a really full-on solo part opening If There's A Song... More strings and choir on 3 A.M. and choirs on Surface Of Another Planet, alongside what sounds like an analogue polysynth (Oberheim?), making for a surprisingly 'Tron-heavy release in an unexpected area. Mind you, Vanderhoof's gone on to form the exceptionally retro Presto Ballet, so should we really be surprised?

Overall, then, one reasonable and one really quite good retro hard rock efforts with Mellotron all round, particularly on their second. It looks like the band has split to make way in Vanderhoof (the man)'s life for Presto Ballet, but A Blur in Time, in particular, is worth hearing.

See: Metal Church | Presto Ballet

John Vanderslice  (US)

	Pixel Revolt  (2005,  53.43)  ***/TT
	Letter to the East Coast Plymouth Rock Exodus Damage Peacocks in the Video Rain Trance Manual New Zealand Pines Radiant With Terror Continuation	Dear Sarah Shu Farewell Transmission Angela Dead Slate Pacific The Golden Gate CRC7173, Affectionately

	Romanian Names  (2009,  37.18)  ***/0
	Tremble and Tear Fetal Horses C & O Canal Too Much Time D.I.A.L.O. Forest Knolls Oblivion Sunken Union Boat	Romanian Names Carina Constellation Summer Stock Hard Times

Current availability:

• Pixel Revolt: Cooking Vinyl
• Romanian Names: Dead Oceans

Mellotrons used:

• Both titles: Matt Henry Cunitz' M400

Pixel Revolt is ex-MK Ultra John Vanderslice's fifth album, although I believe if anything, he's known more for his production work; his style is a sort of indie take on the singer-songwriter thing, although that doesn't really describe it very well. Most of the album just drifts along, with the lyrics (Trance Manual, Angela) standing out more than the music, to be honest, although going by online reviews, Vanderslice is very popular, albeit in a non-mainstream kind of way. Mellotron (from Vanderslice and Matt Henry Cunitz) on three tracks, all credited properly (hurrah!). Flutes and (lesser) strings on Trance Manual and fairly unusual vibes on Angela, leaving Exodus Damage as the album's 'Tron highlight, with a major string part, backed with flutes, plus faint choir and (allegedly) pipe organ, though I can't hear the latter for the life of me.

Vanderslice's 2009 effort, Romanian Names, is a mixed bag of indie-ish singer-songwriter material, better tracks including opener Tremble And Tear, the E-Bow-driven D.I.A.L.O. and brief instrumental Forest Knolls. Cunitz is credited with Mellotron again, but I'll be buggered if I can work out where he uses it, all potential sounds (vibes, low strings) being covered by real instruments.

So; maybe one for the singer-songwriter fan who doesn't mind a few modern production tricks? Pixel Revolt isn't bad on the Mellotron front, though not essential, although you're wasting your time with Romanian Names. Middling.

Official site

See: MK Ultra

Vanilla Trainwreck  (US)

	Sofa Livin' Dreamazine  (1991,  44.31)  **½/½
	Wilbur and Orville Kerosene Colorbomb The Jugular Grapevine She Cries Diamonds Heavy Rotation Happy	Automatic Transmission Naked on a Train

Current availability:

• Mammoth

Mellotron used:

• Sean Slade's M400?

Vanilla Trainwreck were a N. Carolina-based band, slotting somewhere in between indie and grunge, stylewise, which hasn't allowed their debut, 1991's Sofa Livin' Dreamazine, to age that well. For all the fuzz and dirt they put into it, it's a strangely lifeless record, vaguely psychedelic closer Naked On A Train being the least dull thing here, which isn't really saying that much.

Producer-of-the-day Sean Slade (Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Blackfish) is credited with Mellotron, but the only even slightly possible use is some of the assorted sounds on Naked On A Train, which could, frankly, have been made by almost anything. I'd take that as a non-recommendation, then.

Vanity Fare  (UK)

7"  (1969)  **½/TT Hitchin' a Ride Man Child

Current availability:

• Early in the Morning: Vinyl Lovers (vinyl only?)

Mellotron used:

• Studio MkII?

The Kent-based Vanity Fare (ho ho) had a handful of hits, the biggest being Hitchin' A Ride, from late 1969, chiefly due to cracking the US charts. The recorder and piano-driven effort is pretty typical of the era's lightweight pop, almost certainly the reason this isn't as fondly remembered as some of its contemporaries. The flip, Man Child, is rather better, in a toytown pop kind of way, but I can't imagine it would be anyone's first port of call when compiling the sub-sub-sub-genre.

Someone, probably the band's new keyboard player Barry Landemen, layers Hammond and Mellotron on Man Child, with an overt, quite clunky string melody that actually improves the song no end. Both sides of the single appeared on 1970's rather disjointed Early in the Morning, essentially an uncredited greatest hits, but I've no idea whether you can find Man Child on CD.

Official site

Gino Vannelli  (Canada)

Nightwalker  (1981,  36.35)  ***/T Nightwalker Seek and You Will Find Put the Weight on My Shoulders I Believe Santa Rosa Living Inside Myself Stay With Me Sally (She Says the Sweetest Things)

Current availability:

• Arista

Chamberlinn used:

• Vannelli's own machine (M1?)

It seems Gino Vannelli has been around since the early '70s, and is still making music today. He unashamedly describes himself as 'pop', and going by 1980's Nightwalker, it's difficult to argue with this; a very musicianly, soul and jazz-influenced variety of pop, although unfortunately somewhat dated by modern standards. Vannelli has an amazing voice, however, and the more soulful material here (Put The Weight On My Shoulders, Sally) shows it off to great effect.

It seems Vannelli likes to keep things in-house, having worked with his brother Joe throughout his career, while another brother, Ross, co-produces here. Joe is credited with 'electric piano, acoustic piano, organ and synthesizer', strangely neglecting to mention the Chamberlin I'm assured is on the album. Several tracks feature real strings, but the Chamby can quite clearly be heard providing the string line on the opening title track, although the use on Put The Weight On My Shoulders and Sally (She Says The Sweetest Things) isn't either that upfront or even entirely confirmed, though the strings sound more Chamby than real. Living Inside Myself has been confirmed for me, although it's almost indistinguishable from the real thing...

So; a very musical album, but also a very mainstream one that really isn't going to appeal to most listeners at the rock end of the spectrum. Your jazz fan will find things to praise here, but the rest of you would really be advised to steer clear, despite the obvious quality of the material. Only one really obvious Chamby track, too, so I wouldn't really bother for that, either.

Official site

Zjef Vanuytsel  (Belgium)

	Er is Geen Weg Terug  (1973,  47.27)  ***/T
	Er is Geen Weg Terug Ballade Van een Oude Vriend Zal ze Dan Nog Voor Me Zorgen Het is Nog Niet Laat Misschien Vannacht Lusi Toch is ze Zo Lief Als Je Zomaar Weg Zou Gaan	De Idioot van de Vrede Als de Dood Toch Ooit Moet Komen Langs de Spiegels van de Tijd Omstreeks Middernacht

Current availability:

• On 5-CD set, Zjef Vanuytsel: Universal, 2007

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Zjef Vanuytsel is a Flemish singer-songwriter who released his first album, De Zotte Morgen, in his early twenties, in 1970. Its slightly belated follow-up, '73's Er is Geen Weg Terug (There is No Return), is actually a quite affecting album of mostly acoustic material, which manages to make its point even when you don't understand the words. Best tracks are probably Ballade Van Een Oude Vriend, Het Is Nog Niet Laat and the beautiful Als De Dood Toch Ooit Moet Komen, but, amazingly for the genre and era, nothing here offended me.

Jean Blaute plays Mellotron, with a chordal flute part and cellos on Ballade Van Een Oude Vriend and a beautifully arranged string part on Lusi, although the harmony flutes on Zal Ze Dan Nog Voor Me Zorgen and the strings on a couple of other tracks are real. Overall, then, a surprisingly decent album, although a long way from a lost prog classic. Worth hearing for fans of '70s acoustic albums, but not really for the Mellotron.

MySpace

Les Variations  (France)

Moroccan Roll  (1974,  35.14)  ***½/T Moroccan Roll I Don't Know Why Did it Kasbah - Tadla Growing Stronger Lord (Give Me Money) Leslie Lust Sanglots (Tears) All I Want to Know

Current availability:

• 2-on-1 with Café de Paris: Magic (France)

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Les Variations were a French band of Moroccan Jewish extraction, making for an intriguing smörgåsbord of influences, from the power-trio rock of Cream and Zeppelin to indigenous Moroccan and Sephardic Jewish music. Moroccan Roll (the pun pre-empting Brand X by a year or two, and more relevantly) was their third album of four, with its English-language vocals making it accessible to an international audience; the band toured the States at least once, and their last two albums were released there. There isn't really a bad track on the record, but Growing Stronger is the best 'rocking' effort, and Kasbah - Tadla probably the best at the folk end of the album.

Mellotron on two tracks, from an unknown player, with faint strings on Did It and a more upfront part on closer All I Want To Know, although not enough to make a purchase worthwhile merely for its 'Tronic content. So; an interesting effort, at least partially unlike anything much you'll have heard before, although some of the hard rock numbers are fairly generic. Not much 'Tron, but worth hearing if you're thinking of buying it anyway.

Varnaline  (US)

	Sweet Life  (1998,  48.26)  **½/T
	Gulf of Mexico Northern Lights Now You're Dirt All About Love While You Were Sleeping Saviours This is the River Underneath the Mountain	Fuck and Fight Mare Imbrium Tonite Sweet Life

Current availability:

• Cloud

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Beginning as Anders Parker's solo project, Varnaline had become a trio by the time they released Sweet Life in 1998. Bemusingly, I've seen them described as Americana/alt.country, as their sound is quite clearly positioned slightly towards the noisier end of the US indie spectrum, incorporating occasional hints of Neil Young-ish guitar work. Sadly, it's all a bit dreary, to the point where I don't even feel I can recommend any tracks, which is a bit tragic, really. Maybe the closing nine-minute title track? Maybe not.

Parker plays Mellotron, with occasional strings on opener Gulf Of Mexico, though that appears to be your lot, despite various other keyboards and string sounds (mainly real strings) elsewhere. Sorry, to be so down on this, but, frankly, it bored me rigid. Next to no 'Tron, either.

MySpace fan page

Official Anders Parker site

Sylvie Vartan  (France)

	Nouvelle Vague  (2007,  49.37)  ***/0
	Il est Cinq Heures, Paris S'éveille Nouvelle Vague Le Temps de l'amour Ruby Tuesday Suzanne Attends ou Va-t'en Dans le Souffle du Vent Les Yeux Ouverts	Ya Ya Twist J'attendrai Drive My Car Chante I'm a Believer Et Je M'en Vais Souvenirs, Souvenirs

Current availability:

• Mercury

Chamberlin used:

• John Philip Shenale's Chamberlin 300

Sylvie Vartan is one of those 'overseas' artists of whom the average Anglo-American-centric music fan has never heard, myself included, despite several decades of Gallic fame. She's actually been making records since the early '60s, shockingly, being one of France's original yé-yé girls (a popular strain of '60s French pop, for those not in the know), her subsequent career being largely informed by that remarkable decade. Married to 'the French Elvis' for fifteen years, Johnny Hallyday, she's also worked with later Spooky Tooth member and Foreigner mainman Mick Jones and had songs written for her by Paul Anka, amongst others.

2007's bilingually-punning Nouvelle Vague sums up her '60s-centric work perfectly; a good album, certainly, but it lacks originality, containing a slew of '60s covers, not least The Stones' Ruby Tuesday, Leonard Cohen's Suzanne and The Beatles' Drive My Car, plus French-language versions of Reach Out I'll Be There (J'attendrai) and Then I Kissed Her/Him (Et Je M'en Vais). Then again, why would a singer in her early sixties be bothered about being original? Her intention was clearly to make a good, professional and entertaining album that her fans would enjoy, in which I can say she's been entirely successful.

John Philip Shenale (Tori Amos, Willy DeVille) plays Chamberlin, although as so often, it's effectively inaudible, unless it provides some of the very real-sounding strings on the album. Nouvelle Vague isn't really an album for the international market, more for her domestic audience and Francophiles everywhere, so with no obvious tape-replay work, I can't honestly recommend it, despite its obvious quality.

Official site

Suzanne Vega  (US)

	99.9F°  (1992,  37.42/39.38)  ***½/T
	Rock in This Pocket (Song of David) Blood Makes Noise In Liverpool 99.9F° Blood Sings Fat Man and Dancing Girl (If You Were) In My Movie As a Child	Bad Wisdom When Heroes Go Down As Girls Go Song of Sand [Some versions add: Private Goes]

Current availability:

• A&M

Chamberlin used:

• Mitchell Froom's M1

Suzanne Vega is proof positive that singer-songwriters can still write relevant, tuneful material that doesn't just navel-gaze to the point where the music becomes entirely secondary to the lyrical content. 1992's 99.9F° is her fourth album, produced by the mighty Mitchell Froom, later her husband. It's full of material of the quality of Blood Sings, Bad Wisdom and the title track, and while some of her fans threw their hands up in horror at Froom's relatively 'electronic' production, his use of 'period' instruments stops it sounding like a relic, 17 years later. And Richard Thompson guests. Result!

I heard a rumour years ago that Froom plays Chamberlin on the album; he's stated that he used one on 'pretty much everything' he produced at the time, so it's hardly surprising. There's a large, composite sound on the Vega/Froom co-write Fat Man And Dancing Girl, but it's as likely to be a combination of organ and synth, but As Girls Go features possible cellos and definite strings, albeit briefly. So; a '90s singer-songwriter album that still sounds good now, due almost entirely to a combination of Vega's songwriting and Froom's production. Worthwhile.

Official site

See: Mitchell Froom

Laura Veirs  (US)

	Saltbreakers  (2007,  43.44)  ***/T
	Pink Light Ocean Night Song Don't Lose Yourself Drink Deep Wandering Kind Nightingale Saltbreakers To the Country	Cast a Hook Phantom Mountain Black Butterfly Wrecking

Current availability:

• Nonesuch

Chamberlin used:

• Unknown

Laura Veirs' sixth album, Saltbreakers, is probably best described as being at the pop end of the folk-rock spectrum, although several of its tracks betray no commercial influence at all, notably closers Black Butterfly and Wrecking. I would have given it a higher star rating had more of the material been in this vein, although I realise getting radio play in a crowded market isn't the easiest of things, and a few poppier tracks doubtless grease the wheels in the right places. There's nothing genuinely bad here, but a few more tracks of the quality of Pink Light and Ocean Night Song might have been welcome.

Chamberlin on a couple of tracks from either Veirs' regular keys man, Steve Moore or Karl Blau, with faint strings on opener Pink Light and a very overt flute part on Drink Deep, although that would appear to be it. So; a decent enough album in its own way, with one 'must-hear' Chamby track.

Official site

Jaci Velasquez  (US)

	Beauty Has Grace  (2005,  38.51)  **/½
	I'm Not Looking Down With All My Soul Prayer to Love Lay it Down Something Beautiful Tonight When You Hold Me Reason to Believe	Supernatural This Love [Bonus track: Love Will Find You]

Current availability:

• Word Entertainment

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Although it's not immediately apparent from the titles, Jaci Velasquez is a Christian singer-songwriter, whose fifth major-label English-language album (she also has Spanish releases), Beauty Has Grace, is a pretty slushy affair, though not as bad as some I could name. Nonetheless, it doesn't come close to containing anything to which I'd wish to hear again, although cheery pop/rock opener I'm Not Looking Down takes the prize for the least bad track.

Andreas Olsson is credited with Mellotron on With All My Soul, but while it's inaudible there, background strings sounding unlike those on the rest of the album and fairly like a Mellotron can be heard, briefly on closer This Love. So; not-quite-as-bad-as-usual-CCM, anyone? Thought not.

Official site

Velocette  (UK)

	Fourfold Remedy  (1998,  45.56)  **½/0
	Reborn Bitterscene La Sirena Unkind Where Are We? Get Yourself Together Spoiled Children Submarines	Someone's Waiting That Ain't Mine

Current availability:

• Wiiija

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Velocette (named for the lesser-known yet iconic British motorbike), at least on 1998's Fourfold Remedy, sound like an irritating cross between that female-fronted Stereolab/Saint Etienne kind of pseudo-'60s lounge thing and generic '90s indie, although their tendency is to shift styles between songs, rather than blend them. I can't work out which approach is worse, actually. In fact, the only reason this gets the extra half star is the guitar workout and Riders On The Storm Rhodes on Someone's Waiting.

Jax Coombes (female, in case you were wondering) allegedly plays Mellotron (credited on opener Reborn), though entirely inaudibly, as far as I can work out. Plenty of real strings about, but no obvious 'Tron. So; I really must advise you against buying this album, unless weak-as-water naff pseudo-lounge indie happens to be your particular cup of gruel/bag of sick. It isn't mine.

Velvet Belly  (Norway)

		Lucia  (1997,  40.16/44.07)  **½/T
		Trick Easy Oystercatcher Standstill Fast & Far Away The Station Drift Unreal	Restless Our Happiness [Some eds. add: The Man With the Child in His Eyes]

	Velvet Belly  (2003,  40.11)  **½/½
	Dance Again Between the Words Into the Open Into the Wind Always Remember To Feel the Love Surrender	To See the Light Flow Towards the Belief

Current availability:

• Lucia: BMG
• Velvet: Playground

Mellotrons used:

• Unknown

Norwegians Velvet Belly (presumably named in honour of the This Mortal Coil song) are difficult to categorise: female-fronted goth pop? Post-rock/pop? Pop, certainly. Their fifth album, 1997's Lucia, despite being a sensible length, is still too long for its own good, much of its content sounding like filler; it's no surprise that it took the band six years to follow it up, before splitting, vocalist Anne Marie Almedal going on to a solo career. To be honest, I can't even pick out any individual tracks for either praise or approbation; they all just merge into a wash of over-effected dullness, the only standout in any way being the reissue's almost unrecognisable version of Kate Bush's The Man With The Child In His Eyes. Vidar Ersfjord plays Mellotron, with flutes all over Fast & Far Away and background strings on Drift, although it could be present at several other points; with everything that's going on in the mix, it's rather hard to say.

Their final release, 2003's Velvet Belly, doesn't differ markedly from its predecessor stylistically, although the material's marginally better all round. Highlights? I wouldn't go that far, although the particularly atmospheric Flow isn't too bad. Ersfjord adds Mellotron to two tracks, with background flutes on Between The Words and Flow, but they're so quiet that it's impossible to tell whether they emanate from a real machine, samples or something else entirely.

Anyway, you're not going to buy these for their Mellotron use, or quite possibly anything else. I know of another two relevant Velvet Belly albums; more reviews when I get to hear them.

See: Anne Marie Almedal

Velvet Crush  (US)

	Teenage Symphonies to God  (1994,  45.40)  ***½/TT
	Hold Me Up My Blank Pages Why Not Your Baby Time Wraps Around You Atmosphere #10 Faster Days Something's Gotta Give	This Life is Killing Me Weird Summer Star Trip Keep on Lingerin'

	A Single Odessey  (2001, recorded 1990-1999,  63.20)  ****/T
	If Not True One Thing Two Believe Circling the Sun Everything Flows She Cracked Atmosphere Gentle Breeze	Butterfly Position Drive Me Down (acoustic) Remember the Lightning Elevator Operator Mr. Spaceman One Hundred Years From Now Don't You Slip Away From Me	It's Been Too Long and it's Too Late Now Be Someone Tonight Leisure 40 The Thing That You Do Party Line On My Side

	Melody Freaks: A Collection of Demos & Outtakes, 1990-1996  (2002,  62.58)  ***½/T
	Star Trip Time Wraps Around You Hold Me Up Standing Down Further Over You Beside Yourself Seen Better Days	Turn Down My Blank Pages This Life is Killing Me Weird Summer One Thing Two Believe Reunion Day Real One	If Not True Goin' to My Head Heaven Knows Keep on Lingerin'

Current availability:

• Teenage: Creation
• Single/Melody: Action Musik

Chamberlins used:

• Unknown

Velvet Crush coalesced from Choo Choo Train around 1990 and aside from a brief period of nonexistence in the mid-'90s, have been releasing records (ir)regularly ever since. In many ways a classic powerpop band, they have a heavier, less jangly edge than many of their genre-mates that makes them stand out from the good, if slightly identikit bands that typify the field. Their second release was 1994's naughtily-titled Teenage Symphonies to God (Brian Wilson's description of his music, if you don't know the reference), an excellent mixture of jangle and rock, with a smattering of country thrown in for good measure (notably on closer Keep On Lingerin'), highlights including opener Hold Me Up (good powerpop albums always open with their strongest track), Time Wraps Around You and the jammed-out Something's Gotta Give. Oh, and extra marks for the appalling pun in My Blank Pages. Mike Denneen plays Chamberlin, nicely audible for once, with strings on Why Not Your Baby, flutes and strings on Time Wraps Around You, probable strings on #10 (they could be real), some keyboard mangling (flutes?) on Weird Summer and a lovely string part opening Star Trip.

Although that seems to be it for studio albums, Velvet Crush have released two compilations containing extra Chamberlinism, the first of which is 2001's A Single Odessey (Zombies reference, of course), containing what appears to be most of their single/EP-only tracks from the preceding decade. Given that powerpop is, in many ways, a genre best heard on 7" vinyl, it's hardly surprising that the band clearly kept most of their best material for their singles, making this a killer compilation, featuring wondrous moments like the descending vocal harmony in One Thing Two Believe and the main riff in Circling The Sun, although the handful of countryish tracks let the side down slightly. The legendary Mitch Easter (R.E.M., The Orange Humble Band) plays Chamberlin, with a brief flute part on Be Someone Tonight and echoed strings on the instrumental Leisure 40, although there's nothing obvious on The Thing That You Do (a 'blanket credit', I suspect), clearly all recorded at the same session, although I can't trace the original release.

The following year's self-explanatory Melody Freaks: A Collection of Demos & Outtakes, 1990-1996 includes early versions of over half of Teenage Symphonies' tracks, alongside minor variations on other familiar material. I'm all for letting your fans hear everything, but I sometimes wonder just how much use albums like this really are. Are you actually hearing anything new? Or even newish? I suppose you can look at it as a compilation of some of their better album tracks, but it'll never match A Single Odessey for sheer class. Denneen on Chamby again, of course, with strings on opener Star Trip and flutes and strings on Time Wraps Around You, as on the originals, although whatever was on the album version of Weird Summer is missing here.

Overall, Teenage Symphonies is a very good effort from a band previously unknown to me; I suppose being produced by Mitch Easter gives the game away, but even the masters sometimes get it wrong. Not that much tape-replay, but worth hearing for lovers of great tunes. Of the two compilations, Teenage Symphonies is noticeably better than Melody Freaks, not to mention a better bet on the Chamby front, although the latter's still worth hearing.

Official site

See: Choo Choo Train

Antonello Venditti  (US)

Sotto il Segno dei Pesci  (1978,  40.25)  **/T Sotto il Segno dei Pesci Francesco Bomba o Non Bomba Chen il Cinese Sara Il Telegiornale Giulia L'Uomo Falco

Current availability:

• Mercury Italy

Mellotron used:

• Goblin's M400

Antonello Venditti is a mainstream Italian singer-songwriter, which should tell you everything you need to know about his music; vaguely folk-based pop/rock with lyrics that are probably important, but meaningless to non-Italian speakers. However, Venditti's Italian, so why should he pander to foreign audiences who probably aren't going to care one way or the other anyway? 1978's Sotto il Segno dei Pesci was his eighth album and is an entirely pointless listen for non-Italians (and many who are), frankly, consisting largely of cheery pop/rock with no obviously distinguishing features, which pretty much sums this up for an international audience.

Goblin's Claudio Simonetti plays Mellotron, with choirs on Francesco and Bomba O Non Bomba and strings on Chen Il Cinese, the choirs being so heavily reverbed that they're barely recognisable, which was probably the idea. Believe me, you don't need to hear this album.

Official site

The Ventures  (US)

	Only Hits  (1973,  71.03)  **½/T
	Also Sprach Zarathustra Hummingbird/Summerbreeze Get Down Soul Makossa My Love Cisco Kid Killing Me Softly With His Song Oh Babe, What Would You Say	Yesterday Once More Superstition Last Tango in Paris Dueling Banjos Live and Let Die The Morning After Drift Away Alone Again (Naturally)	I Can See Clearly Now Finders Keepers The Twelfth of Never Frankenstein The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia Are You Man Enough You Are the Sunshine of My Life

	New Depths  (1998,  68.21)  ***/½
	Hurricane Drums a Go Go Bombora Hot Doggin' Calhoun Surf Banzai Pipeline Web Surfin' Time is Tight	Stop the Music Spanish Armada I Fought the Law Hideaway Cry for a Shadow Blue Dawn Peter Gunn Kanari Kiteru Koi	Flower of the Sun Axel F/Miami Vice TrailBlazer Wipeout 2017

Current availability:

• Only Hits: One Way
• New Depths: Grip Crescendo

Mellotrons used:

• Unknown

The Ventures don't mean much past Walk Don't Run and Wipeout in the UK, but have now had a (count 'em) over fifty-year career, chiefly in the States and Japan, where they're apparently still huge. The chief reason for their general lack of UK success could be that they were seen as merely a Transatlantic version of The Shadows, operating in a similarly all-instrumental arena, although the Shads (at least early on) tended to write their own material, while The Ventures started playing covers straight away. By the early '70s, though, there was little to choose between the two, both playing slightly anodyne covers instrumentally, which is all well and good, but take the vocals out of most popular songs, and what's left? A vocal melody played on another instrument, with various musical devices used to cover for the lack of any lyrical input, that's what.

I've seen 1973's double Only Hits described as a greatest hits album, although minimal research uncovers the information that the 'hits' part of its title refers to the fact that the tracks were hits for other artists, here reimagined instrumentally, to greater or lesser effect. One of the album's most successful efforts is opener Also Sprach Zarathustra, then still in the popular imagination after 2001: A Space Odyssey, tackled here in a jazz/surf style, which really has to be heard to be believed. Most of the versions here are pretty forgettable, though, many of them bland takes on bland material, with little done to pep them up. I've no idea who plays the Mellotron, or indeed, any of the other keyboards here, as the band were effectively a twin-guitar foursome, but whoever it is sticks fake-orchestral strings on My Love, background ones on Last Tango In Paris and far more upfront ones on The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia. There is a slightly expanded version of this album on CD, adding four tracks, but I've no idea whether or not there's any more Mellotron on them.

I've also no idea whether or not The Ventures used a Mellotron again before 1998, but their album from that year, New Depths (apparently a follow-up to the previous year's Wild Again, on the same label) features David Carr on the machine. The album follows the basic pattern laid down by the band decades before, although its sound is much updated from their early '70s one, thankfully, better tracks including their updated take on Peter Gunn, the rare vocal track Kanari Kiteru Koi, featuring Japanese female troupe The Rice Girls (ho ho) and . The album's no classic, but it's far more listenable than Only Hits, with fewer obvious middle-of-the-road covers and far more than a nod to their surf roots. Carr plays 'Tron flutes on Cry For A Shadow, although that would appear to be your lot.

So; do you... no. You don't. If you're a Ventures fan, chances are you already own at least one of these albums, but if you haven't heard anything they've done since 1960, you're not going to find either of them very edifying, so without a lot of Mellotron work, I really wouldn't bother.

Official site

Mario Venuti  (Italy)

	Grandimprese  (2003,  43.56)  **/T
	Veramente Bisogna Metterci la Faccia Un Attimo di Gioia L'Invenzione Re Solo Il Dono Monna Lisa Le Grandi Imprese	Di Cuore, di Braccia Sant'Agata Su Marte

Current availability:

• Musica&Suoni

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Mario Venuti, who has worked with Carmen Consoli, amongst others, is an Italian singer/songwriter type who's been recording since the early '90s. His fourth album, 2003's Grandimprese, is, to be honest, a thoroughly average pop/rock effort, with too many modern production tricks to make it particularly listenable a mere few years later. The eastern-flavoured Il Dono's about the best thing here, but that's slightly clutching at straws.

Roberto Battini plays Mellotron flutes on Il Dono, with a perfectly nice part that enhances the rather ordinary, mid-paced effort reasonably nicely, although it's a rare ray of light on an otherwise tedious album. If you understand Italian, you might get more out of this than I did, but only if you can bear the bland, mainstream music.

Official site

Verdena  (Italy)

	Miami Safari  (2002,  20.07)  **½/T½ Miami Safari Solo un Grande Sasso - Part I Solo un Grande Sasso - Part II Creepy Smell Morbida
	Luna  (2004,  20.09)  **½/T Luna Harvest Le Tue Ossa Nell'Altitudine Apice Omashee

	WOW  (2011,  83.13)  **½/TTT½
	Scegli Me (un Mondo Che Tu Non Vuoi) Loniterp Per Sbaglio Mi Coltivo Razzi Arpia Inferno e Fiamme Adoratorio Miglioramento Il Nulla di O. Lui Gareggia	Le Scarpe Volanti Castelli per Aria Sorriso in Spiaggia pt.I Sorriso in Spiaggia pt.II Attonito È Solo Lunedì Tu e Me Badea Blues Nuova Luce	Grattacielo A Capello Rossella Roll Over Canzone Ostinata 12,5 mg Sul Ciglio Letto di Mosche La Volta Lei Disse (un Mondo del Tutto Diefferente)

	Radar (EjABBABBAjE)  (2011, recorded 1993-2011,  31.41)  **½/T½
	Rossella Roll Over (live) Le Scarpe Volanti (live) È Solo Lunedì (live) Segale Cornuta Inutilniente Baby I Love You Optical (demo) A Capello (demo)	Razzi Arpia Inferno e Fiamme (Drum 2) Razzi Arpia Inferno e Fiamme (Aucan remix)

Current availability:

• EPs: Black Out
• WOW: Universal Italia
• Radar: Gruppo Editoriale l'Espresso S.p.A.

Mellotrons used:

• Unknown

Verdena are a successful Italian 'alt.rock' band; going by their 2002 EP, Miami Safari, they are, indeed, an alternative to rock. Unfair? Maybe, but material like the two parts of Solo Un Grande Sasso have more in common with post-rock than anything. As I said, an alternative to rock. Admittedly, their take on The Melvins' Creepy Smell is punky enough, but they didn't write it, did they? On the Mellotron front, the two brothers who formed the band, drummer Luca and vocalist/guitarist Alberto Ferrari both play it, with cellos on the title track, distant flutes on Solo Un Grande Sasso - Part II, sounding very real at the end of the track, with more of the same on Morbida.

The Luna EP, from two years later, shifts between the near-punk of the title track, the straight acoustic cover of Neil Young's Harvest and the post-rock of Le Tue Ossa Nell'Altitudine and Omashee. Mellotronically speaking, the only identifiable parts are what sounds like the Chamberlin solo male voice on Le Tue Ossa Nell'Altitudine and the high cellos on Apice, making me heavily doubt its veracity. Without further proof, however...

2011's overlong two-disc WOW is, essentially, more of the same from their EP days, nine years on. With some heavy pruning, this could be a passable album, but the fatal decision to make it a double sinks the whole enterprise, at least to my ears. There are a couple of best tracks: disc two's opener, Attonito, where the band discovers a killer riff that I've never heard used before and the unsurprisingly almost-unaccompanied vocal number A Capello. Mellotron variously this time from bassist Roberta Sammarelli and Ferrari (A.), sometimes both on the same track, with strings and cellos all over opener Scegli Me (Un Mondo Che Tu Non Vuoi), upfront strings on Per Sbaglio, Razzi Arpia Inferno E Fiamme and Castelli Per Aria, background ones on Mi Coltivo and Sorriso In Spiaggia Pt.I, strings and male choirs on Adoratorio, strings and flutes on Sorriso In Spiaggia Pt.II, strings and distorted flutes on Badea Blues, a rising string line on Rossella Roll Over and, finally, flutes on Letto Di Mosche. However, there's nothing audible on Loniterp, while the strings on disc two's Tu E Me are real.

2011's strangely-titled Radar (EjABBABBAjE) (so what's with the palindrome, chaps?) is a short odds'n'sods collection, better tracks including a live È Solo Lunedì and Razzi Arpia Inferno E Fiamme (Drum 2), although it's difficult to say just how much the latter differs from the version on WOW. Two Mellotron tracks, with strings on Razzi Arpia..., as on their previous release and skronky flutes and surprisingly melodic strings on the raucous Baby I Love You, recorded right back in 1993, presumably both from Ferrari, not to mention string samples on the live Rossella Roll Over (don't tell me they were using an M400 live; they weren't).

Italian-language alt.rock? Thought not. There are a handful of decent tracks spread across these two releases, but with so much wishy-washy filler, it's difficult to appreciate their better moments. Not awful, but a very long way from 'good', too. Their one real bonus point is the Mellotron use, sounding pretty real, which makes a nice change.

Official site

Jules Verdone  (US)

	Diary of a Liar  (1998,  41.59)  ***/½
	Through My Teeth Debt Little Dumb Rock Song Finger When I Snap Out of This Fall Down in Three Keep This Up	Everything's Your Fault Baltimore or Less The Porch Song

Current availability:

• Q-Division

Chamberlin used:

• Unknown

The Baltimore-born and Boston-based Jules Verdone is one of those American 'alternative' artists that the '90s coughed up in unfeasible numbers, although biographical information on her seems to be in short supply. 1998's Diary of a Liar is not only her debut, but seemingly her only release to date, which is a shame, as it's not a bad album of its type, tracks of the quality of Fall Down In Three or the slightly off-kilter Everything's Your Fault pointing to a potential future as, at least, a Lilith Fair regular with respectable record sales.

Jon Lupfer plays Chamberlin, with a skronky but faint flute part on Little, although that would appear to be it. This album only just misses out on an extra half star, to be honest, but lines have to be drawn somewhere... So; good at what it does, but forget it for the Chamby.

MySpace

Vermilion Sands  (Japan)  see: Samples

Versailles  (France)

Le Trésor de Valliesres  (1994,  66.08)  ****½/TT Le Serment des Damnés Exquise Bêtise Une Saint Barthelemy Dévote Viendra l'Heure Jadis Dégénérescence Obsessionnelle Avec Tous Mes Hommages Le Trésor de Valliesres

Current availability:

• Musea (France)

Mellotron used:

• Band's own M400

French proggers Versailles, despite being a '90s outfit (actually formed in 1985), are superb, unlike so many other 'Musea bands' of the era, taking their influences more from the likes of Genesis and (naturally) Gallic prog heroes Ange than the horrid Marillion, say. Although their second release, 1992's Don Giovanni, is apparently their most celebrated, it's their follow-up, '94's Le Trésor de Valliesres, that concerns us here. It's a theatrical, very French progressive album, full of musical twists and turns, typified by its centrepiece, the eccentric, twenty-minute Une Saint Barthelemy Dévote, although almost every track does something unexpected, which is a joy to hear. Incidentally, I shall presume that brief acoustic guitar piece Jadis is named for the Narnia character rather than the neo-prog band...

The band have boasted of 'buying a Mellotron from Yes', which seems slightly unlikely, as I've always been under the impression that any machines used by that band actually belonged to Rick Wakeman personally, not to mention that the chances of Yes still owning anything Mellotronic in the early '90s seem low to nonexistent. Anyway, Alain de Lille adds occasional strings to all highlighted tracks above, although his most full-on use is a major string part in the closing minute of the lengthy Dégénérescence Obsessionnelle. All choir sounds, incidentally, are quite clearly generic samples from the era.

So; a triumph of will in a time of famine, plague, death and, er, the other one. This is the kind of album for which trad prog fans were crying out in the '90s, unaware, like myself, that it even existed. Highly recommended to anyone who ever liked Ange, but wanted the theatricality toned down a little, although not worth it for Mellotron obsessives. Incidentally, after another of their influences, Mona Lisa's vocalist, Dominique le Guennec, joined Versailles for their fourth and last album, the band effectively became the new Mona Lisa, using Mellotron samples on 1998's De l'Ombre à la Lumière.

See: Mona Lisa

Versus X  (Germany)  see: Samples

Vertical Horizon  (US)

	Go  (2003,  43.11)  *½/T
	When You Cry I'm Still Here Forever Sunshine Goodbye Again Echo It's Over One of You	Won't Go Away Inside Underwater

Current availability:

• RCA

Chamberlin used:

• Patrick Warren's M1

Vertical Horizon are one of those utterly faceless rock/pop/indie-style bands who seem to do well in America. Maybe here, too; I'm totally out of touch with what 'young people' listen to, and if it's anything like Vertical Horizon, I'm keen to keep it that way. Most of their fifth album, 2003's Go, is that awful kind of 'confessional' tosh that so many bands feel the need to foist on us these days. No, we don't care. Shut up. The occasional track picks itself up and dusts itself down, surprisingly, principally the slightly Rush-ish Sunshine, but please don't take that as some kind of recommendation (just in case).

Patrick Warren does his usual Chamberlin thing on a few tracks, with background strings on I'm Still Here, Forever and closer Underwater, none to any great effect, sadly. This is pretty godawful, I have to say, with little Chamberlin use. Avoid. Incidentally and bizarrely, the band's 2009 release, Burning the Days (forthcoming at the time of writing) features no less a drumming deity than Rush's Neil Peart on three tracks, one of which he wrote the lyrics for. Why, Neil? Why? Maybe they've got better in the last six years. Let's hope so.

Official site

Vertigo Go  (Spain)  see: Samples

Veruca Salt  (US)  see: Samples

The Verve  (UK)

	Urban Hymns  (1997,  67.06)  **/T
	Bitter Sweet Symphony Sonnet The Rolling People The Drugs Don't Work Catching the Butterfly Neon Wilderness Space and Time Weeping Willow	Lucky Man One Day This Time Velvet Morning Come On

Current availability:

• Hut (UK)

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

In Urban Hymns, The Verve (they had to add the 'The' after threats of legal action from the legendary US record company) produced a late-period mainstay of the Britpop movement, with the huge success of both Bitter Sweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work. Amusingly, their initial failure to credit the sample running through Bitter Sweet Symphony, from a mid-'60s album of orchestral Rolling Stones songs, led to a court case, resolved by the band allegedly paying out not only 100% of the song's royalties to Jagger/Richards, but also another sum to another interested party, ending up with them making a minus figure on the song. Still, it helped them sell a great many albums, so let's not shed too many tears for them. The Rolling People is also heavily plagiaristic, this time of The Four Horsemen from Aphrodites Child's seminal 666 (thanks, Matt); not very original, these chaps, are they?

The album itself is pretty much as you'd expect, with the usual whiny indie vocals from the irritating Richard Ashcroft and weak drumming, but it sold loads, so what do I know? I presume guitar/keyboards man Simon Tong played the Mellotron on the relevant tracks; Space And Time and This Time have some wavery strings, but that would appear to be it. So; background 'Tron use, boring songs and bad attitude. Avoid.

See: Richard Ashcroft

Vespero  (Russia)  see: Samples

Herbert Vianna  (Brazil)

	O Som do Sim  (2000,  38.20)  **½/½
	O Muro História de uma Bala Vamos Viver Partir, Andar Mr. Scarecrow Hoje Canções A Mais In Between Days	Eu Não Sei Nada Um Truque Une Chanson Triste

Current availability:

• EMI

Chamberlin used:

• Unknown

Herbert Vianna's career kicked off as frontman of Os Paralamas do Sucesso, 2000's O Som do Sim being his third and (to date) last solo album, released just months before the appalling light aircraft accident that crippled Vianna and killed his wife. It's a Portuguese- and English-language (as you can see from the titles) pop/rock effort, occasionally slipping into something akin to the Latin mainstream, notably Hoje Canções, while História De Uma Bala features some messing about with turntables and closer Une Chanson Triste plays with dub stylings. Better moments include opener O Muro and the slide guitar solo on the rootsy Mr. Scarecrow, but, sadly, too much of the album coasts along in a decidedly average kind of way.

Carlo Bartolini plays (presumably real) Chamberlin, with flutes on História De Uma Bala, although all other possible parts are probably something else. Although this album does what it does perfectly well, I can't honestly recommend it, with too few tracks that do anything different to sustain any real interest.

Vibravoid  (Germany)  see: Samples

Viima  (Finland)

Kahden Kuun Sirpit  (2009,  45.11)  ****/TTTT Autio Pelto Unohtunut Sukellus Kahden Kuun Sirpit

Current availability:

• Self-released

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

The fact that Finns Viima owe a debt to Focus on their second album, 2009's Kahden Kuun Sirpit, is obvious from the off, but that's so much more welcome than the usual half-arsed range of influences that forgiveness is easy. Very easy indeed. If I have a criticism, it's that they choose to use vocals, if only occasionally; the lengthy instrumental sections are so good that it seems a shame to spoil them with rather below-par vocalising. All four tracks on the album differ, from the Focusisms of opener Autio Pelto through the jaunty, folkish Sukellus to the jazz/folk feel of the slightly overambitious 'side-long' title track, making Viima a very rare beast in the modern progressive scene.

Kimmo Lähteenmäki plays keys, including real Mellotron this time round, with strings and/or choir on every track, plus possible flutes doubling strings on Sukellus. Given that I knew next to nothing about Viima before hearing Kahden Kuun Sirpit, this is an extremely pleasant surprise; not jaw-dropping, but an interesting, genuinely progressive album, within the genre's usual limitations, although their debut is rather less interesting.

Official site

See: Samples

Vijaya  (Sweden)

	The Time Will Come When We Find Our Home  (2005,  17.30)  ****/TT Life - a Slight Change End of Love Street Put on More Make-Up A Few Good People
	Vijaya  (2006,  35.00)  ****/TTTT Örby Slott Life - a Slight Change Great Big City Commuter Train (Time Theft) End of Love Street Your Gun Will Never Set You Free A Few Good People Reflections Pale From the Bright Lights

Current availability:

• Both titles: Starfly/Exergy (Sweden)

Mellotrons used:

• Both titles: Mattias Olsson's M400(s)

Vijaya is a Swedish singer-songwriter, active since the mid-'90s, although she is only now (mid-2005) in the process of recording her debut album. The Time Will Come When We Find Our Home is her second EP, and (I believe) the first to feature Mattias Olsson (Änglagård, Pineforest Crunch etc.)'s production work, including (of course) his inimitable Mellotron, Optigan and so forth. Vijaya specialises in laid-back, melancholy little songs (now there's a surprise, given Mattias' involvement), sung in English, which would almost certainly appeal to a sector of the British (and maybe American?) indie crowd, if only they were actually exposed to it. My personal favourite is 'Tronless opener Life - A Slight Change, but there's little to criticise in any of the tracks here present. 'Tron? A full-on string part closes End Of Love Street, while a flute melody runs through the verses of Put On More Make-Up, with strings towards the end, and Mattias' Chamberlin Rhythmate on A Few Good People, although you're unlikely to spot the latter unless you actually know it's there.

And the following year... Vijaya carries on her good work from the EP, with more melancholy, muted low-fi singer-songwriter stuff. It seems the Time Will Come... EP was a taster for the album; two of the three tracks they have in common seem to be the same versions. The rest of the material follows similar lines, and it's fair to say that if you like previous Mattias Olsson productions, you'll like this. Conversely... Loads of Mellotron, with particular highlights being the very full-on strings (various sounds) on Örby Slott, End Of Love Street and Pale From The Bright Lights, with some of the 'Tron parts being so high in the mix that they drown out everything else. Yes! Apart from the Rhythmate in A Few Good People, you can spot the 'Tron in every highlighted track, although chances are you'll miss sounds such as the Chamberlin piano/lap steel/harp, MkI 'Tron moving cellos/violins and woodwinds, clarinet, boys choir and Hammond with pedals, but they're all in there somewhere. Plenty of Orchestron and Optigan, too, not to mention several strange organs, including the Silvertone (played by Vijaya), the Elgam and the Malmsjö 500. Anything new? Thankfully, no.

As previously stated, if you like Roth-Händle productions, you will assuredly like Vijaya. Despite the writing credits, most of Mattias' productions are effectively his albums with different people writing and singing, and these are no different. Recommended.

Official site

See: Änglagård

Kurt Vile  (US)

	Smoke Ring for My Halo  (2011,  46.49)  ***/T
	Baby's Arms Jesus Fever Puppet to the Man On Tour Society is My Friend Runner Ups In My Time Peeping Tomboy	Smoke Ring for My Halo Ghost Town Untitled

Current availability:

• Matador

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

'Kurt Vile' (ho ho), real name unknown, is an American singer-songwriter with a Dylanish edge, whose fourth album, 2011's Smoke Ring for My Halo, combines his core style with something of an alt.rock edge, not to mention occasional mock-Spectoresque touches. To be honest, a few tracks go on a bit - the album might have been better had it not topped forty minutes - but the overall effect is decent enough, within its limitations.

For some unknown reason it takes both Vile and Adam Granduciel to play the Mellotron on Society Is My Friend, with flute and string parts scattered throughout the song, though rarely to any great effect. Overall, then, not bad, not great, one so-so 'Tron track.

Official site

Jacques Villeneuve  (Québec)

	Private Paradise  (2007,  54.40)  *½/T
	Foolin' Around You Are Father Tout Dire Ones Accepterais-Tu? Why Did You Come? Vaguement	Lullaby Private Paradise Etrangers Women Come Women Go Mother Earth

Current availability:

• Newtown

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Jacques Villeneuve's story has to be one of the oddest on this site: a respected Formula One racing driver, he took the unusual step for someone from his profession of diversifying into music with 2007's Private Paradise. It shouldn't come as any great surprise to learn that it's pretty terrible; Villeneuve's not always fully in-tune vocals spout his frequently risible lyrics on a succession of tedious, overlong, self-written ballads, possibly best-heard on Father: "Father, I miss you so/Father, why'd you have to go?" Pure genius. A handful of tracks are no worse than 'dull', but with so many painful clunkers, the album was doomed to failure.

Fred Jaffre plays Mellotron, with a full-on flute part opening Lullaby, although that would appear to be your lot. I think it would be fair to say that the album was not a success; by the end of its year of release, it had apparently sold under a thousand copies across the entire North American continent. Ouch. OK, it's bland and dull, but so is most music; surely his name should've sold more copies than that? Presumably not.

MySpace

Vintersorg  (Norway)  see: Samples

Violent Femmes  (US)

	Why Do Birds Sing?  (1991,  42.23)  **½/½
	American Music Out the Window Look Like That Do You Really Want to Hurt Me Hey Nonny Nonny Used to Be Girl Trouble He Likes Me	Life is a Scream Flamingo Baby Lack of Knowledge More Money Tonight I'm Free

	Rock!!!!!  (1995,  32.12)  **½/T
	Living a Lie Tonight Bad Dream I Danced Thanksgiving (No Way Out) Dahmer is Dead Life is an Adventure She Went to Germany	I Wanna See You Again Didgeriblues Death Drugs Sweet Worlds of Angels

Current availability:

• Why Do Birds Sing?: Warners
• Rock!!!!!: Cooking Vinyl (UK)

Mellotrons used:

• Birds: unknown
• Rock: Sigmund Snopek's M400?

I'm told the Violent Femmes were at their peak in the '80s, and 1991's Why Do Birds Sing? is their first real letdown. I can believe it, I have to say; dullard 'alternative' stuff with a slight Americana bent doth not make for an especially fun listen, round these parts, at least. Keyboards throughout from producer Michael Beinhorn, including Mellotron on two tracks. Yes, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me is a cover of the execrable Culture Club song (is there any other kind?), made surprisingly palatable by the Femmes' approach, albeit with no more than a hint of 'Tron strings halfway through. Used To Be has a more overt strings part, though nothing you haven't heard a thousand times before, in all honesty, mixed with real strings into the bargain. Nowt special.

Rock!!!!!'s sleeve is a heavy-handed, not to say several years too late satire on late-'80s L.A. hair metal, but the group were well past their sell-by date by this point, so I suppose we shouldn't be that surprised. OK, there's an awful lot worse about, but it all seems rather uninspired, certainly in comparison to their cutting-edge '80s albums; the fact that it was initially released only in Australia says it all, really. The only track that stands out in any way is Didgeriblues (so what's all this Aussie business, then?), which seems to've been mastered louder than the rest of the album, and has a ripping didgeridoo part from bassist Brian Ritchie. Mellotron on one track, from the inimitable Sigmund Snopek III; closer Sweet Worlds Of Angels has a really very nice flute part, from someone who knows his Mellotrons. Sadly, it's the best thing on the album, so if you liked their early stuff, I think I have to recommend that you stick to that and avoid their reformation material.

So; two very unexciting albums, unless, I suppose, you're a diehard Violent Femmes fan, in which case you're not going to take a blind bit of notice of these reviews anyway. One decent 'Tron track between the pair, so don't go too far out of your way.

Official site

See: Sigmund Snopek III

Violet Burning  (US)  see: Samples

Violet Sedan Chair  (US)  see: Samples

The Virgineers  (US)

	The Virgineers  (1999,  45.47)  ****/T
	Love Circus Places That I've Never Been Sun Floating Plastic Man How Far Does Space Go? The Morning Moon Dr. Glouster	Be My Guru Lost Balloon Diesel Train

Current availability:

• The Orchard

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Despite their apparent claims to be from Antarctica, The Virgineers hail from the Chicago area by all accounts and in their self-titled debut, have produced one of the best '60s psych albums released since... well, the '60s, I suppose. A duo, they're augmented here by a few friends, although I've no idea how they might do this stuff live. Material-wise, the dreamy, lysergic feel of Floating or The Morning Moon contrast with the space glam-boogie of Be My Guru or the sitar frenzy of opener Love Circus, making for a pleasing pot-pourri of psychedelic styles. Of course, as with the Dukes of Stratosphear, several tracks here sound more like homages than original compositions, the caveat being that the Dukes were a deliberate spoof... How Far Does Space Go? has a Syd's Floyd vibe about it, and is that an early Quo reference on Floating's chorus?

Anyway, one of the aforementioned friends is Ray Muirwood, who sticks some Mellotron on a few tracks, with string parts on Sun, Floating and Diesel Train, although I have to say I'm not convinced by its veracity, truth be told. However, it isn't 'sampled' enough to automatically move it into that section, so it stays here until/if I find out for sure. All in all, then, a great little album, if slightly derivative. The writing's excellent and the overall feel takes one straight back to the era of joss sticks, funny cigarettes and too much paisley (can you have too much paisley? Discuss), knocking yer typical indie-schmindie rubbish into the proverbial cocked hat, whatever that is. Buy.

Official site

Visible Wind  (Québec)

	A Moment Beyond Time  (1991/1999,  43.49/51.26)  **½/0 (T½)
	Behind the Curtain A Moment in Time Soleil d'Aube Chasing the Skyline Ulysse's Return Seeking the Moon Solitude The Faded Years	Running Backwards A Moment Beyond Time ? Beyond the Curtain

	Narcissus Goes to the Moon  (1996,  68.27)  ***/TTT
	A Succulent Anachronic Pastiche Fuzzy Concept By the River Xenophobia Introvenus Intravenus Lunar Doubts Join My Soul Race on a Pseudo Flying Carpet	Nothing Left to Hide Ambulance The Awakening   Camel Ride Dream   A Bubble Burst   Prisonnier du Temps   The Preacher in the Desert Quicksand   The Mad Tryst   A New Reality   So Divine

	Barb-à-Baal-a-Loo  (2001,  54.19)  ****/TTT
	Vladivostok The Healer/Maniaquerie Barb-à-Baal-a-Loo Hollow Emptiness Mal Brook Lost Ideals Dans le Vide Qui Sème le Vent...	Neandertal Visages de Sable Recommencement Freed Again I Was There

Current availability:

• All titles: Ipso Facto (Canada)/(Narcissus... also on Musea (France))

Mellotrons used:

• All titles: band's own M400

Visible Wind are another English-as-second-language band who haven't understood the comic potential of the word 'wind' in the wrong context; Belgian band Now have to be the worst offenders with their debut, Complaint of the Wind (stop laughing at the back), but these guys aren't that far behind, sadly. It seems they've been going since the early '80s, although they've managed to shuck off some of their more overt neo-progisms over the years. I haven't heard '88's Catharsis, thankfully, but much of '91's A Moment in Time is pretty awful neo-prog, top offenders including The Faded Years and the title track, although parts of Chasing The Skyline are pretty inventive, while Solitude is a beautiful classical guitar piece. Now, a minor conundrum: how is it that a Mellotron-free album, recorded several years before the band's purchase, can suddenly become a Mellotron album? Because, dear readers, for reasons best-known to themselves, the band reissued their by-then out of print title eight years later, adding not only a couple of bonus tracks (italicised above), but overdubbing Mellotron onto both bonuses and the title track. Stephen Geysens adds string swells to Running Backwards and chordal strings to new closer Beyond The Curtain, with strings and choirs added to various parts of the lengthy title track, to passable effect.

While I haven't heard '94's Emergence, '96's Narcissus Goes to the Moon is a considerable improvement over the band's early work, although the song structures are still rather simplistic by symphonic standards. Improvement it may be, but even on the longer material, I find myself wishing the band would be more adventurous and that the guitarist would stop pretending he was playing in a part-time metal band (a common problem in current prog). Originality is an issue, too; there's a direct Saga rip on Intravenus, and what sounds like a Jadis vocal line on Lunar Doubts, though I'm probably being a bit harsh; much of the material holds the interest, despite its over-reliance on Geysens' vocals, which, to his credit, are almost accentless. At some point in the mid-'90s, Geysens bought a Mellotron and uses it a reasonable amount here; choir chords on Fuzzy Concept, a polyphonic flute part on Xenophobia, followed by some full-on, top-of-the-mix strings. More choirs on the lengthy Intravenus (as against the short instrumental Introvenus) and another upfront string part on Race On A Pseudo Flying Carpet. A couple of the highlighted tracks above only feature a few seconds, mind you, with the strings at the beginning of Nothing Left To Hide being no more than a hang-over from the end of the previous track, but overall, Geysens uses his 'Tron imaginatively and doesn't overdo it, unlike some I could name.

Well, give a band a few years... Five years on, the strangely-titled Barb-à-Baal-a-Loo (no, I don't know what it means either) sounds almost nothing like its predecessor, never mind the band's highly derivative early work. Heavier than before, it's also far more inventive, sounding like... well, no-one, really, and it's not often you can say that in the progressive world these days. There are still some standard song structures dotted around (Lost Ideals), but the band take interesting and unexpected twists and turns all over the place, which is more than you can say for 99% of their neo-prog contemporaries. Geysens' keyboard work is even better than on Narcissus..., too, with plenty of ripping (in a 'has to be real' vein) Hammond, and plenty of Mellotron, mostly strings, with some highly effective swells in Dans Le Vide, slightly recalling Crimson's Epitaph. Even where he uses polysynth patches (analogue? Digital?), as on Recommencement, he manages to keep them interesting and original, rather than the awful 'this one's straight outta 1988!' approach that still seems all too common amongst his contemporaries.

According to the band's website, there are a huge number of unofficial recordings available from the band; well over a hundred, dating back to 1983, if they can be believed, so it seems highly likely that many of the later ones also feature their M400. So; do you buy these albums? A Moment in Time: not unless you're a neo-prog fan. Narcissus Goes to the Moon: do you have a tolerance for fairly inventive neo-prog? Do you object to a lack of key-changes in your progressive listening? If these aren't problems, there's some nice (real) Mellotron work on the album. Barb-à-Baal-a-Loo: What a surprisingly excellent record - if only more current prog bands would make this much effort to do something new, while not forgetting the all-important exhortation to 'write some songs!' Recommended.

Official site

Viva Voce  (US)  see: Samples

Volaré  (US)

	The Uncertainty Principle  (1997,  61.33)  ****/T½
	Caught in a Combine Abcircus Blitz One Minute of Thought... Midnight Clear ...In Two Seconds of Time... Vespers ...(Incompete, Broken, and Abstract)	Cropcircles Black and White

Current availability:

• The Laser's Edge (US)

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Sadly, it seems that Volaré split within a year of their sole album release, The Uncertainty Principle. I've seen reviews comparing them to the incomparable Happy the Man and the Canterbury scene, but to my ears they sounded more like a slightly easier-on-the-ears version of Present, or maybe Thinking Plague, with a side helping of King Crimson, although none of those really describes them. They've also been reviewed on jazz sites, but they're not jazz either... Basically, we're talking complex instrumental music that doesn't entirely forsake melody in its race to be 'weirder than thou'. Best tracks? I'll need to listen to it some more to really nail it, but the gentle One Minute Of Thought... stands out on a first listen.

Keys man Patrick Strawser plays Mellotron on a few tracks, with fractured strings and choir parts, rarely using it for more than a few seconds at a time, although that fits in with their overall style. It's possible there's a little more here and there, buried in the mix, but with several other synths on the album, both analogue and digital, it's hard to say. As a result, you couldn't really call this a 'Tron album, but it's very good indeed at what it does. Highly recommended to all of you who are after something a bit more challenging.

Volt  (UK)  see: Samples

Volúmen Cero  (US)

	Estelar  (2004,  44.25)  **/T
	Bailarinas Autos Despiertame Luces Diviso Biscayne Donde Quiera Que Voy Muerdeme	Asi Vivimos Si Tu Deseas Universe

Current availability:

• Warners

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Although based in Miami, Volúmen Cero (who released their debut album in 1996 as Orgasmic Bliss) are comprised of expat South American musicians seemingly in thrall to The Cure and other post-punks, going by their third (?) album under this name, 2004's Estelar. Frankly, it's a pretty dullsville effort, its least bad tracks including the jangly Luces and closer Universe, which shouldn't be taken as any kind of recommendation at all.

Rubén Parra plays skronky Mellotron strings on Si Tu Deseas and cellos and strings on Universe, buried deeply enough in the mix to make it difficult to tell whether or not they're real. Well, Latin rock used to mean Santana; now it means Volúmen Cero. Not a trade-off for the better, frankly.

MySpace

Charity Von  (US)

	Charity Von  (2004,  42.58)  **/T
	Weight of the World The Narrow I'll Be (the Pleasure's Mine) Take Me Through it In Your Presence Shine You Make it Fine I Believe in Miracles	Alone The Message

Current availability:

• Spring Hill

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Charity Von is a current Christian artist whose eponymous 2004 debut starts well, in a fairly rocky vein, then quickly descends into the pits of slush with tracks like I'll Be (The Pleasure's Mine) or You Make It Fine, by which time the lyrics have shifted into Full-On Christian Mode. I don't know which style Von prefers (assuming either), but a handful of better tracks do not a decent album make.

Blair Masters (Human, Erin O'Donnell) plays Mellotron flutes on the rather vocally overblown I'll Be (The Pleasure's Mine) and, despite rumours, that appears to be it. Well, a handful of listenable tracks are scuppered by as many or more entirely unlistenable ones, all with an unappealing veneer of God. Pity.

MySpace

Anna von Hausswolff  (Sweden)

Singing From the Grave  (2010,  50.34)  ***/½ Move on Track of Time Pills Above All Singing From the Grave Lost at Sea Old Beauty/Du Kan Nu Dö The Book I am Leaving

Current availability:

• Kning

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

Anna von Hausswolff is a new Swedish singer operating at the Kate Bush end of the spectrum, if you'll excuse the cliché. 2010's Singing From the Grave is her debut, full of her gothic piano work and other muted instrumentation, doing a fair job of soundtracking an imaginary film based on the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Better tracks include Lost At Sea and the intense, nine-minute The Book, although Pills, with its more 'rock' instrumentation, doesn't work so well in context.

Anna plays the Mellotron on closer I Am Leaving herself, although the only audible evidence is a few string chords that don't really sound that Mellotronic. Anyway, one for those of you who prefer to wear black and might be considering a future career as a vampire. Perfectly good at what it does, but a bit overblown and slightly wearing if it's not your bag.

Official site

Voodoo Glow Skulls  (US)

	Baile de los Locos  (1997,  34.49)  ***/0
	Baile de los Locos Here We Are Again My Soul is Sick Bullet Proof Elephantitis Los Hombres No Lloran Nazican Freeballin'	Motel Six The Kids Will Have to Pay Nowhere Left to Go This Ain't No Disco Feliz Navidad

Current availability:

• Epitaph

Mellotron used:

• Unknown

The Voodoo Glow Skulls play that peculiarly American crossover, ska/punk, and to my ears, they seem to make a perfectly good job of it. I don't know who first decided to speed the snare up to thrash levels, but it's quite an effective trick. I have to say, most tracks on their fourth album, 1997's Baile de los Locos ('dance of the madmen') are indistinguishable from each other, although the odd exception leaks through, not least the almost Cardiacs at their most ska-tastic soundalikes Here We Are Again and Elephantitis.

Jim Goodwin is credited with Mellotron, but I'll be fucked if I can hear it under the manic brass section. I'm sure it's in there somewhere, but you know how it is... Anyway, a good example of a strange (and strangely popular) genre, just not somewhere you'll go to hear any Mellotron.

Official site

Vos Voisins  (Québec)

Holocauste à Montréal  [a.k.a. Vos Voisins]  (1971,  33.36)  ****/TT Voisins (Mon Chum) Sous la Lune L'Instrumental Tania Le Monstre de la Main Ya Just de T'Ca Le 3/4 de l'Archevèque

Current availability:

• Not on CD

Mellotron used:

• Yvon Deschamps' M300

Vos Voisins ('your neighbours') were one of Québec's (and probably Canada's) first progressive bands, taking their cues from the first Gentle Giant album and Ekseption's mad, Hammond-fuelled takes on the classical canon, amongst others, with maybe a hint of Deep Purple's organ filth. To my knowledge, 1971's Holocauste à Montréal was their sole album, quickly re-released as Vos Voisins after some long-forgotten fuss over the sleeve design. Despite the above influences, the band had already found their own voice by the time they recorded the record, knocking spots off, say, the early Ange albums (to pick the biggest French-language prog band of the, or probably any time), combining classical, rock and jazz in a slightly different way to pretty much anyone else I can think if, which is probably enough to count as 'original', especially when you consider when this was made.

Keys man Jacques Perron played their friend Yvon Deschamps' M300, with strings on Tania and strings and flutes on Le Monstre De La Main, although nothing on probably the album's best track, closer Le 3/4 De L'Archevèque. Although of slightly variable quality, this really is an outstanding album in places, well worth tracking down. The ProgQuebec label are rumoured to be reissuing it at some point, but I don't have any more information at the moment.

MySpace

Vow Wow  (Japan)

	Live  (1987,  48.57)  ****½/TTT½
	Introduction - Beat of Metal Motion Doncha Wanna Come (Hangar 15) Too Late to Turn Back Mask of Flesh (Masquerade) Pains of Love Love Walks Premonition Hurricane	Shot in the Dark Nightless City

	Hard Rock Night  (1987,  73.29)  ****½/TTT½
	Introduction - Beat of Metal Motion Go Insane Doncha Wanna Come (Hangar 15) Guitar Solo (Snow Flakes) - Pains of Love Too Late to Turn Back Mask of Flesh (Masquerade) Vocal Solo (Cry Me a River) I'll Wait a Lifetime	Keyboard Solo (including Arabesque) Signs of the Times Love Walks Premonition Hurricane Shot in the Dark Guitar Solo (CCG) - You Got it Made Nightless City

	V  (1987,  47.19/53.16)  ***/T
	Don't Tell Me Lies Somewhere in the Night The Girl in Red Break Out Cry No More Same Town Born to Die Waited for a Lifetime	Don't Leave Me Now War Man [CD adds: Don't Leave Me Now (extended)]

Current availability:

• Out of print?

Mellotrons used:

• Both titles: band's own M400

Vow Wow formed in the early '80s from the ashes of Bow Wow, one of Japan's best-loved homegrown rock outfits. Instead of the original band's two guitar lineup, Vow Wow went for one guitar (band leader and wunderkind Kyoji Yamamoto) and keys (the superb Rei Atsumi), and a far more sophisticated sound than their previous incarnation. Sadly, several of their albums have never been available outside Japan, but Live and V were the second and third of four to be released in the West. Live is actually an edited version of the Japanese-only Hard Rock Night, which may have been a double on vinyl; it's certainly a full-length CD.

Live/Hard Rock Night's an excellent record; the best of their repertoire up to that point recorded in front of a partisan home crowd. From killer opener Beat Of Metal Motion to their classic, Hurricane, they can do no wrong. Atsumi's keyboard rig consisted of the best from all eras; MiniMoog, Jupiter-8, DX7 and, of course, a Mellotron M400. There are some nice string swells on Doncha Wanna Come and some epic chords in the short introduction to Hurricane, Premonition, but he gives the full five-star treatment to big ballad Pains Of Love. A picked guitar intro, Snow Flakes, with Genki Hitomi's plaintive (if strongly-accented) vocal leads into a massively effective key change and a blast of 'Tron strings, which Atsumi keeps up for the rest of the song, plus a short flute solo and a burst of choirs at the end. Absolutely magnificent. The longer version of the album adds mucho 'Tron choir and strings on Atsumi's keyboard solo, much as I remember it live from the time, while it becomes apparent that Love Walks has a brief string part and Hurricane features some background choir stabs.

Although the band used their Mellotron to great effect live (I still have fond memories of several London Marquee gigs at the time), it barely pokes its head above the parapet on their next studio effort, V (as in 'Five'). In fact, it's extremely difficult to work out what might be 'Tron and what might be generic string sample, or choir for that matter. It sounds like choir on a couple of tracks, but I'm willing to be proved wrong. The album's best track, Waited For A Lifetime, actually features what sounds like DX7 brass, despite my general dislike of the instrument.

So; if you can trace Live/Hard Rock Night, get it 'cos it's a great album, and has one total 'Tron classic. If you like the band's style, buy V, but otherwise I really wouldn't bother. The band headed further towards the mainstream after this, and the Mellotron was quietly retired from the road. Apparently Rei still has his machine, and it's been spotted on a relatively recent release, so at least he hasn't dumped it, like so many other past players.

Here they are playing Pains Of Love, allegedly live, although it all looks very 'staged', one nice close Mellotron shot (also one Taurus pedal, for those who care).