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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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Valinors Tree Van der Graaf Generator John Vanderslice |
Gino Vannelli The Verve Vijaya |
Violent Femmes Visible Wind |
Volaré Vow Wow |
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And Then There is Silence (2000, 65.14) ****/TT½Fields of SorrowLike a Whisper Tell Me a Story Come Home Reaching for Angels Silence Within She Will Dance No More Autumn Rain |
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Valinors Tree's second album, And Then There is Silence, is a marked improvement on their debut, Kingdom of Sadness (with sampled 'Tron, reviewed here), with fewer metal stylings this time round, both vocally and in the guitar department. The Anekdoten comparisons still stand, though Valinors use far more of John Lönnmyr's piano, giving their sound an identity of its own. Actually, the more of this album I hear, the more impressed I am, especially compared to its very ordinary predecessor. They've learnt to pace themselves, use keyboards imaginatively, sing properly... There's trumpet on a couple of tracks, and Reaching For Angels even uses sampled drum loops and pseudo-analogue synth burbles, proving that the band are by no means stuck in the past.
They borrowed The Moor's Kenneth Magnusson's 'Tron first time round, then only sampled it. This time, they actually recorded the thing, with strings on Like A Whisper and She Will Dance No More, very upfront flutes on Tell Me A Story and choirs on Silence Within, although most of their 'Tron use is fairly background, leading to a low-ish 'T' rating. So; while not a classic, And Then There is Silence is worth hearing, though not necessarily for the Mellotron.
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Pawn Hearts (1971, 45.08) *****/TLemmings (Including Cog)Man-Erg A Plague of Lighthouse-Keepers Eyewitness Pictures/Lighthouse Eyewitness S.H.M. Presence of the Night Kosmos Tours (Custard's) Last Stand The Clot Thickens Land's End (Sineline) We Go Now |
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Still Life (1976) ****/½PilgrimsStill Life La Rossa My Room (Waiting for Wonderland) Childlike Faith in Childhood's End |
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World Record (1976) ****/TWhen She ComesA Place to Survive Masks Meurglys III, the Songwriter's Guild Wondering |
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Van der Graaf Generator were the brainchild of manic vocalist/songwriter Peter Hammill, forming at Manchester University in the late '60s. After an early, fantastically rare single, they split, Hammill recording a solo album that eventually, to his irritation, got itself released as the first VdGG outing. Aerosol Grey Machine (***½) isn't bad, but is rather 'of its time' and bears little relation to the sonic holocaust that was to come. Hammill then regrouped the band properly, recording the stunning The Least We Can Do is Wave to Each Other (****½) and H to He Who am the Only One (****½), the title referring to 'hydrogen to helium', so pronounced 'aitch to aitch ee'.
Their third album in as many years, Pawn Hearts is an incredible piece of work; dark, progressive and manic, and that's just the first two minutes of Lemmings. Man-Erg is crushingly brilliant, from Hugh Banton's ripping organ work through David Jackson's screaming saxes to Hammill's, well, Hammill. Many fans hold side two's one track, A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers, to be their magnum opus, but I'm not personally sure if it holds up as well as some of their, er, 'shorter' material, but it's still a fairly stunning achievement. Pieced together in the studio, it was unperformable live, so when they turned up at a Belgian TV studio the following year, only to be told "You WILL perform Lighthouse!" they had to film it in bits, splicing it together in the editing suite. There's some suitably insane Mellotron strings on one part of the track, The Clot Thickens, but there can't be more than a minute or two on the whole album. They're an excellent minute or two, though...
Due to all the usual pressures, Van der Graaf split the following year, although all members helped Hammill out in his solo career, leading to the inevitable reformation in 1975. Their first album under the new arrangement was Godbluff (****½), closely followed by Still Life and World Record, before the band fractured again. To my ears, Still Life is the better album, and still getting better with every listen, but World Record definitely has its moments. Live, VdGG and solo Hammill were growing ever closer, with the band regularly performing several 'solo' tracks in their set, and World Record seems to me to be closer to solo Hammill than band, though I'm sure there are plenty who'd disagree with me. Both albums have Mellotron credited, but there's little audible evidence; maybe a touch of strings on the stupendous Pilgrims on Still Life, and a bit of flute on Wondering from the follow-up, but that's about it, really.
VdGG were one of the very best progressive bands of the seventies, and one of the very few with a still untattered reputation, almost certainly due to their general intensity and uncompromising attitude towards their music. Almost any of their albums are worth hearing, though the four from The Least We Can Do... to Godbluff are probably their peak. The only bit of Mellotron in their entire catalogue really worth hearing is the short burst on Pawn Hearts, so buy them for the sheer quality of the music on offer. Monumental.
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Pixel Revolt (2005, 53.43) ***/TT |
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| 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 |
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Pixel Revolt is 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'll be buggered if I can hear the latter. So; maybe one for the singer-songwriter fan who doesn't mind a few modern production tricks? Not bad on the Mellotron front, though not essential. Middling.
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Nightwalker (1981, 36.12) ***/TNightwalkerSeek 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) |
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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.
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.
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Urban Hymns (1997, 69.32) **/T |
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| 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 |
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In Urban Hymns, The Verve (they had to add the 'The' after threats of legal action from the 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.
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The Time Will Come When We Find Our Home (2005, 17.30) ****/TTLife - a Slight ChangeEnd of Love Street Put on More Make-Up A Few Good People |
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Vijaya (2006, 35.00) ****/TTTTÖrby SlottLife - 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 |
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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.
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Rock!!!!! (1995, 32.12) **½/T |
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| 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 |
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The sleeve of the Violent Femmes' Rock!!!!! is a heavy-handed, not to say several years too late satire on late-'80s L.A. hair metal, but as I'm told the group were some years past their sell-by date by this point, 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 it and avoid their reformation material. 'Tron on one other Femmes album I know of, with two tracks from Michael Beinhorn, including a cover of Culture Club's truly horrible Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (don't ask) from '91's Why Do Birds Sing.
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Narcissus Goes to the Moon (1996, 68.27) ***/TTT |
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| 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 |
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Barb-à-Baal-a-Loo (2001, 54.19) ****/TTT |
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| 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 |
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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, but '91's A Moment in Time (**) is pretty awful, being Marillion-lite (!), and while I haven't heard '94's Emergence, '96's Narcissus Goes to the Moon is a considerable improvement over their 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 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 Stephen 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 (has to be real) Hammond, and plenty of 'Tron, 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, and it seems highly likely that many of the later ones also feature it. Also, although it isn't mentioned on their site, another source states that the bonus track on the reissue of A Moment in Time is a re-recording of its title track, complete with 'Tron.
So; do you buy these albums? 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) 'Tron 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.
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The Uncertainty Principle (1997, 61.33) ****/T½Caught in a CombineAbcircus Blitz One Minute of Thought... Midnight Clear ...In Two Seconds of Time... Vespers ...(Incompete, Broken, and Abstract) Cropcircles Black and White |
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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.
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Live (1987, 48.57) ****½/TTT½ |
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| 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 |
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V (1987, 46.48) ***/T |
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| 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)] |
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Vow Wow formed in the early '80s from the ashes of Bow Wow, one of Japan's best-loved homegrown rock outfits. Instead of Bow Wow'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 the two listed above were the second and third of four to be released in the West.
Live is 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 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. Absolutely magnificent.
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; buy Live '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 along with so many other past players.
