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Rime of the Ancient Sampler SI Magazine Schizoid Dimension |
Shockadelica Signs of Life Sing a Song for You |
Sing Hollies in Reverse Sol Lucet Omnibus |
Sounds of Wood & Steel Stay Awake |
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Rime of the Ancient Sampler: The Mellotron Album (1993, 77.42) ***/TTTTT |
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| Matt Clifford: Then and Now Bill Nelson: Mellotronix Michael Pinder Waters Beneath the Bridge Patrick Moraz: Owner's Guide Gordon Reid: Julia Sheila Maloney: Berlin Boys |
Blue Weaver: Mello Blue's Blues Derek Holt: Resurrection Nick Magnus: Night of the Condor Woolly Wolstenholme: Deceivers All Ken Freeman: Attack of the Azimuths Martin Smith: Engulfed |
David Cross: Not So Chris Taylor: Bradmatic David Kean: Lift Julian Colbeck: Heartfelt David Etheridge: Mighty Tron 1964 Mellotron Demonstration Disc: El Cumbanchero |
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Very quietly, in the early '90s, bathroom fitter Martin Smith and John 'son of Les' Bradley opened for business as Streetly Electronics, just outside Birmingham, helping to kickstart the revival of Mellotron use in the UK. They brought my own machine back from the dead in 1993, coincidentally the same year they compiled Rime of the Ancient Sampler: The Mellotron Album, released on Voiceprint. Now long out of print, copies change hands for considerable sums on the 'Tron fan circuit although, if I'm going to be utterly, brutally honest, it's not quite the classic it's made out to be. What's more, although Martin and John spent some weeks trundling a Mark II all over the country for artists to use, only ten of the sixteen tracks recorded especially for the album actually use real 'Tron, one of the sample casualties being Martin's own track, Engulfed. No, I don't know why either.
In retrospect, some of the artists seem rather odd choices. Bill Nelson? (Be-Bop Deluxe only ever used one sparingly). Julian Colbeck? Several lesser-known singer-songwriters/session men? To be fair, the project was put together pretty quickly, and several high-profile names wouldn't commit, and there are a few classic names from Mellotron history. The booklet helpfully lists every sound used by each musician (trainspotters? Us?), even when those sounds are now known to be samples, and there's a good selection, apart from the ubiquitous violins/flutes/choir, including mixed brass, trumpet, sax, oboe, Hammond and Patrick Moraz' special FX set.
The music. Hmmm. This is where it gets a bit difficult for me. I know several of the people involved with the project (like the namedropper I am), so it's with a heavy heart that I say: it's not very good. All but two of the tracks were written specially for the record, the artists being given complete carte blanche, and most of them sound like '80s-hangover session muso stuff, I'm afraid. You know; programmed drums, nasty digital synth patches, no discernable tune. That sort of thing. It's not all bad; The Strawbs' Blue Weaver plays a nice bluesy thing in Mello Blue's Blues, although you can hear the samples at a couple of points, and Moraz' Owner's Guide is intentionally amusing, but most of the material has a rather rushed feel about it, as though the artists were only given a couple of days' notice to come up with something. A few tracks quote from 'Tron classics of yesteryear, notably the Climax Blues Band's Derek Holt, on Resurrection, and my old friend Dave Etheridge, on Mighty Tron. A quick aside here, to say a public 'thank you' to Dave for a) letting me play his Mark II back in the mid-'80s - the first Mellotron I ever laid hands on, and b) ringing me excitedly at work one day in '93 to tell me he'd found someone to get my 'Tron working again. Enter Martin...
However... unsurprisingly, there is some mighty 'Tron work here, with Ken Freeman going completely bonkers with the choirs on Attack Of The Azimuths (you can tell this man's worked on the machine's innards), while the violins (plus his real one) on David Cross' Not So are as in-yer-face as you could ever want; the track's not bad, either. David Kean (US 'Tron resurrector) shows off shamelessly by playing Mellotron, Chamberlin and Birotron on Lift, named for his fave obscure US prog outfit, and Dave Etheridge's Mighty Tron cops The Beatles, The Moody Blues and Genesis, and why not? And Dave, 'Watcher' is in F#, not G...
Whither the two tracks not actually recorded for the album, I hear you ask? Ex-Barclay James Harvester Woolly Wolstenholme's Deceivers All is the best song 'proper' on the album, being recorded for his second solo album in the early '80s, finally seeing the light of day on Black Box, which came out the year after Rime, also on Voiceprint. It's swamped in M300 strings, and not only has a tune, but a damn' good one, and is the only track here available elsewhere, for what it's worth. Apart from Woolly's track, the highlight of the album has to be El Cumbanchero, the original '64 'Tron demo disc; in fact, the album's (almost) worth it for this alone, though only almost. It consists of a cleaned-up 7" single of an unknown musician playing some cheesy Mark II string chords over a left-hand manual rhythm, with some dweeb with a slightly mid-Atlantic accent extolling its virtues, before a further selection of rhythm tapes and some wild Hammond soloing on the right-hand manual. Stupendous. No, I mean it; well, very nearly...
So; it's rather academic whether or not I recommend this, as it's almost impossible to find, especially outside the UK, and if you're a Mellotron nut, it's probably at the top of your 'wants' list, whatever I have to say about it. A reissue is apparently a no-no, permanently, so if you're absolutely hell-bent on owning a copy, keep your eyes open, and good luck.
See: Be-Bop Deluxe | Mike Pinder | The Moody Blues | Patrick Moraz | Strawbs | Climax Blues Band | Nick Magnus | Steve Hackett | Woolly Wolstenholme | Barclay James Harvest | Maestoso | King Crimson
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SI Magazine: Compilation Disc (1991, 72.42) *½/½ |
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| Brassé: Pawn Overture Pendragon: Fallen Dreams and Angels Landmarq: Suite St.Helen's The Last Detail: Man Out of Time Tracy Hitchings: Escape |
Oblique: Time Differences: Changing Jadis: The Beginning and the End For Absent Friends: Attitude Now: Back to the Silence |
Gandalf: The Call of Nature Egdon Heath: Secret Fence Shadowland: Dorian Gray Pallas: War of Words |
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One of the first independent progressive labels of the '90s, The Netherlands' S.I. (Sym-Info) are now largely forgotten, despite their groundbreaking work; they went to the wall in the middle of the decade, doubtless due to the standard cashflow problems encountered by labels run by fans, although most of their better releases have been reissued on other labels. Actually, if we're going to be brutally honest, S.I.'s roster was pretty awful, with the likes of neo-prog horrors For Absent Friends, Aragon and Egdon Heath, although they also gave Scots experimentalists-turned-neoproggers-turned-Genesis-copyists Citizen Cain a chance, and were the first label to reissue Twelfth Night's seminal Live & Let Live (*****), whilst also foisting several dreary Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Arena) projects on the world, amongst other unpleasantnesses. Basically, with a handful of exceptions, they released then-current neo-prog by bands who were never going to get a deal with anyone else. Ever. See: Coda.
The wittily-titled SI Magazine: Compilation Disc (the large '10' on the cover refers to the mag's tenth anniversary) featured most of the early-'90s' neo-prog leading lights (such as they were), including some who never actually released anything else on the label, not to mention several exclusive and never reissued tracks. Among these are my good friend Nick May's only recorded work with Jadis, before being dropped like the proverbial hot potato, and the only thing Pallas released in their 12-year gap between albums, War Of Words. It's this last that interests us here, as it's also their last recorded Mellotron work, played by returning original keyboard player Mike Stobbie, who eventually left to be replaced by his original replacement, Ronnie Brown. With me so far? It's actually a piece of unmitigated AOR shite, to be quite honest and really should have been left unavailable, in my (very) 'umble opinion, featuring a brief and distant choir part that does nothing to dig the song out of its quagmire of slop. Unfortunately, in their completist zeal, the band elected to include it on their massive archive effort, Mythopoeia, albeit in MP3 form, although that does mean that completist fans won't have to shell out the sheckels for this dismal effort, if they simply can't bear to be without it.
The rest of the album's pretty awful, too, but as it's long-unavailable and exceedingly unlikely to be reissued, you're not going to find a copy anyway. Gandalf's hilariously-titled The Call Of Nature brings to mind Now (also present here)'s side-splitting debut, Complaint of the Wind, and Québecois Visible Wind's entire career. Want to use English idioms? Ask an expert. Or at least an English speaker. OK, for what it's worth, the only tracks which didn't trigger an overpowering urge in me to hit the 'skip' button were the ones by (maybe surprisingly) Landmarq, Jadis and Gandalf, although Now's effort had some nice Yes-like 'da da da's, although the track sounds a bit throwaway.
So; you're rather unlikely to find this, but in case you've actually got it on your 'wants' list for some strange reason, I can only urge you to delete it immediately. The bulk of this compilation is irredeemably horrible, and should never have been released. Unequivocal? Moi?
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Schizoid Dimension: A Tribute to King Crimson (1997, 73.03) ***½/TT |
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| Controlled Bleeding: Talking Drum David Cross: Exiles (edit) Brand X (West): Red Brand X (East): Neil & Jack & Me Chrome: Moonchild Melting Euphoria: Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part 1) Alien Planetscapes: A Sailor's Tale |
Architectural Metaphor: Cirkus Pressurehead: 21st Century Schizoid Man Astralasia: I Talk to the Wind Xcranium: Cat Food Spirits Burning: Red Solid Space: In the Wake of Poseidon |
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Unusually for a 'tribute' album, Schizoid Dimension is largely very listenable, with a high good-to-shite quotient. I'm tempted to say this is a result of the excellence of the source material, but that doesn't stop most similar efforts being vile; maybe it's the fact that very few of the contributing artists deviate too far from King Crimson's original arrangements. Brand X (West) and Spirits Burning's respective recreations of Red are almost identical to the 1974 version, while Solid Space's In The Wake Of Poseidon could actually be the original, although most of the rest of the artists involved stamp at least a little of their own personality on their chosen tracks. Most innovative? Xcranium's Cat Food is a hard rock take on the track, while Astralasia's techno-orientated I Talk To The Wind moves furthest from the song's roots although, amusingly, without the programmed percussion, it would be almost identical to Crimson's version.
As is so often the case with modern recordings, it's extremely hard to tell whether any of the 'Mellotron' work here has even a whiff of genuine tape-replay about it, but without more detailed information, I shall have to assume that an M400 was involved in the proceedings. Alien Planetscapes' A Sailor's Tale has some strings that may just possibly be real, probably from band leader Doug Walker, while Solid Space's In The Wake Of Poseidon sounds like fairly genuine strings (credited, anyway) from Daniel Todd Carter. Architectural Metaphor's Cirkus dispenses with the Lizard version's strings, flute and brass, but layers plenty of 'Tron choir all over the track, making for an interesting departure, due to Crimson's non-use of the sound, although they're almost certainly samples, given that Paul Eggleston has never owned a 'Tron. Although Astralasia's I Talk To The Wind sounds like it could contain 'Tron flute, it's far more likely to be a synth, ditto the vaguely 'Tronnish parts on a couple of other tracks.
So; not a bad effort, as tribute albums go, although like so many similar, it all seems a bit pointless, really. Particularly low marks, incidentally, for the appalling sleeve; it appears to be a crude parody of the late Barry Godber's fantastic artwork for In the Court of the Crimson King (I mean, what's going on with those eyes?), but since I can't imagine why the compilers would wish to mock the original, I can only assume that it, too, is meant as a tribute. In fairness, it's the worst thing about the album; worth picking up second-hand.
See: Spirits Burning
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Shockadelica: 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Artist Known as Prince [Disc 3: Pop Life, Everybody Needs a Thrill] (2008, 64.14) **½/½ |
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| Morten Abel: Anotherloveholenyohead & Purple Rain Ephemera: Manic Monday Dylan Mondegreen feat. The Aluminum Group: Cinnamon Girl King Midas: Take Me With U The Loch Ness Mouse: Money Don't Matter 2 Night Isabel Ødegård: Future Baby Mama |
Christer Knutsen: I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man The Captain & Me: Strollin' Prince Generations: Pop Life Matias Tellez: Do U Lie Brødrene Lowenstierne: Nothing Compares 2 U Heine Totland & Gisle Børge Styve: I Would Die 4 U |
Björnstjærne & Johnny Hazard feat. The Gin & Tonic Youth: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World Joacim Lund: Sign 'O' the Times Olav Larsen & The Alabama Rodeo Stars: Slow Love Bjørn Berge: Letitgo Knut Reiersrud Band: Sometimes it Snows in April |
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2008's Shockadelica: 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Artist Known as Prince is, er, shockingly, a five-disc set of Norwegian artists covering Prince, would'ja believe; by all accounts the purple one was less than amused, which is a) amusing and b) par for the course, so I can't imagine anyone got too worried. To be honest, given that I know where the Mellotron's used, I simply cannot be arsed to trawl through all five discs, so you'll get a review of disc 3 alone and you'll like it. So there. Well, although I've encountered a few of the artists spread across the set (Audrey Horne, Bellman, Anne Marie Almedal, The White Birch) and I've heard of a few more, most of them are new to me, while I suspect that, as on many tribute albums, a good few are one-off collaborations, usually operating under ridiculous monikers.
Anyway, Disc 3: Pop Life, Everybody Needs a Thrill, is, as expected, a mixed bag, Christopher Knutsen tackling I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man in overblown Phil Spector style, Matias Tellez' Do U Lie being a mid-'60s take on glam rock (!), Brødrene Lowenstierne takes a bizarre country/swing approach to Nothing Compares 2 U, while Joacim Lund's Sign 'O' The Times is possibly best described as spaghetti country'n'western. Sadly, however, far too many contributors play the songs pretty straight, in something approximating the purple midget's funk/soul crossover style. Presumably one of the aforementioned one-off collaborations, Dylan Mondegreen featuring The Aluminum Group (if you don't know what a mondegreen is, it's on Wikipedia), provides the entire set's only Mellotronic contribution, Børge Sildnes playing vague Mellotron flutes throughout, although whether or not they're real can only be a matter for conjecture.
Like so many of this type of tribute set, I can't imagine at whom, precisely, this is aimed. Prince fans? Doubtful. Fans of the contributing artists? What, all of them? Given the expense of producing a set of this size, I really can't see how the record company can recoup their outlay, but there you go. Anyway, while it's amusing to hear what inventive artists can do with someone else's compositions, one CD, never mind five, can be a little too much.
See: Prince | Knut Reiersrud
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Signs of Life: A Tribute to Pink Floyd (2000, 151.41) **½/T |
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| Sylvan: High Hopes Cromwell: Another Day of Sorrow Angel Dust: Run Like Hell Ziff: Wish You Were Here Mystery: Hey You R.P.W.L.: Cymbaline Das Zeichen: Welcome to the Machine |
Vanishing Point: On the Turning Away Solar Project: Pigs (feat. Dogs'n'Sheep) Flying Circus: Let There Be More Light Pendragon: Schizo (a Tribute to Pink Floyd) Grand Cross: Shine on You Crazy Diamond Pangaea: Time Eternity X: Comfortably Numb |
Tiamat: When You're in Megace: The Dogs of War The Crack of Doom: Another Brick in the Wall The Electric Family: Careful With That Axe, Eugene Liquid Visions: Interstellar Overdrive Mindala: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun Fantasyy Factoryy: One of These Days |
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What, another Pink Floyd tribute album? At least Signs of Life: A Tribute to Pink Floyd isn't some terrible orchestral, trance, reggae (fer Chrissakes) or other unsuitable genre effort, although much of its content is slightly questionable, at best. Most of the contributors are lesser-known prog or psych bands, many of them German, a few assembled for the album, notably Swedes Grand Cross, consisting of members of Grand Stand and Cross. In fact, of the 21 artists involved, I'd say only five or six are even remotely well-known, the rest languishing in largely-deserved obscurity.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, tribute albums tend to fall into two categories; this one's of the 'little-known artists, some of whom slavishly copy the original tracks' variety, not least Sylvan, Mystery and the aforementioned Grand Cross, while Fantasyy Factoryy's One Of These Days must be the limpest take on the song ever recorded. Solar Project's Pigs (feat. Dogs'n'Sheep) is a ten-minute distillation of the entire Animals album, sticky-tape well and truly visible, although Cromwell's Another Day Of Sorrow segues its way through three Floyd tracks (Yet Another Movie/The Happiest Days Of Our Lives/Sorrow) rather more successfully. The horrible Pendragon's Schizo (A Tribute To Pink Floyd) is a pointless 'in the style of' track, the only non-Floyd piece on the double-disc set, which reminds me no more or less of dreadful British Floyd tribute Think Floyd's godawful 'own material' album Hope from the late '90s, which was an absolute travesty. Of the remainder, probably the most adventurous efforts are R.P.W.L.'s excellent Cymbaline (well, they did start off as a Floyd tribute band...), Liquid Visions' decent take on Interstellar Overdrive and, above all, Aussies Vanishing Point's startling Celtic rock take on On the Turning Away; think, 'Big Country give Runrig a good kicking at a Floyd gig' and you won't be too far off. Top marks for originality, chaps.
Mellotronically speaking, of course, the Floyd aren't particularly known for their contributions to the canon, their MkII's last outing being in 1970. As a result, Mindala (actually Mind Over Matter, 'Cosmic' Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock's electronic outfit) are the set's only users, although it sounds like sampled strings on Flying Circus' Let There Be More Light. Anyway, Mindala/Mind Over Matter get some choir and strings in on their especially psychedelic Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, though I can't say you'd miss them if they weren't there.
So; a rather pointless affair, generally, with a tiny handful of genuinely worthwhile versions, lots of clones and a few real stinkers. Then again, isn't that the way with most tribute albums? In which case, why bother? Anyway, hardly any Mellotron, so definitely not worth it on those grounds.
See: Pink Floyd | R.P.W.L. | Liquid Visions | Mind Over Matter
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Sing a Song for You: Tribute to Tim Buckley (2000, 86.28) ***½/½ |
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| Moose: Sing a Song for You Simon Raymonde & Anneli Drecker: Morning Glory Brendan Perry: Dream Letter Mojave 3: Love From Room 109 at the Islander The Friendly Science Orchestra: Because of You Mark Lanegan: Café |
Shelleyan Orphan: Buzzin' Fly Mike Johnson: I Woke Up Cousteau: Blue Melody Heather Duby: I Must Have Been Blind Dot Allison: Sweet Surrender Geneva: Pleasant Street |
Lilys: Strange Feelin' The Mad Scene: Happy Time Neil Halstead: Phantasmagoria in Two Tram: Once I Was The Czars: Song to the Siren |
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I'm slightly ashamed to say I've never become acquainted with the works of Tim Buckley, although I own his son's two 'must-have' albums. As a result, listening to the two-disc Sing a Song for You: Tribute to Tim Buckley can only be a second-hand experience, like seeing a film reflected in a distorting mirror. I also have no idea how any of the songs contained herein sounded originally, or how faithful these interpretations are (not to mention how faithful they should be). Most of the versions tend to be suffused with melancholy, as I imagine the originals to be, although Lilys' Strange Feelin' is the joker in the pack, tackled in an early psych style, bouncing along in a post-garage kind of way. Given the quality of both the material and the interpretations, I found this to be a very listenable collection, but then, without any real knowledge of Buckley's recordings, I can hardly become outraged at the possible liberties taken by the contributors.
Mellotron's credited on two tracks, with background strings from Alan Forrester on Mojave 3's take on Love From Room 109 At The Islander and something entirely inaudible on Neil Halstead's Phantasmagoria In Two from Halstead himself, making this something of a 'don't bother' on the Mellotron front, but a rather good set of reinterpretations of Buckley's work for hardcore fans. Definitely one of the better tribute albums reviewed on this site.
See: Cocteau Twins | Mark Lanegan | Mike Johnson | Dot Allison | The Mad Scene | Tram
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Sing Hollies in Reverse (1995, 72.03) ****/T |
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| Posies: King Midas in Reverse Tommy Keene: Carrie Anne Loud Family: Look Through Any Window Steve Wynn, Eric Ambel: The Air That I Breathe Mitch Easter: Pay You Back With Interest Cub: You Know He Did Kristian Hoffman: I'm Alive |
Flamingoes: Water on the Brain E: Jennifer Eccles Jigsaw Seen: On a Carousel John Easdale: Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress) Bill Lloyd: Step Inside Losers Lounge: After the Fox Wondermints: You Need Love |
The Sneetches: So Lonely Continental Drifters: I Can't Let Go Carla Olson: Touch Andrew: Heading for a Fall Material Issue: Bus Stop Shakin' Apostles: Dear Eloise Jon Brion: Sorry Suzanne |
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The Hollies are one of those British '60s bands I've never really heard properly, probably because of their relatively lightweight reputation, certainly compared to The Stones or The Who, say. In fairness, they never pretended to be anything other than what they were, a cheery pop group, albeit one with unusually good material, it seems, some of it written by future 10cc man Graham Gouldman. Sing Hollies in Reverse goes a little way towards righting that particular wrong for me by introducing me to a good few songs I've never previously encountered, although a surprising number are quite familiar. The album features most of the top mid-'90s powerpop acts, including The Posies, Mitch Easter and The Wondermints, keeping the overall quality high, although with songs as good as these, you'd have to be going it some to ruin them (although we've all seen it done).
There's actually only one tape-replay track here, Jon Brion's lengthy closing take on Sorry Suzanne, stuffed with his own Chamberlin strings, flute and a raucous woodwind instrument of some variety (pitchbent nicely) and lead, er, something from E of The Eels. So; one for both Hollies (specifically) and powerpop (generally) fans, or anyone who feels the need to 'discover' The Hollies' back-catalogue without trawling through several discs'-worth of bad production and squeaky-clean instrumentation. A tribute album that works. Hurrah!
See: The Hollies | The Posies | Loud Family | Steve Wynn | E | Jigsaw Seen | Jon Brion
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Sol Lucet Omnibus: A Tribute to Sol Invictus (2002, 128.01) ***/½ |
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| Oraison: Fields Dies Natalis: Media Naevus: Oh What Fun Gaé Bolg & The Quarzazate Dark Consortium: The Death of the West One for Jude: Edward Sieben: Amongst the Ruins Hide & Seek: Come the Morning Neutral: Sheath and Knife |
While Angels Watch: Heroes Day Anima in Fiamme: Sawney Bean Pilori: A Ship is Burning XIII: Black Easter Tor Lundvall: Tears and Rain Shining Vril: Blood Against Gold Orchis: The Fool Scivias: Tooth and Claw |
Sleeping Pictures: The Killing Tide Othila: The Return Westwind: Against the Modern World Agalloch: Kneel to the Cross Spiritual Front: In Days to Come (minimal baby overdose version) The Blue Hour: Lex Talionis Kirlian Camera: Looking for Europe Andrew King: The Raven Banner |
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Sol Invictus? No more than a name to me, despite existing since the '80s and releasing fifteen or so studio albums. Led by Tony Wakeford, they broadly fall into the 'neofolk' movement, alongside Wakeford's old outfit Death in June and David Tibet/Current 93, taking in elements of dark folk (Comus are a touchstone), neoclassical and industrial musics. Unfortunately, the end result has an awful lot in common with, er, goth, which probably doesn't please its practitioners, who seem to be relatively bereft of anything resembling a sense of humour.
Having not actually heard anything by the band themselves, I'm left to judge their work via 2002's Sol Lucet Omnibus: A Tribute to Sol Invictus, a two-disc tribute set featuring, for once, not a single artist of whom I've heard, although I believe Tor Lundvall does a lot of artwork for the actual band. I get the feeling that most of the versions here are fairly 'straight' covers, giving us over two hours of doomy, pagan dronings, sampled orchestral accompaniment de rigeur. One disc of this stuff's OK, but the full monty's a bit much, frankly, so the star rating above should be taken more as an indicator of the quality of most of the contributions, rather than for the set's numbing overall effect. Worst track? Spiritual Front's croaking take on Minimal Baby. No contest.
I really have no idea whether Oraison's Alek S actually had access to a real Mellotron for their recording, as the strings and choirs on Fields are low enough in the mix to evade accurate appraisal. So; if you love Sol Invictus, you stand a good chance of loving this. Conversely... Incidentally, the first 77 copies (why that figure? Does it have some significance?) came in a wooden slip-case with the band logo burnt into its surface. Very pagan, I'm sure. And I didn't mention Nazism once.
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Sounds of Wood & Steel 3 (2003, 69.57) ***½/T |
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| Russ Freeman: Guitarland Susanna Hoffs: I Will Take Care of You Phil Keaggy: Cajon Pass Chris Proctor: Ozymandias C. Michael Spriggs: Trio T.J. Baden: Sleep on it Tonight |
Bill Cooley: Butter Fingers Doyle Dykes: Three Little Miracles Doug Pettibone: Chinese Checkers Suzy Bogguss: Ain't Misbehavin' Randy Dorman: Night Winds Robben Ford: St. James Infirmary |
Fred Mollin: You Just Missed Me Jars of Clay: Jesse's Song Dave Matthews: Litho Blitho Paul Rodgers: Cynthia's Place Billy Sheehan: Bombay Doors |
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Windham Hill are known for their New Age catalogue (Shadowfax albums are some of their biggest sellers), so it comes as a surprise to learn that they're behind the three volumes of the Sounds of Wood & Steel series, intended as a tribute to Taylor guitars. I suppose the music fits the label's remit in its gentleness, but there's no way the material on 3 fits the 'New Age' tag at all, being superbly played, essentially instrumental acoustic guitar pieces, performed by a run of greater- and lesser-known players, all to an exceptional standard. Some of the pieces are more energetic than others, while several drift into the country area, but the album's default setting is tuneful, acoustic music, rarely slipping into the blandness into which the label tends to be pigeonholed.
The first appearance of any kind of keyboard is on track five, C. Michael Spriggs' Trio, but the only Mellotron is from Jars of Clay's Charlie Lowell on their Jesse's Song, with (you guessed it) a tasteful flute part that adds nicely to the piece. Overall, then, not something you're going to get for its Mellotron input, but a very presentable effort in its field.
See: Susannah Hoffs | Phil Keaggy | Jars of Clay | Dave Matthews
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Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music From Vintage Disney Films (1988, 63.33) ****/½ |
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| Opening Medley Ken Nordine: Hi Diddle Dee Dee (an Actor's Life for Me) Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe: Little April Shower Los Lobos: I Wan'na Be Like You (the Monkey Song) Bonnie Raitt and Was (Not Was): Baby Mine Tom Waits: Heigh Ho (the Dwarfs Marching Song) |
Medley Two Suzanne Vega: Stay Awake Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvath: Little Wooden Head Syd Straw: Blue Shadows on the Trail Medley Three Buster Poindexter: Castle in Spain Yma Sumac: I Wonder Aaron Neville: Mickey Mouse March Medley Four Garth Hudson: Feed the Birds |
NRBQ: Whistle While You Work Betty Carter: I'm Wishing The Replacements: Cruella De Ville Sinéad O'Connor: Someday My Prince Will Come Medley Five Sun Ra & His Arkestra: Pink Elephants on Parade Harry Nilsson: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah James Taylor: Second Star to the Right Pinocchio Medley Ken Nordine: Desolation Theme Ringo Starr: When You Wish Upon a Star |
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Stay Awake's certainly an odd one; a weird tribute album to Disney's finest, put together by noted producer Hal Willner (Saturday Night Live). As he says in his sleevenotes, it would've been easy to've filled the album with comedy efforts such as Public Enemy performing Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?, but that would not only have been lazy, but ultimately unrewarding. As a result, he pulled together a wide range of artists, giving them free reign to treat the material as they liked; unsurprisingly, the end result mirrors that of most tribute albums, containing everything from near-carbon copies to wildly original reinterpretations.
Some of the tracks brought back memories of the originals for me, while others were completely unfamiliar, in some cases because I'd never actually seen the films, but standouts are Buster Poindexter, otherwise known as David Johansen of the New York Dolls doing Castle In Spain ('Babes in Toyland'), Suzanne Vega's fragile a capella Stay Awake ('Mary Poppins') and, of course, Tom Waits' quite bonkers reworking of Heigh Ho from 'Snow White'. He turns a jolly little number into a grinding, painful evocation of the drudgery of hard, physical labour, with the lyrics being the only obvious connection with the original. Compare this to NRBQ's Whistle While You Work, from the same film...
Anyway; tape replay? Tom Waits, of course, or rather, Mitchell Froom, who plays Chamberlin flutes on Heigh Ho, though not a great deal, to be honest, in time-honoured Waits style. Thinking about it, this might've been Waits' first use of the Chamby; he'd only just used a Mellotron for the first time at this point, on Franks Wild Years. Waits 'plays' Optigan on the track, too, providing the dirty, fucked-up rhythm track. Look, you REALLY have to hear this! I don't know if the track's available anywhere else, but make the effort to track it down; you won't regret it.
So; the usual mixed bag that you expect from tribute albums - beats dumb metalheads trashing Rush songs to no apparent purpose, anyway... For what it's worth, I found playing this an enjoyable experience, altough little of the music (like, none) falls into my usual listening categories. Hardly any Chamberlin, but that wasn't unexpected. I still wish Willner had actually got Public Enemy to do Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?, though...
See: Natalie Merchant | R.E.M. | Los Lobos | Bonnie Raitt | Tom Waits | Suzanne Vega | Nilsson | Ringo Starr
