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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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XTC |
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Hey Zeus! (1993, 46.04) ***½/½ |
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| Someone's Watching Big Blue House Clean Like Tomorrow New Life Country at War Arms for Hostages Into the Light Lettuce and Vodka |
Everybody Baby You Lied Drawn in the Dark |
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Hey Zeus! was both X's comeback album in the early '90s, and, it seems, their farewell, though one should never speak too soon, I suppose. Growing out of their early LA punk origins, and passing through an unfortunate pop-metal period in the late '80s, by the time three-quarters of the original band recorded this album, they had moved into an area of melodic grunge, for want of a better phrase. It's actually loads better than that sounds, with strong songwriting across the board, although fans of their early work are likely to be disappointed, I suspect. Lyrically, they're as sharp as ever here, with much barbed commentary on the American Way Of Life; pretty much as you'd expect then, especially given their status as scene elders.
There's a credit for 'keyboards: Patrick Warren and Tony Berg' (producer), and given Warren's known proclivities for using various tape-replay machines, it seems highly likely that he plays the Mellotron (or is it a Chamberlin?) string swells on Lettuce And Vodka. It's quite possible that it crops up elsewhere, too, with a couple of lines that could be 'Tron, but could also be generic synth, real voices, guitar, or several other things. As a result, while this is a good album, and definitely recommended to anyone into the tuneful end of punk (not that this is actually punk at all), I'd give it a miss on the 'Tron front.
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Mummer (1983, 41.19) ***½/TT |
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| Beating of Hearts Wonderland Love on a Farmboy's Wages Great Fire Deliver Us From the Elements Human Alchemy Ladybird In Loving Memory of a Name |
Me and the Wind Funk Pop a Roll |
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The Big Express (1984) ***½/TT |
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| Wake Up All You Pretty Girls Shake You Donkey Up Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her This World Over The Everyday Story of Smalltown I Bought Myself a Liarbird Reign of Blows |
You're the Wish You Are I Had I Remember the Sun Train Running Low on Soul Coal |
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Skylarking (1986, 45.50) ***½/T |
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| Summer's Cauldron Grass The Meeting Place That's Really Super, Supergirl Ballet for a Rainy Day 1000 Umbrellas Season Cycle Earn Enough for Us |
Big Day Another Satellite Mermaid Smiled The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul Dying Sacrificial Bonfire |
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Apple Venus Vol.1 (1999, 50.07) *****/TT½ |
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| River of Orchids I'd Like That Easter Theatre Knights in Shining Karma Frivolous Tonight Green Man Your Dictionary Fruit Nut |
I Can't Own Her Harvest Festival The Last Balloon |
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XTC formed in the mid-'70s in Swindon, Wiltshire as failed glamsters The Helium Kidz, mutating into XTC around the time punk hit. They began as a particularly spiky-sounding outfit, with scratchy guitar and cheap organ combining to create a fairly unique sound, with Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding's songs lending their sound the requisite oddness they needed to stand out from the pack. Over the course of their next few albums, they lost the keyboards, gained another guitar and lost their drummer, becoming a studio-based outfit in the process after Partridge had a nervous breakdown on tour.
XTC bought their M400 (with two tape frames) around 1983. Dave Gregory:
"During the rehearsals for Mummer we were sitting around thinking of something different to use. Mellotron? Yeah! We looked in the Melody Maker and there was actually one for sale in there, we had to go to South Wales for it. I think the bloke had just quit his job in an art-rock group. When we got it back and I took it to pieces to see how it worked I couldn't believe it; the tape's attached to springs that pull it back after eight seconds, and there's a wheel propelled by a big fan belt. Plus it takes about ten minutes to warm up after you turn it on. We have to clean it from time to time and the fuses used to go a lot when we first got it. Absolutely obsolete".
Mummer, like all the relevant XTC albums, uses the Mellotron sparingly; two tracks only, mainly choirs. Deliver Us From The Elements is a Colin Moulding song, and one of the band's first 'psychedelic' numbers. Human Alchemy is slightly less so, but with slightly more Mellotron. The following year's The Big Express uses the 'Tron in a fairly similar way; two tracks, mostly choir. All You Pretty Girls features Mellotron choir 'recorded from a speaker in the base of a tin bucket', apparently, which could explain the 'unusual' sound... Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her is an Andy Partridge song about an imaginary encounter with Erica Wexler, Andy's long-term admirer and (very) eventually, partner.
Skylarking was recorded in America and produced by Todd Rundgren, both of which caused considerable problems for the band. During the recording, they found an old Chamberlin at the studio which (allegedly) 'had a family of mice living in it'. Dave Gregory plays it on one song, the terribly cheerful Dying, but it's not particularly audible, although it apparently provides the clarinets at the end. By this time, XTC had got their psych alter-ego project The Dukes of Stratosphear going properly, with a full album in the pipeline, but they didn't use their 'Tron again for many years.
XTC took an enforced seven-year break after 1992's Nonsuch (****), while they went on strike, refusing to offer Virgin any new recordings, as the label refused to release them from their somewhat unethical contract. Eventually, the band won out through sheer determination, and released what I personally feel to be the highlight of their career, Apple Venus Vol.1. This is a marvellous collection of psychedelia-influenced material, written over the course of several years. Sadly, after everything the band had been through, Dave Gregory left during the recording sessions, but not before laying down some excellent 'Tron parts on three of the album's tracks. Easter Theatre has some very 'Strawberry Fields' flutes, Frivolous Tonight features a superb descending string line, while closer The Last Balloon has some background strings on the chorus (thanks, Herman).
XTC are most definitely an acquired taste, but one that I feel more people should make the effort to acquire. It took me many years of thinking 'I know I should like this band' before I finally did, so if I can do it, so can you. All four of these albums are well worth hearing, but (at least to my ears) Apple Venus Vol.1 is not only the best of the bunch, but the only one with any really unmissable Mellotron. Buy 'em all anyway.
