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Amorphous Androgynous Tori Amos Ancestors Annot Rhül |
The Anomoanon Anti-Depressive Delivery Apogee Apollo Sunshine |
Apples in Stereo Aquarium Arabs in Aspic Arch Enemy |
Jeff Archer Areknamés Ark Armia |
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The Isness (2002, 63.30) *** |
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| The Lovers The Isness The Mello Hippo Disco Show Goobye Sky (Reprise) Elysian Feels Go Tell it to the Trees Egghead Divinity Guru Song |
Osho Her Tongue is Like a Jellyfish Meadows High Tide on the Sea of Flesh The Galaxial Pharmaceutical |
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The Mello Hippo Disco Show EP (2002, 33.50) **½Yo-YoShe Sells Electric Ego The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Jacknife Lee Mix) Slo-Mo Hippo-Drone Trying to Make Impermanent Things Permanent The World's in Transience Life's a Flow |
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Alice in Ultraland (2005, 70.28) **½ |
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| The Emptiness of Nothingness The Witchfinder The Witch Hunt All is Harvest Prophet Indian Swing The Seasons Turn High and Dry |
Yes My Brother (You've Gotta Turn Yourself Around) In the Summertime of Consciousness Billy the Onion Another Fairy Tale Ending The World is Full of Plankton The Wicker Doll |
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Amorphous Androgynous are, essentially, The Future Sound of London's psych side-project, with practically all of their dance influences removed, leaving... rather second-rate psych, to be honest. Their first album under this moniker, The Isness, was released under the FSoL banner in the States for 'commercial reasons' (bet that pleased the band) and while it has its moments (the first half of closer The Galaxial Pharmaceutical), it generally falls a bit flat compared to other revivalists, I'm afraid to say. I'm almost certainly missing some major point here connected with the UK dance scene, but that's the way it goes. Anyway, the credited 'Mellotron' here (from Mike Rowe, almost certainly sampled, as on FSoL's Papua New Guinea Translations) is the background choirs on The Mello Hippo Disco Show, itself the basis for the eight-track 'single' released from the album, more of the same on Divinty and cellos on The Galaxial Pharmaceutical.
The Mello Hippo Disco Show appears to be classed as a single, although it has eight tracks and is over 30 minutes long. Sounds like a short album to me, squire... Is this standard in the dance demi-monde? Anyway, the bloody thing's interminable, despite its relatively short length, featuring variations on the title track and other stuff which may or may not be connected to it. As for Rowe's 'Mellotron', there are flutes on opener Yo-Yo, with more of the same on Hippo-Drone, but I'm quite certain it's all sampled.
Three years on, Alice in Ultraland somewhat overreaches itself, as the band delve into the heart (of darkness) of the era, coming up spluttering, having unearthed Hammond solos (several tracks), tabla-driven hippy freakouts (The Witchfinder), early '70s funk (Prophet) and third-rate singer-songwriter guff (High And Dry), amongst other era tropes, many better left buried. 'Mellotronically' speaking, we get a solo flute part on All Is Harvest and choir chords on The World Is Full of Plankton, the former actually sounding pretty good. Note that Capitol elected to resurrect the Harvest label for the release, clearly having more faith in its 'psych' credentials than this listener.
Well, Amorphous Androgynous may be loosely 'psych', but it's not my idea of the genre, and I can't imagine I'll be listening to these again in a hurry. Very little 'Mellotron', too; of course, if anyone out there has any more definite info on whether or not it's real...
Official Future Sound of London site
See: The Future Sound of London
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From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998, 54.13) ***½ |
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| Spark Cruel Black-Dove (January) Raspberry Swirl Jackie's Strength i i e e e Liquid Diamonds She's Your Cocaine |
Northern Lad Hotel Playboy Mommy Pandora's Aquarium |
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If you've never heard Tori Amos, think 'American Kate Bush' and you can't go too far wrong. After several releases, she's developed something of her own style, but her voice is still a dead ringer for Kate's, with no obvious American inflections whatsoever, not helped by her admittedly excellent piano playing. Mind you, top marks for inventing the concept of 'rock'n'roll harpsichord' on a previous album...
From what I've heard of Tori's music, From the Choirgirl Hotel is fairly typical, with the vocals right up in the mix and quite dry, to give that 'intimate' feel. The musicianship's excellent all round, and the songs are well-constructed, and I get the feeling that if I gave them the chance, many of them would worm their way into my subconscious for ever more. She's credited with 'Mellotron' on two tracks, i i e e e (strings) and She's Your Cocaine (flutes), but has admitted in an interview that they're samples. Naughty. Actually, the strings sound pretty awful, but the flutes are good enough to fool moi, for what it's worth.
Anyway, if you're a fan, you'll like From the Choirgirl Hotel, but then you've probably got it anyway, and if you're not, it's unlikely to convert you. Either way, don't bother for the fake 'Tron.
See: Tori Amos
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Invisible White (2011, 29.09) ***½Invisible WhiteDust Epilogue |
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The L.A.-based Ancestors' Invisible White is either a short album or a long EP, a half-hour psychedelic blast that recalls pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd as much as anyone. The title track and Dust are decent enough, but the jewel in the record's crown is the fourteen-minute Epilogue, a fab, jammed-out excursion into the further reaches of the psyche, all assuming that psyche is ripped on industrial quantities of weed. Superb.
Despite Jason Watkins' 'Mellotron' credit, the distant flute on Dust and the strings on most of the album sound pretty sampled to my ears. And let's not mention the choirs, eh? Frankly, this would work just as well without the samplotron, but those sounds are never a bad thing, even when rather inauthentic. Well worth hearing.
Anekdoten (Sweden) see: |
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Who Needs Planes or Time Machines, When There's Music & Daydreams? (2006, 37.24) *** |
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| Mirage Evergreen Forest Planes or Time Machines Light Carlos' Brothers Sans Souci King Arthur Knife Valley |
The Haunted Mansion Aurora Borealis Stung By a Cactus |
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Annot Rhül are, apparently, less a band than a solo project, specifically that of Sigurd Lühr Tonna. His/their first release, 2006's Who Needs Planes or Time Machines, When There's Music & Daydreams? is an intriguing mixture of styles, mixing prog, psych (in its various forms), blues, twisted waltzes, surf... A truly psychedelic album, then, refusing to stick to any given style in the manner of so many retro acts.
Although the CD booklet carefully lists 'Mellotron' on most tracks, their website has some studio pics from the album sessions, including one entitled something like 'Burt recording Mellotron' (it's credited to Tonna and Burt Rocket), showing a guy with a small MIDI controller on his lap in front of a computer, and I've had it confirmed that a real 'Tron came nowhere near the studio, either M-Tron or unidentified samples being used. Said samples are used on most tracks, the usual flutes/strings/choir suspects, although they're a bit murky in places.
The only way to get hold of this at all easily is on a 2-on-1 with their subsequent mini-album, Lost in the Woods (reviewed here). Overall, Who Needs Planes... is a little inconsistent, but Lost in the Woods is very good; definitely worth a flutter.
See: Annot Rhül
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Asleep Many Years in the Wood (2002, 37.09) ***½ |
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| Sixteen Ways Ain't Skeert Bluebird of Happiness Kick Back Complaint One That Got Away Tongue and Heart Sadie and Rudy |
Y'Know A Story Asleep Many Years in the Wood |
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The Anomoanon are effectively Ned 'brother of Will' Oldham's solo project, bringing in collaborators on an album-by-album basis. I have to say, the band name made me think 2002's Asleep Many Years in the Wood was going to be another brain-dead piece of power metal nonsense, but, of course, given the family connection, it's thoughtful, slightly haunted Americana. Best tracks? Opener Sixteen Ways, Bluebird Of Happiness, One That Got Away... All the slow stuff, basically. Kick Back has a Stones vibe, almost like a laid-back AC/DC, while both A Story and the closing title track up the energy levels, although as another online reviewer has already noted, they're not at their best when attempting to 'rock out'.
Aram Stith plays 'virtual Mellotron', with octave strings on opener Sixteen Ways and a chordal part on Asleep Many Years In The Wood itself, the samples particularly obvious on the latter. Overall, Americana fans simply can't go wrong here; Oldham refuses to dilute his vision with anything stronger than an occasional (minor) burst of volume, while the songwriting's easily of a high enough standard to carry the record. Worth hearing.
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Feel. Melt. Release. Escape. (2004, 59.40) ***½End of DaysCoward Voyage of No Brain Discovery Path of Sorrow Penny is a Slut Machine Feel. Melt. Release. Escape. O The Anti-Depressive Delivery Bones & Money |
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Anti-Depressive Delivery's oddly titled Feel. Melt. Release. Escape. looks like it could be some variety of indie nonsense, going by the sleeve, but turns out to be sort-of progressive metal, sounding not dissimilar to fellow Scandinavians Opeth, or maybe Spiritual Beggars. Actually, ADD have something in common with the latter, being a 'supergroup', in a not-especially-super kind of way, being made up of members of other bands on a busman's holiday. The album's material varies from the more metallic through keyboard soundscapes to the closer, Bones & Money, a 15-minute epic that bravely enters pomp territory towards the end, although I'm not convinced the experiment works.
Keys man Haakon-Marius Pettersen isn't credited with Mellotron specifically, and it doesn't take more than a fairly cursory listen to ascertain that he's using samples. They still sound pretty good, mind, but a couple of solo sections give the game away properly, although none of it really sounds that authentic. Most of his use is the ubiquitous strings, although the choirs pop up in a couple of places, with the two sounds layered together at one point, though, as usual with samples, it's all just a little bit too clean. Most tracks feature at least a little, though, so if you're just after the sound, you can't go too far wrong here.
I believe ADD's various members have gone their separate ways now, which is a shame, as a second album could've been really interesting. As it is, you'll have to make do with their sole release, sampled 'Tron and all. Not bad, not great, worth hearing if you're into the heavier end of things.
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On the Aftertaste (2000, recorded 1989-91 (?), 67.27) ***On the AftertastePossessed How Could I Stop? Hibernation Falling to Pieces Don't Take it Bad |
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Apogee is Versus X's Arne Schäfer's solo project, active since the mid-'90s. On the Aftertaste is his/their third album, supposedly recorded between 1989 and 1991, years before his first official album, 1995's The Border of Awareness (**½), although it sounds more like it was recorded around the time of its release. Maybe it was just written back then? Anyway, four of its six tracks range from nine to eighteen minutes, with a couple of relative 'shorties', the quality of material varying widely across the album, although I have to say, it may well have been improved by some serious editing, not to mention more instrumental parts at the expense of the vocal ones. Schäfer has some good ideas, but they're often swamped by the sheer bulk of the tracks' lengths and page after page of lyrics.
Schäfer allegedly plays Mellotron, but the solo string part that opens the album is very clearly sampled, almost certainly the same sample-set as he used on Versus X's The Turbulent Zone, released the same year. The giveaway? Too smooth, attack too consistent, goes as low as F (the Mellotron keyboard stops at G), with noticeable 'stretching' on the low notes. Other rather inauthentic string and choir parts appear, but nothing's as overt as the album's opening. To be honest, this just scrapes three stars; near-ten minute closer Don't Take It Bad is a waste of space and several other tracks would be better shorter. Anyway, has its moments, a bit of sampled 'Tron. Your choice.
See: Versus X
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Katonah (2003, 42.07) **** |
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| Katonah Fear of Heights I was on the Moon Happening Blood is Wood The Egg Sheets With Stars Mayday Disorder |
Conscious Pilot Hot Air Balloon |
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Apollo Sunshine aren't a bad afraid to kick against the pricks, it seems; their debut album, 2003's Katonah (named for its recording location) mixes, psych, prog and pop in roughly equal measures, seemingly completely unworried about adverse critical reaction. The end result is a triumph of modern psychedelic pop, chock-full of great tunes and quite bonkers arrangements, and not always on the longer tracks. Top songs? Difficult to pinpoint anything specific, but Fear Of Heights stands slightly (and ironically) higher than its fellows, which isn't to denigrate anything else here in the slightest.
Jesse Gallagher plays keys, amongst other things, but I'm unconvinced enough by the Mellotron sounds used that I've dumped this straight into samples without passing go or collecting £200. We get flutes and strings on the title track and The Egg, choirs on fear Of Heights and strings on Sheets With Stars, for what it's worth; in fairness, the sounds enhance the tracks on which they're used and almost fool the ear in places. All in all, then, a fine album, more than worthy of your hard-earned shekels and several hours of your time, as you assimilate its psychedelic delights.
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Discovery of a World Inside the Moone (2000, 41.05) ***½ |
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| Go The Rainbow Stream Running Over 20 Cases Suggestive of... Look Away What Happened Then I Can't Believe Submarine Dream |
Allright/Not Quite The Bird That You Can't See Stay Gold The Afternoon |
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New Magnetic Wonder (2007, 52.14) **** |
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| Can You Feel it? Skyway >Mellotron 1 Energy Same Old Drag Joanie Don't U Worry Sunndal Song Droplet |
Play Tough Sun is Out Non-Pythagorean Composition 1 Hello Lola 7 Stars Mellotron 2 Sunday Sounds Open Eyes |
Crimson Pre-Crimson Vocoder Ba Ba Radiation Beautiful Machine Parts 1-2 Beautiful Machine Parts 3-4 My Pretend Non-Pythagorean Composition 3 |
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Travellers in Space & Time (2010, 51.23) **½ |
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| The Code Dream About the Future Hey Elevator Strange Solar System Dance Floor C.P.U. No One in the World Dignified Dignitary |
No Vacation Told You Once It's All Right Next Year at About the Same Time Floating in Space Nobody But You Wings Away Time Pilot |
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The Apples in Stereo are part of the Athens, GA-based Elephant 6 Collective, alongside the much-fêted Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel. Assuming this means anything to you at all, it won't come as much of a surprise to learn that The Apples are, in a general kind of way, a psychedelic band, although they stop well short of the flowered shirt pastiche brigade, thankfully. Although that kind of thing has its place, of course... They're led by vocalist/guitarist/writer Robert Schneider, who seems to keep a fairly tight rein on the band's direction and is the only fully consistent member.
Their fourth album, 2000's Discovery of a World Inside the Moone (named in honour of a 1638 book by English clergyman John Wilkins), is a departure for the band, being less Spector wall of sound and more live and raw, the end result sounding like a cross between '65 garage and '67 psych. Er, '66? Some of the material could possibly have done with a little more in the production department, but that's how Schneider wanted it, so that's how it is. Best tracks? Maybe 20 Cases Suggestive Of..., What Happened Then and The Afternoon, but there's nothing here that's going to irritate your average psych fan too badly. Despite two credited 'Mellotron' players, Schneider and Chris McDuffie, it's only audible on one track, with sampled flutes on What Happened Then, which probably means it's hidden away in the mix in another couple of places.
After 2002's 'Tron-free Velocity of Sound, it was five years before The Apples put anything else out, the eventual result being 2007's New Magnetic Wonder. The album's unusual in having 24 tracks in 50-odd minutes, although ten of them are brief musical vignettes, mostly occurring every three tracks or so. The album's stuffed full of excellent little psych numbers including opener Can You Feel It?, Energy, Sunday Song and 7 Stars, but, once again, no duffers. Schneider and Craig Morris are credited with 'Tron' this time round and, in complete contrast to Discovery..., proceed to splatter their samples all over the album, the chief giveaway being the brief Mellotron 1/2 pieces, which feature MkII rhythms to which the band almost certainly wouldn't have had access. M-Tron, M-Tron... Strings on most highlighted tracks, the string part on Beautiful Machine Parts 3-4 being the album's 'Tron' highlight, with those rhythm 'tapes' on Mellotron 1/Mellotron 2, along with oboe and vibes on the former and MkII electric guitar and vibes again on the latter.
...And then came 2010's Travellers in Space & Time. Er, what's happened, chaps? The album seems to be heavily influenced by '70s pop, meaning we get huge slabs of sub-ELO caterwauling, some horrible pseudo-disco and too much of the kind of insipid stuff (think: Liverpool Express) that filled the charts in the middle of the decade, now often referred to as 'guilty pleasures', for some strange reason. Pleasure? Sorry, to be so negative about this album, but I'd been looking forward to playing it and it's let me down completely. It's not all awful, but tracks like Hey Elevator and Nobody But You are typical, doing a grand impression of some second-division chart act circa 1976, which seems more pointless than pointless. Schneider, Bill Doss and John Ferguson on 'Tron', with strings and choir on Dream About The Future, flute melodies on Dance Floor and Next Year At About the Same Time, flute chords on No Vacation, It's All Right and Nobody But You and strings and flutes on Wings Away, making for a surprisingly 'Mellotron'-heavy release, whatever its content.
So; two good modern psych albums and one really pretty poor effort, Discovery... being more of a psych/garage effort, New Magnetic Wonder more polished and Travellers... all polish with no content. Practically no samplotron on the former, loads on the latter two. The first two are recommended, anyway.
See: Beulah | Ladybug Transistor | Marbles | Of Montreal | Sunshine Fix | Thee American Revolution
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Pesni Ribaka (2003, 44.58) *** |
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| Fairylet Man From Kemerovo Day After Tomorrow Seahorse Winter Rose Pablo Fog Over Yantzy Karma Diagnostics |
Utkina Zavod' Yellow Moon |
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Arkhangelsk (2011, 42.26) *** |
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| Nazad v Arhangelsk Krasnaya Reka Nad Polem Klevera Marsh Svyaschennyh Korov Kapitan Bellerofont Tainiy Yzbek Ogon Vavilona |
Nebo Cveta Dozhdyaa Na Hod Nogi |
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Aquarium were an early '80s Russian outfit led by the legendary Boris Grebenshikov (well, I've heard of him), one of his country's top performers, reunited in 2003 to record Pesni Ribaka (or similar; transliterations vary: it translates as Fisherman's Songs). In many ways, it's a '60s-influenced psych-pop effort and a good one at that, although the Caribbean Pablo sticks out and not in a good way, while the jazz/blues of Utkina Zavod' simply doesn't fit, which is probably missing the point. I'm sure an understanding of Grebenshikov's lyrics would enhance the album's appeal, but that may have to wait for another life. Seahorse opens with a polyphonic flute part, with more of the same later in the song, while closer Yellow Moon has a part that slips in and out of the mix. No, it isn't a Mellotron, but is it even Mellotron samples? Generic flute sounds are easily mistaken for a Mellotron, so who knows? Anyway, they work well enough, but it has to be in doubt whether this album should even be here.
2011's Arkhangelsk (again, transliterations vary) is, bizarrely, a prime example of Celtia (aside from the white reggae of Ogon Vavilona), albeit a Russian-language variety, both uilleann and Northumbrian pipes in evidence, alongside fiddles, banjos, harps and, er, a didgeridoo. No, I have no idea why a noted Russian singer should make an album that sounds like the west coast of Ireland, but there you go. Mikey Rowe (Oasis, Amorphous Androgynous, many others) guests on keys on Tainiy Yzbek, including, allegedly, Mellotron. However, although Mellotronic (note: probably not actually Mellotron) flutes turn up on Marsh Svyaschennyh Korov and Ogon Vavilona, there's nothing to be heard on the credited track. Odd.
So; have Aquarium ever actually used a real Mellotron? Who knows? Ask Mikey Rowe.
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Strange Frame of Mind (2011, 44.04) ***½ |
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| Aspic Temple The Flying Norseman Dive Into My Eye Moerket Fall Til Marken TV Strange Frame of Mind |
Have You Ever Seen the Rain, pt.2 Arabide Hocus Pocus |
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Although in existence since the late '90s, 2010's Strange Frame of Mind is Arabs in Aspic's first album. Its placement on Italy's famed Black Widow label should tell you pretty much what they sound like: heavy pseudo-proto-prog, influences including Pink Floyd, Uriah Heep (particularly in the organ department), King Crimson (thus the name) and Black Sabbath, to no-one's surprise. While not exactly original, it's actually a fun, very listenable album, highlights including Fall Til Marken, with its epic opening riff, TV, which gets bonus points for featuring the most amusing (English-language) lyrics and their ridiculous take on Focus's iconic Hocus Pocus, wrong chords an' all.
I presume it's organist Stig Jorgenson who sticks the clearly sampled 'Mellotron' strings all over brief instrumental opener Aspic Temple and nearly everything else, helping to make this, if nothing new, a very listenable album. Incidentally, the band have apparently renamed themselves Arabs in Aspic II after the departure of one member. Good job this practice isn't more common; what number might, say, Fairport Convention or, more fittingly, Black Sabbath be up to by now?
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Burning Bridges (1999, 35.42) **½The ImmortalDead Inside Pilgrim Silverwing Demonic Science Seed of Hate Angelclaw Burning Bridges |
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Wages of Sin (2001, 44.29/74.36) *** |
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| Enemy Within Burning Angel Heart of Darkness Ravenous Savage Messiah Dead Bury Their Dead Web of Lies First Deadly Sin |
Behind the Smile Snowbound Shadows & Dust [bonus tracks: Lament of a Mortal Soul Starbreaker Aces High Scream of Anger |
Diva Satanica Fields of Desolation '99 Damnation's Way Hydra] |
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Anthems of Rebellion (2003, 43.21) *** |
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| Tear Down the Walls Silent Wars We Will Rise Dead Eyes See No Future Instinct Leader of the Rats Exist to Exit Marching on a Dead End Road |
Despicable Heroes End of the Line Dehumanization Anthem Saints and Sinners |
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Arch Enemy are yer classic 'heavier than thou' bunch, their entirely humourless thrashy power/death metal (I love sub-sub-sub-genres. Don't you?) treading the fine line between listenable and, er, less listenable. I'm sure they're terribly popular on mainland Europe and in South America, amongst other 'territories', but their clichéd approach demands that the listener switches off (or, preferably, murders in cold blood) any remote sense of irony they may once have owned.
I believe 1999's Burning Bridges is the band's third album, its chief plus point being its relative brevity, while all the usual suspects are invoked: Metallica, Slayer, Queensrÿche, probably Manowar. The sonic onslaught is partially leavened by quieter sections, although Johan Liiva's sore-throat vocals don't help in its appreciation to the non-fan. But then, they're not making albums for us them, are they? The only tracks that stand out in any way are Angelclaw, which tries (but fails) to channel Rush and the closing title track, with Per Wiberg (Spiritual Beggars, Opeth) guesting on grand piano and 'Mellotron', with a polyphonic cello part, alongside the sampled solo female voice. Incidentally, is Silverwing named in honour of the no-budget NWoBHM glam merchants of the same name? I think we should be told.
The band followed up with 2001's Wages of Sin, notable for being their first release to feature German vocalist Angela Gossow, who must have a titanium larynx, as she accurately reproduces her predecessor's bowel-clenching throat-shredding excesses. There's slightly more stylistic variation on the album, though only within the genre; no Goan trance or ska-punk here, folks. Wiberg on samplotron again, with strings on Heart Of Darkness and flutes and strings on the unimaginative but perfectly pleasant Snowbound. Reissues include a second disc of outtakes and covers, including ultra-metallic run-throughs of Judas Priest's Starbreaker (from when they were good), Iron Maiden's Aces High (they were never good, even if I once thought they were) and, in a patriotic gesture, Europe's Scream Of Anger (also from when they were good).
2003's Anthems of Rebellion is largely more of the same, although Dead Eyes See No Future breaks it all down to ominous drums, pseudo-Mellotron cellos and female voice in the middle eight, while Instinct opens with a synth part that reminds me of Sweet's Fox On The Run. Er, slightly. For that matter, Leader Of The Rats is the best actual 'song' I've yet heard by the band, so maybe they are progressing/improving. Wiberg on keys once more, with samplotron strings on We Will Rise, the aforementioned cellos on Dead Eyes See No Future and rather inauthentic-sounding strings on closer Saints And Sinners.
Are you interested in hearing Arch Enemy? Are you a seventeen year-old Serbian or Brazilian? That's probably slightly unfair, although their appeal does seem to be heavily restricted to those who take Heavy Fucking Metal far too seriously. Guys, we all like a headbang every now and again (er, don't we?), but this is all a bit silly. Not as silly as Manowar, though. Nothing's as silly as Manowar. Even Venom, who are fucking silly. I should know, having pissed myself laughing through their first ever UK date, nearly thirty years ago (gulp). All of which has little to do with Arch Enemy. they do what they do with Teutonic efficiency, despite being Scandinavians, so if you like your metal black and your speaker cones inverted, you've probably come to the right place.
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Plank Road (2007, 36.56) **½AcetoneThe Rose of Wildcat Road Wow/Flutter Sunshiny Day Blood Road The Liner Notes (of My Heart) Lake Nepessing |
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Jeff Archer is one of a growing number of 'home industry' musicians, recording and releasing his own material via the 'Net, completely bypassing the traditional music industry. 2007's Plank Road is his eighth album in around a decade, specifically recorded as an Americana project, at which it's partially successful. A couple of its seven tracks work fairly well, although, frankly, opener Acetone sounds like a rewrite of Bowie's Space Oddity, especially when the 'Mellotron' kicks in. Two major downsides: although Archer's voice is perfectly acceptable for the genre, the production leaves something to be desired, the end result sounding more like a demo than a finished product. Also, almost every track 'features' an overlong, fairly awful guitar solo, the reverse one on nine-minute closer Lake Nepessing proving that they're no more interesting backwards than forwards.
Although Jeff credits himself with Mellotron, it's pretty obviously not real, with strings on Acetone (spot the unfortunate major/minor clash at a couple of points), brass on Wow/Flutter, pretty ropey flutes on Sunshiny Day and vibes and cellos on Lake Nepessing. There are plus and minus points to the home-industry recording; Archer's album highlights both, but if he can learn to rein in his soloing propensity and improve his production skills, he could start making some interesting music. Incidentally, he's recorded other fakeotron tracks, but I'm not sure if they're actually available yet.
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Areknamés (2003, 54.28) ****A Day Among Four WallsWasted Time Down Season of Death Boredom Grain of Sand Lost in the Sea |
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Love Hate Round Trip (2006, 78.09) **** |
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| The Skeletal Landscape of the World Deceit Outcast La Chambre Snails Yet I Must Be Something Ignis Fatuus Stray Thoughts From a Crossroad |
A Grotesque Gift Someone Lies Here Pendulum Arc The Web of Years |
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In Case of Loss... (2010, 57.52) ***½ |
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| Beached Alone Dateless Diary Don't Move A New Song Where |
The Very Last Number a. Main Theme & First Variation b. Escaping c. Limbo d. Flashback e. Last-Ditch Attempt f. Escaping (reprise) g. An Alternative Endpoint h. Farewell (including Brief Joyful Digression) |
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Areknamés are led by vocalist/organist Michele Epifani, their raison d'être being to play a form of psychedelic progressive that went out of fashion around 1972, their influences including VdGG, Gracious!, Affinity, Second Hand and a host of others. To those ends, 2003's Areknamés succeeds admirably, not one of its six tracks letting the side down. Best track? Maybe closer Grain Of Sand Lost In The Sea, but picking out highlights in such a cohesive album is slightly futile. Epifani's 'Mellotron' is quite clearly not, with strings on A Day Among Four Walls, strings and flutes on Down, a major string part towards the end of Boredom and more strings and flutes on Grain Of Sand Lost In The Sea.
The immediate major difference in the band's sound on 2006's lengthy Love Hate Round Trip (originally mooted to be a double LP) is the addition of a guitarist, Stefano Colombi, although he mostly does his best not to overwhelm the sound. If the album has a fault, it's (wait for it) that it's overlong, although with every track worthy of inclusion, short of making it into two shorter releases, I'm not sure what else the band could do. Plenty of samplotron, notably the flute (and possibly oboe) parts that open Snails, the strings on Yet I Must Be Something (plus a very Caravan-esque organ solo) and choir and brass on the exceptionally VdGG-ish Ignis Fatuus.
2010's In Case of Loss... indicates another sea-change, with a darker, more psychedelic sound than before, with even more Van der Graaf thrown in than before. Unfortunately, it's not quite as appealing to this listener, which isn't to say there's anything wrong with it, just that a little of the prog seems to have seeped out during the intervening years. Saying that, twenty-minute, eight-part closer The Very Last Number has to be the proggiest thing they've yet recorded, possibly highlighting the dichotomy within the band, or maybe just proving that they refuse to be pigeonholed. Once more, plenty of samplotron, mostly strings and flutes this time round.
Areknamés are one of the best new bands to come out of Italy (already a hotbed of progressive activity) in the last decade, going by their first three albums, although anyone looking for 'pure' symphonic prog (whatever that is) might be disappointed by some of their work. However, if you're prepared to follow them slightly off-piste, I'm sure these albums will continue to reveal hidden depths for some time to come.
Arena (UK) see: |
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Wild Untamed Imaginings (2010, 54.31) **** |
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| Boudicca's Chariot Coats of Red Flagday New Scientist Hagley Gaia Eighth Deadly Sin Change pt2 |
So You Finally Made it Kaleidoscope Nowhere's Ark |
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Birmingham-based Ark (or ARK, or A.R.K., or aRK...) grew out of another local outfit, Damascus, becoming a popular draw on late '80s British club scene, during a particularly low ebb for British progressive rock (the two events are not connected). But were Ark actually prog? They certainly had proggish elements, not least vocalist Anthony/Tony/Ant short's flute playing and Steve Harris' guitar synth work (I paraphrase: "I've spent years learning to play guitar; why would I learn keyboards?") and were generally lumped in with the handful of other late-period neo-proggers, not that anyone used the term at the time. In many ways they were more of a hard rock band than anything, Pete Wheatley's guitar work being at the 'rocking' end of the spectrum, but with far more subtlety than that suggests, while their song structures were more 'simplistic end of prog' than 'fiddly end of hard rock'. In other words, Ark fell between several stools, although they made a good go of it anyway. If anyone's thinking, "What's Thompson on? Has he lost his mind? Neo-prog?", my pals and I were both fans and friends of the band over a several-year period, my old band even supporting them a couple of times (thanks again, chaps).
During the original band's lifetime, they released precisely one full-length album (1993's Spiritual Physics), although they're remembered more for their initial longish-player, 1988's excellent mini-album The Dreams of Mr. Jones, containing some of the best material in their set at the time. They split in '94; by sheer chance, we saw their penultimate gig, having not seen them in some time and were informed of their imminent demise, ensuring that we got to said sad hometown farewell the following night. Wind the clock sixteen years on... I haven't mentioned that their original bassist was John Jowitt, generally regarded as one of the best bassists to emerge from the '80s UK scene and better known for his lengthy tenure with IQ, not to mention stints in Jadis, Arena, Frost and others. I don't know the full story, but after finally deciding to leave IQ, I believe Jowitt approached his old Ark buddies (despite having left them several years before their decline) and suggested a reformation. The band never could hold down a regular drummer, so getting all four of the 'regular' lineup back together was a feat in itself, I'd imagine.
The first fruit of the reformation (no, not the Reformation) is an album of re-recordings of old material, 2010's Wild Untamed Imaginings. Now, I normally hate such projects, the atmosphere of the original recordings almost invariably becoming lost in translation, but in Ark's case, none of the originals were exactly well-produced, due to budgetary constraints, while Harris' synth work was always mostly digital anyway, although he's still using an analogue Oberheim in his rack. In other words, since it's so much easier to get a decent production cheaply these days (go on, deny it), this is the first time we actually get to hear their material sounding, well, professional. Anyway, we get new versions of three tracks each from Dreams... (top tracks: old set opener Gaia, old set closer and 'band anthem' Nowhere's Ark), their particularly badly-produced New Scientist (ho ho) EP (top tracks: the title track and Boudicca's Chariot) and a couple of cassette mini-albums (top track and album highlight: the folky Flagday), leaving two I don't recognise, although I suspect they date from the band's early days. I'd imagine that all concerned have a little more money these days, too, allowing for a good production job, finally doing the material some justice. There are a couple of inexplicable omissions, notably Dreams...' cataclysmic Powder For The Gun (performed live at the handful of album launch gigs), but I suspect they're keeping enough good stuff back for a second volume. Let's hope.
"So what's all this got to do with sampled Mellotrons?", I hear you cry. Possibly. When I saw Steve after their 2010 Birmingham gig, he not only boasted of still using an Oberheim, but got all enthusiastic about his Mellotron samples, which I'd noted during one track. And indeed, there they are on the album, with strings and choir all over the excellent Flagday, although all other choir parts sound like generic samples to my ears. Frankly, one track of sampled Mellotron isn't going to make you rush out to buy this album, but the chance to hear some excellent material (all assuming you're not demanding eighteen-minute symphonic epics), well-recorded at last, might be. Ark were always at their best on stage, but Wild Untamed Imaginings finally gives us a hint of their live energy on CD. Welcome back, chaps.
See: IQ
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Droga (1999, 62.30) ***½ |
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| Dom Przy Moście W Krainie Smoków Jestem Smutny Wspaniała Nowina Adwent Buraki, Kapusta i Sól Radio NRD Kfinto |
Nino Łeno Najduchy i Ćmy Parowóz Numer Osiem Jezus Chrystus Jest Panem |
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As Droga's downtuned metal riffery kicked in, my heart sank; oh God, not another crummy prog-metal effort... Wrong. Armia have been releasing albums since the late '80s, this being something like their seventh and they could teach the prog-metal establishment a thing or three about dynamics, interesting songwriting, avoiding clichés... the list goes on. One of the album's strongest features is Krzysztof "Banan" Banasik's French horn playing, present on over half the tracks (listen to the overdubbed harmony part on W Krainie Smoków), not to mention guitarist Dariusz "Popcorn" Popowicz' offbeat approach to riff and song construction (Parowóz Numer Osiem's a good example).
Banasik allegedly plays Mellotron, but even if this weren't here, you'd still be fairly unsurprised to hear that it's sampled. Anyway, we get an octave flute part on Wspaniała Nowina plus regular flutes on Adwent and Kfinto, with a little on closer Jezus Chrystus Jest Panem, although none of it's anywhere near as effective as that French horn. So; if you're after something decidedly metallic, yet simultaneously off the beaten track, as long as you're not bothered by the Polish-language vocals, Armia in general and Droga in particular are worth the effort.
