|
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
Generazioni (2002, 53.21) ***½La ProvaPensieri Affascinani Margherita a Rodi Luci ed Ombre Non ci Credo Più Lunario La Terra dei Grandi Occhi |
Current availability:
Calliope were one of a handful of halfway decent prog bands to come out of Italy in the '90s, fighting their way through a sea of turgid neo-prog tosh in an attempt to regain their country's '70s glory. As you can see from their main review, they owned an M400 and used it extensively on their first two albums, before major line-up changes and a rather average third record that may or may not have featured real 'Tron.
As if their previous line-up changes weren't confusing enough, their final album, the live Generazioni, changes almost everyone again (back to male vocals), the only survivor from Il Madrigale del Vento being second keyboard player Enrico Perrucci, leaving precisely no original members in under a decade. Consisting mainly of first album material, opener La Prova (from Città di Frontiera) is as 'Mellotron'-free as its studio version, with Pensieri Affascinani, Margherita A Rodi and Non Ci Credo Più featuring most of their studio counterparts' 'Tron sections (new song Luci Ed Ombre also has some), at least on strings, although it has to be asked: is it real? I'm rather doubtful, to be honest, so until I find out otherwise, I think this has to stay here. There is actually a short burst of 'Tronlike choir to be heard on the album, at the end of Non Ci Credo Più, but while it doesn't sound that authentic, at least it's a Mellotron sound...
See: Calliope
 |
Relocated (2006, 59.20) **½ |
|
| Memory We Are Lovers Motif Sky Real Thing Passing By Confusion The Perfect Key Stream |
Dreaming The Pleasure Remains Bitter Taste Something Wrong Light How Do You Feel? |
|
Current availability:
Camouflage are a German synthpop act who incorporate elements of mainstream rock into their thang. Their seventh 'proper' album, 2006's Relocated, mixes the two well enough to make them difficult to categorise; suffice to say, if you like their previous work, chances are you'll like this.
Although Heiko Maile is credited with 'Mellotron', it's almost certainly samples, although they allegedly used a real one on 1991's Meanwhile. The chief use here is the choirs at the end of Stream, although there's a couple of places where the string sounds are more Mellotronic than anything else. Overall, then, not the most interesting album I've ever heard, and not the most arresting Mellotron (sample) use, either.
See: Camouflage
 |
The Fakeout, the Tease & the Breather (2010, 55.42) ** |
|
| Becoming You Mexico City Mountains of Molehills I Don't Know Where I Was Going With This Magazine (Songwriter on a Train) Appreciation Shortcuts Reading the Map Upside Down |
Choosing Sides Throwaway Plan Your Escape |
|
Current availability:
Although sometimes described as 'chamber pop', going by Chicagoans Canasta's second album, 2010's The Fakeout, the Tease & the Breather, 'tedious sub-post-rock/pop' might be closer to the mark. Irritatingly, the band occasionally summon up the imagination to attempt something interesting, but seemingly lack the skill to do anything with it.
Kyle Mann and Ian Wilson are credited with Mellotron, but the rather-too-clean strings on Shortcuts sound enough like samples to place this here. Post-rock/indie, anyone? Thought not.
 |
My Back Pages Volume 1 (2009, 59.05) ***½ |
|
| Eight Miles High Space Oddity Fresh Garbage Journey to the Center of the Mind On the Turning Away Mother Goose My Sunday Feeling Turn Turn Turn |
Hurdy Gurdy Man Court of the Crimson King Norwegian Wood Embryonic Journey Monterey Life |
|
Current availability:
Jeff Cannata's career began as drummer with Jasper Wrath, although he's now better known as a vocalist and guitarist. 2009's covers set My Back Pages Volume 1 is his fourth solo album in a twenty-year period, a fairly typical 'all my influences' effort, most tracks being fairly faithful recreations of the originals. They're largely what you'd expect of someone who came up through the progressive scene: Crimson, Tull (twice), The Beatles, The Byrds (also twice)... Being American, Cannata tackles several US outfits, not least Spirit, Jefferson Airplane and The Amboy Dukes. Somehow or other, I've managed never to hear the last-named's excellent Journey To The Center Of The Mind before; how could that buffoon Ted Nugent claim that he 'didn't know it was a drug song'? Twat. The nearest the album gets to low points are his take on Pink Floyd's limp On The Turning Away (from 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason): a strange choice, given that a) it's the only cover here from outside the era and b) there are far more appropriate tracks from their repertoire, plus closing 'bonus' Life, a cheesy self-written AOR number referencing all Cannata's faves.
Two 'Mellotron' tracks, credited to Cannata himself, with the expected fakeotron strings on Space Oddity and Court Of The Crimson King; good samples, I'll give you, but samples all the same. Is there any point to this album? We certainly get some unexpected versions, not least Tull's Mother Goose and the Airplane's Embryonic Journey (George Manukas on acoustic), so it'd be fair to say that it's a reasonable primer into what a young American musician was listening to at the time, without all the licensing hassles you'd get trying to compile the originals.
 |
Impasse (2005, 62.13) ***½Sun RadiationNorth of Circle Zenith |
 |
Light Echoes (2006, 66.51) ***½Light EchoesTwo Toned Rock on Mars Interpherometry |
 |
Red Metal (2007, 64.11) *** |
|
| Circadian Rhythms Radiometry Conmutation Q Cibercafe Dark Memory System Liquid Crystal Circadian Algorhythm Red Metal |
Sphinx Radar Voices in the Space Epilogue |
|
Current availability:
(Francisco) Javi(er) Cánovas (Pordomingo) is a rare Spanish entrant in the modern EM stakes, his trademark sparse sound separating him from the pack of 'Berlin School' clones. I believe 2005's Impasse is his debut, a typically lengthy electronic effort, if better than many, the sequencing on Zenith being more complex and original than the usual. The sampled Mellotron choirs come in on opener Sun Radiation around the same time as the sequencer's first appearance, with more of the same on North Of Circle and some particularly nasty low string notes on Zenith, on the offchance that you thought he might be using a real one.
The following year's Light Echoes relies more heavily on Cánovas' sequencer patterns, actually losing some of its limited originality in the process. Once again, a perfectly 'good' release (well, how difficult can it be?), but nothing that will appeal to any but hardened aficionados. The first Mellotron sound this time is the flutes, a Tangs-like melody splattered all over the opening title track, with more of the same on Two Toned Rock On Mars, leaving closer Interpherometry to the strings and choirs. 2007's Red Metal is a very different proposition indeed: twelve (relatively) short tracks, some beginning to approach the dance spectrum, although most are similar to the above two albums, only vastly shorter. Next to no Mellotron samples, with naught but a flute line on Voices In The Space, surprisingly.
Despite his change of tack on Red Metal, Cánovas is very much an artist who makes music with (modern) synthesizers and who should be approached as such. His more recent work may or may not move further towards the dance spectrum, or he may've reverted to the tried'n'tested approach; either way, one for synth-heads only.
 |
Acoustic (2004, 38.54) **½ |
|
| International You Day Not Your Savior Exit Stunt Double Justified Black Eye On the Outside Move the Car Violins |
Tragic Vision Twenty-Seven Wind in Your Sails Violet |
|
Current availability:
Joey Cape and Tony Sly are frontmen for what passes for American punk bands these days, respectively Lagwagon and No Use for a Name. No, I haven't heard of them, either. 2004's Acoustic, is, as you might expect, a document of the pair playing some of their repertoire acoustically, although it's more a split release than a collaboration, the first six tracks by Sly, the remainder by Cape. Do they work in this format? Acoustically, Sly's material sounds like just about any awful current US singer-songwriter you care to name, cheesy melodies (and is that a hint of Autotune I hear?) floating over inconsequential chord sequences, although Cape's have a little more substance, thankfully, the best example possibly being Wind In Your Sails.
Todd Capps allegedly plays Mellotron on Cape's tracks, but the flutes on Tragic Vision are most unconvincing. Unfortunately, the solo flute's relatively simple waveform makes it probably the easiest Mellotron sound to sample effectively, thus the hardest to spot. Either way, this is a pretty unexciting effort, although at least Cape's songs didn't have me lunging for the 'next' button.
 |
On Land & in the Sea (1989, 47.28/48.48) ***** |
|
| Two Bites of Cherry Baby Heart Dirt The Leader of the Starry Skys I Hold My Love in My Arms The Duck and Roger the Horse Arnald Horsehead Fast Robert |
Mare's Nest The Stench of Honey Buds and Spawn The Safety Bowl The Everso Closely Guarded Line |
|
Current availability:
Cardiacs should need no introduction to anyone interested in unusual, challenging music; often labelled 'prog', they could just as easily fit into several other genres, or equally, fall between the various cracks, effectively creating their own genre (in a manner not dissimilar to Magma's Zeuhl). 1989's On Land & in the Sea (named for a line from 1985 EP lead-off track Big Ship) was their second full-length studio album to appear on vinyl and while (arguably) not quite hitting the peaks of the previous year's A Little Man & a House & the Whole World Window, it runs it an exceedingly close second, classics such as The Leader Of The Starry Skys [sic], Arnald [also sic], Fast Robert and deathless closer The Everso Closely Guarded Line staying in the band's set for the next two decades.
Having used a real Mellotron on their previous album, crafty samples had been made (pretty early in '88, but there you go), finding their way onto a handful of tracks here, with background choirs on I Hold My Love In My Arms, Buds And Spawn and The Everso Closely Guarded Line, although I could swear there was a major string swell somewhere on the record, too. Anyway, assuming you can actually get hold of this (Cardiacs CD availability has always been a bit of a nebulous thing), it ranks alongside A Little Man... and the Big Ship EP as an utterly essential release.
See: Cardiacs | William D. Drake
 |
Man Made Machine (2005, 58.30) *** |
|
| Titans Clash Aggressively to Keep an Even Score Sunshine Waters The Weakening Sound Tilting the Scales The Man You Just Became Man Made Machine Burn to Something New |
In the Centre of an Empty Space The Recipe This is Home |
|
Current availability:
Carptree are categorised as 'neo-prog' by ProgArchives, but they have little in common with the '80s bands that define that sub-genre, sounding instead like a cross between 'modern prog' (Spock's Beard et al.) and the tuneless prog metal that seems to pass for mainstream progressive rock these days. 2005's Man Made Machine isn't a bad album as such, it's just rather faceless, and its pomposity is enough to make any old-school prog fan who appreciates a little subtlety run for the hills.
Although I've seen references to 'Mellotron' in relation to this album, the strings heard throughout are very clearly 'Tron samples, the upper end of their reach being screechy and stretched, though, in fairness, nothing's credited on the album. So; rather uninspired modern prog with sampled 'Tron. Your choice, methinks.
 |
vs. Children (2009, 32.17) *** |
|
| Casiotone for the Painfully Alone vs. Children Tom Justice, the Choir Boy Robber, Apprehended at Ace Hardware in Libertyville, IL Optimist vs. the Silent Alarm (When the Saints Go Marching in) Natural Light Traveling Salesman's Young Wife Home Alone on Christmas in Montpelier, VT |
Man o'War Northfield, MN Killers Harsh the Herald Angels Sing You Were Alone White Jetta |
|
Current availability:
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone are effectively San Franciscan Owen Ashworth's solo project, although he uses collaborators as and when. 2009's vs. Children (or Casiotone for the Painfully Alone vs. Children, I suppose) is something like his sixth album, a low-fi delight of cheap drum machines, muted voices and school-hall piano, filled with strange, ageless little songs with titles like Tom Justice, The Choir Boy Robber, Apprehended At Ace Hardware In Libertyville, IL or Traveling Salesman's Young Wife Home Alone On Christmas In Montpelier, VT. I'm not even sure who might go for Ashworth's highly individual approach to music-making, although I hope someone does; this is too quirky to ignore, even if it's not exactly my bag.
Ashworth freely admits to using Mellotron samples, which makes a nice change, with flutes and cellos on Man O'War, very upfront flutes on Killers (an amusing parody of Bowie's "Heroes") and closer White Jetta. Is this going to be your thing? More probably not than probably, but it does that weird, low-fi indie thing as well as any and better than most, with a little samplotron to spice things up.
 |
Com.union (2007, 70.09) ***½ |
|
| Orogus Al Bello Fantasmas y Demonios Elfonía Sensación Árabe Damajuana II Donde Se Visten las Serpientes El Cojín Verde |
Cosas Simples Hogar Dulce Hogar Lobos Io |
|
Current availability:
Amazingly, Mexico's Cast originally formed in 1978, although they kept a low profile in the stinky '80s, releasing their first album in 1994. Although they tended heavily towards the neo-prog end of things in the '90s, they've slowly developed a sound of their own, until by their fifteenth release (they were very busy in their first decade), 2007's Com.union (ho ho), they can probably be said to be about as original as they're going to get within the confines of the genre. Despite its length (again...), the album has several highlights, not least the epic Elfonía, the odd, brassy, '60s-ish Hogar Dulce Hogar and Lobos, although one major criticism is Claudio Cordero's guitar work: all too often, it seems he can't think of anything more original to do than riff along with the keyboards. More imagination please, sir.
Alfonso Vidales is credited with 'Melotron', but the strings and choirs on Elfonía sound about as genuine as that spelling, to absolutely no-one's surprise. Overall, then, a far better effort than I was expecting, having vestigial memories of being bored stupid by this lot in the late '90s. A shame a few more bands from that time can't pull their socks up in a similar fashion.
 |
Gods of 1973 (2009, 47.08) ****The Mighty ArpGods of 1973 Random Gates Canoeing on the River Styx Bombs Away Fjordic Njord Triskaidekaphobia Symphony of Sorrowful Songs/Cantabile Semplice The Last Song Ever |
Current availability:
Castle Canyon were yet another early '70s US progressive band who, more through circumstance than lack of talent, never got the breaks, even in a small way. Bassist Fred Chalenor and keys man Erik Ian Walker reconnected twenty years later and after finding drummer Paul Elias, decided to record some of their old material, the end result finally appearing in 2009 as the self-deprecatingly-titled Gods of 1973. And they sound like...? They sound like they listened to a variety of bands back then, not least Kansas, Gentle Giant and (unsurprisingly) ELP, other non-prog artists and a range of classical musics. Highlights include the epic Canoeing On The River Styx, the even more epic Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number thirteen, years before Present's Triskaidékaphobie) and Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs/Cantabile Semplice, although, in truth, there's not a single track on this sensibly-lengthed album that disappoints.
The band openly admit Mellotron sample use (which makes a nice change), with strings on The Mighty Arp and flutes on the title track, plus other probable background use. Incidentally, the ARP 2600 heard all over the album was (get this) found discarded next to a skip. Do you know how much these things are worth? Thank fuck they found it before it was junked... When you consider some of the utter rubbish that passes for 'progressive' these days, or even if you don't, Castle Canyon are an absolute breath of fresh air, succeeding in sounding like no-one else in particular, while writing accessible material that's unlikely to offend any but the most ardent neo- fan. Buy this album.
Cathedral (UK) see: |
 |
|
 |
The Modern Tribe (2007, 44.11) **½ |
|
| Evergreen Pressure Heartbreak Pony Fly the Fly Tame the Savage Hands Off My Gold In This Land |
Comets Wild Cats Our Hearts Don't Change |
|
Current availability:
I'm not really sure what Celebration are trying to achieve on their second album, 2007's The Modern Tribe. Modern psychedelia? Indie? Soft rock? All of the above? Moments of instrumental beauty are squashed flat by long, long minutes of failed funk and overcooked Hammond work, not to mention Katrina Ford's voice, which, shall we say, frequently lacks tunefulness. The album's worst crime, though, is a lack of memorable material, surely a prerequisite for music towards the 'pop' end of the spectrum?
Sean Antanaitis is credited with Mellotron, along with Taurus pedals and others, but if the strings on several tracks, notably closer Our Hearts Don't Change, actually emanate from a real machine, I'll be stunned. Seriously, they're not even good samples. I'd like to be nicer about this album, but I'm afraid it's defeated me. Nice sleeve?
 |
Happy Hour (1999, 44.59) *** |
|
| Head Homecoming Ash Wednesday Everyman Loser Cold Fusion 21st Century Mantra A Boy and His Dog |
South of Mexico Longitudes Fuck Old |
|
Current availability:
Led by Paul Dougherty, the Nashville-based Chilhowie were an indie/powerpop outfit existing between 1992 and 2000, never quite breaking out of their home region. Their only album was 1999's Happy Hour, a decent enough effort without being particularly outstanding, better tracks including the muted Hüsker Dü-isms of Ash Wednesday, the angular guitar work on Cold Fusion and the punky Fuck.
With no Mellotron specifically credited, it's no work of genius to decide that Dave Layne's string part on Loser is sampled, particularly noticeable on the high notes. Presumably long out of print, the album's available as a free download from Dougherty's website, a practice from which many other artists could learn, I think.
 |
Live at Abbey Road Studios, 2004 (2005, 87.57) **** |
||
| Jump the Gun Isolation Here I Come Secrets on Parade Let's Face it Don't Leave Me But Leave Me Alone Surfing the Surface Love is a Matter of... Whispering at the Top of My Lungs |
Get the Fuck Out of My Mind Screaming at the Top of My Lungs Caterpillar Love is a Loser's Game Right Next to the Right One Time is the Space Between Us No Easy Key Lost and Found |
King's Garden Barbedwired Baby's Dream How Far You Go |
|
Current availability:
If you've spent any time at all on this site, Tim Christensen really should need no introduction: mainman of the underrated/near-unknown Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, his handful of solo albums continue to highlight his idiosyncratic writing skills. Although his fame is sadly still largely confined to Scandinavia and Japan, a few high-profile production jobs (not least Celine Dion) are beginning to get his name about. Live at Abbey Road Studios, 2004 (also filmed and released on DVD) is a document of the (invitation-only) last night of his Honeyburst tour, featuring not only the electric and acoustic segments of the show, but five tracks of studio-recorded acoustic versions as a bonus. The live material's excellent, as you'd expect, featuring roughly equal numbers of tracks from his two solo albums, plus a superb acoustic version of DML's classic Lose Is A Loser's Game, making for a good primer to Tim's solo work.
Tim is, of course, a major Mellotron user, although, for some reason, he elected not to bring one over for the gig, nor borrow/hire one here. Instead, his second guitarist/keys man plays a MIDI controller in a Mellotron-shaped box. Why, Tim? I know the whole shebang was filmed, but you can spot it in the close-ups if you know what you're looking for. Anyway, we get strings, cellos, flutes, vibes, oboes... I've just realised why he used samples on the night: you can't get enough sounds into an M400 to accurately reproduce the studio versions. To be honest, you can spot the samples from the squashy low string notes, but not only do they mostly fool the ear, but you have to watch the DVD for the close-ups to determine that we're not looking at The Real Thing here. Actually, given that the bonus disc's tracks are studio recordings, might that be real Mellotron we're hearing? If I find out that's the case, I shall move this review forthwith.
So; what is loses in the way of studio sheen, Live at Abbey Road gains in live atmosphere, even if the venue's not the most obvious. In some ways, you're better off buying the DVD version; several tracks are on YouTube if you'd like to see what you're buying. No actual Mellotron, but a very good facsimile.
See: Tim Christensen
 |
Stereo Type A (1999, 57.07) *** |
|
| Working for Vacation Spoon Flowers Lint of Love Moonchild Sci-Fi Wasabi Clouds Speechless |
King of Silence Blue Train Sunday Part I Sunday Part II Stone Mortming |
|
Current availability:
The New York-based Cibo Matto consisted of Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda; the band name translates loosely from the Italian for 'food madness', reflected in the gastronomically-related titles of most of the tracks on their 1996 debut, Viva! La Woman. Musically, they incorporated hip-hop, various Latin styles and mainstream pop, amongst other things, creating a veritable smorgasbord of sound, with considerable variety on their second and last album, '99's Stereo Type A.
NYC resident Sean Lennon was a band member at the time, though it has to be said that his influence isn't that discernable, unless you count what have to be sampled Mellotron strings on Clouds and choir on Mortming (from Yumiko Ohno and 'Zak'), although he used a 'some real, some sampled' approach on his '98 solo album, Into the Sun, also featuring Yuka Honda. So; if you're feeling eclectic, in a hip-hop/Latin kind of way, you may well go for this, but it's really not worth it for some sampled 'Tron.
See: Sean Lennon
 |
A Child in the Mirror (2010, 57.21) **** |
|
| Ciccada Isabella Sunset A Child in the Mirror A Storyteller's Dream Raindrops An Endless Sea Epirus - a Mountain Song Elisabeth |
The Moment A Garden of Delights |
|
Current availability:
The female-fronted Ciccada have greatly surprised me by being a new progressive band from somewhere outside Scandinavia who are trying to do something with the genre, if only in a limited way. Actually 2010's A Child in the Mirror's chief influences seem to be medieval music in general and Änglagård in particular; rarely a bad thing, although some of it's a bit blatant, particularly the root-to-flattened-fifth chord changes heard here and there. Overall, though, while lacking originality, this is a very listenable album, although too long by a good fifteen minutes, to be honest. Standout tracks? This is one of those 'should be listened to as a whole' records, rather than something you dip into.
Plenty of fake Mellotron, with string, cello and choir parts dotted throughout, although the flute is real. Hurrah! A new prog album that isn't full of pointless riffing guitar and overwrought vocals! While this is very good, I suspect Ciccada can do better; I look forward to their follow-up.
 |
Signal Morning (2009, 46.17) *** |
|
| Woodpecker Greeting Worker Ant Rocks and Stones This Morning (We Remembered Everything) Tiny Concerts Electronic Diversion Overjoyed The Breathing Universe News From the Heavenly Loom Round Again |
I You We Blasting Through Particle Parades Gold Will Stay The Frozen Lake/The Symmetry Until Moon Medium Hears the Message (Drifts) Signal Morning |
|
Current availability:
Circulatory System are yet another neo-psych act straight outta Atlanta's Elephant Six stable (Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control), although the original grouping apparently dissolved in the early 2000s. Will Cullen Hart was E6's chief guiding light in the '90s, but an MS diagnosis has slowed him down in recent years, making Signal Morning his first significant release in the better part of a decade. It's certainly psychedelic and in a particularly skronky way, but is it any good? Influences include Syd's Floyd (of course) and what sounds to my ears like various US protagonists of the era, the end result being varied/confused (delete according to taste). Best tracks? Hard to say, although the druggy Rocks And Stones and surprisingly mainstream (circa 1968) The Breathing Universe stand out.
As with every other 'Mellotron' E6 band, sample use is de rigeur, with obvious flutes on This Morning (We Remembered Everything) and distant strings on Gold Will Stay, with other probable parts dotted around, low in the mix. To be honest, if you're after a twee, sub-Piper...-esque album, I really couldn't recommend Signal Morning, but if something a little more out there is more to your taste, feel free. At least it's better than Thee Oh Sees.
See: Instruments
 |
Hologramatron (2010, 64.50) ***½ |
|
| Lake of Fire Money Speaks You'll Just Have to See it to Believe Stars of Sayulita Warning What Have They Done to the Rain Abandoned Mines |
Suicide Train Telstar Dateless Oblivion & Divine Repose ['Bonus tracks': Abandoned Mines Forrest Fang remix You’ll Just Have to See it to Believe alt.mix Lake of Fire Evan Schiller remix] |
|
Current availability:
Musically active since the '80s, guitarist Barry Cleveland stretches the definition of guitar 'playing' to its extremes, although much of his work on 2010's Hologramatron is surprisingly straightforward. His best-known collaborator on the album is ninja bassist Michael Manring, while obvious influences include King Crimson (almost all eras), Peter Gabriel, jazz and various world musics. Highlights? Vicious protest piece Lake Of Fire, vocalist Amy X Neuberg giving it her all and Discipline-era Crimsonesque You'll Just Have To See It To Believe, although ('bonus' remixes aside) there isn't an expendable track here.
Cleveland adds Mellotron string samples to opener Lake Of Fire and Suicide Train, though barely on the latter; it's hardly what you'd call central to the band's sound, anyway. All in all, an imaginative and relatively original release, as you'd expect from New York's forward-looking MoonJune label. Worth hearing.
 |
Perfect Dark Zero [game OST] (2005, 73.56) **½ |
|||
| Perfect Dark Zero - Title Mission Selection Combat Arena Mission Complete Pause Game Fail Datacore Demolition - Training Datacore Demolition - Camspy |
Datacore Demolition - Escape Glitter Girl (Evil Side) Limelight (Radio Edit) Subway Retrieval - Stealth Subway Retrieval - Action Subway Retrieval - Descent Rooftops Escape - Main Theme Mansion Infiltration - Stealth |
Mansion Infiltration - Action Deathmatch with Maihem! Laboratory Rescue - Stealth Laboratory Rescue - Action River Extraction - Lab Escape River Extraction - Riverchase Trinity Infiltration - Stealth Trinity Escape - Main Theme |
Temple Surveillance - Main Theme Arena Showdown - Main Theme Pearl Necklace [by MorrisonPoe] |
|
Current availability:
David Clynick's soundtrack for the Perfect Dark Zero Xbox game is pretty much exactly what you'd expect of a game soundtrack: mostly an electronic/metal hybrid, with hip-hop elements thrown in for good (?) measure. I'm not entirely sure why anyone would choose to listen to this mash-up for pleasure; isn't it irritating enough while playing the game?
Several tracks feature samples that may or may not have been recorded from a Mellotron sometime in their ancestral past, although the only track on which it's actually credited, closer Pearl Necklace (actually by MorrisonPoe), it's completely inaudible. Unsurprisingly, although I applaud this album's professionalism, I really can't recommend its actual contents, fake 'Tron or no fake 'Tron.
 |
X-Ray Sierra (1999, 49.10) **½ |
|
| I Wonder Stonecutter's Arms Art of Listening Heartbreak Girl Willie Dixon Said Marianne and Lenny Beautiful Day Windy Night in Fall |
Piece of Your Soul This is the World Northern Frontier |
|
Current availability:
Tom Cochrane is better known as Canadian stars Red Rider's mainman; going solo in the early '90s, he's now reunited with two of the band's other founding members. His fifth solo album (including one pre-Red Rider release), 1999's X-Ray Sierra (presumably the phonetic alphabet code for XS/excess), is a rootsy AOR effort of the kind that sounds best coming from your car radio as you drive across the prairie, although it all falls a bit flat on a rainy afternoon in Britain (OK, it didn't rain today, but you know what I mean). Best track? Probably closer Northern Frontier, although it would've been improved by the removal of the almost random percussion slathered all over it.
Cochrane is credited with Mellotron, but going by the strings on opener I Wonder, er, I wonder, frankly. In fact, I wonder to the point where I've dumped this into 'samples'. One for fans of radio rock, then, but the rest of us really should avoid.
 |
My Friends All Died in a Plane Crash (2007, 37.02) *** |
|
| Take Off Vultures On My Way Seesaw Christmas Song Tell Me Owls Paper Boat |
Cliffhanger Chupee Hummingbird Microwave |
|
Current availability:
French duo Cocoon play a melancholy kind of English-language folk/pop; even the more upbeat songs on their debut album, 2007's My Friends All Died in a Plane Crash (miserablists? Us?) have an, er, downbeat side to them, despite the cutesy sleeve. It's a perfectly respectable album of its type, but you'll probably have to be into that Gallic thing to gain an awful lot from it.
Despite a Mellotron credit, the strings on Cliffhanger and (especially) flutes on Chupee are quite clearly sampled, if not merely synth approximations of the sounds. Very poor, at least on that front. So; listenable enough, but a rather large excitement gap, though to be fair, that's really not where Cocoon are coming from.
 |
All (2008, 65.13) ***½ |
|
| Silent Moon Turns Lights If Stars All Fall |
One Remains |
|
Current availability:
Colour Haze are a stoner/psych trio from Munich, whose seventh album, 2008's All, while grungy in places, is a long way from their Sabbath-emulating origins. Admittedly, several tracks sound like Sabbath if they'd taken different drugs, but the album's best tracks are probably the centrepiece title track, a near-quarter hour psych monster, all sitars and swirling, Doors-esque guitar lines and Fall, similar, but with the murky guitar tone of the album's heavier tracks.
Keys man Christian Hawellek is credited with Mellotron on four tracks, but there's nothing obvious on Lights, If or All and when a choir part appears near the end of Fall, it becomes obvious that samples (or indeed, generic modern synth sounds) are being employed. Hawellek's Hammond B3 is specifically credited, down to where it was recorded, but given that the rarer Mellotron isn't, I think we can safely assume that it's fake. That shouldn't put you off hearing this, though (what, you mean it wasn't going to anyway?), as it's one of the better 'stoner' albums I've heard in a while. Recommended.
 |
Running From a Gamble (2011, 51.10) *½ |
|
| Intro Queen of Hearts Modern Waste Look Both Ways Never Come Back Nothing's in the Flowers Death of Communication King of Dreams |
Gorgeous/Grotesque Syrup Tallulah Won't Go Quietly After Thought |
|
Current availability:
On their second album, 2011's Running From a Gamble, Chicago's Company of Thieves play a particularly irritating form of indie/soul crossover that is every bit as bad as it sounds. Despite being such a new band, they've had their material used on various mainstream US TV shows, which says more about them than I ever could. Gorgeous/Grotesque is probably its least bad track, if only due to its unusual (for them) energy levels, but the bulk of the overlong album's completely horrible.
Mike Maimone is credited with Mellotron, but the exceedingly background strings part at the end of Look Both Ways and the flutes on Gorgeous/Grotesque aren't kidding anyone, frankly. What's more, despite its occasional forays into sub-crescendo rock (not exactly a groundbreaking genre itself, these days), this is pretty awful. Avoid.
 |
Il Bianco Regno di Dooah (2003, 68.00) **** |
|
| Intro Opener L'Attesa L'Illusione della Sfera Luna Impigliata Tra i Rami La Danza Ginevra: Regina Senza Regno Grande Ombra Gentile |
Pastelli Il Regno Nello Spazio di Una Notte per Magia Trova Quel Vento Che... Si Dice Ai Delfini Sussurri ...Alla Marcia del Sole Tra Piccole Storie di Lune Impigliate ...Dietro Cristalli di Lune Impigliate Cosa Rimane di Quei Giorni ...Nel Tempo di Dooah |
|
Current availability:
Around the time I started this site, at the fag end of the last century (OK, let's make it sound even longer ago than it already is), I noted that CAP, or Consorzio Acqua Potabile, were reported to be using a Mellotron on their new album. I was never able to trace a 1999/2000 release, so I rather gave up on the whole business, until, that is, hearing their last album to date, 2003's Il Bianco Regno di Dooah. OK, so it was delayed a bit. But first, a quick bit of history: reports vary, but CAP formed some time in the '70s, possibly as early as '71, but never managed to get an album out. Given how many obscure Italian bands did, that was actually some feat, it seems. Anyway, a reformed CAP appeared in the early '90s, alongside re-recorded versions of some of their old material, '92's Nei Gorghi del Tempo, and a genuine archive release the following year, Sala Borsa Live '77. Robin delle Stelle followed in '98, then the album in question after another five years. At this rate, the next one will be due in 2008, though I wouldn't hold your breath.
So, "What's it like?", I hear you cry. Well, they seem to have a proper understanding of Italian prog as it was, as against the horrible, dumbed-down neo- rubbish that most Italian 'progressive' bands were spewing out in the early '90s. Given the band's age, this could be seen as unsurprising, but it didn't work for Il Balletto di Bronzo's reformation, to name but one. I've seen one real pasting for this album, which completely ignored the sense of excitement the band can conjure up at their best, not to mention their feel for their country's illustrious progressive past. About the only real criticism I can level at them is their relative (note: only relative) lack of originality; Ginevra: Regina Senza Regno manages to cop bits of Spock's Beard, Rush and Kansas all in the same song, although I can't say I noticed any other howling rip-offs.
It's hard to tell just how genuine the vintage-sounding keyboards here are, although everything sounds fairly authentic (isn't that a Roland JX-3P in Il Regno?). There's a MiniMoog pictured in the booklet, but as for the Hammond and Mellotron, who knows? No specific credits, but both Romolo Bollea and Maurizio Venegoni play keys. I've actually shifted this from the regular reviews, due to a growing sense of doubt (you can tell I've got too much time on my hands, can't you?) that it's genuine, but what we get is 'Mellotron' on nearly every track (Luna Impigliata Tra I Rami is an acoustic guitar piece), with almost nothing but choirs for the first few, in true '80s prog style; ironic, given that that's the one decade of the last four in which the band haven't recorded... Just when you thought they weren't going to use the strings, however, in they come on La Danza, and are then used on and off throughout the rest of the record. It sounds like real flute (from Silvia Carpo) on Intro, but the last seconds of the 22-minute Il Regno definitely have the 'Mellotronic' version, and it may crop up elsewhere, too.
All in all, this is a fine album from a band whose name rarely seems to crop up when good modern prog is mentioned; it may not be the most original work ever, but it beats the crap out of most of the competition. Decent samplotron work, too, although its authenticity is in serious doubt. Assuming you can find this, buy. Incidentally, CAP also crop up on Mellow Records' Harbour of Joy Camel tribute, with what sounds like sampled 'Tron.
See: Harbour of Joy | Dante's Inferno | Odyssey: The Greatest Tale | The 7 Samurai
 |
Artilleria Pesada, Presenta (1999, 58.39) **½ |
|
| Pesada Si Señor Presente Unisono Instancias (Los Vigilantes) Interludio I Ileso Desde la Tierra (El Tercer Planeta) |
Esperanza Danzón Grita La Artillera Interludio II |
|
Current availability:
Control Machete play growly Spanish-language hip-hop, which is probably all you need to know about 1999's Artilleria Pesada, Presenta. Someone who knows a little more about this stuff than me tells me it's wholly unoriginal, although I think I'd already guessed that. There is a little sonic variety on offer, with Danzón having a very distinct Latin flavour about it, but the bulk of it's yer usual generic stuff, albeit in Spanish.
A gentleman naming himself 'Toy' is credited with Mellotron, but all I can hear is a repeating string part on Esperanza that sounds most sampled, although, as so often, I could be mistaken. You don't seriously want to hear this anyway, do you? Do you? I didn't.
 |
Butterfly House (2010, 41.34) **½ |
|
| More Than a Lover Roving Jewel Walking in the Winter Sandhills Butterfly House Green is the Colour Falling All Around You Two Faces She's Comin' Around |
1000 Years Coney Island North Parade [Bonus disc adds: Into the Sun Coming Through the Rye Dream in August Another Way Circles] |
|
Current availability:
The Coral are a successful psychedelic indie outfit from the Wirral, across the Mersey from Liverpool. 2010's Butterfly House is their fifth full-length release in eight years, a harmless, yet curiously unengaging album, full of muted '60s references, unfortunately filtered through a modern indie sensibility. Six-minute closer North Parade is probably the best thing here, but it's all a bit anodyne, if truth be told.
Someone (there are no obvious instrumental credits) plays Mellotron string samples on Walking In The Winter, although the strings on the title track are probably real. Are you going to buy this to hear one track of samplotron? Thought not.
 |
The Resurrectionists & Night Raider (2009, 140.02) ***½ |
|
| Burnt Reynolds Rise Up and Fight Whissendine Crossing the Bar 200 Tons of Bad Luck Please Do Not Stay Here Song for the Loved A Hymn for a Lost Soul 444 Littlestep |
Human Nature Dictates the Downfall of Humans Time of Ye Life/Born for Nothing/Paranoid Arm of Narcoleptic Empire Wendigo Bat Stack Along Where the Wind Blows Onward Ever Downwards A Lack of Common Sense Trust No One I Am Free, Today I Perished |
|
 |
200 Tons of Bad Luck (2009, 77.08) ***½ |
|
| Burnt Reynolds Rise Up and Fight Time of Ye Life/Born for Nothing/ Paranoid Arm of Narcoleptic Empire Wendigo Littlestep Crossing the Bar |
Whissendine A Real Bronx Cheer 444 A Hymn for a Lost Soul A Lack of Common Sense I Am Free, Today I Perished |
|
Current availability:
Crippled Black Phoenix are Britain's new great white hope in the post-rock stakes, as far as I can work out (they even boast a member of Mogwai in their ranks), although there's a healthy dose of psychedelia in what they do, too. Their second album, the double The Resurrectionists/Night Raider is an almost obscenely lengthy listen, near-impossible in a single sitting, featuring prog epics (the 18-minute Time Of Ye Life etc., the brilliantly-titled Burnt Reynolds), pokey indie rock (Rise Up And Fight, 444), acoustic whimsy (Crossing The Bar) and often all the above and more within a single 'song', for want of a better word. They suddenly morph into Tom Waits en masse on Along Where The Wind Blows, à propos of nothing at all, before lurching into a full-on Mellotron psych-out on A Lack of Common Sense, which seems to fit the band's ethos pretty well. Due to the album's inordinate length, a (still very lengthy) single disc version was released simultaneously, 200 Tons of Bad Luck, containing just one track not on the double, the 35-second A Real Bronx Cheer, which isn't exactly unmissable.
Mellotron strings pop their heads up above the parapet here and there, but it seems highly likely they're sampled, although the part on A Lack Of Common Sense could almost be genuine. The other major use is on the Time Of Ye Life medley, with other, faint parts in the background on a few other tracks. Suffice to say, this sprawling effort, while impressive, is far from an easy listen, and not always for the right reasons. I would say, 'buy the single disc version', but if you like what they do, it would be almost criminal not to obtain as much of it as possible, and it doesn't seem that the material left off the shorter version is noticeably inferior. Impressive, yet strangely empty, with snippets of something Mellotronic on occasion.
 |
Merry-Go-Round (2011, 36.57) **½ |
|
| Catching Butterflies When Time Stood Still Merry-Go-Round Cowboys Come September Coming Down the Road Probably the Rain She Wore Red |
The Spin Baltimore One Little Song |
|
Current availability:
Vocalist/harpist Jennifer Crook has been around the UK folk scene for a couple of decades, although 2011's Merry-Go-Round appears to be only her second solo release. Legendary folk scenester/songwriter Boo Hewerdine produces, giving Jennifer's airy material the transparency it demands, assuming anything so gentle could be said to demand anything. Unfortunately, said gentility is also the album's downfall, as while a few songs this light would nicely enhance a more varied release, an entire album's-worth gets a little sickly, like too many fairy cakes consumed in one sitting. Saying that, When Time Stood Still and Baltimore stand out, but, at least to this listener, a little more variety wouldn't go amiss in future.
Hewerdine is credited with Mellotron, but there seems little evidence that a real one materialised in Glasgow's Kyoti Studio during the sessions, not least the extremely vaguely Mellotronic strings on opener Catching Butterflies. Am I wrong? Perhaps someone could let me know? Anyway, one for the kind of young woman who tends to wear fairy wings at any available opportunity.
 |
Secrets (2000, 50.06) **½Bleeding in SilenceLittle One The Core Awakening Changed Reality Pall of Illusion Welcome to Utopia |
 |
Playgrounds (2004, 54.02) **Let The Play Begin...Déjà Vu A New Beginning The Battle Of Thalÿma ...And Enter The Game Fjärilshonung Mesmerizing Enterprize |
Current availability:
Hansi Cross began working under his surname in the late '80s, writing the kind of neo-prog that was acceptable in some circles back then. I haven't heard his first few albums, but can state quite unequivocally that 1997's Dream Reality is shockingly bad neo-prog crud, to be avoided at all costs, unless, for some strange reason, you're of the opinion that later Galleon albums and the like are actually worth hearing. Actually, he makes Galleon sound good, ditto several other otherwise unworthy outfits.
His eighth album, 2000's Secrets, is a definite step up from Dream Reality, which isn't to especially praise it. The instrumental sections are a dead ringer for Trick/Wind-era Genesis, right down to the ARP sounds (maybe he's using an Omni himself?), which is all well and good as far as it goes, but originality clearly isn't even considered an option. Then he starts singing. No. Just no. Not that his voice is that bad, but his melodies are mostly stomach-churningly twee, making him sound like a soft-rock balladeer. Y'know, thinking about it, that's what so bad about so much neo-prog: it's essentially soft-rock with fiddly bits. Anyway, Cross plays 'Mellotron' strings on Bleeding In Silence and The Core, but it's all far too regular for its own good and almost certainly sampled.
Cross' follow-up and last album to date is 2004's Playgrounds, in a similar vein to its predecessors, albeit a bit less Genesis, although that appears to be its downfall, as without the retro-sounding instrumental sections, it's unbelievably dull. The modern keyboard sounds set this reviewer's teeth on edge and the vocals are as bad as ever, ditto the material. Mellotron samples crop up occasionally, principally the choirs on Déjà Vu, but nothing to get too (or indeed, at all) excited about.
So; bad neo-prog with sampled Mellotron, just to add insult to injury. Why? Just don't.
 |
Moments of Clarity (2004, 56.40) **½ |
|
| Introspective New Perspective Contemplation Grand Design Angeline Losing Faith Angel's Requiem Colored Leaf |
Shock Value Moments of Clarity Flash of life Abaddon In due time Hope for tomorrow Ascension |
|
Current availability:
Cryptic Vision are a pretty typical modern US prog band, utilising elements of symphonic, neo- and prog metal styles, albeit with only a fraction of the efficacy of, say, Spock's Beard. 2004's Moments of Clarity is their first album and it does sort-of show in its overlong lack of focus (pun possibly intended), highlighted in the four-part, twelve-minute title track. The band's vocals are sometimes a little too intrusive, too, although there are a couple of moments where the harmony parts come together beautifully, though nowhere near often enough for my taste.
Although Rick Duncan is credited with Mellotron, it isn't, but nor are their samples overused, thankfully, with string and choir parts on a handful of tracks. You get the feeling that Cryptic Vision have the capacity for improvement, if only they'd learn to keep their albums down to a sensible length, although, in fairness, this could've been twenty minutes longer... Anyway, they have potential, which is more than I can say for a lot of current bands.
 |
The Creeping Vine (1999, 55.38) **Original SinValhala Gwenan I Will Show You Life Goodbye World The River Home The Creeping Vine |
 |
Echoes (1999, recorded 1993-98, 55.30) *½ |
|
| Cyan Man Amongst Men Snowbound I Defy the Sun Nightflight Solitary Angel Tomorrow's Here Today Follow the Flow |
Charm the Snake Jimmy the Tank |
|
Current availability:
It seems multi-instrumentalist Rob Reed originally formed Cyan as far back as 1984, clearly inspired by the previous couple of years' upsurge of interest in progressive rock, retrospectively dubbed 'neo-prog'. After the original band split, Reed formed a new lineup in 1991, releasing two albums, 1993's For King & Country and the following year's Pictures From the Other Side, both on quality-free Dutch neo-prog label SI, before the band's status dropped to being merely one of his ongoing projects.
1999 brought two releases, the former being Reed's first album of new Cyan material for several years, The Creeping Vine, a more mature work than its predecessors, although that probably shouldn't be taken as a recommendation; the composition's generally better than before, with a Celtic influence creeping (sorry) in on a few tracks, but it's still basically third-rate neo-prog, with everything that suggests. Hardly any fakeotron, with distant choirs on Goodbye World; a half-star effort were it applicable.
Echoes appeared later the same year, seven of its ten tracks seemingly being Reed's personal 'best of' his first two albums with three new recordings. All I can say is: why bother? I'm sorry to be so harsh, but this is exactly the kind of Lloyd-Webber-inspired cheeso neo-prog that gives the genre a bad name, with overwrought cod-operatic vocals on several tracks and a preponderance of crummy keyboard sounds, all inserted into some of the most unimaginative 'prog' you're likely to hear. Given when most of these tracks were recorded, it's surprising there's any Mellotron, real or otherwise, in evidence, but a few muffled choir and string parts turn up, while the worst (and most obvious) example is the 'Mellotron' flute part that opens Solitary Angel.
Reed put Cyan to sleep at this point, forming Magenta soon after (what is it with this man and primary printer ink colours?), for which we should probably all be grateful. Not, you understand, that Magenta are an awful lot better, but at least they're more '70s than '80s, which has to be an improvement. Do you buy either of these albums? No, you do not.
See: Magenta
