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Marcelina (2011, 41.04) ** |
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| Szukam Cię Niedzielny Tatku Malinowy Insane Nie Chcę Już Motyle |
Shake it Mama There is No One Atarynka Me & My Boyfriend Jeśli Jutra Nie Ma |
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Marcelina is a Polish starlet, which is about all I can tell you, given that anything about her on the 'Net is in Polish, not one of my top languages. I mean, I can't even tell you her surname, never mind a website URL. I suspect that 2011's Marcelina is her debut, an odd mix of vaguely 'trad'-sounding singer-songwriter stuff and modern dance pop, the latter, sadly, largely taking precedence over the former. For future releases, she really should stick to her own language; her English diction is terrible and she's pretty unlikely to break through to the international market.
Jan Smoczyński is credited with 'Mellotron' on Motyle, but the strings most certainly aren't, while the solo flute part is fairly obviously sampled. What else can I say about this? Not a lot, really. 'Reasonably good at what it does' is about the best I can do.
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Dá (2010, 49.55) **½ |
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| O Segredo Cabra-Cega Céu Aberto O Novelo Pra Quem Quer A Insónia O Mais Humano Sentimento São |
Pudera Eu A Espera Sem Nome Misturas Vem |
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Márcia (Santos) seems to be a Portuguese version of those rather drippy American singer-songwriters whose anodyne songs constantly turn up on the kind of TV programmes I wouldn't watch if you paid me. The only thing that caught my ear was six-minute closer Vem, with its mournful, muted flugelhorn solo; I can't imagine Márcia would sell many records if they sounded more like this, but they'd certainly be better.
Although Luís Nunes is credited with Mellotron on Céu Aberto, his flute samples (I can't imagine a real machine came anywhere near this record) are actually on O Novelo. You're most unlikely to want to hear this, I can assure you, although Vem is at least vaguely interesting.
Marillion (UK) see: |
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Che Cosa Vedi (2000, 60.08) **½ |
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| Cara è la Fine Serrande Alzate Canzone di Oggi L'Abbraccio La Canzone Che Scrivo per Te Due Sogni Chi Mi Credo d'Essere? Primo Maggio |
La Mia Promessa Malinconica Quasi 2001 E Poi il Buio Grazie |
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Marlene Kuntz translates as... Well, suffice to say that when you hear the phrase 'Anglo-Saxon adjective', they mean it; in other words, it means pretty much what you think it does, with regard to Ms. Dietrich. Charmed, I'm sure. 2000's Che Cosa Vedi is something like their fourth studio release, a sort-of Italian-language goth/punk/noise hybrid that, frankly, is unlikely to appeal to many people outside the band's home market.
Gianfranco Fornaciari is credited with Mellotron on four tracks, but the strings on opener Cara È La Fine, L'Abbraccio, Due Sogni and La Mia Promessa sound pretty fake to me. So; this isn't actually bad as such, just uninspired and dull, which is slightly different. But only slightly.
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Music From Planet Marsh (2005, 58.47) ***½Electric WomenPlay the Game Is it Real Into the Light Something Song Move on It's Not Too Late Need a Friend The Change |
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Kurt Joakim Ellner Juno "J J" Marsh is the guitarist with Glenn Hughes and Joe-Lynn Turner's Hughes-Turner Project, although his first solo album, 2005's Music From Planet Marsh is more Hendrix-esque old-school hard rock than AOR, thankfully. Style-wise, it shifts between the bluesy, funky likes of opener Electric Women (GREAT title!) and Is It Real and the longer-form, more progressive hard rock of Into The Light and closer The Change, highlights including Into The Light and the Hendrixy Move On. Need A Friend's a bit on the weak side, however, which brings me to a recurring point on this site: why so long? OK, so you've got an hour's-worth of material, but do people really want to hear it all in one go?
Our old pal The Flower Kings' Tomas Bodin plays 'Mellotron', alongside other 'boards, with flutes and strings on It's Not Too Late and strings and choir on The Change, none of it sounding that authentic, frankly. Mainly because it isn't. Overall, this is a worthy effort, although some judicious editing would've improved things no end. Worth hearing.
See: Hughes-Turner Project | Tomas Bodin
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The Pillory/The Battle (2005, 148.02) ***½Battle 1 [Soundscapes/Choir/Mellotron]Battle 2 [Contemporary Classical/Orchestral] Battle 3 [Tribal/Prog Rock] Battle 4 [Anarchy/Freeform/Percussion] Battle 5 [Mellotron/Celestial Pipe Organ] Battle 6 [Ambient] Battle 7 [Industrial/Noise/Ambient] |
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In 2004, word started circulating of a follow-up to Martz's '78 avant-classic, The Pillory, finally released in 2005 as The Pillory/The Battle. Yours truly was asked to participate in the recording, along with many others, but sadly, didn't get his act together in time to contribute, or it may not have been necessary to put the review here. Mind you, I rather doubt whether the end result has been seriously compromised as a result... Stylistically, the album isn't a million miles away from the original Pillory, being largely dissonant modern classical, crossed with just plain 'weird'. Battle 3 lives up to its subtitle of 'Tribal/Prog Rock', with some (relatively) straightforward drumming and riffy guitar, overlaid with a killer violin solo by Benedict Brydern, while the disc-long Battle 7 is possibly the best piece on the album, including a ten-minute plus solo organ part.
Upon being asked directly, Jasun admitted that while the album featured 'Mellotron sounds', and while he has owned several 'Trons over the years, this time round there was no actual tape-replay involved. Apart from the fact that all too many current releases feature samples (damn you, M-Tron!), my suspicions were aroused for all the usual reasons: too clean, long, sustained notes, not enough real Mellotron 'feel'. Who'd have thought it was so difficult to sample a keyboard instrument properly? Anyway, the fake 'Tron parts vary in quality, though the 8-choir on Battle 5 is good enough to fool the ear, and the super-loud, distorted strings on Battle 1 (repeating on 7) are excellent.
So; while the overall feel of the album is subtly different to its predecessor (hardly surprisingly, given the 25-year gap), if you liked The Pillory, you stand a good chance of liking this. Just don't come looking for more full-on genuine 'Tron... Incidentally, Jasun has expressed his intention to produce the third album in the trilogy in ANOTHER 25 years, which by my reckoning makes it around 2030. Now, I'll be nearly 70 by then, and I'm sure Mr.Martz has a few years on me... Good luck, Jase!
See: Jasun Martz & the Neoteric Orchestra
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In Concerto (2004, 78.40) ****Il Canto dell'InvernoIl Grande Labirinto Ai Confini del Mondo Il Viaggio Nell'Oceano Capovolto Pt 1 La Maschera di Cera Del Mio Mondo Che Crolla el Mio Abisso e del Vuoto/Del Mio Volo |
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La Maschera di Cera's studio albums feature real Mellotron, but their 2004 live effort, In Concerto, clearly doesn't, as can be seen from the lack of anything Mellotronic in the booklet pics. The album itself is a good representation of the band live, warts'n'all; they seem to feature a 'garage prog' sound on stage, rough as hell, but very live. Bassist and bandleader Fabio Zuffanti plays the entire set through a fuzzbox, for reasons known best to himself (an attempt at a Ricky impersonation?), and what has to be a straight-from-the-desk recording has Agostino Macor's Roland monosynth (not sure which one) too high in the mix, but it's quite nice, for once, to know that what you're hearing is what was actually played on the night.
Macor's 'Mellotron' work goes to some lengths to sound genuine, so credit there, with sustained chords faded quickly out and back in, as you might with a real 'Tron. Plenty of strings, with bursts of choir and flutes here and there, source unknown, though they sound as good as any samples I've heard before. So; a raw-but-real live album, with the band taking chances (always good to hear), and plenty of fake 'Tron work, so pick this up if you see it at a decent price.
See: La Maschera di Cera
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Totem One (2009, 40.08) ***Bardo ChikkhaiA Mist of Illnesses In the Lightness of Sonoran People of the Drifting Houses Schism Prism/Adamantios Cascade Cathedral Eaglewolf |
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I had to look this one up: bukkake is a weirdly sexless sexual activity, involving several men ejaculating over someone of either sex, the practice originating in Japan. Nice. Aside from this, The Master Musicians of Bukkake reference, of course, the Brian Jones-popularised Master Musicians of Joujouka, in case you hadn't spotted it. The Seattle-based outfit feature members of Sunn O))) and Earth, their second album, 2009's Totem One being an odd mixture of droning, er, drones and surprisingly Joujouka-like ethnic drumming and chants laid over the aforementioned drones.
Don McGreevy and Randall Dunn are both credited with Mellotron, but the extended choir chords and distant strings on a couple of tracks, notably opener Bardo Chikkhai, have little to do with a real Mellotron, I strongly suspect. So; one for fans of the aforementioned droning types, but don't bother if you're after a dose of genuine, tape-based Mellotron work.
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Welcome to the Western Lodge (1999, 38.39) ***½ |
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| It's Shit Moriah The Great Spelunker Time to Burn Take a Shot at the Clown Baby Mae Why the Fly Ember Day |
Annihilation of the Spirit Call Dr. Carrion Boymilk Waltz Lover's Sky Also Ran Song |
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Deep in the Hole (2001, 39.43) ***½ |
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| Third Man on the Moon A Wish for a Fish Counting Horses Major Lance Scatagoria High Noon Amsterdam Corpus Scorpios Electrified Deep in the Hole |
Roof of the Shed Shotgun Son |
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It took the Masters of Reality seven years to follow Sunrise on the Sufferbus up with 1999's Welcome to the Western Lodge, and guess what - it sounds like a Masters of Reality album. Opening with the statement of intent It's Shit, the album covers several bases across its refreshingly vinyl-length, er, length, not least the largely acoustic Baby Mae and the under-a-minute Ember Day, although its most Masters-like track (i.e. the one that sounds most like their debut) is probably excellent closer Also Ran Song.
This is an assumption, but the 'Mellotron' to be heard on a handful of tracks here is almost certainly sampled. What you get is a strings part on the chorus of The Great Spelunker, a repeating flute melody and phased choirs on Take A Shot At The Clown and background string chords on Ember Day, while the overly-slick string chords on Boymilk Waltz give the game away; I mean, a Mellotron played that fast and that accurately with no key-click? Yeah, right.
Getting back into the studio clearly galvanised Goss, as Deep in the Hole appeared a mere two years later, a blink of an eye in Masters terms. More than its predecessor, this album rocks out, despite its occasional quieter tracks, notably Roof Of The Shed, ending on a particularly raucous note with Shotgun Son. 'Mellotronically' speaking, the brief Major Lance features strings and cello parts that sound far too clean to be real, although I'm willing (and happy) to be proven wrong, plus background strings on Corpus Scorpios Electrified.
Two very good albums that will almost certainly grow on me, given the chance. I'm quite sure that none of the Mellotron here is real, but as always, if anyone knows better...
See: Masters of Reality
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Certitudes (2005, 49.21) *** |
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| Je M'Incline Entre Toi et le Vent Perseides Deux Printemps Attends-Moi Les Champs Brûler Certitudes Rien à Dire |
Je T'Aime Je Crois Fleuve |
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Essentially a duo of vocalist Claudia Côté and guitarist Stéphane Desbiens (Sense, Ère G), Mélia's debut, Certitudes, has garnered surprisingly few 'Net reviews for a three year-old album, probably because it isn't easily pigeonholed. Folk? Prog? 'Melodic rock'? All of the above? It starts off in a bright'n'breezy folk style, until the rockier Perseides, three tracks in, after which the rest of the record chops and changes between styles. You can see this as 'varied' or 'directionless', largely depending on whether your glass is half-full or half-empty, I suppose. My chief criticism is that it all starts sounding a little samey after a few tracks. Côté's voice is slightly bland, although perfectly 'nice' in an Annie Haslam kind of way, but without her distinctiveness, and Desbiens' electric guitar work is rather faceless, too.
'Mellotron', presumably from Desbiens, on opener Je M'Incline, with decent helpings of strings and choir throughout the rest of the album. I'm afraid M. Desbiens is known as a sample user round these parts, and it's all too easy to spot here; there's no dirt under its fingernails, some of the notes hold for too long, and it's all just a bit too smooth for its own good. I know there are several working Mellotrons in Québec, but it's a big place, and there's no good reason Desbiens should know any owners, but if you're going to fake it, try to keep it a bit lower in the mix; it's just all a bit too obvious here, but then there's a good argument to be made that 'it's just another colour in the instrumental palette, who cares if it's real?' Well, me actually, but who cares that I care?
Anyway, a decent enough record, although not very exciting, to be honest. Some nice moments, not least those involving the 'Tron samples, but not really world-class.
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Perfect Colors (2004, 50.56) *** |
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| Perfect Colors Fantastic Love Ain't the Answer Goodbye Drifting Out of Sight It Was Raining Where Flowers Don't Grow Between the Lines |
Going Downtown Out of Reach In the Meantime Drifting Out of Sight (orchestral version) A Place for Meditation |
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Mellow's second album, Perfect Colors, is essentially a more insipid version of their debut (variously known as Another Mellow Winter, Another Mellow Summer and Another Mellow Spring), with most of its interesting bits removed. Any of the proggy excess shown on this album's predecessor have been ruthlessly excised, leaving a bunch of the modern equivalent of middling soft rock songs with little real individuality. It's not that the material is actually bad; it just isn't that good, either, and doesn't make this reviewer want to press the 'play' button again.
There seem to be a couple of major pointers towards the album's 'Mellotron' use being samples; nobody's credited with playing it, and the choirs on the semi-unlisted track, A Place For Meditation, are far too clean to be the real deal. Anyway, what we're left with are a couple of string chords on Where Flowers Don't Grow and the previously-mentioned choirs, though this time round, the flutes are all real. Anyway, if you liked Another Mellow..., don't automatically assume that you're going to get more of the same this time round, although some of you may like it anyway.
See: Mellow
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The Memorials (2010, 67.58) *½ |
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| We Go to War Natural Disaster Day Dreamer Let's Party Westcoast Dream GTFOMF Real |
Born to Shine Enough Why Me? Give Me the Stuff I Remember You We Go to War (radio edit) |
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Ex-Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen subsequently formed the female-fronted The Memorials, whose eponymous 2010 debut manfully attempts to combine 'alt.metal', whatever you take that to mean, with indie, psychedelia and various other genres not always seen speaking to each other. To be perfectly honest, the nutsoid synth work on Day Dreamer is its only feature of any note, in this humble writer's opinion; the vast bulk of its horrendously overlong contents irritated the fuck out of me.
Nehemiah E. Johnson is credited with Mellotron. Really? I think not... All I can hear are a single string note on GTFOMF and a background flute part on Enough, neither sounding at all authentic, frankly. The Memorials, already an awful album, is made even worse by its in-yer-face production, making its horrible caterwaulings impossible to ignore; quite possibly the intended effect, but it makes the painful task of listening to it quite unbearable. Next...
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Deserter's Songs (1998, 44.46) **** |
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| Holes Tonite it Shows Endlessly I Collect Coins Opus 40 Hudson Line The Happy End (the Drunk Room) Goddess on a Hiway |
The Funny Bird Pick Up if You're There Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp |
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All is Dream (2001, 49.47) **** |
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| The Dark is Rising Tides of the Moon Chains Lincoln's Eyes Nite and Fog Little Rhymes A Drop in Time You're My Queen |
Spiders and Flies Hercules |
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The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered (2004) ***½[Mercury Rev contribute]Blue Clouds |
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Mercury Rev had been around for years, starting life as a vastly more abrasive proposition than the one into which they've mutated. Deserter's Songs has been reviewed extensively by people who understand the music a great deal better then I, so suffice to say, it's a sort of Appalachian folk/intelligent pop/singer-songwriter crossover thing, with great songs and a beautiful, relaxed sound. I know it's a cliché, but this is perfect late-night (nite?) music, with more than a touch of the Neil Youngs in the vocals, and almost Beatley arrangements in places. Another obvious reference is The Band, with Levon Helm guesting on one track.
There's no credit on the album for anything orchestral, although the strings on some tracks absolutely have to be. What is credited is both Mellotron and Chamberlin (strings only, apparently), played by three different band members; Jonathan Donahue (Chamberlin), Adam Snyder and Dave Fridmann, although a little bird tells me that when Snyder was confronted with a real Mellotron, his comment was along the lines of, "Oh, so that's what they look like", ergo, he'd never seen one before, ergo, everything on the album is samples. Various brass, flutes (some real) and woodwind instruments on many tracks, which are sometimes definite 'Tron samples (Holes) and sometimes not (Endlessly), although they all sound a bit suspect, and now we know why.
Three years on, and All is Dream carries on from where Deserter's Songs left off, with even more Neil Youngisms on the vocal front, and a more dramatic sound overall, and fewer, but longer tracks. Credited string players confuse the issue on the Mellotron front, although veteran producer and 'Tron user of old, Tony Visconti, is credited with Mellotron flutes on Spiders And Flies, which I find highly suspect; he's known for hating Mellotrons these days, so given the disinformation on their previous album, I think it's fairly safe to say these are samples. It appears that Dave Fridmann plays all other 'Tron' parts (almost certainly samples, then), not that there's many apparent; flutes on Little Rhymes, strings on Spiders And Flies alongside Visconti's upfront flutes, and strings on Hercules.
So; two great albums, despite the fake 'Tron. Buy them anyway. Excellent.
See: Grasshopper & the Golden Crickets | The Late Great Daniel Johnston
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Starfooted (2000, 73.58) ***½ |
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| Ladder From the Sky Chaos With a Crown of Gold Starfooted in a Garden of Cans The Illusion of Flesh In the Cave Seed The Bridal Chamber Don't Sleep |
Battle of the Archons Assumption |
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Metaphor have been around since the early '90s, initially as a Genesis tribute band, before switching to writing their own material. It took them until 2000 to release their debut, Starfooted, but the wait seems to have been largely worthwhile, with the band's various prog influences melding into a (relatively) unified whole. I'm not so sure about the lyrics, mind you, which seem to be based around the Christian creation myth, although this isn't what I'd call a 'Christian' album, unlike, say, the dreadful Akacia. Despite an occasional slip into dreary neo-prog territory, most of the album is pretty inventive, with a good dose of melody thrown in (remember that?), although it is a little over-long; you don't actually have to fill that disc up, chaps...
Marc Spooner uses a variety of keyboard sounds, though whether any of the older ones are 'authentic' is difficult to say; the Mellotron definitely isn't, as was confirmed for me by a new band member. The giveaway (as with so many similar) is the amount of fake 'Tron used on the album (mostly strings, with bits of flute and choir). It seems to me that most bands using a real one will restrict its use, as too much can be overwhelming and swamp the mix. On the other hand, samples will usually sit nicely in a modern, stereo-reverbed mix, and as such are frequently wildly overused, often tipping well over the 8-second limit; a serious giveaway. Nonetheless, it's nice to hear it here, and their new guy assured me they'd be using real 'Tron on their next album. That came out two years ago, so I'll be doing a bit of research into the matter. (n.b. They didn't).
Should you buy Starfooted? While not 'classic' prog, it isn't at all bad, and I can't see too many aficionados being upset by it. Not bad, and looking forward to hearing their newer material.
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Organik Remixes (2003, 75.36) **½ |
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| Paths (FSOL cosmic jukebox mix) Wrong (Alexkid May b mix) Pour te Parler (Riton re-rub mix) Release Me (Da Lata el duderino mix) Pour te Parler (Kuzu mix) Pour te Parler (Fissure mix) Paths (KV5 mix) It's All Coming Back |
Separation (2nd Gen mix) Connections (Punka Fro the Hackney drive by mix) Improvisations pt. 2 (Si Begg S.I. futures mix) Improvisations pt. 2 (The Fabrics mix) Paths (Robert Miles s:alted mix) Bhairav |
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Roberto "Robert Miles" Concina is an Italian DJ/producer type, who elected to commission remixes of his 2001 album, Organik, fittingly titled Organik Remixes, released two years later. It's difficult to know how to describe this other than by saying, 'it's a remix version of a dance album'. Aficionados will be able to appreciate the subtleties (no, for once I'm not being sarcastic) of the various sub-genres and the sound manipulation involved. The rest of us will probably think, 'it's a remix version of a dance album'.
Mike Rowe (of Future Sound of London/Amorphous Androgynous) is credited with Mellotron, but given that (as far as I can ascertain) both those outfits use samples, I can't imagine it's any different here. While I don't know which tracks he plays on for certain, it seems likely that he contributes the not-especially-Mellotronic strings on FSoL's Cosmic Jukebox Mix of Paths that opens the two-disc set, although the album features string sounds on several other tracks. I think you already know whether or not you're interested in hearing this, so I can't imagine that anything I say is likely to make you change your mind one way or the other.
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Dreamtigers (2004, 42.42) **½March of the DemonsDreamtigers Ghost of a Common Man Still in it Spanish Fly Return of the Acolyte Gods of a Distant Land The Call |
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Rick Miller is a Canadian musician who, I believe, started off in the new age field, having minor success with 1984's Starsong. Two decades on, his 'mood music' background is all too apparent in his first progressive album, Dreamtigers. It's one of those records where, if you put the virtual needle down at almost any point along its length and play it for a few seconds, you'll think, "None more prog!" Unfortunately, listen for much longer and you'll quickly tire of the repetitious, simplistic chord structures and the all-too-obvious melodies. It's not that it's bad, exactly, more, well, dull. Nor is originality exactly Miller's strong suite; I keep hearing vaguely familiar chord changes or snatches of melody: Kansas here, Steve Hackett there, not to mention the Hackett-referencing Return Of The Acolyte.
Although he credits himself with 'Mellotron', the samples on display here are pretty obvious, with strings across the whole album and the occasional flute part, although the choirs sound like something else entirely. Anyway, if you're up for a vaguely Gandalf-like new age/simplistic prog crossover with plenty of sampled Mellotron, Miller's yer man.
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Random Acts of Beauty (2010, 61.49) **½MasqueradeChambermaid Storming the Castle Blue Rain Frozen in Time Summer's End Dark Waters |
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Classically-trained pianist David Minasian is best known for his DVD production work, although he was persuaded to record 2010's Random Acts of Beauty (actually his second solo album) by Camel's Andy Latimer, after working with him on several DVD projects. It sits firmly at the more 'lightweight symphonic' end of the progressive spectrum, having more in common with The Moody Blues or Barclay James Harvest than any of the genre's more musically adept outfits. Key changes or modulations are pretty much an unknown quantity here, every track (average length: slightly over eight minutes) beginning in one key and doggedly sticking to it through thick and thin, while most of opener Masquerade sounds like it's about to break into Justin Hayward's soft rock 'classic', Forever Autumn (from Jeff Wayne's crummy War of the Worlds) which hopefully gives you some idea of the album's sound. And it's far too long.
Minasian credits himself with 'Mellotron', to which I can only say: you have to be joking, pal. OK, you couldn't source a real one, so don't make out you have. To be honest, the string and choir parts here don't even sound like a Mellotron, just generic samples, along with every other keyboard sound used. Despite the number of rave reviews this has picked up online, I'm afraid I have to say, this is only going to keep the most undemanding prog fan happy; like many other acts I could name, it has only the most distant of connections with its '70s forebears. Christ, even Camel (never the most demanding of listens) sound complex in comparison. More the prog end of soft rock than anything truly progressive.
