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Mike Plume Band Polytechnic Doug Powell |
Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers Presence of Soul Proscriptor |
The Provenance Providence Pugwash |
Puppet Show Purple Overdose Pip Pyle |
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Song & Dance, Man (1997, 45.53) ***½ |
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| Rattle the Cage Something to Say If There Was Ever a Fool Girl in Green Wind at My Back Alcohol Take Me With You Oblivion |
Simplify Rich Man Silver Lining |
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Mike Plume sits somewhere in between two closely-related genres, Americana and 'roots rock', coming across like a cross between, say, Steve Earle and Tom Petty, or maybe John Mellencamp. 1997's wittily-titled Song & Dance, Man was his band's fourth release, although their third recording, as they recorded another album's-worth of material at the end of the sessions, releasing it first. It's the kind of album that does a job and does it well, with little fuss or bother, notable tracks including opener Rattle The Cage (yup, always start with a strong one), the countryish If There Was Ever A Fool and Take Me With You, largely for its pseudo-mariachi trumpet arrangement.
Producer Marek (nothing to do with my pal in Litmus, I hasten to add) is credited with Mellotron, but if the vaguely flutey sound on Oblivion is a genuine machine, I'll be stunned. So; a good album of its type, but not one obviously containing any Mellotron.
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Down Til Dawn (2007, 46.51) **½ |
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| Bible Stories Won't You Come Around Man Overboard Rain Check Cold Hearted Business Still Spinning Pep Quay Street |
Hoof Polling Card Running Out of Ideas |
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Polytechnic worked their way through several other names before arriving at their final, uninspired moniker. Fitting, really, as their music's no more inspiring than their name, being a slightly-more-melodic-than-usual variety of indie, at least on their sole full-lengther, 2007's Down Til Dawn. Vocalist Dylan Giles' style veers between Tom Verlaine and his more famous namesake, possibly to disguise an inability to carry a tune in a bucket. Cynical? Moi? A couple of tracks rise slightly above the mire, but overall, it's all pretty dull, albeit largely inoffensive.
Giles, Peet Earnshaw (the actual keyboard player) and Yuri Caul are all credited with Mellotron, but the flutes on Won't You Come Around and Quay Street are unable to convince, a speedy run at the end of the latter being the definite sample giveaway. So; not very exciting, really, is it? As the band found their limited level of fame through live work, I'll be charitable and assume that the material worked better on stage.
Porcupine Tree (UK) see: |
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The Lost Chord (2002, 41.04) **** |
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| Merlin Laughed Nietzsche is Dead (Verse 1) A Roar Boring Alice Baby Blue Queen of Hurts The Lost Chord Cul-De-Sac The Palace of a Sigh |
Machina Nietzsche is Dead (Verse 2) She Walks on Water |
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Jim Rigberg's first Sampledelica review, folks...
Don't you just love it when a release grabs you by the ass from the first note? Merlin Laughed, track 1 of Doug Powell's The Lost Chord, opens with sputtering (sampled) 'Tron choir and strings leading into a great harmony vocal singing the song's motif. Things just get better from there. Stylistically, The Lost Chord is going to flat-out appeal to Jellyfish fans; it would be hard to get away from Jellyfish comparisons because Powell's voice is very similar to Andy Sturmer's. Melodically speaking, Powell's work is every bit as strong as anything Jellyfish ever released and easily stands up in its own right.
The 'Tron apparently is the product of samples from the EMU Vintage Keys Plus module. Mr.Powell has advised that he removed the effects that had been included with the presets and used a 'dry sample'. The results are impressive - none of the 'Tron sounds fake nor are there any dead giveaways (e.g. infinite sustains). The Lost Chord also does NOT engage in Thompson's pet peeve (crediting anyone, anywhere with 'Mellotron' where no actual Mellotron is used). The sampled 'Tron, moreover, pops up all over the place.
Any Jellyfish fans, those who like pop/prog crossovers, excellent songwriting, etc. as well as those who like hearing a lot of Mellotron - regardless of whether its sampled or real - will want to add this CD to their collection.
| Jim Rigberg |
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The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia (2005, 49.57) ** |
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| The Eventual Intimate of So Much Nostalgia Concerning Lessons Learned Rotation of Crops Archaeopteryx Ammunition for a Bolt-Action Heart Above the Waves Cannot Eat Better Not Sleep The Slow Decay of Some Radio Afterglows |
Disposable Drummers in Disposable Bands Ontothanatological Raise Up, You Celestial Choirs The Sad Lives of the Hollywood Lovers |
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The pretentiously-named The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers' pretentiously-titled second album The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia is, in many ways, yer typical indie effort, although it throws in elements from metal and electronica, amongst other unrelated genres. If I'm going to be honest, while a track or two of this exceedingly dull, pseudo-haunted stuff is just about OK, fifty minutes of it is a thorough bore, leaving the non-indie fan willing it to end. Soon.
I believe it's Alex Lazara who adds sampled Mellotron strings and flutes to a few tracks, notably on closer The Sad Lives Of The Hollywood Lovers, to no great effect, if truth be told. I know this stuff's popular, presumably with people who identify with the 'meaningful' lyrics and simplistic music (or aren't bothered about the latter), but to anyone steeped in genres where keeping it interesting is considered a prerequisite, this is going to come across as very tame indeed.
Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (Italy) see: |
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Blinds (2008, 58.26) **½Seven Mortal Sins and Seven DoorsSink Low Lost Whitenoise Snowfall Ephemera Rule Forgiven Tightrope |
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Despite releasing their 2008 debut, Blinds, on French progressive label Muséa, Presence of Soul (led by vocalist/guitarist and alleged Mellotronist Yuki) are far more post-rock than prog. OK, so there's a distinct musical crossover, but even the longer material on the album bears few real prog hallmarks, mostly shifting between crushingly loud sections and ethereal floaty ones, few with any real musical development.
The 'Mellotron' (notably the string part that opens Rule and the flutes on closer Tightrope) is clearly nothing of the sort, although Yuki largely refuses to overuse it, thankfully. I'm afraid to say that, while a couple of tracks of this stuff might work in a progressive environment, an hour of it becomes rather tedious; I can't say I really know why Muséa have even released this. Strange.
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The Venus Bellona (1995, 50.04) **½ |
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| An Initium for You I am the One Our Blood and Veins From the McGovern Regiment Hi Ri Ri Tha E Tighinn Lady Day Eve Madeleine Kiss of Shame |
Tractatus My Legacy: A Crysknife Serpentine of Six-Fold Stars The Barren Stones of Lughnasadh Far Away From Balkan Hills De la Fletus des Athroll (After the Massacre of Glencoe) part II Chromere! |
Commanding the Dragon of Keppoch Ground's Afire Defeat We Raise Our Silver Goblets in Triumph We Procured the Non-Existence of Xalteun Finem Habere: Flames for You/I Ran (So Far Away) |
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Absu's drummer, Russ "Proscriptor (McGovern)" Givens, has been releasing solo albums under his nom de plume since the mid-'90s, giving him a creative outlet for his more eclectic material. His debut, 1995's The Venus Bellona, is certainly that, starting off as some kind of Scottish history concept album, before heading off into magic(k) territory, an area he has subsequently heavily explored. While some of the album's twenty mostly brief tracks are acoustic instrumentals, too many of them 'feature' Givens' rather peculiar vocal style, somewhere between someone auditioning for a minor role as an orc in the then not yet filmed Lord of the Rings series and a man with a sore throat. Better efforts include the three-in-a-row of I Am The One, the mad, Highlandaphilia of Our Blood And Veins From The McGovern Regiment and Hi Ri Ri Tha E Tighinn, but all too much of the album strays a little too far from sanity for its own good.
Givens plays obviously sampled Mellotron strings on Lady Day Eve and possibly a few other tracks, although the samples are so primitive (well, it was 1995) that it's hard to tell. An EP of the best material from this album would be worth hearing, but fifty minutes of slightly crazy stuff is more than this listener, at least, can bear. Incidentally, Givens shows his true colours on the album's final track, a bizarre version of A Flock of Seagulls' I Ran (So Far Away), unless it was included to show his lighter side (?!).
See: Absu | Equimanthorn
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How Would You Like to Be Spat at (2005, 53.21) **½ |
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| Woh II TSC Heroine Catching Scarlet in the Sun How Would You Like to Be Spat at in the Face Some Gossip on Stealing a Spouse Going Down |
Considering the Gawk, the Drool, the Bitch and the Fool Kick You So Hard About a Whore, About a Kill Speeding to Get By |
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Red Flags (2006, 47.48) ** |
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| At the Barricades Crash Courses Thanks to You Second and Last But Not Always Revelling Masses Leave-Talkings The Cost Deadened |
One Warning Settle Soon |
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The Provenance fall into that non-category, 'modern prog', a kind of postmodern 'anything goes' area, where a track can start off in an indie vein, shift through ambient territory, finishing up with extreme heaviosity. A bit like modern Porcupine Tree, I suppose, albeit with female vocals; like what that band have become, I'm not sure the combination actually works that well, at least not over the length of an entire album.
Unfortuantely, on 2005's provocatively-titled How Would You Like to Be Spat at (what, no question mark?), substance seems to have been largely sacrificed in favour of style, although it's possible some of the material might grow on me were I able to give it enough time. Mellotron strings on most tracks, sometimes doubled with either fast-bowed string samples or a guitar delay effect, notably on opener Woh II TSC (huh?), although I'm pretty damn' sure they're all samples. Usual stuff: over-use of the strings, 'too-clean' and consistent sound... I haven't actually spotted any overlong notes (the ultimate giveaway), although the last, held note of Kick You So Hard cuts it close. Flutes here and there, and even what sounds like brass on Going Down, but the choirs on Considering The Gawk, The Drool, The Bitch And The Fool are, again, too clean for their own good.
The following year's Red Flags ditches most of the Porcupine Tree influences for a more generic indie metal sound, presumably in keeping with their new label, Peaceville, adding male vocals to the mix in places. The material is universally tedious, making its predecessor almost sound good, with samplotron strings on several tracks, including Crash Course, Thanks To You and Deadened, to relatively little effect, to be honest.
All in all, I'm afraid to say I found these a rather dispiriting listen. Lots of other bands' work pilfered, lots of clichés strung together, little real imagination and bugger-all originality. Disappointing.
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And I'll Recite an Old Myth From... (1989, 53.05) ***½GalateaEternal Children Dream Seeker's Mirage And I'll Recite an Old Myth From... |
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There Once was a Night of "Choko-Muro" the Paradise (1996, 52.49) ***½HCHO 40An Epilogue for Cajolment There Once was a Night of "Choko-Muro" the Paradise Erlio A Breeze in the Dawn "Choko-Muro" the Paradise In the Moonlight |
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Providence seem to be one of the lesser-known Japanese '80s prog outfits, although their albums seem to be about as available as anyone else's that haven't been reissued on Musea. Their only album released in their 'lifetime', And I'll Recite an Old Myth From..., is often described as 'neo-prog', which is an over-simplification. The second half of the album is, indeed fairly sophisticated neo- with female vocals from Yõko Kubota, but the first track, Galatea, is ripping fusion-influenced progressive with nary a trace of bad '80s-ness about it, assuming you ignore the slap bass solo half-way through. Er...
Keys man Madoka Tsukada uses what sounds, on first listen, like Mellotron strings on three tracks, with a major part on Dream Seeker's Mirage, but upon closer scrutiny, it's this almost solo section that gives the game away; it's all in octaves (there was no two-octave string sound at the time), and the high notes are clearly stretched. They're good samples, but samples none the less.
Their rather belated follow-up from 1996, There Once was a Night of "Choko-Muro" the Paradise (what is it with their titles?), follows roughly the same path as their debut, being a mixture of superior neo-prog and old-school symphonic, with a 20-minute epic in its title track. Less 'Mellotron' this time round, with the only noticeable stuff being strings on the title track and A Breeze In The Dawn.
Compared to many of their contemporaries, Providence were well ahead of the game, with little of the cheesiness that marrs many other Japanese bands' work. Both albums reasonably recommended, but not for the fake 'Tron.
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Almanac (2002, 48.05) ****½ |
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| Almanac Keep Movin' on Everything We Need Apples Sunrise Sunset The Season of Flowers & Leaves Monorail Anyone Who Asks |
Element of Fear Following Down Omega Man Weaker Man Fix Me for Today Emily Regardless |
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CDS (2005, 8.27) **** This Could Be Good To My Maker Home to Me |
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As you can see from their 'regular reviews', Pugwash are an absolute joy, an 'intelligent pop' band who refuse to compromise their ideals, sticking out another great album every three years, regular as clockwork.
They use samples from a real Novatron plus more generic 'Tron/Chamby samples on all fourteen tracks of their second album, Almanac which, incidentally, is truly excellent, stuffed with great songs, indelible hooks and sublime harmony vocal work. So this stuff's unfashionable? And? Amongst the dreck of most contemporary music, Pugwash stand out like a diamond in the, er, dirt. With nary a bad track on the album, it's almost impossible to pick out highlights, although personal favourites include Monorail and Omega Man. The samples were played by main man Thomas Walsh, Keith Farrell and occasionally Duncan Maitland, often layering two sounds from the Chamby and the 'Tron, with strings (from both), Chamby brass and 'Tron flutes and vibes splattered all over the album, not to mention the credited Mark II rhythm samples on Monorail. They manage a serious coup by getting Jason Falkner (ex-Jellyfish and a host of cool sessions) to play on several tracks, although he resists the temptation to play anything crankier than a Vox Continental.
One of the 'Tronless' tracks from 2005's mostly-sampled Jollity, This Could Be Good, has actually been released as a single, with another two 'Tron' tracks on the, er, b-side (so to speak). To My Maker has a vague Dylan vibe about it, while Home to Me's distorted vocal and generally rockness stands out as a rarity in the all-too-small Pugwash catalogue, although someone (Walsh?) still manages a beautiful fakeotron part in the middle, complete with pitchbend, and is that choirs I hear at one point? If you're going to buy the album, make sure you get this, too.
See: Pugwash | XTC | Duncan Maitland
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Traumatized (1997, 55.24) **½The King Always WinsRelativity As Ye Hath Sown Marathon In the Heart of the Man The Ring of Truth |
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The Tale of Woe (2006, 60.04) ***SeasonsSeven Gentle Spirits Harold Cain The Past Has Just Begun God's Angry Man On Second Thoughts |
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Puppet Show (a Spïnal Tap joke?) released their debut, Traumatized, in 1997, apparently aiming for a '70s prog sound; unfortunately, they fell well short, their overreaching ambition coming across as second-rate IQ for much of the album. Possibly the most infuriating thing about it is the odd decent idea surrounded by a wasteland of neo-prog mediocrity; couldn't you have worked on those good bits a little longer, chaps? Mike Grimes adds samplotron to a couple of tracks, notably the choirs and flute part on As Ye Hath Sown and strings on closer The Ring Of Truth, but they're not that central to the band's sound.
It took them nine years to follow up with 2006's The Tale of Woe (autobiographical? No, I'm not being rude), a little better than its predecessor, but not exactly a quantum leap forward, frankly. One of the band's bad points is Sean Frazier's vocals; he sings in tune, but tends to overemote, in true neo- style, not to mention the lyrics. There I was, listening to track two, the near-fifteen minute Seven Gentle Spirits, when... Oh no. He said it. He said "Masquerade". Only Rush are allowed to get away with that one and then only just. Once again infuriatingly, good moments (there are at least two particularly good bits in The Past Has Just Begun) are surrounded by not so good ones, although this time, the good bits are both better and more frequent and the not so good bits less obvious, which has to be an improvement. Also once again, samplotron here and there, but they aren't fooling anyone.
Had Puppet Show's second album been as weak as their first, after such a long gap, I'd have completely despaired. As it is, at least they're showing some improvement, even if that only means swapping IQ for Spock's Beard as their chief influence. I can't honestly recommend Traumatized, but The Tale of Woe's probably at least worth hearing. Keep working on it, chaps.
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Reborn (1999, 51.44) ***½ |
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| (It's a) Fortune Teller Gonna Be Tomorrow, Today Nobody There Her Arms Embraced the Sun Fading Sound of Lost Thoughts The Drone Long Way Down |
The Flight (Pt. 1) The Flight (Pt. 2) Reborn |
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The Salmon's Trip - Live [CD] (2000, 52.28) ***RebornBlank Empty Space You Lose it (Shady Reflections at the) Magic Forest (It's a) Fortune Teller Sail on Your Wings Pulsating the Door of My Dreams My Little Elf |
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The Salmon's Trip - Live [LP] (2000, 85.48) ***½Orange Journey(It's a) Fortune Teller (unplugged) Fading Sound of Lost Thoughts Golden Eyes Chase the Color Rooby Go Round Solemn Visions |
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Purple Overdose are reputedly one of the most authentic psych bands of the last decade or two, making it a shame they're based in a country not known for such things, heavily reducing their accessibility to Western European and American fans of the genre. Led by vocalist/guitarist Costas Constantinou, they've been around since the late '80s, releasing seven albums (live and studio) over two decades, of which Reborn is the fifth. This isn't your mad, post-freakbeat 13th Floor Elevators type stuff, nor your whimsical, well-mannered British style; this is that dreamy, lysergic late-'60s thing that Pink Floyd mastered before heading off for pastures new, only Purple Overdose have stuck to it for their entire career, turning their noses up at anything as bourgeois as progressing.
Top tracks include lengthy opener (It's A) Fortune Teller, the whacked-out acid guitar-fest of Gonna Be Tomorrow, Today and the title track, although the album never outstays its welcome, despite its length. Vasilis Kapanikis is credited with Mellotron, and while it could be genuine, it doesn't sound particularly like it, with string parts on Fading Sound Of Lost Thoughts and the title track.
The band released The Salmon's Trip - Live the following year, in two entirely different versions, just to confuse their audience. Although the available material would fit nicely onto two CDs, somebody opted to compile a 50-odd minute CD and a lengthy double LP, just too long for single-CD issue. Irritating. Going by the CD's tracklisting, the joy seems to have gone out of it, somehow, at least to my ears. It's not a bad album, but fails to grab my attention the way their studio effort does, with a couple of tracks jammed out for far too long. Another couple of 'Tron' tracks, quite clearly sampled this time, not that that should come as any great surprise. For some reason, the LP set works rather better, although (or because?) it features all the longer, more jammed-out material. Again, little samplotron, but the sound's clearly secondary low on the band's priority list.
So; three albums of new(-ish) yet ancient psych, seemingly better in the studio than live. Maybe we should think of them as two almost different bands, as the Floyd were early on; a more concise studio outfit and a jamming live band. Anyway, I may yet be proven wrong about the samples (or otherwise) on Reborn, but I won't be re. both versions of The Salmon's Trip.
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7 Year Itch (1998, 56.48) *** |
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| 7 Sisters Chinese Whispers Strawberry Fields Forever 7 Year Itch I'm Really Okay Once Around the Shelves Long on Shipwrecked (With Idle Hands) |
TL'Etat des Choses Foetal Fanfare Fandango |
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Although best-known for his membership of Brit-jazz-rock mavens Hatfield & the North and National Health, drummer par excellence Pip Pyle's forty-year career encompassed the better part of a dozen different outfits, excluding his solo work. 1998's 7 Year Itch is actually his only solo project, featuring contributions from many of his former bandmates, not least Dave Stewart, Elton Dean, Phil Miller, Hugh Hopper and Barbara Gaskin, pretty much a Who's Who of the Canterbury scene from the '70s. As a result, if you're allergic to said scene, or jazz-rock (as against fusion) generally, you're probably not going to like it very much. Like so many similar albums, it veers from whimsy to fiery workouts, often within the same piece, but really isn't that accessible to those of us who prefer our thirteenths unflattened.
Although Mellotron is rumoured, the pretty authentic 'Tron flute that open the ensemble's strangely jazzy take on you-know-who's Strawberry Fields Forever is credited as 'keyboards programmed by' either Pyle himself or Stewart, so the chances of it being real are vanishingly small to nonexistent, I'd say. Sadly, Pyle died in 2006, robbing the world of one of another great percussionist; the eclecticism of 7 Year Itch is a fitting tribute to his memory.
See: Hatfield & the North
