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Trying to Kiss the Sun (2002, 59.38) ***½ |
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| Trying to Kiss the Sun Waiting for a Smile I Don't Know (What it's Like) Sugar for the Ape Side By Side You Tell Me Why Believe Me |
Sunday Morning Home Again |
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Stock (2003, 43.46) *** |
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| Opel The Way it is Perceptual Response Forgive Me - Part 1 Gentle Art of Swimming Who Do You Think You Are Going Outside Sun in the Sky |
Forgive Me - Part 2 Forgive Me - Part 3 |
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World Through My Eyes (2005, 70.28) **½ |
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| Sleep Start the Fire Everything Was Not Enough Roses Three Lights Sea-Nature Day on My Pillow World Through My Eyes |
Wasted Land Bound to Reach the End |
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The RPWL Experience (2008, 67.01) **½ |
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| Silenced Breathe in, Breathe Out Where Can I Go? Masters of War This is Not a Prog Song Watch Myself Stranger River |
Choose What You Want to Look at Turn Back the Clock |
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RPWL (named for the four original members' initials) started as a Pink Floyd tribute, releasing their first album, God Has Failed, in 2000. By the time they released Trying to Kiss the Sun, two years later, their name was already irrelevant, but they've obviously stuck with it for simplicity's sake. There's a distinct Floyd influence apparent on several tracks, although plenty of other things also get thrown into the mix, not least a touch of Genesis, with a heavier edge in places (Sugar For The Ape). Best track? Probably the all-out symphonics of You, where their influences coalesce in a fairly pleasing manner. I'm deeply suspicious of Yogi Lang's supposed 'Mellotron', although I'd like to be proved wrong (the sampled piano is dreadful, sounding about as plasticky as it could). 'Strawberry Fields' flutes on the opening title track, with strings to the fore on Waiting For A Smile and Sugar For The Ape, although the choirs don't have that 'Tron ring about them. Saying that, the choirs on You do sound like 'Tron, while the string swells on Home Again are extremely authentic, but I'm still pretty certain they're samples.
The following year's Stock seems to be influenced more by late-'60s Floyd than its predecessor and has fewer changes in tempo, electing to do that mid-paced thing throughout much of its length, although it turns out that it's a 'odds'n'sods' album and shouldn't really be treated as a new release as such. I actually find it a little less interesting than Trying to Kiss the Sun, although anyone who attempts psychedelia in any form in the 21st century should really be given a listen. Don't get me wrong; it's perfectly listenable, just not stupendously interesting, despite its noticeably shorter length. What is certain is that there's far less 'Mellotron', with the only obvious use being more of those 'Strawberry Fields' flutes again on the almost-jaunty Who Do You Think You Are.
2005's World Through My Eyes is similar to Trying to Kiss the Sun, but without any of the qualities that made that a fairly decent album. Overlong and boring, it rarely picks up above its sluggish, Floydian pace, but without being a fraction as good as the Floyd. There aren't any highlights, really, although there are an awful lot worse albums about; it's all just so... uninspired. Plenty of 'Mellotron', which still doesn't convince me it's been anywhere near 35 strips of magnetic tape. Choirs on opener Sleep, strings on Start The Fire, more of those 'Strawberry Fields' flutes on Everything Was Not Enough, with strings on Three Lights and Wasted Land to finish off, though rarely doing anything exciting. Hmmm. Maybe spend your hard-earned on something else?
2008's The RPWL Experience is pretty similar to its immediate predecessor, the Floyd remaining their top influence, particularly noticeable on Where Can I Go?, although an unfortunate 'alt.rock' edge creeps in later on. Minor samplotron use, the most upfront being the strings on Watch Myself, but you're unlikely to want to hear this if you don't like their earlier work.
So; if you're going to buy one of these, make it Trying to Kiss the Sun, which is better than its successors both musically and 'Mellotronically', but none of them are exactly classics, to be honest.
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Sorry Vampire (2007, 42.21) **½ |
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| Fragile The Only Evidence When I Was a Bandage I Guess I Wasted My Summer Now Lessons I & II A Small Clearing Ghetto Tested |
Beautiful Disarmed No One Loves You Like I Do Second Hand Lovers Haven't Missed You All My Life Where You Used to Sleep |
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John Ralston is the kind of modern American singer-songwriter who seems to confuse 'heartfelt' with 'wussy', so that his second album, 2007's Sorry Vampire, while containing the odd decent moment, is largely rather tedious, insipid nonsense.
Ralston plays 'Mellotron' himself, although the choirs on When I Was A Bandage are not only too clean, but sustain for too long at the end of the track, while the flutes on Ghetto Tested and Where You Used To Sleep simply don't ring true. OK, OK, I've heard worse, but this is a pretty dull, dreary release.
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Nodular (1998, 73.11) ***IntripAnnular Nodular Angular Before the Storm Phasenverzerrung |
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Stephen Parsick's Ramp (or ['ramp])'s EM is very much of the Berlin School, although they also display a talent for the kind of gently shifting electronics in fashion in some circles more recently, at least on their debut, 1998's Nodular. Like so many similar, the band make the mistake of thinking that because they can put over seventy minutes of music on a CD, they should, although the disc wears out its welcome after about the first four tracks, at least for someone not highly attuned to the genre.
In fairness, no-one's credited with Mellotron, so while the heavily-reverbed choirs on Intrip, Angular and Phasenverzerrung clearly originated from a Mellotron at some point, I rather doubt it was in the studio, being more likely to be when the samples were created. Klaus "Cosmic" Hoffmann(-Hoock) was involved on the production side, so he may have had something to do with them, but it all seems rather unlikely it's real. So; a decent enough electronic release, but indistinguishable from almost everything else in the field for the uninitiated, without even the bonus of any real Mellotron work.
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Tongue n'Cheek (2009, 41.31) *** |
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| Bonkers Road Rage Dance Wiv Me Freaky Freaky Can't Tek No More Chillin' Wiv Da Man Dem Dirtee Cash Money Money |
Leisure Holiday Bad Behaviour |
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I approached Dylan Kwabena "Dizzee Rascal" Mills' fourth album, 2009's Tongue n'Cheek, with considerable trepidation; this is, er, 'grime', isn't it? Some hip-hip spinoff, right? In a manner of speaking, yes; he mixes various related genres, anyway, so what pure grime may or may not be is slightly irrelevant. The music (as against the rapping) on the album is actually very well-constructed, with unusual juxtapositions of sounds and samples and genuinely radical synth and drum machine programming. Who'd'a thunk it? Mr Rascal (as Brit political pundit Jeremy Paxman called him in an interview) has a talent with his rhyming, too; many of the album's couplets made me laugh out loud, not least most of opener Bonkers.
Hal Ritson's credited with Mellotron on Freaky Freaky, to which I can only say, "You've gotta be kidding!" The string sound used throughout the track might have just possibly originated with a real Mellotron, several sample generations back, but certainly isn't played on one here. Well, I'm still reeling at this actually being pretty listenable, despite, on the surface, sitting fairly and squarely in a genre I normally despise. However, not only no Mellotron, but barely any samples as such. One for your disaffected nephew, then, but don't dismiss it out of hand; much better than expected.
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LP4 (2010, 42.35) *** |
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| Bilar Drugs Neckbrace We Can't Be Stopped Bob Gandhi Mandy Mahalo Party With Children |
Sunblocks Bare Feast Grape Juice City Alps |
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Although Ratatat's third album, LP3, featured a real Mellotron (and even pictured it on the sleeve), their imaginatively-titled follow-up, LP4, mixes a real string section with Mellotron samples, quite possibly from the studio machine they'd used previously. The album itself shares its predecessor's eclecticism, from the rattley electronica of opener Bilar through the pseudo-metal of Drugs and the electro of Neckbrace, while the duo summon up the ghost of the still-very-much-alive Brian May on Party With Children.
Those samples crop up here and there, notably the skronky flutes and strings on Grape Juice City and closer Alps, also heard on Neckbrace, Bare Feast and Party With Children, amongst others. It's hard to know at whom, exactly, Ratatat are aiming, especially in these days of strict genre quarantine, but their pick'n'mix approach seems to be paying some kind of dividend.
See: Ratatat
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Lights Out Zoltar! (2009, 39.22) *** |
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| 100 MPH (in 2nd Gear) Snuck a Peek Tough Love Fist of a Flower 1952 (You Got Me in a) Death Roll Goody Hoo No Water |
Dig Me a River If You Want to Rock and Roll Something Shifted So Do I |
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Gemma Ray has been running her post-Gemma Ray Ritual solo career for a couple of years now, 2009's Lights Out Zoltar! being (I believe) her second release under her own name. Just about any online interview you care to peruse will tell you that Gemma takes a pretty retro stance, the album's pre-psych era feel bearing this out, material like Tough Love and (You Got Me In A) Death Roll having a fairly '50s aesthetic.
Although Gemma (on Fist Of A Flower) and Mal Bruk (on 1952) are both credited with Mellotron, when I got a mutual acquaintance to ask her directly, she said she 'doesn't remember using a Mellotron, or samples', which rather confuses the issue, so with nothing obvious on the former and only a string sound that could emanate from almost anything on the latter, it wouldn't appear to be that relevant, anyway.
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I, Lucifer (2004, 44.13) *** |
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| It's a Dirty Job But Somebody's Got to Do it Bathtime in Clerkenwell The Ugly and the Beautiful (Still) Terminally Ambivalent Over You Someday (Never) One More Chance The Eternal Seduction of Eve La Bete et la Belle |
Easter Parade The Life and Times of the Clerkenwell Kid The Show Must Go on Heaven Can't Wait Someday (Soon) The Pearly Gates |
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The London Book of the Dead (2008, 48.50) *** |
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| Blood Sugar Love Decline and Fall of the Clerkenwell Kid It's a Wonderful Li(f)e Cloud Cuckooland Kix Love Sugar Blood I Loved London I Believe |
Song For William Waltz For One Ruth, Roses and Revolvers Dorothy Parker Blue Last Words Into the Trees Bringing the Body Back Home Apart |
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The Real Tuesday Weld (in honour of the actress of the same name), led by Stephen Coates, describe their sound as 'antique beat', which, going by their third album, I, Lucifer, amounts to a straight cross between pre-war swing and modern electronica. The album was intended as a soundtrack to Glen Duncan's novel of the same name; whether it works as such shall have to remain a mystery, as I haven't read it. I'd say the album's actually more 'antique' than 'beat', few of its fourteen tracks having any real modern influence, although those contemporary riddims pop up here and there, notably on (Still) Terminally Ambivalent Over You and one of the album's best tracks, The Life And Times Of The Clerkenwell Kid. On the samplotron front, we get cellos and occasional strings all over the place, plus what sounds like the Mellotron tubular bells on closer The Pearly Gates.
Four albums on, 2007's The London Book of the Dead (ho ho) is, essentially, more of the same, Coates' witty lyrical concerns brightening up what might otherwise be seen as merely a copy of his earlier work. 'Mellotronically' speaking, the album kicks off with that tubular bell sample again, also heard on Bringing The Body Back Home, while Kix gives us some full-on strings, with cellos on a handful of tracks. Do you bother with these? Do you like the sound of what they do? If so, then yes. Simple as that, although you're certainly not going to bother for a few Mellotron samples.
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Feathers for Flesh (2004, 54.32) ****House of AshPassage Yellow Are His Opening Eyes Beggars & Thieves Scarlet Experiments |
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The Red Masque are an American progressive band who reside in that odd, twilight world also inhabited by the likes of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and anything involving Chris Cutler. After an initial EP, 2002's Victoria & the Haruspex, 2004's Feathers for Flesh is their first full-length release, a rollercoaster-ride of vocal and instrumental angularity, reminding me variously of Magma, King Crimson (of course) and Henry Cow, classical guitars rubbing shoulders with household implements, vocal pyrotechnics and thunderous bass. Well, that's one track out of the way. Seriously, trying to single out any one piece here for praise is futile; the album works best as a whole, refusing to outstay its welcome, despite its near-hour length.
Despite rumours of Mellotron use (player unknown: three members play keys), the occasional string part scattered throughout the album clearly has nothing to do with a real machine, although the band do mention 'Mellotron sounds' on their website. So; jaded prog fan? Looking for something to pique your curiosity without singeing your ears? I think The Red Masque may be what you're looking for. No Mellotron, but recommended anyway.
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Mirror of Insanity (2004, 39.59) **½BlameChildren Memory Mirror of Insanity Cradle |
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Gentry (2005, 42.45/46.44) **SubmissiveGentry Very Strange [Bonus track: The Voice] |
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Human Trafficking (2007, 44.01) **Human TraffickingLost Regrets Loving Child |
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Music for Sharks (2009, 52.57) **½Empty CalendarLove and Music How Can You Help Me Sad Song Shark Man All You Need is Love |
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Québec's Red Sand are helmed by guitarist/keyboard player Simon Caron, a man clearly in thrall to the likes of Marillion, Pendragon and the turgid Arena, for reasons known only to himself; I mean, look at their sub-Marillion logo: what were they thinking? For that matter, why copy crap bands when you could be influenced by good ones? It's easy, I suppose. All of their albums to date follow the same general template: a handful of tracks, mostly grossly distended epics, broken up by one or two shorter efforts, 'featuring' page upon page of sixth-form poetry (admittedly, written in English by a French-speaker), interrupted by lengthy, relatively tasteful guitar solos. It seems Caron just can't wait to spaff all over the mundane backing tracks, so he wails away every few minutes, seemingly regardless of what's actually going on musically at the time.
On their debut, 2004's Mirror of Insanity, they suffer from the standard neo-prog delusion: they actually have something to say that anyone might want to hear. I blame Fish. Twelve-minute opener Blame starts tastefully (if tediously) enough, but after a few minutes of picked guitar and muted vocal, it kicks into typical neo- gear, with one particularly horrible major-key moment. The ten-minute (see? Told you) Children Memory again features a sort-of tasteful slow section, this time in the middle, but a serious lack of understanding of how to pace a lengthy piece leaves it dead in the water. Poor Mellotron samples throughout, notably the flutes at the end of Children Memory, the strings in the middle of the title track and the crummy choirs everywhere.
Again, the following year's Gentry doesn't start too badly, but before long, we're into mid-paced hell, guitar solos everywhere you look and awful, pseudo-pseudo-analogue synth leads that just scream '1988'. Caron's wilful lack of musical knowledge helps not one jot, causing him to play a repeated wrong note in his first solo (of several) in Submissive, while his patented Steve Rothery clean rhythm sound is very nasty indeed. Lyrically, all the usual cliché's apply; what is it with neo-prog and bad cases of navel-gazing? And all these vocalists obsessed with their useless love-lives? I blame Fish. Usual samplotron stuff, notably the strings and flutes on Very Strange, sounding as fake as everything else here.
2007's Human Trafficking is, unsurprisingly, more of the same, the unmitigated rubbish of the eighteen-minute title track followed by the far shorter Lost, a palatable-enough guitar instrumental; unexciting in itself, it's pure genius in comparison to the dreary, plodding nonsense it follows. Another soul-destroying epic, Regrets, features what has to be one of the worst 'church organ' sounds I've ever heard, while the pseudotron choirs across the album are terrible; guys, there are better sample sets out there if you really have to...
2009's Music for Sharks almost made me cry; not because it moved me, but because it made me despair. No. Progression. Whatsoever. Or is there? Shark Man is the least terrible thing yet recorded by the band, actually utilising a modicum of creativity in the arrangement department, not to mention a previously unused snare-heavy rhythm that at least makes a change. Hurrah! Pity it's so fucking long. The rest of the album's the usual shit, though, as you might expect. Better Mellotron samples, for what it's worth, which is very little indeed. Also for what it's worth (also not very much), it isn't that All You Need Is Love.
What really offends me about this kind (OK, most kinds) of neo-prog is its towering lack of ambition; progressive rock appeared over forty years ago and has now spawned dozens of sub-genres, yet certain bands are happy to produce album after album of simplistic crud, with no attempt made to progress. Big Big Train progressed; why can't Red Sand? No, I cannot recommend any of these on any grounds whatsoever. I blame Fish.
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Redshift (1996, 54.44) ***½RedshiftSpin Shine Blueshift |
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Down Time (2001, 60.28) ****NailsUltranaut Mania High Noon All Things Bright Protoland Down Time |
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Although Redshift are a band, they're led by veteran British electronic artist Mark Shreeve (also of ARC), who released a host of solo album in the '80s. They debuted with an eponymous album in 1996, very typical 'Berlin School' EM, albeit better than many, probably due to Shreeve's considerable experience in the field, probably opening with its best piece in Redshift itself, although closer Blueshift finishes with what sounds like an EM take on a famous hymn tune that I'm struggling to place. Shreeve plays Mellotron samples (choir, strings and flute, credited as 'Mellotron') variously on all tracks, in a fairly standard Tangs (Aargh! I said it! I used the 'T' word! OK, the other 'T' word) kind of way, so no surprises here. Have Redshift used those samples again? Probably, as once an EM artist gets hold of a Mellotron sample set, they tend to hang onto them for grim death, whacking them all over everything they do with abandon. However, as I haven't heard any of Redshift's later work, I can't actually tell you for certain.
Unusually for the genre, 2001's Down Time opens with a couple of minutes of solo Rhodes, then as the rhythm gently builds up, a vocal-through-Leslie effect enters the fray, the sequenced synths building into a series of most un-EM-like crescendos. Hey, composed music! Who'd'ha thunk it, eh? As the album progresses, it becomes apparent that this is one of the very best things I've heard from a moribund genre in a long time; Redshift are unafraid to take chances, incorporate elements from other areas (not least the guitar chords and solo and techno rhythms on Mania) and generally do something different. It's robbed of an unprecedented extra half star by its forgettable closing title track and predictably excessive length, neither of which stop this being a rare modern EM delight. Of course, we get the usual samplotron stuff, with string pads, a flute melody, choirs and even some very Tangs-esque string section on opener Nails and a solo flute part at the end of Protoland, amongst other parts.
Do you buy these albums? Redshift: do you like Berlin School EM? Then yes; it's as good as most and better than many. Down Time: would you like to hear a band take a genre, give it a good shake and come up with something new? Then definitely yes. Highly impressive.
See: ARC
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De Nova (2005, 48.16) *** |
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| Robinson Crusoe Falling Down Thank You Love Her Build a Bridge Hung Up on the Way I'm Feeling On My Way It's Alright |
Front Page How the Story Goes Back Together Glory of War Rock & Roll |
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The Redwalls mix powerpop with 'rock'n'roll', whatever you take that to mean. Their second album, 2005's De Nova, is entirely unoriginal, but entertaining enough, although few of the songs seem to have the kind of staying power a band of this kind needs so badly, although opener Robinson Crusoe, Love You and the Stonesy It's Alright aren't bad.
No-one's credited with Mellotron and indeed, it sounds somewhat on the fake side, with strings on Thank You, Hung Up On The Way I'm Feeling, Front Page and Back Together that are most likely samples. Overall, then, a passable effort in the 'attempting iconic rock'n'roll' stakes, but it all falls rather short, sadly. If anyone knows any more about the Mellotron sounds used, please let me know...
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ReGenesis Live (1997, 67.47) ***½Watcher of the SkiesFirth of Fifth The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 In the Cage Supper's Ready I Know What I Like Carpet Crawlers |
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Here it Comes Again... (1998, 67.54) ****Back in N.Y.C.The Musical Box The Return of the Giant Hogweed Dancing With the Moonlit Knight Afterglow The Cinema Show Los Endos The Knife |
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Lamb for Supper - Live 2001 (2001, 64.53) ****Grand Parade of Lifeless PackagingChamber of 32 Doors The Lamia Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats The Colony of Slippermen Supper's Ready Dance on a Volcano/Drum Duet/Los Endos |
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The first, and best of the UK Genesis tributes started life in 1994 as Geneside (ho ho), dropping the name a year later after having it consistently misspelt by promoters, and deciding it sounded 'a bit metal'. At the same time, they took on yours truly as roadie/driver/general factotum, a working relationship that lasted six years, giving me a fairly unique view into what made the band tick. And it wasn't a pretty sight...
I only missed one gig in those six years, which was, of course, the one they recorded for their first album, ReGenesis Live (never did work out the inspiration for that one), with a much sought-after video also receiving a brief release. Despite a slightly murky sound (straight to DAT from the desk), it captures the energy they put out gig after gig (150 in six years - pretty good going for a bunch of guys in full-time work...), with the strongest numbers from their set at the time. Keyboard man Doug Melbourne had just purchased a Roland M-VS1 module (identical to the 'vintage synth' expansion board for their JV1080 rack synth), and made good use of it on four of the five live tracks. To explain... tracks six and seven are two of the three tracks from their original '94 demo for getting gigs, and the 'Mellotron' parts are rather less, er, Mellotron-like.
Here it Comes Again... was a more professional affair all round, recorded onto digital 24-track, and the difference is immediately apparent. It features the best of their repertoire that didn't make it to the first album, although a couple of less obvious choices might've been nice; to my knowledge, there's no (official) live version of Can-Utility And The Coastliners available anywhere, by Genesis or otherwise (although there are probably good musical reasons why it didn't make it here), and ReGen never released their storming take on The Fountain Of Salmacis, either. Anyway, good versions all round here, with four of the eight tracks featuring Doug's M-VS1 again in its usual role, along with his rather gorgeous Prophet V for all the lead synth parts.
ReGenesis played their biggest gig yet in March 2001, to well over a thousand people at G2, the Second UK Genesis convention, unveiling their complete 'Lamb' show, which was, of course, filmed and recorded onto multitrack. Lamb for Supper - Live 2001 is an edited version of the show, although the entire thing's available on video, I believe. New-ish singer Tony Patterson does a pretty good Gabriel impersonation, and plays the flute, and in places, the band actually fool your ear into thinking it's the real thing, and you can't give a tribute band much higher praise than that, I suppose. By this point, Doug was using a combination of his Roland module and some super-high quality samples (for the choirs), with Chamber Of 32 Doors and Los Endos being 'Mellotronic' highlights. It has to be pointed out that there's some rather dodgy playing here and there; the contrast between Dance On A Volcano (new to the set) and Los Endos (been played for years) is startling, but then, when did Genesis ever play a perfect gig?
ReGen actually used my own Mellotron twice, at the same venue, the Putney Half Moon (back room of a pub, basically), once in summer '96, and again in February '01, but sadly, neither was professionally recorded, even from the desk. Doug left the band after their '01 autumn tour, and I've no idea what his successor uses on the fake 'Tron front, although unlike a tribute to another famous British prog outfit I could name, at least he uses Mellotron samples, not just generic string and flute patches...
So; should you buy these albums? Search me - despite working for the band, I never entirely saw the point of releasing albums of Genesis covers, played identically to the originals, other than as a good way of bumping up gig profits or, in some cases, making any profit at all. After the release of Genesis' own Archive box sets, there's nothing on any of these three albums that doesn't have an 'official' counterpart, which is why Can-Utility would've been such a good idea. Then again... There's a handful of other tracks that ReGen played at one point or another for which there are no official versions (The Battle Of Epping Forest and a couple of post-Gabriel songs I believe they've introduced to the set more recently), so it's up to you whether or not you reckon these albums are worth hearing. I'm told the band are still good live, playing theatre-sized venues these days and heading up for a shocking tenth anniversary in 2004. See you there?
n.b. It didn't happen. Big surprise.
See: Genesis
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Different Shades of Dust (2004, 60.52) ****Following DifferencesShades in Darkness Moving Through Dust |
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Sense (2006, 68.55) ***½BeingDestination Behaviour Maze Mortality Deja Vu |
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Remy Stroomer is a surprisingly young Dutch electronic musician, in a genre where the average age of 'second wave' EMers is somewhere in the late forties. 2004's Different Shades of Dust is something like his fourth release (depending on what you count), standing out from the pack by concentrating on melody as much as the genre's 'traditional' elements: rhythm, texture and improvisational ability. Opener Following Differences is eighteen minutes of well-constructed EM, possibly not definable as 'Berlin School', Shades In Darkness has a faint techno feel, while Moving Through Dust features several instances of true composition, as against the usual 'let the virtual tape run and start playing'. Samplotron on all three tracks, mainly heavily-reverbed choirs that are never going to fool even the untrained ear.
2006's Sense is a very different album, far more experimental, although, sadly, rather less listenable as a result, with considerable use of sampled dialogue and even singing, more sub-techno moves and considerable use of synths as they were originally intended: producers of sound, rather than as actual musical instruments. More samplotron this time round, with choir on most tracks and a lengthy, repeating (clearly sequenced) string part on Mortality. So; ambitious? Yes. Different? Definitely. A good listen? Hmmm...
Remy stands out from the pack by dint of actually doing something different. Hordes of European computer-manipulators take note. You know who you are.
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Retrospective (2004, 67.02) **½EarthsongMan Judgement Day Dreams World Reveal Starry Night Urban Flight Delight Taking My Time The Fool |
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Introspective (2006, 64.22) ***Rainy DayLiving in a Bubble Black Hole Eyes One World Be Aware I Turn to You Slaves of Gold Tidal Wave Karma |
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Retroheads were formed by Tore Bø Bendixen, who, according to some spiel about the band that's plastered all over the 'Net, "Had been working several years as a commercial music- and sound-producer for radio and TV". Well, I'm afraid to say, it shows. Retrospective opens well enough, but before long, a mainstreamish neo-proggy feel kicks in, only letting up occasionally, with various other rock clichés rearing their ugly heads on a depressingly regular basis (see: the guitar arpeggios on opener Earthsong). That isn't to say that this is a bad album, just a rather generic and average one, that could've done with some heavy editing and total removal of the female backing vocals. Of course, you the listener may totally disagree and, in fairness, there are many good moments, although none are sustained for long enough to really hold the attention.
The aforementioned spiel contains a very noticeable caveat; "They use the latest available technology and VST instruments to emulate the real thing. After all; It's not the way you create music that matters: It's the way you think". Roughly translated, this means, "We use a load of sampled sounds which don't quite cut it, rather than making the effort to sound really good". Glad that one's cleared up, then. The Mellotron samples aren't bad, as samples go, but they're far too 'smooth' to pass muster as the real thing. Strings all over the place, with a side helping of flutes, making for a decent enough (fake) 'Tron album, as long as you ignore much of the actual music.
Two years on and they follow up with Introspective (I can see this thread running out before long). It's an improvement on its predecessor (if still overlong), although most tracks still infuriatingly mix good bits with bad bits, opener Rainy Day being a prime example. A heavy bout of editing would've improved this no end, I'd say. Once again, samplotron strings and flutes on several tracks, sounding about as good as samples are going to get.
To be perfectly honest, something about the whole concept of a band calling themselves Retroheads and releasing an album called Retrospective just sticks in my craw, I'm afraid. Did Änglagård need to call attention to their 'retro' tendencies in this way? I think not, although Introspective's an improvement, if no classic. Sorry to be so harsh, but their debut really is quite disappointing. Next...
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Pure (2004, 55.30) *** |
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| Presence History This Life Glisten Immersion Clearing The Source The Level |
Breathe Fragments Pure |
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I believe 2004's Pure is German guitarist Markus Reuter and British synthesist Ian Boddy's fourth collaboration, definitely and defiantly 'ambient' as against 'Berlin School'. Its eleven relatively short tracks seem to consist largely of Boddy's manipulations of Reuter's various touch guitar excursions, the end results working better on some tracks (opener Presence, Glisten) than others (Clearing, the techno-lite of The Level). It's only one man's opinion, but had the duo chopped some of the more dance-influenced material (I use the term extremely loosely), the album might have been more concise and cohesive.
Boddy is credited with sampled Mellotron, which makes a nice change from the usual fakers, adding 'infinite sustain' choir to Immersion, in a manner that's unlikely to fool even the least experienced sample-spotter. So; is this any good? In places, yes, but too much of it left me cold for me to really be able to recommend it.
See: ARC
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A French Kiss in the Chaos (2009, 39.36) **½ |
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| Silence is Talking Hidden Persuaders No Wood Just Trees Professor Pickles Long Long Time No Soap (in a Dirty War) Manifesto/People Shapers Mermaids |
The End Hard Time for Dreamers |
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Reverend & the Makers are a Sheffield-based indie outfit, led by Jon "The Reverend" McClure, whose second album, 2009's A French Kiss in the Chaos, is a strange mixture of mainstream indie, original psych and mid-'60s pre-psych. Maybe its songs take a few listens to sink in, but initial listens indicate a pretty typical indie approach, albeit one far more palatable than the likes of the 'where are they now?' Arctic Monkeys.
Laura Manuel is credited with Mellotron, but the background strings on a couple of tracks and flutes on closer Hard Time For Dreamers sound somewhat inauthentic to my ears. Anyway, unless you're a fan of current UK indie, you're most unlikely to get much out of this, fake Mellotron or no fake Mellotron.
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Full Attention (2007, 51.23) * |
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| God of All Glory Close Stand in Awe Full Attention Hallowed Father More Than a Friend Sweetly Broken Call to Praise |
No Longer Bound God Moves in a Mysterious Way What Joy is Found My Love for You |
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Now boyz'n'gurlz, we're going to play a guessing game. Have a look at the titles above and tell me in which genre Jeremy Riddle operates. Nope? Sure? OK, I'll let you in on a secret: Jeremy Riddle is a Christian artist. Shocking, eh? You'd never have guessed, would you? OK, enough sarcasm already. Riddle's debut album, 2007's Full Attention, crosses (pun intended) his lyrical awestruck reverence with a sub-U2 approach, which is possibly even worse than it sounds. Without his infuriating, breathy vocals and his stuck-in-a-groove subject matter, this would merely be a fairly bad modern pop/rock effort, but factor those in and it's truly, truly horrible. Fully vom-worthy, in fact.
Ben West and Bob Hartry allegedly play Mellotron, but the sub-'Strawberry Fields'-esque flute part on the title track and the strings on a couple of others sound distinctly un-Mellotronlike to my untrained (but reasonably experienced) ear. In fact, I'm not even sure they're samples, but generic flute and string sounds credited as 'Mellotron', for some strange reason. Anyway, an utterly hideous album with no obvious real tape-replay. Destroy, destroy, destroy...
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Ritual (1995, 60.48) ***½ |
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| Wingspread The Way of Things Typhoons Decide A Little More Like Me Solitary Man Life Has Just Begun Dependence Day Seasong for the Moominpappa |
You Can Never Tell Big Black Secret Power Place |
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Think Like a Mountain (2003, 54.22) ***½ |
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| What Are You Waiting for Humble Decision Explosive Paste Once the Tree Would Bloom Mother You've Been Gone for Much Too Long Think Like a Mountain Moomin Took My Head |
Infinite Justice On Shamanarama Breathing Off |
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Live (2006, 115.07) **** |
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| Vision Quest What Are You Waiting for Typhoons Decide Really Something Moomin Took My Head Infinite Justice Humble Decision Once the Tree Would Bloom |
Did I Go Wrong Think Like a Mountain Solitary Man Dinosaur Spaceship Explosive Paste Acoustic Medley 1) A Little More Like Me 2) The Way of Things 3) Dependence Day |
4) You Can Never Tell 5) Life Has Just Begun Mother You've Been Gone for Much Too Long Do You Wanna See the Sun Big Black Secret Seasong for the Moomin Pappa |
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Ritual are probably best described as a prog/folk crossover; live, they down instruments at one point and pick up a variety of acoustic ones, including a hurdy-gurdy, so it's fair to say that they're pretty hot on the Swedish equivalent of hey-nonny-nonny. On an initial listen to their debut, Ritual, it seems at first that this side of their collective personalities comes across less well on record, although it doesn't take long for the folk influence to creep in, ending up being discernable on most tracks. Possibly the best example is the ridiculous but rather sweet faux-sea shanty Seasong For The Moominpappa, dedicated to Sweden's very own imaginary 'little people', Tove Jansson's Moomintrolls (as are at least two other tracks on the album), opening with what has to be Jansson herself reading from one of her works. Generally speaking, it's actually quite difficult to categorise Ritual's music (which has to be a good thing), as it contains elements of metal, fusion, '70s prog and other genres, as well as various folk musics, meaning either that you'll be irritated at its diversity, or that there's something here for everyone. Jon Gamble's keyboard work is exemplary throughout, although there are a few unfortunate digital synth patches in places that sit rather uneasily with the music. I'm pretty sure the album's minimal Mellotron use is sampled and as it only lasts a few seconds, it's hardly worth worrying about anyway (I mean, are you worried?). The otherwise folky The Way Of Things suddenly switches into a big symphonic section near the end, with a 'Mellotron' string crescendo, but that appears to be your lot.
After 1999's disappointingly ordinary (and fakeotron-free) Superb Birth (although the same year's Did I Go Wrong EP is supposed to contain some), 2003's Think Like a Mountain carries on the good work of Ritual's debut, highlights including the 'Arabian souk' intro to opener What Are You Waiting For, Infinite Justice and the acoustic workout on, er, On. The only audible Mellotron samples here are, er, something unidentified (a MkII sound?) opening Breathing, with one of the string variants (and cellos?) later on.
2006's unimaginatively-yet-accurately-titled double-disc Live is possibly the best way to hear this unusual band. It covers material from all of their three-and-a-half releases, highlights include Infinite Justice (again), Solitary Man, the superb Acoustic Medley, Mother You've Been Gone For Much Too Long and the Yes-ish Big Black Secret. Plenty of that ol' samplotron this time round, with flutes on Typhoons Decide and Once The Tree Would Bloom and strings on Humble Decision and Mother You've Been Gone For Much Too Long, although the album's excellence owes almost nothing to its inclusion. If you're going to buy one Ritual album, make it this one. Incidentally, there's no samplotron on the following year's The Hemulic Voluntary Band (****).
Ritual's an adventurous debut, while Think Like a Mountain, Live and The Hemulic Voluntary Band are all well worth a listen, although I'd approach Superb Birth with caution. Incidentally, vocalist Patrik Lundström also sings for the reformed Kaipa, although (luckily) it doesn't seem to have affected his work with Ritual.
See: Kaipa
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Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Metallica [by Michael Armstrong] (2006, 42.07) *** |
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| One Wherever I May Roam Enter Sandman Fade to Black Nothing Else Matters Battery The Unforgiven Master of Puppets |
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth ...And Justice for All |
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Rockabye Baby? Yer wot? Baby Rock Records have released a steady stream of their 'Lullaby Renditions' albums for the last few years, kicking off with Led Zep in 2006, the unvarying format being: take a well-known artist's work, rearrange it for (doubtless sampled) glockenspiel, vibes, harps, Mellotron and anything else nice and gentle they can think of. Are they serious? Every release features a groan-worthy series of title-related puns, but I can't imagine why anyone would buy any of their titles except for their intended purpose: getting your child to sleep in a rock-friendly manner. If it's a joke, it's one that wore paper-thing after their first clutch of releases, so I think we have to assume they're for real, admittedly with collective tongues in cheeks.
The label's numbering system seems slightly odd, but I suspect the one title I've heard, 2006's ...Metallica (technically credited to Michael Armstrong), is their second release. Is it funny? Yeah, kind of, although hearing it more than once a... year? Lifetime? would probably drive me nuts. It's all very clever, I'll give 'em that; not everyone could successfully rearrange this music in this fashion. It sounds like the arrangements are programmed in Cubase or whatever, hooked up to a few sound modules and recorded; I don't hear any sounds that aren't from a synth or sampler and I highly doubt that these are actually 'played' in the traditional manner, not that I'm trying to claim they should.
The most interesting thing about this album is the choice of material; going by Rondellus' marvellous Sabbatum album of some years back (Black Sabbath songs played in a medieval style and sung in Latin. Seriously), the things you might think would work don't necessarily and vice versa. Quieter songs are an obvious place to start: One, Fade To Black, Nothing Else Matters, but Battery? Master Of Puppets? (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth? A lullaby version of a fucking bass solo?... I'd imagine they felt they had to include Enter Sandman, but it's too harmonically angular to work well in the format, although Battery (sensibly rearranged as an extended version of its intro) works surprisingly well, as does Pulling Teeth, amazingly.
The company's website claims Mellotron use on many titles, but the flutes on a handful of tracks here are very clearly sampled, notably on Fade To Black, Battery and ...And Justice For All. Anyway, will I review any more Rockabye Baby! releases? Probably not, no; doesn't seem much point, does there? Bugger being a completist; all their releases are essentially the same, only the tunes differ. It has to be said: this is actually pretty bloody soporific. Maybe I'll try it myself.
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Re-Animator (2007, 46.20) **** |
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| Charles Dexter Ward Re-animator Chain Gang Pan Taliesin Valdemar Swamp Girl Abdul Alhazred |
Assassins Arkham Cthullu |
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Nevermore (2008, 49.21) ***½ |
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| Edgar Allan Poe Captain Nemo Last Voyage of the Nautilus Wreck of the Nautilus Leatherface Great Deceiver Eight Little Whores Ghost Dance |
Abramelin Tell-tale Heart Sam Hall Foggy Dew |
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Paul Roland is apparently one of British psych's best-kept secrets, with a discography as long as your arm, even though he made his first record as relatively late as 1979 (admittedly, he was all of twenty at the time). Apart from a seven-year gap in the late '90s to raise a family, Roland has released records continuously over a thirty-year period, many now highly collectable. 2007's Re-Animator is his first rock album since the early '90s or before and is a triumph of surreal, Victorian psych (?!), based on the writing of H.P. Lovecraft. Highlights include opener Charles Dexter Ward, the early Floydisms of Pan and ripping, jammed-out closer Cthullu, possibly the album's highpoint, but next to nothing here disappoints. Nautilus' Paul Blewitt is credited with Mellotron, but I'm reliably assured (hi, Paul) that the smooth flute and string tones used on about half the tracks are sampled; Paul says they're from eMu's Vintage Keys and he wouldn't have credited them as 'Mellotron' at all. Obvious use? The strings on Assassins are slightly munchkinised and played too fast for a real machine, although they do add to the album's atmosphere.
Roland followed up with Nevermore the following year, throwing folk (Sam Hall, a.k.a. 'Damn Your Eyes', Foggy Dew), blues (Leatherface) and hard rock (Great Deceiver) into the melting-pot, although the bulk of the album sounds not dissimilar to its predecessor. Best tracks? Probably opener Edgar Allan Poe, Captain Nemo and the aforementioned grim tale of Sam Hall. Blewitt's back on samplotron, with strings and flutes on Captain Nemo, Ghost Dance and Abramelin, plus flutes on the last-named.
I'm actually quite ashamed to acknowledge that Roland has passed under my radar up until now; an omission I shall have to correct. Re-Animator's an excellent little record, well worth your patronage, although Nevermore can't quite match it. Don't come here expecting to hear swathes of real Mellotron, though.
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Diamond Dave (2003, 45.54) ***½ |
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| You Got the Blues, Not Me.... Made Up My Mind Stay While the Night is Young Shoo Bop She's Looking Good Soul Kitchen If 6 Was 9 That Beatles Tune |
Medicine Man Let it All Hang Out Thug Pop Act One Ice Cream Man Bad Habits |
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I'm sure you all know 'Diamond' Dave Lee Roth's history; joined the fledgling Van Halen in the mid-'70s, helped their rise to fame and fortune, left in the mid-'80s, initially successful solo career slowly went down the pan. Roth is the consumate rock frontman, reinventing Robert Plant and Steven Tyler moves for a new generation, while adding a few of his own, although recent reports say he's well past his best, and live appearances give the impression of some old guy fronting a Van Halen tribute band. Rumours of a hair weave, or possibly just an out-and-out wig don't help, either. For all that, Diamond Dave is a good rock'n'roll album, with Roth backed by a series of Famous Friends who make all the right moves, though don't expect Van Halen Mk.2. As far as I can work out, the material is pretty much all covers, with the more obvious coverees being The Doors, Hendrix and, er, Van Halen (OK, I know Ice Cream Man isn't actually their song).
Co-producer Alex Gibson also plays 'Mellotron', along with percussion and backing vox on That Beatles Tune, a.k.a. Tomorrow Never Knows, actually sounding like a standard 'Tron string sample played too low. So; if you have a soft spot for the Diamond one, you're probably going to like Diamond Dave, although hardcore VH fans probably need not apply. As for the 'Mellotron', though...
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The Park (2003, 47.24) **** |
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| The Park part 1 Opening Theme The Park part 1 Birds Rhymes Winter Theme Birds Rhymes reprise The Park part 2 January's End Days The Park part 2 Stolen Title |
The Park part 3 Spring Theme The Park part 3 Spring Theme Variazione Wind Rhymes Summer Theme The Park part 4 (Adagio per Oboe, Synths e Mellotron) Stargazers Tripping |
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Cristiano Roversi is a noted Italian Chapman Stick/keyboard player who leads Moongarden and Submarine Silence, as well as having done time in the likes of Daal, Mangala Vallis, The Watch and various Colossus Projects, not to mention recently becoming a third of Cavalli-Cocchi, Lanzetti, Roversi with Bernardo Lanzetti, ex-PFM. A busy man, then, but not too busy to release two solo albums, the second of which is 2003's The Park, a beautiful, mostly instrumental record, full of lush, Genesis-like 'Mellotron' vignettes, few over five minutes long (Roversi acknowledges his musical debt in the sleevenotes). Stolen Title is pretty much a Stick solo, but most of the material consists of combinations of piano (sounds like a Yamaha CP70), various analogue synths and/or pseudo-Mellotron, the only real variation on the theme being the longest track, closer Tripping, a piano-and-vocal piece sung by The Watch's Simone Rossetti and a dead ringer for late '70s Genesis, probably unsurprisingly.
Despite crediting himself with Mellotron (and, oddly, 'Mellotron loops'), I've had it directly from the man himself that it's all sampled; in fairness, Cristiano, you can tell: listen to the low string notes on Winter Theme or the unfeasibly-extended choir chords on Wind Rhymes... Almost every track is smothered in the thing, used tastefully throughout, making this a bit of a 'must-have' for those who love the sound, but aren't that interested in its source. Saying that, this is also a 'must' for anyone who loves rich, symphonic progressive rock, Mellotron samples or no Mellotron samples. Recommended.
See: Moongarden | Submarine Silence | Cavalli-Cocchi, Lanzetti, Roversi | Daal | Mangala Vallis | The Watch | Colossus Projects
