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Ratings:
The * rating (½-5) is my personal, entirely subjective and completely partisan rating of the music.
There is, of course, no 'Tron rating.
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L'Incroyable Vérité (2001, 41.08) *** |
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| Oh Malheur Chez O'Malley Kazoo III Universe Trilogie Chien: L'enfance d'un Chien Trilogie Chien: Une Vie de Papa Trilogie Chien: Fin Chien Grec Kissed By You |
Fantino Trilogie Femme Vierges Une Vraie Maman Face au Miroir Black Douleur |
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Sébastien Tellier is a young French singer who approaches the concept of musical styles with a fluidity from which many hidebound artists could learn. 2001's L'Incroyable Vérité (The Incredible Truth) skips between genres at will, often within songs, throwing in bizarre touches like the super-distorted guitar on Kissed By You or the blood-curdling female screams on the last part of Trilogie Femme, Face Au Miroir (I'm not even going to bother translating that).
Although there's 'Mellotron' strings and flutes (and a smattering of choirs) to be heard on Universe and Fantino, not only does it all sound a little too perfect, but Universe has a string note that holds not so much over the eight-second mark as nearer the minute mark. I think not. Anyway, a decent enough album at what it does, but all a bit Gallic for me, sadly.
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Head (2000, 63.08) ***½MuteTime The Return of the Ultragravy Integrity T.A.N.U.S. |
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Thieves Kitchen are a newish UK prog outfit, sadly cursed with the Modern Prog Syndrome, at least on their 2000 debut, Head, a.k.a. overly heavy guitar across the board, when a more subtle approach might make for a more varied and listenable end result. Spock's Beard are not the be-all and end-all of the genre, chaps... The only member of the band with any obvious track-record is drummer Mark Robotham, previously of the not-very-good Grey Lady Down, and to be fair, Thieves Kitchen sound little like them, although there are a few unfortunate musical neo- references here and there, particularly in the vocal department. Much of Thieves Kitchen's music has a fusionesque feel about it, giving them more in common with fellow Brits Sphere³ than anyone else, although Simon Boys', er, 'emotive' vocals (why?) change the emphasis considerably. There are some sublime moments on the album, not least one of the instrumental sections in The Return Of The Ultragravy, although it's overlong (again...), and there's far too much pointless noodling. Speaking of that track, what's with the crapola 'humour' plastered all over the CD? At least there's only one stupid 'joke' title (although I'm not sure I want to know what T.A.N.U.S. actually stands for...), but a couple of pictures in the booklet are completely unnecessary (put your tongue away, Robotham), and the album's title could be read as a tedious example of toilet humour at its worst, too. Good prog doesn't need bad jokes, gentlemen, so if that's what you aspire to...
German keys man Wolfgang Kindl does a pretty good job on the album, playing those jazzy chord inversions like a good'un, although it's quite clear that all his 'vintage' sounds are no more than that: sounds. OK, so he doesn't own any vintage kit, but the band must know owners of the real thing, not least Sphere³. Sad to say, all too many current bands, especially prog ones, seem to feel that samples and/or synth replications are perfectly acceptable recording tools. Live's another matter, but in the studio, use the best you can afford... Anyway, Kindl rather overuses his Mellotron string samples (source unknown) on all tracks, which is one of the biggest giveaways on the sample use front. They still sound more authentic than his 'Hammond', mind...
Anyway, on the evidence of Head, Thieves Kitchen seem to be trying to do something slightly different, at least as far as the appalling current UK 'prog' scene goes, being vastly more listenable than, say, fellow GLD refugees Darwin's Radio, or the truly execrable Magenta.
STOP PRESS! I don't know how much it'll improve their music, but Thieves Kitchen have recently hooked up with no lesser a Prog God than Thomas Johnson (hi, Thomas) from the mighty Änglagård, apparently currently studying in the UK. Their website states that not only has he been co-writing their new material, but he'll be using a real 'Tron on their fourth album. I would expect no less.
See: Thieves Kitchen
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SMPTe (2000, 77.14/114.26) ****½ |
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| All of the Above Full Moon Rising October Winds Camouflaged in Blue Half Alive Undying Love Full Moon Rising (Reprise) We All Need Some Light Mystery Train My New World |
In Held (Twas) in I ['bonus disc' includes: My New World (alt.version) We All Need Some Light (alt.mix) Honky Tonk Woman Oh Darlin' My Cruel World (original demo)] |
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Bridge Across Forever (2001, 76.52/130.32) *** |
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| Duel With the Devil Motherless Children Walk Away Silence of the Night You're Not Alone Almost Home Suite Charlotte Pike If She Runs Mr Wonderful Lost and Found pt.1 |
Temple of the Gods Motherless Children/If She Runs (reprise) Bridge Across Forever Stranger in Your Soul Sleeping Wide Awake Hanging in the Balance Lost and Found pt.2 Awakening the Stranger Slide Stranger in Your Soul |
['bonus disc' includes: Shine on You Crazy Diamond Studio chat And I Love Her Smoke on the Water Dance With the Devil Roine's demo bits] |
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The aptly-named Transatlantic were a prog 'supergroup' consisting of Spock's Beard main man Neal Morse, Roine Stolt from The Flower Kings, Marillion's Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater, and the end results, at least on their debut, were vastly better than might be expected from such a potential clash of egos. The wittily-titled SMPTe (in case you don't know, 'smpte' is a studio MIDI/video conversion protocol, and the four members' initials, of course, pronounced 'simpty') comes across as an amalgam of the 'Beard and various '70s bands, with very little of the other three members' outfits in there at all, although I suppose we should be grateful for that in at least two cases...
All Of The Above is an overblown half-hour epic, but you know what? It works really well, although it could probably have been trimmed down a little. It opens with a chord sequence straight out of the Neal Morse songbook, and carries on in fine form, moving through all the various twists and turns you'd expect, although it ends up being rather predictable in its unpredictability, or something. However, its saving grace is its strong use of melody, without slipping into the AORisms of which the 'Beard are sometimes guilty, and which could be levelled against track two, We All Need Some Light. I personally really like it, but I can see why some critics have lambasted it for its near-'soft rock balladry' approach. Less sure about Mystery Train (not the Elvis number), but My New World's another grand epic, and the album closes in fine style with a cover of Procol Harum's In Held Twas In I; the original was named after the first word of the lyric in each of its five parts, and Transatlantic left out the 'Twas' section, thus the brackets, just in case you were wondering.
Roine Stolt is credited with 'Mellotron', alongside his usual guitar and vocal duties, and however good it sounds, I know for a fact that The Flower Kings neither own nor use a real 'Tron, relying on high-quality samples taken direct from a real machine, so it seems a fair assumption that these are what's being used here. Shame, really, as a real 'Tron always lifts anything on which it's used (well, usually), and it shouldn't be that difficult to find a working one, especially in Sweden, land of the 'Tron revival, but there you go. 'Trad' prog fans might not like this album, but in my book, it's well worth owning.
The band released a double live CD with unseemly haste, Live in America (can you smell the distinctive pong of a quick buck being made?), then rattled off what turned out to be their last album, Bridge Across Forever, in 2001. To be honest, it captures none of the manic joy of their debut; 26-minute opener Duel With The Devil feels far longer than that, and not in a good way, while Suite Charlotte Pike is a bit of a disjointed mess. The title track is a by now typically schlocky Morse ballad, and by far the shortest song on the album, leaving Stranger In Your Soul as the most cohesive piece here, though it says a lot that the best track on this album isn't much better than the worst on SMPTe. With hindsight, Morse's forthcoming breakdown/religious conversion/whatever is quite apparent in his lyrics, too; well, doesn't Duel With The Devil say it all?
The 'Mellotron' is used more sparingly this time round, with the only real highlights being an unaccompanied string part in Duel With The Devil and some flutes at the beginning of Stranger In Your Soul. Disappointing, though the album's relative musical failure made their God-induced split less painful. Incidentally, in case you still feel the need to obtain this, don't go out of your way to get the 'Special Edition'; apart from a vaguely interesting take on Floyd's Shine On blah-di-blah, and a genuinely good Morse demo of what became Duel With The Devil, most of it consists of tedious studio dicking about. Pointless.
Transatlantic were stunningly dull the one time I saw them live, insisting on playing just about all of Bridge Across Forever, and then, for some unknown reason, the whole of side two of The Beatles' Abbey Road, boring many of us into a bad prog-induced stupor, and having the gall to berate us for not enjoying it! They then misjudged the audience enough to encore with All Of The Above, rather than something a little snappier, and all this on top of lining all four members up along the front of the stage, Portnoy included. Egomania. The following year, of course, Morse got God, leaving both the 'Beard and Transatlantic to concentrate on his Christian solo career. Yawn. Anyway, ignore albums two and three, but buy SMPTe, even with fake 'Tron.
See: Spock's Beard | Neal Morse | Roine Stolt | Dream Theater | Marillion
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The Invisible Band (2001, 45.29) * |
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| Sing Dear Diary Side Pipe Dreams Flowers in the Window The Cage Safe Follow the Light |
Last Train Afterglow Indefinitely The Humpty Dumpty Love Song |
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Travis really have to be one of the nastiest things to happen to British music in a couple of decades, and I don't say that lightly. Their utterly insipid stadium-MOR is fantastically popular, picking up the kind of fan that Simply Red got in the '80s; "Music for people who don't like music", as a friend of mine once put it. Their mainman is called Fran Healy; now I'm sorry, maybe Fran is an acceptable male abbreviation in Scotland, but where I come from, it's a girl's name. What's wrong with Frank? Anyway... The Invisible Band (though sadly not inaudible) was their third album, and if anything, was even blander than its predecessor, 1999's fairly nasty The Man Who (*½), although it lacks the true horror of that album's chief hit, Why Does It Always Rain On Me? Because God hates you, Frannie, that's why. God hates you, and so do I.
I've been told this horrible, turgid mess has some Mellotron on it, but close listening only reveals one potential track, Dear Diary. The high strings are far too 'clean' to be a real Mellotron, but a few notes towards the end of the song have that 'Tronness about them, although I'm certain they're samples. I paid 50p for this abortion of an album (and the same for its predecessor), and I feel ripped off. I won't even be able to flog them to one of London's handful of remaining second-hand shops, as they're flooded with the fucking things. Down the chazza, then, and wave goodbye to a quid.
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Tortoise (2003, 50.08) ***½ |
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| Tortoise The New Moon Hindsight Radiation part 1 Jemetrion Radiation part 2 The Seagulls Hurt |
Tribulation Spectrum of Colours Endgame |
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There's been quite a bit of fuss about Netherlanders Trion ever since the release of their 2003 debut, Tortoise. The band (Their name is a conglomeration of 'trio' and 'Tron') is actually a side project (guitarist Eddie Mulder and keyboardist Edo Spanninga usually play in Flamborough Head, while drummer Menno Boomsma hails from Odyssice), formed as a deliberate attempt to play 'seventies' styled progressive music', according to their site, in which they're largely successful. The trouble is, it all seems a bit... ersatz. The all-instrumental material's perfectly good, within its limitations, but the band have no obvious character of their own; the opening title track has a two-chord 'Mellotron' sequence that is one note away from ripping Watcher Of The Skies, before shifting into a solo Hackett feel, although the rest of the album is less openly derivative. The sleeve art is even more derivative than most of the music, unless it's a deliberate joke? It's a dead-ringer for Gentle Giant's Octopus, only with a... tortoise. Oh, it's got to be a joke. Please.
In fairness, the band are perfectly open about their use of samples; their website credits Spanninga with "Flute, Oboe, Strings, Organ, Cello, Vibe and Choir Mellotron samples". See, told you. I like to think I'd have spotted it without help; the chief giveaway is the overly-smooth strings, often shoved right to the front of the mix, although the flutes almost convince, except when they're played slightly faster. No key-click, no hiss, no... grit. Hey, that's Mellotron samples for you. Spanninga oddly chooses to use 'Tron organ samples rather than an actual fake ('actual fake?') Hammond, giving the sounds a rather dull uniformity, to no particular purpose, as they're not even from an actual 'Tron. Anyway, massive use of all seven sounds, particularly the strings and flute, although he holds back on the choirs, making a nice change for a modern prog outfit.
The trouble is, the whole album comes over as a rather knowing tribute, as against an album full of music made for the sheer joy of it. For all that, it's actually quite good, although I don't know whether repeated plays will make it grow on me, or grate. Come back next year and I may be able to tell you.
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Lialim High (1997, 50.40) ***½Twelve Feet TallBlinded The Pelican Lie Famous Last Words A Sign of My Decline The Final Decision |
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Twin Age produced three albums in the mid- to late '90s, but seem to have gone very quiet lately. Going by the second, Lialim High, unlike several other Swedish bands of that era, they're quite firmly members of the neo-prog camp, with relatively simple song structures, few key changes and a vocalist who seems to aspire to be IQ's Peter Nicholls (who in turn, of course, aspires to be Peter Gabriel...). 1996's Month of the Year (***½), funnily enough, is slightly more adventurous than its follow-up, although there aren't even any Mellotron samples on board, never mind the real thing. The material on Lialim High's not actually bad, and better than several similar I've heard lately, but its lack of musical challenge wears me down after a while. Not that I've got a 'thing' about it; I'll quite happily listen to any number of more straightforward acts, but if one aspires to be 'prog', then please BE prog, and don't sit on the fence!
Jörgen Hanson plays 'Mellotron', although I strongly suspect he's using samples. It's slathered all over every track, although Hanson's use is far from innovative, to be honest; loads of string pads, and the choirs sound strangely muted. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think it's samples; the album opens with stately solo 'Tron strings, but it all sounds too... clean. Anyway, if you haven't got a problem with 'neo' stuff, or the possibility that the Mellotron may be fake, you may well like this more than I did.
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Leaves Turn Inside You (2001, 76.54) **** |
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| We Invent You Look a Ghost December Treachery Terminus Demons Sing Love Songs Off This Century One Lick Less |
Scarlette October All Over Summer Freeze Radio Gra Below the Salt Who Cares |
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Mellotron used:
Unwound, at least on their seventh album, Leaves Turn Inside You, are like a noisier version of Low, peddling a kind of very post-Velvets melancholy, that sometimes has little in common with 'rock' per se, which isn't to say they can't rock out at times. Is this what happens when a later-issue punk band discovers prog? Dunno, but it's pretty good, although at over 70 minutes (spread over two discs, oddly), it slightly outstays its welcome in places.
There's fake Mellotron on half the tracks, played variously by band member Justin Trosper plus Brandt Sandeno and Steve Fisk (a notorious fakester, pre-2005). Opener We Invent You has a nice string part, with cellos audible at the end, although Scarlette's strings and October All Over's flutes are somewhat sparser, and the ten-minute Below The Salt only has a few seconds of flute at the end of the piece. The album's 'Mellotron' classics, though, are the major string use on Radio Gra and the strings and Mark II 'Tron rhythms on Who Cares, ending with the infamous Bill Fransen 'yeah!' which can also be heard on Lol Coxhill's A Series Of Superbly Played Mellotron Codas (the 'Mark II' use is the album's chief sample giveaway).
So; damn' good album, some excellent fakeotron work. Go for it.
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Little Songs (1998, 33.03) *½ |
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| Trickster St. Lawrence River Jesus Was My Girl Unholy, Dirty and Beautiful Forestfire Babyskin Tattoo F Train Million |
Final Thoughts And The Last Day On Earth Mood Song |
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David Usher was apparently frontman with Moist, who might mean something to me were I about half my current age. And Canadian. As it is, I'm neither, so they don't. Usher's solo career kicked off during his tenure with the band, and if it all sounds like 1998's Little Songs, we're all doomed. Sorry, but this kind of 'confessional' singer-songwriter stuff sticks in my craw all too often, especially when it tries to get all 'contemporary' on us, with loops, samples and the like.
Speaking of samples, the 'Mellotron' here is just that. The jury could be out on the strings on opener Trickster, but they're so obviously sampled on Million that this gets dumped straight onto this page without passing Go or collecting £200. The album's pretty dreadful, too, so you have absolutely no reason whatsoever to go anywhere near this.
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Kappa Delta Phi (2009, 51.43) *** |
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| The Ship Born to Secrecy I of Everything Stigma Omega At the Hands of Loss Glacialis Like an Astronomer Somersaults |
Stalemates For Redemption |
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Vaka are effectively the one-man band of Karl Daniel Lidén, whose variety of extreme metal would be more palatable if he didn't insist on growling his way through it like a wounded bear. There's certainly more invention here than on many similar (and believe me, there are many similar), although it's slightly spoilt by its frequent incursions into silliness. One bonus is plenty of proggish keyboard work, particularly piano, which makes it stand out from the pack a little.
Lidén plays 'Mellotron', although I'm quite certain he's using samples, with strings on several tracks, in a standard 'block chord' kind of way. If you're of an extreme metallic bent, you may well go for this; in fact, you may well do so if you go for the more mainstream stuff, as it's fairly tuneful, almost 'symphonic' in places. Forget it for real Mellotron, though.
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Kingdom of Sadness (1998, 42.12) ***Kingdom of SadnessCold Memories Deep |
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Valinors Tree, going by their debut, Kingdom of Sadness, deal in a sort of metal-influenced prog, maybe like a less talented Anekdoten, while retaining a Scandinavian feel, particularly with regard to the music's darker aspects. I keep finding myself wishing they'd tone down the powerchords a bit, not to mention reinserting the vocalist's laryngeal retaining bolts, but there are plenty of good bits between the overly-Americanised sections.
I've had it confirmed that all the Mellotron on the album is 'first generation' samples, taken from Kenneth Magnusson of The Moor's M400. The samples are all over the album, largely strings, making it a pity it's not real, as their use is pretty good. For their second effort, And Then There is Silence, they borrowed Magnusson's machine and actually recorded it this time, so I'll report back when I get to hear a copy (nb: see review here). You never know, maybe they've got themselves a better singer. And an apostrophe.
See: Valinors Tree
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Vampire Weekend (2008, 34.13) **½ |
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| Mansard Roof Oxford Comma A-Punk Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa M79 Campus Bryn One (Blake's Got a New Face) |
I Stand Corrected Walcott The Kids Don't Stand a Chance |
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Vampire Weekend's vaguely Afro-New York-indie (they call it 'Upper West Side Soweto') is inexplicably popular, their eponymous 2008 debut selling several hundred thousand copies in its first few months of release. Vampire Weekend sounds like The Bhundu Boys trying to be The Strokes which, amazingly, is even less appealing than it sounds. Best tracks? Walcott has a chorus that doesn't immediately irritate, A-Punk is at least vaguely distinctive, and the mad, frenetic string arrangement on M79 could almost be described as original, all of which are damning with faint praise, I would say.
Keyboard player Rostam Batmanglij plays Chamberlin samples, as he's admitted in interviews. Their two obvious moments are really quite similar, moving two-note flute intervals on Mansard Roof and A-Punk, although the string chords on I Stand Corrected sound real. Anyway, aside from a couple of brief fake-o-Chamby moments, this is pretty grim. Avoid.
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The Turbulent Zone (2000, 57.31) ***½Cutting the VeilChanging Conditions Laying Bare the Nerves On Fertile Ground The Gentle Coat of Night In Distant Niches Between the Phases of the Night Strange Attractor The Hostile Sea |
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Versus X are a German prog outfit who I've heard lumped in with the prog metal crowd. In fact, they're far more diverse than that, although the influence is there, mainly in Arne Schäfer's guitar sound and his propensity for powerchords. The music is less adventurous than it could've been, and certainly less than the band believe it to be, but it still knocks the socks off the average Euro-prog metal crew. The only track that doesn't way exceed the ten-minute mark is Between The Phases Of The Night, with Cutting The Veil topping twenty, giving the band plenty of room to stretch out compositionally, although I maintain that a few more key changes and 'interesting' chords would liven proceedings up a little.
There's a fair bit of 'Mellotron' to be heard, particularly on The Hostile Sea, but the eight-second limit is exceeded on a regular basis, and a perusal of the band's site reveals that keyboard man Ekkehard Nahm owns a Vintage Synth module, along with various other digital facsimiles and, to be fair, a MiniMoog and a set of Taurus pedals. No criticism intended, incidentally; not everyone can own a raft of bulky vintage gear, and Nahm at least owns a couple of items, although it's nice when bands make the effort for recording. However, I know from experience how other band members can be less than wholly enthusiastic about the expense and hassle of 'going authentic'...
So overall, not a bad album, while nowhere near 'classic' status. I can see Versus X producing a killer record within a few years if they stick to their guns, so next time, how about borrowing some genuine vintage gear, chaps? You know you want to...
See: Apogee
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A New Order Rising (2004, 55.33) **½ |
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| Black Wine Landslide Walking Man Have You Ever Bluebird Maker of Time Riverrun By Night Hymn |
Long Poem Velvet Room My Sea |
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Washington seem to be the Norwegian equivalent of a slightly more interesting Keane, as far as I can work out; other pointers tend to be Coldplay, Radiohead et al., which should be telling you 'slow, stately and rather empty' (Radiohead honourably excepted). Even Pink Floyd have been quoted, probably for Washington's lap steel and gentle Hammond use. A New Order Rising is their debut album, five years into their career and is a perfectly respectable record, without running any risk of triggering any adrenaline in its listeners. Of course, that's the whole point, but I personally find nearly an hour of rather dreary indie drags somewhat, especially as vocalist Rune Simonsen sounds rather too close to Keane's Tom Chaplin for comfort, unless, of course, you happen to like that kind of overwrought over-emoting...
Lars Lien (Dadafon, 3rd & the Mortal) produced and plays keys, including what I'm quite sure is a sampled Mellotron on a handful of tracks, with a very upfront flute part (and background strings) on Have You Ever, 'are they/aren't they?' strings on Bluebird and some distant choirs on Velvet Room, the last chord on the last-named overrunning the 8-second limit in true sampled fashion. The 'Mellotron' use only slightly enhances a rather drab album, to be honest. Dull.
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Ghost (2001, 47.08) ***½DNAlienThe Ghost and the Teenager Heroes Moving Red Riding the Elephant ...And the Winner is... |
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Four years after Twilight, The Night Watch's vocalist/chief mover and shaker Simone Rossetti reappeared with his new band, The Watch. While their general remit is the same as Rossetti's previous outfit, there's less overt Genesis-copycat behaviour, with more of an attempt to define the band's own sound within the symphonic progressive spectrum. Unfortunately, the end result on their debut, Ghost, is actually slightly less interesting than the Night Watch's sole release, although it's a solid enough album; it just doesn't really stand out from the pack. There's nothing specifically wrong with the material, it's just... I dunno; less melodic? It just didn't grab me in the same way as Twilight, but then, in fairness, it's an almost entirely different band, with different writing skills.
Sergio Taglioni's 'Mellotron' sounds less fake than on Twilight, but I'm assured it's still samples; the strings are a bit iffy, but the choirs in The Ghost And The Teenager and Heroes are full-on and quite authentic. Either way, the use is excellent, and I'm glad to say the band bought a real one for their follow-up, Vacuum, reviewed here.
So; a reasonably strong 'typical Italian prog' album, with decent sampled Mellotron. I still rate the Night Watch album slightly more, but this is certainly worth hearing.
See: The Watch | The Night Watch
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Hold Me (2004, 31.18) **½ |
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| Paratrooper Seed Fifty Dollars Castor Plants Hold Me/Popcorn Trees Holy Train Wrecks Bachelor Party Bright-Work Soda Jerk |
A Duck Ribs & Wrinkles |
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Weird Weeds seem to do a variety of post-rock that makes very little sense to my ears, I'm afraid; maybe you have to attune yourself to this kind of stuff, but the 20th-century classical influences to be heard on 2004's Hold Me tend to grate on my ears, although I doubt if that's the desired effect. I find that any one track played at random sounds OK, but the cumulative effect of an album's-worth set my teeth on edge after a while, even though this is the shortest modern album I've heard in a long while.
Sampled 'Tron on two tracks, with dissonant flutes on Soda Jerk, although the album's crowning fakeotron moment is the actually very beautiful first minute or so of opener Paratrooper Seed, which is nowt but solo polyphonic flutes, far too smooth to be real, which probably means they are. I didn't really like this, but you might, and its first minute really is a corker...
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The Mollusk (1997, 43.54) ***½ |
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| I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight The Mollusk Polka Dot Tail I'll Be Your Jonny on the Spot Mutilated Lips The Blarney Stone It's Gonna Be (Alright) The Golden Eel |
Cold Blows the Wind Pink Eye (on My Leg) Waving My Dick in the Wind Buckingham Green Ocean Man She Wanted to Leave (Reprise) |
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White Pepper (2000, 39.28) ***½ |
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| Exactly Where I'm at Flutes of Chi Even if You Don't Bananas and Blow Stroker Ace Ice Castles Back to Basom The Grobe |
Pandy Fackler Stay Forever Falling Out She's Your Baby |
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Quebec (2003, 55.27) *** |
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| It's Gonna Be a Long Night Zoloft Transdermal Celebration Among His Tribe So Many People in the Neighborhood Tried and True Happy Colored Marbles Hey There Fancypants |
Captain Chocolate Town I Don't Want it The Fucked Jam Alcan Road The Argus If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All) |
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I've always mixed Ween up with Weezer, for obvious alphabetical reasons, but it seems there are few points of contact between their styles, which has to be a good thing. Ween are the duo of Aaron "Gene Ween" Freeman and Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondo, plus whoever they're working with at any given moment. If it's comparisons you're after, try 'a bit like They Might Be Giants' in their overall quirkiness and fanatical fanbase, which isn't to say that fans of one will necessarily like the other.
The Mollusk is an intriguing album, referred to (admittedly by fans) as their Sgt. Pepper, which is probably going a bit far, to be honest. It's certainly an eclectic mix of styles, with the vaudevillian I'm Dancing In The Show Tonight contrasting sharply with the irritating novelty number Waving My Dick In The Wind or the psych/prog monster Buckingham Green (surely the album's best track?) 'Mellotron' from an unknown player, presumably one of the 'twins', with a major string part on the old English folk of Cold Blows The Wind, that, although it sounds raw enough to be real, has a final note that hangs over the eight-second limit, making me think it's probably samples. Muted choirs in Buckingham Green and strings on She Wanted To Leave (Reprise) all sound good, if not entirely genuine.
2000's White Pepper is less, er, conceptual than The Mollusk, although still wildly eclectic, covering neo-psych (Flutes Of Chi), ELO-ish pop (Even If You Don't), pseudo-calypso (Bananas And Blow) and metal (Stroker Ace), and that's just in the first twenty minutes. 'Mellotronically' speaking, there are possible skronky flutes on opener Exactly Where I'm At, with very upfront ones on Ice Castles and Back To Basom. Y'know, they sound so wobbly on Ice Castles that I'm beginning to wonder if it's samples put through some kind of modulation, the pitch wavers up and down so badly. Badly and suspiciously regularly...
2003's Quebec is a bit more laid-back than its predecessors, with little that stands out on initial listens, although the ghostly Alcan Road's psychedelia and the proggish The Argus are worth hearing. The rest of the album's as eclectic as ever, just less appealing than before. Maybe too much variety? Very little sampletron this time round, too, with a brief string part on Transdermal Celebration being the only obvious sighting, although it could be buried away elsewhere, too.
Of course, now I've put Ween here, someone will write with hard evidence that the 'Tron's real, even if not on all the above albums. I'm sticking by my theorising two paragraphs up until/if I'm told otherwise, though. As far as the actual albums go, their star ratings tell the story better than more pointless verbiage. As for the fakeotron, The Mollusk and White Pepper are fairly equal, with the most upfront part probably being the latter's Ice Castles.
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Dry Land (2007, 54.46) *** |
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| As We Were Awaken to Winter A New Dawn This Time, it's In Will Sons Armament You, the Orphan |
Beauty's Grace Go Now True Love Will Find You in the End |
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A Whisper in the Noise almost define the phrase 'gothic post-rock', with their gloomy evocations of something or other, set to zero b.p.m. Dry Land, their third album, isn't actually bad, just slightly stifling, lacking the variety a band needs to really carry this kind of thing off. A trio, West Thordson sings and plays guitar, piano and 'electronics', Hannah Murray plays suitably ethereal violin and Matt Irwin drums and programmes, probably more of the latter than the former, by the sound of it. Murray's inventive violin work is possibly the most important component of their sound, even more than West's rather tortured vocals.
It's probably Thordson adding the fairly obviously sampled 'Tron flutes and choirs to A New Dawn. Suffice to say, if you're of a gothic persuasion, you may well go for this, although, like so many similar, it's distinctly overlong. Guess what colour their website's background is? Clue: it's not fuchsia.
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Drill a Hole in That Substrate & Tell Me What You See (2004, 62.39) *** |
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| Static on the Radio Bluebird Combing My Hair in a Brand New Style That Girl From Brownsville Texas Borrowed Wings If Jesus Drove a Motor Home Objects in Motion Buzzards of Love |
Alabama Chrome Phone Booth in Heaven Land Called Home |
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Jim White's third album, 2004's Drill a Hole in That Substrate & Tell Me What You See, manages to mix Americana, electronica and Tom Waits into a rich, southern gothic gumbo without sounding clichéd or naïve, which is quite a trick. I'm not sure if it's an album that will bear repeated listens; even on a second play, the programmed percussion and synths were beginning to get on my nerves. However, you couldn't say he sounds particularly like anyone else, which is worth celebrating in these days of 17th-hand borrowings and copies of copies of copies of something that wasn't that original in the first place.
'Mellotron' on a couple of tracks, notably the strings on Static On The Radio (spot Aimee Mann on vocals) and the flutes on Combing My Hair In A Brand New Style, but it all sounds rather distant and sampled to my ears. Anyway, an interesting, if flawed record, with several tracks that won't drive you up the wall. At least he's doing something different.
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Willowglass (2005, 46.14) ***½ |
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| Peace Remembering Garden Interlude No. 1 Tower of the King's Daughter Summer's Lease Into the Chase A Blinding Light |
Waking the Angels The End |
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Willowglass are the latest in a run of progressive one-man projects, this time the brainchild of Yorkshire's Andrew Marshall, who plays everything except the drums on his 'band's eponymous debut. In many ways, this is prog as it was, not is, so there's a refreshing lack of ferocious guitars, hammering drums and screaming vocals (or indeed, any at all). Influences are the gentler end of the usual suspects, not least Genesis and Camel, with plentiful use of good old-fashioned melody, with tasteful, 'slightly distorted' guitar leads and heaps of acoustics. Best track? Hard to say, but A Blinding Light particularly caught my ear, although it cuts Genesis a little too close in places.
Andrew, by his own admission, uses the M-Tron, which is all well and good, but he commits the usual sample-related offence, and sticks so much of it on that its deficiencies become overly obvious. The near-solo strings in Remembering, say, are lovely, but they're too high in the mix, and too 'clean' to be real. In fact, he uses the M-Tron on most tracks, only avoiding it on the opener, closer and the classical guitar solo, Interlude No. 1, with strings everywhere you look, and choirs on most tracks, too, plus the occasional appearance of the flutes. For what it's worth, if you want a real 'giveaway' moment, the string pitchbends in Garden are far too smooth to be real, and don't even sound like the Mellotron pitch control. Still, nice to hear the sounds used with taste, even if they could've done with being scaled back slightly. Oh, and also for what it's worth, the Hammond is a real L100.
So; a nice (albeit not very original) album, tasteful, tuneful and relaxing, which is NOT a synonym for 'boring'. Plenty of fake 'Tron, which probably isn't going to change in the near future, as Andrew tells me there's no way he can afford a real one, which is understandable. Go on, make his day and buy a copy.
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Black Clouds in Twin Galaxies (2008, 41.20) **** |
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| Fried Aftershown Oh No! Endless Fight Life Was So Simple Mark My Word Two Wrongs Make a Right I'm a Destroyer |
No Will Did Me in Black Clouds in Twin Galaxies |
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Winters are a London-based 'stoner' outfit, whatever you take that to mean, who have clearly found their spiritual home on Lee Dorrian's Rise Above label. Amusingly, their list of 'artists for inspiration' doesn't mention their one overriding influence, Black Sabbath, although the appalling Witchfinder General get a namecheck. Black Clouds in Twin Galaxies sounds like Sabbath fronted by a fey and frequently (deliberately?) off-key indie-kid, which is honestly better than it sounds, largely due to the songwriting, which is several notches above just about everyone else in the field, and a handful of killer riffs (notably on Endless Fight), even if they do sound like Mr. Iommi noodling about. Question: if the entire neo-prog 'movement' is based on Tony Banks' keyboard solo in The Cinema Show, is the whole stoner/doom thing based on Iommi's monster verse riff in Iron Man? Discuss.
Drummer Andy Prestidge (now of the reformed mighty Angel Witch) is credited with 'Mellotron', but I've been assured it's just the usual plug-in nonsense; given that these guys know my brother, a real one could've been provided... Budgetry restrictions, I believe. Anyway, Andy gets some flutes and strings in on Life Was So Simple and some surprisingly authentic-sounding strings on the closing title track. So; if you have any interest in old-school hard rock at all, I can recommend this, despite its unusual approach on the vocal front. Makes a change from some twat trying to be hard with his 'cookie monster' grunting, anyway. Several good songs, several great riffs, and a bit of sampled Mellotron. Just one improvement needed there, then.
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Labirinto d'Acqua (2006, 50.15) **** |
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| Sévére Réprimande Catacresi Omelette Norvegese Corale Metallurgico Danse Cuirassée (Periode Grecque) Brachiologia La Mosca Stregata Quando la Morte Mi Colse Nel Sonno |
Skellotron 003 Le Rovine Circolari Anastomosi Danze Corazzate Labirinto d'Acqua Incubi Concentrici |
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Yugen are a thing of wonder: a modern progressive band who actually understand progressive rock and play it with verve. Formed by ex-Night Watcher Francesco Zago, their debut, 2006's Labirinto d'Acqua, combines more 'traditional' prog elements with avant- or chamber prog (think: Univers Zero, featuring an extended lineup including violin, cembalo, bass flute and clarinet, subcontrabass sax and several mallet instruments. The overall effect is Gentle Giant duking it out in a dark alley with Henry Cow, eventually losing by a whisker, yet emerging bloodied but unbowed. Picking out individual tracks is pointless; I can't imagine anyone putting one or two faves on their iPod. The overall effect is what's important here and what makes this album a winner.
Although Paolo "Ske" Botta is credited with Mellotron, the Chamberlin solo male voice on Brachiologia is very clearly a stretched sample. Oh what a giveaway... The more regular 'Tron samples are used on most tracks, the particularly good Crimsonesque overdubbed strings/choir part on Quando La Morte Mi Colse Nel Sonno standing out; this would probably get TTTT were it genuine. So; a very worthwhile prog release, as long as you don't object to the more 'out there' elements of the band's sound. Sampled 'Tron, but more than worthy of your time and money. Excellent.
See: Night Watch
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I Paint Pictures on a Wedding Dress (1998, 52.38) ***½ |
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| She = Like Meeting Jesus Ragdoll Blues Still Half My Friend? The Rabbit Field Song for a Dead Singer One Perfect Day About the Successful Emotional Recovery of a Gal Named Maria |
Our Daily Reminders My Bond With You and Your Planet: Disco! Stamina 50 Years in Dope Jittery The French Trombone |
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dEUS collaborator Stef Kamil Carlens formed his own outfit in the mid-'90s, called Moondog Jr, although a legal dispute forced a name change to Zita Swoon after one album. It's difficult to describe the music on the Zitas' second album, I Paint Pictures on a Wedding Dress; think 'indie, but with plenty of variety and imagination', i.e. very little like any British bands falling into that category. The quality of the material is somewhat variable, although My Bond With You And Your Planet: Disco! raised a smile, while the slower tracks manage to be solemn without being over-gloomy.
Dieter tells me that a band member has assured him Carlens' 'Mellotron' is sampled; there's only one definite sighting, anyway: the flute part on Our Daily Reminders, which is as good as anyone else's Mellotron flute arrangements, and better than many, despite being fake. One track doth not a samplotron album make, though, so if their style doesn't sound like your bowl of gruel, best go elsewhere. Incidentally, I very much doubt if there's any 'Mellotron' on their debut release, Music Inspired By Sunrise, and there's definitely none on their third album, Life = a Sexy Sanctuary.
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Surface to Air (2006, 44.18) ****Challenger DeepDigitalis Legacy Surface to Air Night Rhythms |
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Spirit Animal (2009, 57.57) ***½Spirit AnimalSpirit Warrior Earthly Powers Cosmic Powers Through Time |
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Zombi (named for the Dario Argento Goblin-soundtracked slasher flick) have a pretty unique setup: they're an instrumental drums/bass duo who both double extensively on analogue synths (hoorah!), sounding like a cross between Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Pink Floyd's rockier moments and above all, Rush. For the record, their gear list reads like this:
Their second album proper, 2006's 'vinyl-length' Surface to Air, is an adrenaline rush of growling synths and sequenced rhythms, all with a solid, über-technical rhythm section holding it down. The compositions are excellent and the synth sounds are phenomenal. It's difficult to pinpoint highpoints, as they're all high, but opener Challenger Deep shocks with its Signals-era polysynths, while 'side-long' epic Night Rhythms is pretty fab, too. They use fairly obviously sampled Mellotron on the latter piece, with string and choir parts here and there, but the album's chief thrust is its synth work; the 'Mellotron' sounds almost intrusive in such a synthetic world.
It took the duo three years to follow up with Spirit Animal, and if there's a major change, it's not so much in the composition, but the textures: fewer polysynths, more samplotron. Is this a good thing? Not necessarily, I have to say; I feel the band work better with a more synthetic instrumental palette, and while the synths are all over the album, they don't hold sway over all as on Surface to Air. Maybe listening to these two albums one after the other wasn't a good idea; the shock value's gone, second time round, or is it that the band are a little less focussed? Hard to say, but somehow, while still damn' good, this doesn't seem to cut the mustard quite as well as its predecessor. The samplotron crops up on every track, to the point of overuse in places. Maybe it would work better if it was real? Don't know, and I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
So; two very good albums, full of beautiful analogue goodness. THIS, music world, is what you threw away when you embraced digital synthesis. Admittedly, these sounds aren't for everyone, but they are for me. Thank you, Zombi.
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Merlin: 'The Rock Opera' (2000, 89.09) *** |
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| Overture As it Was in the Beginning Winter Lament The Musician Arrives Tricked/Must You Leave So Soon? Free for Another The Wedding March Our Time is Now |
Fairies Dance Madman Sings Song for a New Day Merlin and Vivian Beyond the Nightmares How to Do the Sleeping Spell Gloria Blessed With Peace |
How Long Can She Wait? Uninvited Guest/The Last Battle Wait for the Golden Age |
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Bassist Fabio Zuffanti is possibly the major name on the Italian progressive scene at the moment, having fingers in many pies: Finisterre, Höstsonaten, La Maschera di Cera... Basically, the cream of Italian prog in the new millennium, although I'm not entirely convinced you can add Merlin: 'The Rock Opera' to that list. In fairness, this double CD does exactly what it says on the tin; it's a rock opera, complete with eight different singers taking roles, sounding like a rather more acceptable version of those rubbishy Andrew Lloyd-Webber productions with which we've been cursed for the last few decades. It's a straight collaboration between Zuffanti and Victoria Heward, a British poet, who wrote the English-language libretto, with which the Italian cast cope admirably well, giving the impression of an updated version of Puccini, or similar.
Zuffanti collaborator Agostino Macor plays keys throughout, including sampled 'Tron, although it tends to get lost in amongst the swathes of digital 'boards; it certainly isn't at the front of the mix, but then, this is a vocal album above all, with the music relegated to second place, at least to my ears. All highlighted tracks above feature 'Mellotron' strings, although it's possible there's a bit of choir here and there, too, though it really is hard to tell.
I'm not sure exactly to whom I should be trying to recommend this album; some prog fans, notably those into bombastic neo- stuff (Ayreon, anything involving Clive Nolan), may delight in its OTT-ness, but the 'traditional' progressive audience may be horrified by its associations with West End/Broadway musicals, although I'm sure it'll make a spectacular stage show. Anyway, very little audible samplotron, so please don't bother on that account.
See: Finisterre | Höstsonaten | La Maschera di Cera
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Camel Tribute: Harbour of Joy (1996, 135.01) ***½ |
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| Evolution: Never Let Go Glass Hammer: Air Born Cast: Another Night Phil Beane: The Sleeper Fōnya: Medley: First Light/Rain Dances/The White Rider/Eye of the Storm Strange New Toys: Down on the Farm Algebra: Song Within a Song |
Aton's: Drafted Casino des Images: Tell Me Zauber: Elke New Credo: Medley: Friendship/Little Rivers and Little Rose/Migration/Hopeless Anger Mysia: Pressure Points Prowlers: First Light Notturno Concertante: Ice |
Finisterre: Nimrodel Nostalgia: Long Goodbyes Louie Mastro: Rain Dances Raindances: Rhyader Galahad: Lady Fantasy Louie Mastro: Fritha Alone CAP: Harbour of Tears |
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Harbour of Joy (a.k.a. Camel Tribute) is another in a seemingly endless line of Mellow Records 'tribute' albums, habitually compiled without reference to the band in question (see: Giant for a Life), and largely comprised of the same few bands. As usual, it's a combination of the slavishly-copied and 'is that really that song?', although far fewer of the latter than the former. A couple of the bands involved have had the sense to realise that Camel's strength lay in their melodic sensibilities, and that they would often pad a couple of beautiful tunes out with considerable amounts of faff, so they've simply strung together some of the strongest melodies in medleys. You have to wonder at a couple of the choices, though; what possessed the otherwise unknown Strange New Toys (a pickup band, presumably?) to do the awful Down On The Farm from Breathless? There's surprisingly little material from Camel's acknowledged classic, The Snow Goose, too,
but I suppose that's just the way these things pan out.
In fairness, most of the versions presented here are perfectly good, just not far enough from the originals to make them actually worth recording. I believe there was some controversy surrounding Louis Mastro's two contributions (Mastro can also be heard in similar form on Giant for a Life), where he was accused of playing someone else's MIDI files through a bunch of modules, then presenting the end result as his own work; the tracks certainly have that 'ultra-quantised' feel about them, or rather, complete lack of any feel at all. It seems the battle raged on Internet message boards for some time (back when most people outside universities didn't even have the 'Net), with different factions either accusing or defending him. Sadly, the matter is unlikely to be resolved, as Mastro committed suicide later the same year. The two events are not known to be connected. Anyway, the better efforts here are probably Evolution's Never Let Go, Fōnya's medley and Galahad's straight take on the gorgeous Lady Fantasy.
Mellotron? Three tracks on disc two (Raindances' Rhyader, CAP's Harbour Of Tears and Finisterre's Nimrodel) have 'Tron samples. Sadly, the Finisterre track is somewhat average, with some horrible synth brass just before the full-on fakeotron string part. A few seconds of background choir later on, and that's it. So; worth the effort? Well, how much of a Camel fan are you? Do you have to have everything? There are some good versions here, but by and large, you're better off with the originals, as so often in these cases. Very little sampled 'Tron, too, so I'd only bother if you see it second-hand.
See: Camel | Finisterre | Galahad | CAP
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Stairway to Heaven: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (1997, 53.12) **½ |
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| Black Dog Communication Breakdown Rock and Roll Stairway to Heaven Going to California Heartbreaker Immigrant Song The Song Remains the Same |
Whole Lotta Love Good Times, Bad Times Kashmir |
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I have to be honest here and say, 'what exactly is the point of this kind of album?' 'Tribute' albums are always going to be a bit hit-and-miss, but can someone please tell me why a group of musicians would get together to record tracks from one's band's repertoire, then release the results? I've heard a couple of appalling Rush ones, not because of the material, but its treatment, although other efforts fare better. Stairway to Heaven: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin contains contributions from the likes of Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society), Lita Ford, Foreigner's Lou Gramm, Def Leppard's Vivian Campbell and Slash (ex-Guns N'Roses, of course), but mostly ends up sounding like a half-arsed covers album which is, essentially, precisely what it is. Of course, the material's impeccable, but none of these versions even come close to matching the majesty of the originals (how could they?) and only Going To California strays from its original arrangement, and then only slightly.
Richard Baker is credited with Mellotron, but the anaemic flutes on (of course) Stairway To Heaven itself barely sound like the real thing, which probably means they are [sigh]. Kashmir suffers even more, with truly horrible string and 'brass' sounds that highlight just how bad modern synths can sound if employed inappropriately. Overall, only the hardest of hardcore Zep fans really needs to bother with this, and then probably only for completion's sake. Yeah, I've heard worse, but as soon as I hear Mr. 'Bach's voice, its utter pointlessness and futility come crashing down on me from a great height. Don't bother. Really.
See: Led Zeppelin | Black Label Society | Guns N'Roses
