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Highlighting in album tracklistings denotes 'contains Mellotron'. On 'multi-part' tracks I've tried to indicate which parts contain 'Tron, although this isn't always possible.
Ratings:
The * rating (½-5) is my personal, entirely subjective and completely partisan rating of the music.
The 'T' ('Tron, of course...) rating (0-5) is an only slightly more objective indicator of an album's Mellotronness.
By the way, if you know of any Mellotron albums that aren't listed here, please look at my albums page first! Thanks.
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Distances Between Us (1974, 36.23) ***½/TTDistances Between UsSolstice Mourning Glory Steppenwolf Music of the Spheres |
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Instincts (1977) ***/TWhere Are We Going?Waterbrook High Seas Love Theme Amazon There's Another Summer Coming Machu Picchu Above the Horizon Leaving it All Behind |
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I don't actually know an awful lot about Adrian Wagner, other than he's the great-great-grandson of the better-known Richard and he's a British electronic musician who released three albums in the mid to late '70s, of which Distances Between Us is the first and best. The side-long title track is probably the strongest piece, also featuring the most Mellotron, although the vocals were probably a mistake, in retrospect; it would've made a far better instrumental. Distances Between Us is actually a very ambitious composition, with an effective sound effects sequence in the middle, and interesting use of various modular and semi-modular synths. The only vocal parts on the album that actually work to any real degree are the contributions made by Hawkwind's poet in residence, Robert Calvert, who manages to imbue his parts with a genuine gravitas. It sounds like him towards the end of the title track, and Steppenwolf appears to be the same lyric he later recorded with Hawkwind on their Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music album.
The Mellotron use is basically confined to the first and last few minutes of the title track (strings with a little choir) and album closer Music Of The Spheres, with some epic strings chords, again with choir mixed in. To be honest, this isn't a great album, although some of the synth textures are worth hearing for students of the genre. Top marks to Wagner for attempting something different; I'm just not convinced that it worked.
Wagner took a while to get round to his second album, Instincts, and I have to say, it's rather nearer the electronic music mainstream, with a couple of odd 'South American' tracks in Amazon and Machu Picchu, which I don't personally feel work very well. He's insisted there's a lot of 'Tron on the album, but all I can really hear are some background choirs on There's Another Summer Coming and Leaving It All Behind. There may, or may not be strings on opener Where Are We Going? and a couple of other points during the album, but I really wouldn't care to say either way.
His third album, The Last Inca (***) has a similarly 'mainstream' sound, and don't really grab my attention either, I'm afraid. Incidentally, there are some hilarious misspellings in the equipment list on Distances...; 'Melatron', 'Clavanette', 'VCS 111' and 'APR', anyone? At least they got 'Farfisa' right... Incidentally, Wagner's M400 was sold to someone who sold it on to IQ's Martin Orford, who eventually sold it on to Pendragon and Arena's Clive Nolan. Mellotron trivia? We goddit.
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Strange Weirdos: Music From & Inspired By the Film Knocked Up (2007, 48.08) ***/½ |
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| Grey in L.A. You Can't Fail Me Now Daughter Ypsilanti So Much to Do Valley Morning X or Y Final Frontier |
Feel So Good Lullaby Naomi Doin' the Math Strange Weirdos Passion Play |
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Recovery (2008, 47.56) ***½/½ |
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| Black Uncle Remus Saw Your Name in the Paper School Days The Drinking Song Motel Blues Muse Blues New Paint Be Careful There's a Baby in the House |
Needless to Say Movie Are a Mother to Me Say That You Love Me Old Friend Man Who Couldn't Cry |
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I don't know why I've always assumed Loudon Wainwright III was Canadian; probably because of his one-time marriage with noted Canuck Kate McGarrigle. Anyway, he isn't; he was born in North Carolina and his famous children (Martha and Rufus) have dual citizenship. He began writing songs in the late '60s, releasing his first, eponymous album in 1970, 2007's Strange Weirdos: Music From & Inspired By the Film Knocked Up being his 18th studio effort. Although it's a soundtrack album, as its publicity states, it stands up in its own right and includes several new songs which seem to be quintessentially Wainwright. Whether or not you think that's a good thing will depend chiefly on whether you like anything else he's done, I suspect. Not blown away by it myself, but maybe you have to get into what he does. Anyway, the ubiquitous Patrick Warren plays Chamberlin, with distant, ghostly flutes on Valley Morning that don't especially add anything to the track; it may be elsewhere on the album, but it's the master of musical camouflage, so who knows?
The following year's Recovery is a more cohesive effort, with songs that, at least to my ears, sound better-crafted. Turns out that's 'cos they're new recordings of songs from his first few albums, thus the title. It's occurred to me (duh) that it's all about the lyrics, as with so many singer-songwriters, Wainwright's schtick being that they're mostly humorous, so if you're not prepared to listen to what he's singing, forget it. Best lyric? Closer Man Who Couldn't Cry, no contest. I know I've heard this recently, and I know I've never heard any Wainwright album containing it, and a quick 'Net search tells me it's on Johnny Cash's first Rick Rubin album, American Recordings, proving that Rubin only picked top-notch material for Cash to tackle. Anyway, Warren's back on Chamby, and while there are several tracks that might have it in the background, the only definite use is an almost discordant string part on Muse Blues, so that's another low T rating for Mr. W, I'm afraid.
So; do you think humour belongs in music? If so, and you can bear his on/off countryisms, you may well goes for Rufus and Martha's dear old dad. OK, Martha wrote a song for him called Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole, but she's also collaborated with him. Parents, eh? Dad also wrote a song for Rufus when he was a baby, Rufus Is A Tit Man. Oh no he isn't... Very little Chamberlin on these albums, though, so don't go buying them for that.
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Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole EP (2004, 17.23) ***½/½Bloody Mother Fucking AssholeI Will Internalize When the Day is Short It's Over How Soon |
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What must it be like to know that your children hate you? Ask Loudon Wainwright III (above): his son Rufus (below) hasn't exactly lauded his father to the skies, while his daughter Martha wrote a song about him called Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole. Ouch. Originally released as the lead track on her 2004 EP, most of her audience know if from its inclusion on her eponymous 2005 album. The five tracks on the EP (four on some versions) span a wide range of styles, from the acoustic 'morning after' sound of the title track, through the vaguely churchy I Will Internalize to the piano jazz of How Soon, only two tracks making it onto Martha Wainwright, one (I believe) in a different version.
Paul Bryan is credited with Mellotron on When The Day Is Short (the missing track on some versions), but the only possible use is some exceedingly background strings, which could be just about anything, frankly. If you like Martha's work, the EP's probably worth getting for the otherwise unavailable tracks, but you've probably already got the one essential here anyway.
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Rufus Wainwright (1998, 53.21) ***/½ |
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| Foolish Love Danny Boy April Fools In My Arms Millbrook Baby Beauty Mark Barcelona |
Matinee Idol Damned Ladies Sally Ann Imaginary Love |
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Poses (2001, 52.54) ***/½ |
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| Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk Greek Song Poses Shadows California Tower of Learning Grey Gardens Rebel Prince |
Consort One Man Guy Evil Angel In a Graveyard Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Reprise) |
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Rufus 'son of Loudon' Wainwright (not to mention his mother, Kate McGarrigle, his aunt, Anna or his sister, Martha) seems to have single-handedly revived the art of the torch singer, with his uncompromisingly gay approach to his art (the sleeve of his recent Want Two pretty much redefines the term 'camp'). I'll be completely honest here, and say that his music does very little for me at all, although the only word I can find to describe his voice is 'gorgeous', despite its being fairly conventionally male. As a result, I'm not even going to attempt to review the music on these two albums; plenty of online reviewers have already done a good job of doing so, so I'll leave it up to them.
His debut, 1998's Rufus Wainwright has considerable orchestral input; in fact, it could be described as 'overblown' - I believe Wainwright himself wasn't that impressed by its OTT production. By and large, it's difficult to work out exactly where Jon Brion's Chamberlin has been used, though it sounds like Chamby flutes on April Fools, and there's some sort of loop at the end of Danny Boy (not that one, thankfully) that could be Chamby, although it could just as easily be a sampler.
It took Rufus three years to follow up with Poses, probably due to his much-publicised drug issues (crystal meth? Just say no!), and despite being described as more down to earth, it's not that different to his debut, to be honest. Richard Causon plays Chamby this time round, with what sounds like distant choirs on California, and while several other tracks may have some hidden in the mix, it's pretty much impossible to tell.
So; Rufus' very singular style appeals to many, but try as I might, I find myself unable to join them, despite my appreciation of the music's quality. As for Chamberlin use, I'd go somewhere else, if I were you.
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Franks Wild Years (1987, 55.34) ****/T |
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| Hang on St.Christopher Straight to the Top (Rhumba) Blow Wind Blow Temptation Innocent When You Dream (Barroom) I'll Be Gone Yesterday is Here Please Wake Me Up Franks Theme |
More than Rain Way Down in the Hole Straight to the Top (Vegas) I'll Take New York Telephone Call From Istanbul Cold Cold Ground Train Song Innocent When You Dream (78) |
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Bone Machine (1992, 53.44) ****/T |
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| Earth Died Screaming Dirt in the Ground Such a Scream All Stripped Down Who Are You The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Jesus Gonna Be Here A Little Rain |
In the Colosseum Goin' Out West Murder in the Red Barn Black Wings Whistle Down the Wind I Don't Wanna Grow Up Let Me Get Up on it That Feel |
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The Black Rider (1993, 55.40) ***½/T |
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| Lucky Day (Overture) The Black Rider November Just the Right Bullets Black Box Theme 'T'Ain't No Sin Flash Pan Hunter (Intro) That's the Way |
The Briar and the Rose Russian Dance Gospel Tain (Orch) I'll Shoot the Moon Flash Pan Hunter Crossroads Gospel Train Interlude |
Oily Night Lucky Day The Last Rose of Summer Carnival |
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Mule Variations (1999, 70.42) ****½/½ |
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| Big in Japan Lowside of the Road Hold on Get Behind the Mule House Where Nobody Lives Cold Water Pony What's He Building? |
Black Market Baby Eyeball Kid Picture in a Frame Chocolate Jesus Georgia Lee Filipino Box Spring Hog Take it With Me Come on Up to the House |
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Alice (2002, 48.25) ****/T |
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| Alice Everything You Can Think Flower's Grave No One Knows I'm Gone Kommienezuspadt Poor Edward Table Top Joe Lost in the Harbour |
We're All Mad Here Watch Her Disappear Reeperbahn I'm Still Here Fish & Bird Barcarolle Fawn |
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Blood Money (2002, 42.18) ****/½ |
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| Misery is the River of the World Everything Goes to Hell Coney Island Baby All the World is Green God's Away on Business Another Man's Vine Knife Chase Lullaby |
Starving in the Belly of a Whale The Part You Throw Away Woe Calliope A Good Man is Hard to Find |
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Real Gone (2004, 72.09) ****/T |
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| Top of the Hill Hoist That Rag Sins of the Father Shake it Don't Go Into the Barn How's it Gonna End Metropolitan Glide Dead and Lovely |
Circus Trampled Rose Green Grass Baby Gonna Leave Me Clang Boom Steam Make it Rain Day After Tomorrow |
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Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006, recorded 1985-2006, 189.49) ****/T |
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| Lie to Me Low Down 2:19 Fish in the Jailhouse Bottom of the World Lucinda Ain't Goin' Down to the Well Lord I've Been Changed Puttin' on the Dog Road to Peace All the Time The Return of Jackie and Judy Walk Away Sea of Love |
Buzz Fledderjohn Rains on Me Bend Down the Branches You Can Never Hold Back Spring Long Way Home Widow's Grace Little Drop of Poison Shiny Things World Keeps Turning Tell it to Me Never Let Go Fannin Street Little Man It's Over |
If I Have to Go Goodnight Irene The Fall of Troy Take Care of All My Children Down There By the Train Danny Says Jayne's Blue Wish Young at Heart What Keeps Mankind Alive Children's Story Heigh Ho Army Ants Books of Moses Bone Chain |
Two Sisters First Kiss Dog Door Redrum Nirvana Home I'll Never Be Poor Little Lamb Altar Boy The Pontiac Spidey's Wild Ride King Kong On the Road Dog Treat Missing My Son |
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Glitter & Doom Live (2009, 109.16) ****/T½ |
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| Lucinda - Ain't Goin Down Singapore Get Behind the Mule Fannin Street Dirt in the Ground Such a Scream Live Circus Goin' Out West Falling Down |
The Part You Throw Away Trampled Rose Metropolitan Glide I'll Shoot the Moon Green Grass Make it Rain Story Lucky Day Tom Tales |
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Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music From Vintage Disney Films (1988) ****/T[Waits contributes]Heigh Ho (the Dwarfs Marching Song) |
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Red Hot + Blue: a Tribute to Cole Porter (1990, 4.43) ***½/½[Tom Waits contributes]It's All Right With Me |
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Before I begin I should explain that while I have immense respect for Tom Waits, and can see what so many people see in what he does, I actually have trouble taking it in myself. As a result, these reviews will concentrate on his Mellotron/Chamberlin use, rather than being lengthy dissertations on music I don't really understand. As far as I can work out, he's never had a 'purple patch', although I'm told he may be starting to repeat himself on recent albums, but then, count the numbers of artists on the fingers of both hands who aren't after 30 years?
Waits had already been ploughing his lone furrow for nearly fifteen years by the time he released Franks Wild Years, containing all his usual characters and sung in his usual asthmatic drawl. As ever, his style was rooted in the forties, pre-rock'n'roll, and despite being recorded at the tail end of Satan's Decade (the '80s, like you had to ask), has a timeless quality about it, due in no small part to Waits' refusal to bow to appalling '80s production values. Waits makes a pretty appalling racket with Mellotron flutes on Please Wake Me Up, along with an Optigan (ancient optical disc player), although top track has to be the ultra-melancholy Train Song.
Bone Machine does all the same stuff musically, although I believe by this point, Waits had bought an ancient Chamberlin Musicmaster 600, using it on three tracks. Earth Died Screaming has an arranged Chamby brass part at the end, The Ocean Doesn't Want Me consists of just Waits on faint Chamberlin strings and brass over vague percussion and vaguer vocals, while In The Colosseum has various faint tape-replay noises, including (I think) brass and choir.
Waits' next project was the soundtrack to a German stageplay, The Black Rider, with involvement from both Robert Wilson and the inimitable William Burroughs. Some of the material was recorded around 1990, and the rest recreated in California in '93, with all four Chamberlin tracks unsurprisingly being from the American sessions. Black Box Theme has effectively inaudible Chamby, but Crossroads makes up for it with Chamberlin solo female voice, while the last two tracks have bits of it, but used, as always, in a highly atypical manner.
Six years on, Mule Variations has a more guitar-based sound, like he's just caught up with the rest of the world, though it's still unmistakeably Tom Waits. There's even someone on turntables on several tracks; what's the world coming to? I'm not sure what the Chamberlin's even supposed to be doing on Black Market Baby; maybe the vibes? Waits has certainly used it more openly, even by his standards.
Alice and Blood Money were released simultaneously in 2002, both being rather belated releases of the music for another two German stageshows from a decade earlier. Alice is based on Lewis Carroll's favourite obsession, while Blood Money is an update of the old tale of Woyzeck, a soldier driven to kill his lover. A rare Waits Mellotron (flutes) outing on Alice, paired with Chamby vibes on Everything You Can Think, although I can't hear the Chamberlin on the witty Reeperbahn, or Barcarolle at all. Blood Money's Everything Goes To Hell sounds like Chamby vibes again, although once again, I can't hear a thing on either Coney Island Baby or Starving In The Belly Of A Whale.
I'm told by Those In The Know that Real Gone is a definite return to form, with Waits moving away from the self-parody he was in a very real danger of falling into over his last few releases. Saying that, it still sounds exactly like Tom Waits, although he seems to've reigned in some of the really bonkers stuff, leaving just the Essence Of Waits encapsulated in a slightly gruelling 72 minutes of music. His son Casey plays on several tracks (largely turntables and percussion), with Marc Ribot on guitar again, as is Waits himself, barely touching the keyboards he was known for at one point. The only exception to this rule is the by-now traditional Chamberlin track, Circus, where he adds ghostly Chamby flutes and trumpet, with the vibraphone-like sound being credited as 'bells', for some reason.
2006's Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards is a three-disc Waits compilation that mops up loads of stray tracks, as its title suggests. Apparently, a few of them are to be found on his regular albums, but I've no idea which, unless they're on any of the above, although many of them have annotations pertaining to their source, including Heigh Ho from Stay Awake, below. This could possibly be the collection that finally lets me in on the secret of Tom Waits; it covers many bases, not just the full-on barker/barking stuff, including several tracks that could be dismissed as novelty items, not least the humorously bleak Children's Story and Nirvana, where Waits reads Bukowski over suitable backing. There's Chamberlin on a handful of tracks, with strings on Never Let Go, presumably from Waits, flutes on the aforementioned Heigh Ho from Mitchell Froom and dry, dusty cellos on Redrum, although Waits fans will buy this to fill in those Tom-shaped gaps in their collection.
2009's Glitter & Doom Live (recorded all over the place) is, unsurprisingly, a document of Waits' Glitter & Doom tour, comprising one disc of music (fairly traditional so far) and one of 35 minutes of tall tales, true facts and just about every point in between. Most of the tracklisting's drawn from his later albums, leaning heavily on Bone Machine, The Black Rider and Real Gone, although as a not-so-much-a-fan, I personally found the second disc more entertaining. Patrick Warren is credited with both Mellotron and Chamberlin; did Waits really haul both machines all across the world, or are we talking samples here? Near-impossible to say without pictorial evidence, but whatever we're hearing crops up on several tracks, with (Mellotron?) flutes (and Chamby strings?) on Live Circus and more flutes on Falling Down, The Part You Throw Away and Trampled Rose. Some of the woodwind parts may emanate from the Chamberlin, too: who can say?
So; Tom Waits - eclectic to the last (which, thankfully, doesn't seem to be anywhere near just yet). Since there are loads of sites with Waits reviews that actually know what they're talking about, I'll sum up his tape replay stuff. Frankly (ho ho), don't bother. Sorry, but apart from a couple of tracks spread over these seven albums, you can barely even hear the Mellotron/Chamberlin, although what you can hear is mostly unusual use, which has to be applauded. Oh, make your own minds up. See if I care.
Incidentally, Waits contributed his utterly unique version of Heigh Ho (the Dwarfs Marching Song) to the 1988 various artists effort Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music From Vintage Disney Films, managing to produce one of the most original pieces on the album, complete with Mitchell Froom's distant Chamby flutes (now added to Orphans, above). Now there's a surprise.
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Nighttown (1997, 61.04) ***/T |
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| Follow Me an Angel These Proud Streets Tremble (Goes the Night) Unwind Lift Your Burdens Up Prayer for You Immaculate Nocturno |
Heartless Slow Red Dawn Harbour Lights Forever Gone Nightbirds |
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Trail of Stars (1999, 64.41) ***½/TT |
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| Desert Skies Straight to the Stars Gold Last Tears Crime Story Hightimes Harvey's Quote to Me On the Day |
Till I Reach You Drown No One the Wiser Untitled |
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Train Leaves at Eight (2000, 68.47) ***½/T |
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| The Train Leaves At Eight (To Treno Fevgui Stis Okto) Man From Reno That Black Guitar (Tista Crna Kitara) Disamistade Silenci Hard Winds Blowin' (Sopram Ventos Adversos) Everyone Kisses a Stranger |
People Such as These (Ces Gens-la) Wake Me Up Before I Sleep Solex In A Slipshod Style That's How I Live (So Lebe Ich) And She Closed Her Eyes Death's Threshold Step #2 Leb' Wohl |
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Ended Up a Stranger (2001, 64.58) ***/TT |
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| Lazarus Heart Radiant Life: The Movie More Heat Than Light Fallen Down Moon See it in the Dark Mary Edwards Lest We Forget |
Winslow Place Cul-de-Sac Incidento Climb Ended Up a Stranger |
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Drunken Soundtracks: Lost Songs & Rarities 1995-2001 (2002, 129.41) ***½/T½ |
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| Drunken Soundtracks Unbreakable People Such as These (Kevin's Dub) Shot Bayou How Many Times (Must the Piper Be Paid for His Song) Sorry Angel Undermine |
Call Me Back Again On the Day (Bone Mix) Desert Skies (Black Light Mix) Albuquerque The Getaway Bonnie & Clyde (live) Rage on Death's Black Train |
Thieves Like Us Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) Cover of Darkness Silver City Sanitorium Blues Cowbells Shakin' Come Along |
The Light Will Stay on (Country Mix) Desierto Glory Road Winded Incognito Master of None Theme From "Where the Air is Cool and Dark" |
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Acetylene (2005, 52.38) ***/½ |
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| Fuck Your Fear Coming Up for Air Devil in the Details Whisper Kalashnikov Have You Ever Seen The Morning? Northsea Train |
Acetylene Before the City Wakes Last Ones |
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A name like The Walkabouts make you think the band in question might be Australian: wrong. The Walkabouts are from Seattle and their remit seems to be to sound as European as possible, even covering material by the likes of Jacques Brel and Scott Walker. Never mind the indie ethic, this is the noir ethic, personified by The Walkabouts.
Nighttown is their seventh album 'proper', ignoring compilations of EPs, live efforts etc. and lives up to its title with aplomb, channelling the melancholy end of those '50s Sinatra albums, anything by Scott Walker... You get the picture. Their record company apparently described it as 'the sound of a band committing suicide' (it wasn't), although it's certainly one of the most unremittingly downbeat things I've heard in a while. Orchestral arrangements (mostly strings) on most tracks, making it difficult to spot Glenn Slater's Mellotron when it appears. From what I can tell, though, we have a distant flute line on Unwind, with equally distant strings on the chorus, and what sounds like a polyphonic flute part on Slow Red Dawn, under the orchestral arrangement, but that would appear to be your lot.
Trail of Stars carries on the good works of its predecessors, to the point where, to the casual listener, it's almost indistinguishable from Nighttown, although I found it slightly more appealing. More Slater 'Tron, with strings on Gold and Drown, plus full-on flutes and strings on the album's Mellotronic highpoint, Last Tears. The band followed up with a covers collection, Train Leaves at Eight, with a sleeve more noir than noir. Unlike many similar, it actually works, to the point that if you didn't know they were covers, you, er, wouldn't know they were covers. Stylistically, of course, it's the usual, so it comes as even more of a surprise when they suddenly kick out the jams (albeit fairly slowly) on Brel's People Such As These, a.k.a. Ces Gens-la, also covered by French proggers Ange, back in 1973. The Mellotron finally appears on That's How I Live (a.k.a. So Lebe Ich), with a string line that sustains way past the eight-second limit, although studio trickery could be involved. However, so could samples.
2001's Ended Up a Stranger is, of course, in a similar vein to the rest of the band's work, though, at least to me, is slightly less appealing. Maybe I shouldn't have listened to it after Train Leaves at Eight? Anyway, a decent enough record, just a bit the same old same old. Slater plays 'Tron on several tracks, as far as I can work out, with flutes on Life: The Movie, flutes and possible strings on Fallen Down Moon and strings on Mary Edwards and Winslow Place, although they sound a bit sampled in places, I have to say...
The following year's double-disc set, Drunken Soundtracks: Lost Songs & Rarities 1995-2001, does exactly what it says on the tin, collecting outtakes, live tracks and no doubt all manner of other things that didn't make it onto their earlier albums. Not that you'd know, as it sounds every bit as good as any of their 'regular' releases, which makes a nice change for an outtakes album. Mind you, it's ridiculously long, so I wouldn't recommend playing it in one sitting, as I did... A few tracks of Slatertron, with flutes on Sorry Angel, full-on strings on The Getaway, tentative strings on Cowbells Shakin', faint ones on Glory Road and quite upfront ones on Incognito, although I've no idea from which era any of them hail.
After a several-year break from releasing new material, Acetylene appeared in 2005 and it's immediately apparent that the band have rocked things up in the interim, to the point where they're almost a different band. It's a perfectly good album, just... different, with a distinct Neil Young fixation becoming apparent, noticeably on lengthy closer Last Ones. Very little Mellotron, too, with nowt but occasional strings on Northsea Train, alongside what sounds like real ones.
So; slow and stately, barely rock at all in places, but maybe just not quite as miserable as I like it. Or maybe the instrumentation's wrong; certainly not enough Mellotron on many of these (a common complaint, you'll have noticed). Good at what they do, however. Worthwhile.
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Letters (2004, 51.07) **/T |
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| Sunny Day Real Estate Maybe it's Just Me Mixtape #1 Summer Jam So at Last Uncomfortably Numb Joan Don't Move |
Lights Out Best Thing You Never Had Race Cars and Goth Rock Promise Thank-You Note State Line |
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Bradley Glenn "Butch" Walker played in bands throughout the '80s and '90s, before his solo career kicked off with 2002's Left of Self-Centered, following up with Letters two years later. By and large, the latter is an album of turgid, ballad-heavy mainstream pop, although some powerpop elements have 'boosted' its rating to a whole two stars. Not every track's a loser; #1 Summer Jam's a passable powerpop effort and Lights Out is a decent enough rock'n'roller, but the high(er) points are few and far between.
Joey Huffman plays Mellotron, with flutes and strings alongside real strings on the alt.country-ish Best Thing You Never Had and despite one or two other 'possible' sightings, this is probably the only real use on the album. Truly desperate powerpop fans may wish to hear this for its handful of not-so-dreadful tracks, but overall, it's a bland, disappointing effort of the 'play once then file' variety. Precisely where you choose to file it is entirely up to you.
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Blitzkrieg (1971, 43.22) ****/TTTLuneticThe Theme Manhattan Project Audiences |
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Mother Universe (1972, 40.32) ***½/TTMother UniverseBraintrain Shakespearesque Dedicated to Mystery Land Relics of Past Golden Antenna |
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Cosmic Century (1973, 42.45) ***½/TTRory BlanchfordGrand Piano Silver Arms The Marvellous Child Song of Wire The Cosmic Couriers Meet South Philly Willy |
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Stories, Songs & Symphonies (1975, 37.46) ***/TThe PriestessStories, Songs & Symphonies The Banner Your Lunar Friends Sympathy for Bela Bartok |
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Wallenstein are one of those German progressive bands, along with Grobschnitt and Novalis, who always find themselves lumped in with the 'Krautrock' scene, next to Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Düül 2 et al., while not actually being anything of the sort. They were, in fact, a fairly typical prog band of the era, moving from their more guitar-heavy early material to a more symphonic keyboard-led style later on, before sliding into mediocrity in typical late-'70s fashion.
Blitzkrieg is a very early 'regular' prog album by German standards, although thinking about it, it's actually as much 'post-psych' as anything, with a fairly primitive sound. Keyboard player/main man Jürgen Dollase already knew the direction he was heading in, I suspect, and the end result is intense but tuneful, with some fiery playing from all concerned. Opener Lunetic (they had an American in the band at the time - couldn't he have told them how to spell it?) is probably the album's highlight, but there isn't a bad track to be heard, with reasonable Mellotron flutes and strings on all but the first track.
I believe the venerable elderly lady on the sleeve of Mother Universe was Dollase's grandmother - the rear sleeve shows the back of her head, hair in a bun. The title track opens the album in full-on symphonic style, 'Tron strings to the fore, although the band take a sharp left turn on the rocking Braintrain. The rest of the album veers between the heavier and more symphonic ends of the band's style, with some less obvious 'Tron on Shakespearesque, and an almost inaudible part on Dedicated To Mystery Land. Best track? Definitely Mother Universe itself.
Cosmic Century features a violinist, Joachim Reiser, along with the band's regular guitar/bass/keys/drums lineup. The material is rather more 'mainstream' than before, in a mid-'70s kind of way, of course, with no particular album highlights, although none of the tracks are actually bad. Dollase plays 'Tron on five out of six tracks, but it's fairly minimal, with the choirs and cellos on Song Of Wire being the most overt use. Be warned, though - some tracks feature no more than a few seconds of 'Tron, noticeably The Cosmic Couriers Meet South Philly Willy, which has a few flute notes on the fadeout.
By Stories, Songs & Symphonies, the band were describing themselves as 'The Symphonic Rock Orchestra Wallenstein', a bit of a misnomer, given that they still sounded like prog-ish mid-'70s rock on several tracks. The lengthy Your Lunar Friends is probably the album's best piece (Dollase's vocals aside), although the only Mellotron is some thin-sounding strings on the title track, so, better music than 'Tron, though not that great on either front, really.
So; a classic case of a band getting worse as they went along, to be honest. Blitzkrieg might not be their most 'symphonic' effort, but it's certainly the most energetic, and has the best 'Tron use. For fans of the German Sound, though, all these albums are probably worth the effort, though they did get a bit up themselves on the later ones. Like most of their contemporaries, Wallenstein 'went commercial' in the late '70s; their fifth effort, No More Love (**) is awful, and I'm sure later albums are even worse. Avoid.
See: Jerry Berkers | Cosmic Jokers | Sergius Golowin | Walter Wegmüller | Witthüser & Westrupp
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Wally (1974, 40.10) ***/TThe MartyrI Just Wanna Be a Cowboy What to Do Sunday Walking Lady To the Urban Man Your Own Way |
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Valley Gardens (1975, 41.15) ***/TValley GardensNez Percé The Mood I'm in The Reason Why Nolan The Charge Disillusion |
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Wally suffered the rather dubious distinction of being championed by The Old Grey Whistle Test's 'Whispering' Bob Harris, these days known best for being a country music DJ (he sneered at the New York Dolls when they appeared on the Whistle Test, so he was hardly going to go for anything too energetic, was he?). In fact, Wally was produced by Harris and Rick Wakeman, which doesn't exactly inspire much confidence. While the band fitted (very) broadly into the 'progressive' category, there was more than a hint of country/rock about them, especially with Paul Middleton's steel guitar; West Coast Prog, anyone? Actually, the album isn't that bad, just rather forgettable, with a regrettable lack of energy. Paul Gerrett plays Mellotron on one track only, the twelve-minute To The Urban Man, with a string part drifting in and out of the song. Pete Sage's electric violin confuses the issue in places, but it's definitely only the one 'Tron track.
Second (and last) album, Valley Gardens, carries on in a similar vein to their debut, including a side-long track, The Reason Why, which was probably the best thing the band recorded. Gerrett was replaced by Nick Glennie-Smith, who gets marginally more 'Tron in this time round, with strings on the title track and the first part of The Reason Why, Nolan, but it's all pretty minor, to be honest. So; so-so albums, minimal 'Tron. Not that exciting, really, although I've heard an awful lot worse. I believe that's called 'damning with faint praise'. Oh well.
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So What (1974, 37.57) ***/½Welcome to the ClubFalling Down Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty Time Out All Night Laundry Mat Blues Turn to Stone Help Me Through the Night County Fair Song for Emma |
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The trouble with Joe Walsh solo albums is that I always expect them to rock rather more than they do; he's written a few genuinely great songs, but seems to restrict himself to one per album, which gives him about half-an-hour's worth over his entire career. So What's classic is Turn To Stone, with other highlights being Walsh's version of a Ravel piece, Pavane, played entirely by himself on synths, which actually works far better than you might expect, and the epic-ish County Fair.
Its sole Mellotron track (played by Walsh himself, incidentally) is the rather ordinary opener Welcome To The Club, with a single-note string line near the end turning into a decent enough chord sequence, but hardly in the 'classic' league. Since there was a 'Tron in the area, it's a shame Walsh didn't put it on a couple of other tracks; Turn To Stone would definitely have benefitted from its inclusion, but there you go. So, so-so album, minimal 'Tron usage. Buy the double Look What I Did! The Joe Walsh Anthology (***½) instead, with most of his best stuff and Welcome to the Club.
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El Producto (1996, 38.37) **½/½ |
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| Stood Up Everything Worthwhile Betty Overgrown Settled Me & My Dog Little Sister Up & Out |
#246 Listen Up Sunshine M. Love in the Dakota |
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Walt Mink's first 'proper' album, 1992's Miss Happiness, sounds slightly like King's X, i.e. vaguely interesting hard rock with some unusual chords, but by their third effort, '96's cynically-titled El Producto, they were more at the rocky end of indie, which this site finds to be rather less interesting. It's not an awful album, by any means, but with so few positive features and so many neutral ones, it isn't that surprising that they only lasted another year or so after its release.
I get the impression guitarist/vocalist John Kimbrough plays the Mellotron, with a faint flute melody at the end of opener Stood Up, faint string chords at the end of Me & My Dog and similar on Sunshine M., although the strings on closer Love In The Dakota sound real. All in all, then, neither a particularly exciting album nor a decent Mellotron one. Incidentally, there's supposed to be more Mellotron on '93's Bareback Ride and '97's Colossus; reviews forthcoming when/if I track them down.
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Beautiful (1995, 45.02) ***/T |
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| Clear My Head Beautiful I Need You Hole for a Heart Joy Farmer and the Crow America Talk to Me |
Hands That Feed Us Crawl |
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The Walter Eugenes seem to have effectively been an enhanced CCM duo, with Rick Eugene May singing and Walter Paul Robinette doing pretty much everything else, plus guests. Actually, this is vastly less offensive than the bulk of the Christian albums I've endured for the sake of you, dear reader; while not really sounding very much like, say, Daniel Amos, they share with them an ability to make Christian music than doesn't make the non-believer want to retch. I've just worked out who they're trying to sound like, amongst other funk/rocksters: King's X. A nominally Christian band at the time, their Hendrix-inspired chord work is a distinct influence here, although Houston's best band have a vastly better vocalist (in fact, three of 'em), vastly better material and would never produce songs as drippy as I Need You.
Mellotronist-to-the-Christian-community, Phil Madeira, does his usual thing here, with stabbed choir chords and a flute melody on opener Clear My Head and the occasional pitchbent string chord on Joy. So; much better than I'd expected, but not actually that good, just not that bad. Not much 'Tron, either, but given its genre (lyrically speaking), it could've been so much worse.
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A Dream Within a Dream (1983, 44.38) ***½/TThe ForebodingAlone Feathery Bird Valley of Unrest A Dream Within a Dream Song of Master and Boardswain If I Could Tell You Dreamland Yessertronics |
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Waniyetula's history is rather confused, encompassing forming in 1969, recording an album in '75, released three years later under a different name, then finally getting something out under their own name fourteen years after forming. Not to mention frequently being mistaken for Swiss... The story goes, their '78 release, Nature's Clear Well, was released by a moronic US label under the name Galaxy, and while it sounds little like the band's later work, it's worth hearing for what it is. '83's A Dream Within a Dream (a Poe quote) sounds like deceptively commercial-sounding Canadians Saga across most of its length, with the odd un Saga-like touch such as unusual time signatures, and the occasional burst of Mellotron. Heinz Kühne does his very best Michael Sadler impersonation (a German trying to sound like a Canadian trying to sound like an Englishman?), and the band have their twiddly synth hooks down to a tee, making for an actually very pleasing end result, as long as you like Saga.
Norbert Abels gets a distant Mellotron flute melody in on Valley Of Unrest, and a far more overt one, key-click and all, on Dreamland, although that's definitely it on the 'Tron front. A grinding Hammond on If I Could Tell You is also very non-Saga, but otherwise, they stick fairly closely to the Canucks' template, featuring mainly early '80s polysynths, from the era just before interesting keyboards dissolved in a huge vat of digital unpleasantness. This is actually a very decent album, deserving wider recognition amongst Saga and UK fans. It isn't easy to write this kind of stuff without morphing into pure cheese, but Waniyetula manage to keep on the right side of the dairy debate, making an album that should keep Saga fans happy, in lieu of any more archive releases from the real thing.
Incidentally, an archive release from Waniyetula themselves appeared in 2006, entitled Iron City, featuring early versions of Alone and Valley Of Unrest from A Dream Within a Dream, although it turns out to be 'Tron-free.
See: Galaxy
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Platinum Jazz (1977, recorded 1971-77?, 77.44) ***/T |
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| War is Coming! War is Coming! Slowly We Walk Together Platinum Jazz I Got You L.A. Sunshine River Niger H2Overture City, Country, City |
Smile Happy Deliver the World Nappy Head (Theme From 'Ghetto Man') Four Cornered Room |
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War began in 1962 as The Creators, meeting ex-Animals wildman Eric Burdon at the end of the decade, triggering a name-change and commercial success at last. After two albums, including one which has to have one the best titles ever, The Black-Man's Burdon, Burdon left in 1971 after his friend Jimi Hendrix's death (he had jammed with the band the night he died), leaving the band to carry on perfectly well without him. After a run of jammed-out funk/soul/jazz records, someone opted to release the double part-compilation Platinum Jazz in 1977, in a gap between proper releases. Featuring a mix of (sometimes edited) earlier material, current stuff and possibly unreleased older tracks, it's a bit of a curate's egg, mangling some of their best jamming work, not least the mutilated City, Country, City, although its unreleased element makes it a must-have for fans of the band.
I wasn't at all convinced I was going to hear anything Mellotronic here, to say the least, but keys man Lonnie Jordan plays either Mellotron or (more likely) Chamberlin strings on one of the previously-unreleased tracks, I Got You, although it does a good job of simulating the real thing, making me think a Chamby's more likely. You're not going to buy this for its limited tape-replay, and it probably isn't the best place to become acquainted with War, but the unreleased material is worth hearing if you're into their style anyway.
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Light at the End of the Tunnel (2001, 54.07) ***½/T½ |
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| What Cost War The Night You Walked Away Wrong Place, Wrong Time Playing God Again Solitary World In the Dead of Night Sweet Release End of the Tunnel |
Stay Out of My Mind Cast the Stone |
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War & Peace were originally formed by Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson (later of Lynch/Pilson) around 1990, splitting two years later. After an archive release in '99, he regrouped a version of the band and recorded Light at the End of the Tunnel in 2001. It's actually a fairly good modern hard rock release, featuring a couple of surprisingly proggy tracks closing the album, Stay Out Of My Mind and Cast The Stone. The former obscurely reminds me of a couple of Gillan's underrated early '80s prog/hard rock crossovers, while the latter has touches of The Beach Boys and Queen, particularly in the vocal department. The album's oddest track, though, is Sweet Release, consisting of just vocal and (synthetic) strings, ensuring that hidebound rock dudes will probably avoid this like the plague, leaving it to the slightly more discerning listener to mop up unsold copies.
Pilson plays (real?) 'Tron, with strings on opener What Cost War, a handful of string chords on Playing God Again and a more upfront part on Stay Out Of My Mind, although the rest of the album's string sounds appear to be synth-generated. Overall, then, a relatively mediocre album with two or three excellent tracks, their combined weight adding a half star to its rating, although I wouldn't really bother for its Mellotron use.
See: Dokken | Lynch/Pilson
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Post-War (2006, 37.35) ***/T |
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| Poison Cup To Go Home Right in the Head Post-War Requiem Chinese Translation Eyes on the Prize Magic Trick |
Neptune's Net Rollercoaster Today's Undertaking Afterword/Rag |
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Matthew Stephen "M." Ward is an American singer-songwriter of the mainstream variety (aren't they all?), whose fifth studio album, Post-War, consciously echoes post-World War II music of the '40s and '50s, referring to the West's appalling current escapades in the Middle East (there, that's given you an idea where I stand on the issue). It's not a bad record, per se, but its deliberately very retro sound is only going to appeal to a certain type of listener, I suspect, and that type isn't me.
Mike Mogis plays Chamberlin on the album, although the only obvious use is the dusty strings on opener Poison Cup, where, for once, you get to hear the instrument properly, without stacks of studio dreck heaped over it like a winter overcoat in the middle of summer (how's that for an over-egged analogy, eh?). It's possible it's in the background on Neptune's Net, too, although it could be, well, almost anything, really. For what it's worth, it seems to be real strings on Today's Undertaking.
Anyway, a curiously old-fashioned album in a post-modern world, or something. Ward manages to fuse old-style songwriting with the modern world - a feat in itself - but you're not all going to actually like it. One good Chamby track, worth hearing if you get the chance.
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Anna (2002, 41.35) **½/T |
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| Love Story I Wish You Well Beautiful Nothing Personal John & Maria All for You Long Time Coming Fortunes of Misfortune |
How Do You Sleep? Perfect Ten A Hollow Daze Eat Me Alive The Powers That Be Goodbye |
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Waronker? Haven't I heard that name before? Of course, her dad, noted producer Lenny Waronker. Add another name to the lengthy list of 'ambitious offspring of famous musos'. After three albums with the strangely-named that.dog, Waronker released her solo debut, Anna, in 2002. Despite being married to the wondrous Redd Kross' Steven McDonald, it's... not actually that good. Aside from a couple of decent powerpop tunes (notably A Hollow Daze, although Goodbye is worthy of mention), most of the record veers between dopey pop-punk (Love Story, All For You) and dozy ballads (John & Maria, The Powers That Be), few of which capture the imagination in any great way. Oh, and spot the Who cop in How Do You Sleep?
One bonus on the album is Anna's Mellotron use, with strings on Beautiful and flutes on the chorus of Nothing Personal, sounding quite real. The actual strings on several other tracks are mostly obvious, apart from on Fortunes Of Misfortune, where they're probably real, but sound a lot like a Mellotron (I believe it's all in the arrangement). So; there's worse about than this, but there's also an awful lot better, so don't go too far out of your way. Passable 'Tron use on two tracks, couple of OK songs. Hmmm.
See: Steven McDonald
