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Closer to Doom (1996/97, 25.14/38.19) ****/TTTT |
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| Change Crazy Frustration Salvation In the Void Closer to Doom [Full-length version adds: Theme One |
I, the Jury Fight Baron Saturday (live)] |
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Money Machine (2000, 38.43) ***½/TTTT½Money MachineSellout Neuropsychopathic Eye Side Effects (Another) Nervous Breakdown Mindbender Ironheel Death Walks Behind You The Bitter End |
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Goatbridge Palace EP (2001, 30.40) ***½/TTTSide Effects(Another) Nervous Breakdown Sellout (live) Neuropsychopathic Eye (live) Money Machine (live) Sweet Leaf (live) |
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The Madhatter EP (2003, 15.35) ***½/TTTMadhatterBrown-Eyed Girl Why? Bats in the Belfry III |
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CDS (2003) ***½/TTT Pain Killers Psyclone |
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Hex (2003, 60.49/76.15) ****/TTTT |
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| Madhatter Bats in the Belfry II Pain Killers Disappear Rock & Roll Contract Sunshine Suicide Falling Bombs Black Moth Carry the Load |
Burning Bridges Bats in the Belfry I $ [Japanese CD adds: Psyclone Brown-Eyed Girl Why? Bats in the Belfry III] |
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Cheat the Gallows (2008, 56.55) ****/TT½ |
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| Gravest Show on Earth Blackball Money, It's Pure Evil Evils of Rock & Roll No Parachute Game Superstar |
Race With Time Hydra Counting Sheep |
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Into the Maelstrom (2014, 62.18/84.53) ****½/TTTTT |
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| Incredible Time Machine Hypersleep Already Gone Alien Frequency The Professor & the Madman Mr. Harry McQuhae Vertigod Control Freak |
High Edge of Oblivion Theater of Dreams ITM I. Destination Unknown II. Harbinger of Death III. Memories |
[Bonus disc adds: Control Freak (freak mix) Control Freak (remix) Alien Frequency (remix) Alien Frequency (demo) Hypersleep (demo) Mr. Harry McQuhae (demo) Theater of Dreams (demo)] |
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Progfest '97 (1997) ***½/T[Bigelf contribute]Mindbender Sellout Neuropsychopathic Eye |
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The Spirit of the Black Rose: A Tribute to Philip Parris Lynott (2001) ***½/T½[Bigelf contribute]Bad Reputation |
Current availability:
Mellotrons/Chamberlins used:
Bigelf are a West Coast quartet with a seriously 'retro' approach to their music-making; the front cover of Closer to Doom has pictured on the cover the most outrageous collection of vintage instruments; if you'll indulge me for a moment...
And probably a few other bits I've missed... All in all, a setup to rival Pink Floyd's on the rear sleeve of Ummagumma, if not to knock it into the proverbial cocked hat. So what do they do with all this stuff? Go straight back to the early '70s, of course; apart from the production, this could've been recorded in 1973. What's more, they're damn' good at it; heavy Hammond-driven stuff, nothing over six minutes, Mellotron on pretty much every track (mostly strings). Definitely one for retro hounds everywhere, but genuinely good songs, within the fairly restrictive guidelines they've set themselves. To confuse the issue, Closer to Doom was released in two versions. The original 1996 six-track CD EP has been succeeded by the following year's ten-track full-length album (still only thirty-eight minutes). Try to find the later version, as the bonus tracks are worth a listen, although as a mixture of covers and live stuff they give the overall disc a slightly disjointed feel. No matter, as at least they bring it up to (vaguely) full-LP length. n.b. There's also a later, fourteen-track version. Review to follow when I track a copy down.
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| photo: Lisa Royal | |
Three years on, their second album, Money Machine, is similar enough to their debut that if you liked one, you'll like the other, as their style hasn't noticeably changed in the interim. Hard to pick out particular highlights, as it's all good (Neuropsychopathic Eye stands out, mind), but there's an absolute shedload of Mellotron all over the album; mostly strings and choir, but the odd bit of flute and brass (particularly on closer The Bitter End), too and was that Mellotron vibes I heard at one point? An absolute must for Mellotron fanatics, anyway. The band followed-up with the Goatbridge Palace EP, featuring Side Effects and (Another) Nervous Breakdown from the album, plus four live tracks from Stockholm. Sellout's covered in Mellotron flutes, with strings on Neuropsychopathic Eye and Money Machine, although, sadly, they opt for a two-guitar approach on their coruscating cover of Sabbath's Sweet Leaf. Well, wouldn't you like to hear it smothered in Hammond and Mellotron?
Another three years and Hex concentrates even more on their 'Black Sabbath with more Mellotron' sound, albeit without the complex song structures (Bats In The Belfry I excepted); saying that, the actual songwriting has improved noticeably. Yet again, Damon Fox goes completely bonkers on the Mellotron, mostly strings, although distinctly 'Strawberry Fields'-style flute parts infiltrate Rock & Roll Contract and Bats In The Belfry I, while the odd bit of choir pops up, pretty much as on Money Machine, to be honest. For some reason, Bigelf have broken through in Scandinavia (Hex was even recorded in Sweden) and seem to divide their time between there and the US. Incidentally, the splendid Madhatter, described sardonically by Fox as 'a YouTube hit', was released as an EP, with three more Mellotron tracks added, strings all over Brown-Eyed Girl, Why? and Bats In The Belfry III, plus flutes and choirs on the last-named, not to mention Psyclone, the flip to the Swedish single release of Pain Killers.
The gestation of Bigelf's fourth album, 2008's Cheat the Gallows, was even longer than for its predecessors. Amazingly, they've got themselves signed to, if not a major, at least a label run by someone with a 'name', Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes, mucho production work), which might even mean that the outside world may notice them. Stranger things have happened... It's another excellent Bigelf album, basically, although less full-on and more varied than before, perhaps, with several longer, proggier tracks amongst the likes of the single, Money, It's Pure Evil (an expanded version of $ from Hex). Now, before hearing this, I was told 'they're using loads of real strings this time'. To an extent, they have, but there's still plenty of Mellotron for the enthusiast; look, these guys use one on tour (right)... Anyway, Fox plays background strings on Blackball, good old 'Strawberry Fields'-style flutes on Money, It's Pure Evil with more upfront strings, flutes and choirs on Evils Of Rock & Roll. Obvious choirs and strings on No Parachute, occasional strings on Superstar and more of the same on Race With Time and Hydra and although the rest of the album's strings seem to be real, I'm absolutely assured there's at least a little Mellotron on every track.
Damon has stated that the band actually split after touring Cheat the Gallows, due to internal and external pressures; he spent the interim playing for Lisa Marie Presley, although he isn't on 2012's Storm & Grace, sadly. He'd connected with (by now ex-) Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy a few years earlier, who called him, the conversation going something like this: "I told him that Bigelf was over. He joked that he had to get his fix. I told him the only way he was going to hear some tracks was if he played on the album." The resulting collection of songs, 2014's Into the Maelstrom, features Portnoy as the only other consistent member (note: track eleven, Theater Of Dreams); he hasn't actually joined the band as such, although he's guested on some subsequent live dates. Long-standing Finnish bassist Duffy Snowhill plays on half of the tracks, with various guest guitarists and backing vocalists cropping up here and there, while Fox covers much of the guitar and bass work himself.
...And? It's a Bigelf album, of course, sounding like (in Damon's words) 'a cross between The Beatles and Black Sabbath', highlights including opener Incredible Time Machine, The Professor & The Madman, the proggy Vertigod, the deranged Control Freak and Edge Of Oblivion, but, despite the album's hour-long running time, there's no dead wood. Mellotron everywhere, of course, with strings on pretty much everything, other use including vibes and choirs on Hypersleep, brass on Alien Frequency, church organ on The Professor & The Madman, flutes and cellos on Mr. Harry McQuhae, pitchbent strings on Control Freak and High and everything on the three-part ITM. Incidentally, the two-disc edition adds twenty-odd minutes of different mixes and demos, two of which (Alien Frequency and Mr. Harry McQuhae) are Mellotron-free upright piano demos.
See: Progfest | Mellodrama | Ben Jelen | Alicia Keys | Marble Orchard | Matt Sorum's Fierce Joy
