Song of the Marching Children  (1971,  33.49)  ***½/TTT½
	Carnaval of the Animals Ebbtide Storm and Thunder In the Mountains Song of the Marching Children   Theme of the Marching Children   Opening of the Seal   Childhood   Affliction	Damnation Purification The March

7"  (1972)  ***½/TTTT Memories From the End Till the Beginning

	Atlantis  (1973,  33.40)  ****/TTTT½
	Atlantis   Prelude   Prologue (Don't Know)   Rise and Fall (Under a Cloudy Sky)   Theme of Atlantis   The Threat (Suddenly)   Destruction (Rumbling From Inside the Earth)   Epilogue (Don't Know) Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight	Interlude Fanfare Theme From Atlantis Love, Please Close the Door

	7"  (1974)  ***/TTT Love of Life Tuffy the Cat
	To the World of the Future  (1975,  42.19)  ***½/TTTT To the World of the Future How Time Flies The Last Seagull Only Time Will Tell Voice From Yonder Love of Life Circus
	7"  (1975)  ***/TT½ Only Time Will Tell Fun
	7"  (1975)  ***/TT Thanks for the Love Excerpts From 'To the World of the Future' (or Only Time Will Tell)

	Gate to Infinity  (1977,  35.38)  ***/T
	Gate to Infinity   Recognition?   A Princess in Egypt   The Joyous Untruth   Infinity   A Life-Time Before 78th Avenue Smile Green Park Station	Dizzy Raptures Driftin'

	Reality Fills Fantasy  (1979,  37.11)  **/TT People Come, People Go Fire of Love Weekend Can't Live Without it Anymore Where Were You Season of the Falling Leaves Answer Me Reprise
	Andromeda Girl  (1981,  40.05)  **/TT Dream Singer in the Rain Andromeda Girl What More Could You Desire Tell Me Why Love is an Ocean You From Shore to Shore Just One Change

	In a State of Flux  (1982,  39.55)  **/TT½
	Twentyfour Hours Jack is Back The Two of Us Wish You Were Here Strange Town Love is to Give Away I Don't Know Why Hide Away	In a State of Flux Dona Nobis Pacem

Current availability:

• All titles: Polydor

Mellotrons used:

• Marching/Atlantis: Phonogram Studios' M300
• Future-Flux: band's own M400

Earth and Fire were a major pop outfit in the Netherlands in the '70s, crossing over into progressive territory, at least on their early albums, including three side-long suites. Their 'progressive pop' isn't going to appeal to everyone, while Jerney Kaagman's strident vocals (often compared to Rose Podwojny of their French contemporaries Sandrose) are an acquired taste, but, at their best, they rivalled their contemporaries Kayak. Their debut, 1970's Earth & Fire (***), is a late-period psych-pop album, not wildly interesting, despite being a UK Vertigo label rarity; the CD is bolstered by a slew of non-LP singles, making it worth the effort for the collector, including a 7" pairing of Mellotron tracks unavailable elsewhere.

Earth and Fire found their own voice on their second album, Song of the Marching Children, defining a style later partially borrowed by fellow countrymen Kayak, although In The Mountains has more than a hint of Focus about it. I believe the band used Phonogram Studios' M300, with its fairly distinctive sound, although it's not always easy to tell. Apart from the title suite, Storm And Thunder is the album's only Mellotron track, with strings a-plenty, plus what sounds like cellos towards the end. Song Of The Marching Children itself is a seven-part epic, opening with Gerard Koerts' organ, before Mellotron strings and brass burst in on part two, Opening Of The Seal, carrying on through Childhood. The strings cut back in on Damnation, which tries its level best to be doomy, but blows it completely with a jaunty little Mellotron oboe (?) part, before a reprise of the brass theme from earlier on heads everything back in the right direction. Purification's strings actually sound like a real string section, although there's none credited, but the Mellotron comes back in properly on The March, rounding the album off nicely.

Unusually for the times, Earth and Fire didn't release an album for two years, filling the gap with various singles, including the Mellotron-heavy Memories/From The End Till The Beginning pairing. Memories starts with an ominous Mellotron string part, but quickly shifts into pop song mode, despite reprising the intro throughout the song, the flip being a slower, more reflective number, certainly not a b-side throwaway, with heaps of Mellotron brass, strings and flute. As mentioned above, you'll have to buy the German Repertoire issue of Earth & Fire to hear these, along with various other non-LP tracks.

Atlantis carries on in a similar vein to Song of the Marching Children, the side-long title track opening this time. Their style is a decidedly uneasy marriage between two genres you wouldn't imagine would mix for a second, but somehow or other, they seem to make it work. Sometimes. There's plenty of Mellotron throughout Atlantis and, this time, it sounds more like an M300; maybe they used a Mark II on Song? Anyway, mostly strings, with that rather thin M300 sound to them (two violins instead of three), the odd bit of cello thrown in and maybe a touch of brass, although the flute is real. Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight is hilarious; an insanely cheesy, pure pop number with jaunty organ and the odd bit of strings somewhere in the mix. Interlude is practically all Mellotron (including flutes) and Fanfare is mainly brass, appropriately enough, with some 'stabbed' chords before a full brass section part halfway through, followed by a gorgeous upfront string part. Superb. Theme From Atlantis has more strings and brass, as does Love, Please Close The Door. Cheesy, but great Mellotron.

Earth and Fire must have been a busy bunch, as two-year gaps between their albums seem to be the norm, defying '70s convention, although the first single from 1975's To the World of the Future, Love Of Life, actually appeared the previous year. A clear step towards a more commercial direction, its only standout feature is the Mellotron strings used throughout, although its flip, the non-album Tuffy The Cat, is the opposite of the lightweight fluff its title suggests, being a dark, yet groovy instrumental piece, featuring more of those strings. The album is their one 'wall to wall' Mellotron release, although Atlantis runs it a very close second. Actually, minute for minute there's probably less Mellotron on this album, although it's on every track; the ten-minute synth-heavy opening title track has plenty of strings (some of it string synth), with more of the same on the balladic How Time Flies. Incidentally, the title track rather unnerved me with a vocal melody almost identical to Chic's Le Freak, but several years earlier. Moving swiftly on, instrumental The Last Seagull has more of that brass, along with an excellent little Mellotron string melody, possibly the album's best track; it's certainly its least cheesy... Only Time Will Tell is another strings'n'brass Mellotron-fest, although Voice From Yonder's strings and funky Rhodes are a little inessential. More of those strings and brass on Love Of Life and a string-heavy Circus to finish, complete with a vaguely, er, circusy feel to it. I keep hearing what sounds exactly like Mellotron strings, stretching way over the eight-second limit, so I don't know if they used some sort of multitracking trick, or it's actually something else I'm hearing, but it sounds like Mellotron to me. This is all a bit lightweight, but more Mellotron than you can shake a stick at.

Only Time Will Tell was released as a single in April '75, the non-album Fun on the flip. The track's a slightly disco-ish instrumental, quite good for all that, with a Mellotron strings part that livens it up a little. It was followed by non-LP single Thanks For The Love, backed with Excerpts From 'To The World Of The Future', though I don't know if this was a straight edit, or different bits of the piece tacked together. Thanks For The Love starts well enough, with a high Mellotron string line, but clicks into funky-ish pop almost straight away, backed with more single-line Mellotron, although the brass on the chorus is obviously real. This is a bit of a clunker, to be honest, hardly a Mellotron classic, although if you really feel the need to hear it, it's also on the Repertoire Earth & Fire. Incidentally, it appears it was reissued later the same year backed with LP track Only Time Will Tell.

Sticking to their two-year schedule, Gate to Infinity appeared in '77 and, unsurprisingly, is even nearer the mainstream than their previous efforts, despite the inclusion of a rather apologetic side-long suite. Saying that, Recognition?'s a fine song, with nice Mellotron choirs (Koerts must've bought an M400 by this point), also heard in Infinity and A Life-Time Before, although that's it on the Mellotron front, as all the strings appear to be real, although I'm not entirely convinced about closer Driftin'. Musically, side one's as good as anything on the earlier albums, but side two's basically commercial drivel, without even any Mellotron to sweeten the deal. I was amused to see a song called Green Park Station (on the London Underground, fact fans), written by a Dutch band; sadly, it sucks. I'm also not entirely sure why Dizzy Raptures is listed as being 'instrumental', when it's nothing of the sort. Anyway, if you can extract the title suite from a CD version and ignore the rest, do so.

'79's Reality Fills Fantasy opens with an eleven-minute number, proving that they hadn't entirely thrown their progressive instincts out of the window, although it has to be said that People Come, People Go is more an extended dance-pop track than 'prog' per se, but I suppose the intent was there. The rest of the album is an unappealing mix of pop and soft rock, which is, er, similar to the pop stuff but with more guitar. There's even an instrumental here, Answer Me, although it's still quite poppy. People Come, People Go features Mellotron choirs drifting in and out of the mix and, while some of its strings are real, some sound tape-generated, though (as so often) it's hard to say. Definitely Mellotron strings in the frothy Can't Live Without It Anymore right through to Answer Me, all used in a 'can't afford a string section for the whole album' kind of way.

Into the '80s and '81's Andromeda Girl is largely even cheesier than its predecessor, although it does have its eleven-minute (again!) title track, with some interesting use of (real) strings and voice in its first part, before moving into a sort-of driving rock thing with some cool synth work. Proper progressive pop and far better than almost anything else in the field at the time. Unfortunately, side two is really cheesy, apart from closer Just One Change, which only rates medium cheese. Those Mellotron strings again on Dream, Andromeda Girl itself, What More Could You Desire and (faintly) on Just One Change (and did I hear some choirs at the end?), but not enough to recommend the album. Amazingly, there's one more relevant Earth and Fire album in the shape of '82's In a State of Flux. At least as cheesily poppy as its immediate predecessors, it doesn't even have anything as listenable as Andromeda Girl to lessen the pain. Plenty of Mellotron, though, with strings all over Jack Is Back, The Two Of Us, Wish You Were Here, Love Is To Give Away (less obviously), the relatively lengthy I Don't Know Why and Dona Nobis Pacem, although the choirs on Strange Town emanate from something else (Roland Vocoder?) and the strings on Hide Away sounded synthesized.

Incidentally, Gerard Koerts died in February 2019, aged seventy-one. RIP.

Mellotrons used:

• Band's own M400 (or M300?)

Earth & Fire's set at Ijmuiden, on 17th June 1972, was recorded, possibly from the desk, the resulting bootleg being of reasonable quality, even if several tracks cut off at their conclusions. We get a pre-Atlantis set, including both sides of their current single and some instrumentals which might be readily identifiable to hardcore fans, although I'm afraid I can't place them. Gerard Koerts clearly only has a Hammond and a Mellotron on stage, so it's hardly surprising that he uses the latter so much. Opener In The Mountains, unlike its studio counterpart, is awash with Mellotron strings, as is Storm And Thunder, complete with full-on solo and brass part, more strings on Memories, strings and a jaunty, pitchbent brass part on Song Of The Marching Children, strings on the reprise, background strings and choppy brass on Invitation, brass and strings on From The End Till The Beginning, brass on Semi Touch and, just for a change, flutes on the second untitled instrumental. You should be able to find this online if you look around; worth it for the Mellotron, even if you're not a fan.

The so-called 'semi-official' Storm & Thunder, released on a dodgo Japanese label in 1999, is effectively a bootleg, recorded at Zur Grille, Minden, Germany, 21st March 1974, featuring a pre-To the World of the Future set, heavy on Song of the Marching Children and Atlantis material. Sadly, it's a CD-length edit of a longer performance, which I managed to find online before posting my original review. This can only be described as a superb document of the band at their peak, playing all their best material to date with aplomb, not to mention inordinate quantities of (presumably M400) Mellotron, despite Koerts adding a synth and a stage piano to his rig. Highlights include the Song... and Atlantis material, with no real clunkers. Mellotron all round, a major highlight being the point at which Koerts switches from the strings to the brass (complete with slurry pitchbends) in the middle of Song Of The Marching Children.

Delft, 1976, more than hints at the band's future, Europop direction, although their set is still heavy with progressive material. Highlights? The opening few numbers, the acoustic Vivaldi and a shorter-than-it-had-been Storm And Thunder, although the longest piece here, To The World Of The Future, is slightly disappointing. Mellotron on every track, with background brass and upfront flutes and strings on Voice From Yonder, strings on Circus, a complex string part and chordal brass on The Last Seagull, strings backing the solo acoustic guitar on Vivaldi, How Time Flies and De Tijd Zegt Niets, strings on Thanks For The Love (although the brass sounds more like synth), more strings and synth (?) brass on the cheesy What Difference Does It Make, the expected string and brass parts on Storm And Thunder, strings and a brass solo on Love Of Life and, finally, strings on To The World Of The Future and Memories.

Earth & Fire bootlegs seem to be worth hearing more for their insanely heavy Mellotron use than for the music, which only really rises to the occasion on selected tracks. I'm sure you can find all of these online, so what have you got to lose?

Official site