|
|
|
|
||
|
|
Rock'n'Roll Band Rocket Summer Rocking Horse Music Club |
Tommy Roe Roedelius Cliff & Linda Rogers |
Edward Rogers Rod Rogers Rohmer |
Romantic Warriors Room for Teeth Robi Rosa |
 |
Everybody Needs Dance Music Sometimes (2004, recorded 1974/75, 35.33/45.30) **½/0 (½) |
|
| I'm Gonna Roll Don't Want Your Recco-Player You Can Do the Jingle 88 Dance Halls Love Me/Come Back Home California Rag I Know What You Want Sister Downhill Blues |
Come 'Round Betty Hard Grown Boys Catfish Blues [CD adds: Gotta Go Downtown Fever Seventh Son] |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
I'm trying to work out what's actually going on with the 'does what it says on the tin'-monikered Rock'n'Roll Band's Everybody Needs Dance Music Sometimes, an assertion I would contest, frankly. Despite being released in 2004, it was recorded in 1974/75 by an ensemble fronted by Paavo/Pave Maijanen, sitting firmly in the era's rock'n'roll revival, in the standard 'twenty years later' pattern, the end result being a slightly pointless pastiche of various '50s styles, at its best on the atypical 88 Dance Halls, the instrumental California Rag and Come 'Round Betty. There's a reason this wasn't released until three decades later.
Esa Kotilainen plays Mellotron on CD bonus Fever (you know, the Peggy Lee one), long before I believe he owned one, with string chords drifting in and out of the track. Really, don't bother.
See: Pave Maijanen
Rocket Scientists (US) see: |
 |
 |
Do You Feel (2007, 47.17) *½/T |
|
| Break it Out So Much Love Do You Feel Save All I Have High Life Scenery A Song is Not a Business Plan Taken Aback |
Colors Run to You Hold it Up Waiting So, in This Hour... |
|
Current availability:
Chamberlin used:
The Rocket Summer are effectively (Stephen) Bryce Avary's solo project, whom, going by his/their third album, 2007's Do You Feel (wot, no question mark?), do that horrible 'modern rock'/singer-songwriter thing, as typified by opener Break It Out or A Song Is Not A Business Plan, with Avary's whiny voice (Kurt Kobain wannabee, no idea how) ruining everything it touches. Actually, you can't tell from the music, but it seems Avary is a full-blown God-botherer, too, so that's another reason to dislike this crummy album.
Patrick Warren's on Chamberlin again, with strings on Run To You and closer So, In This Hour..., with cellos towards the end of the latter, just scraping a single T. So; a modern rock/CCM hybrid, with minimal tape-replay: run for the hills.
Rockfour (Israel) see: |
 |
 |
Every Change of Seasons [download version] (2018, 20.02) ***/T½Waiting for the Leaves to ChangeBe Free Roadblocks Closer to the Sun Everywhere is Home |
 |
Which Way the Wind Blows: The Music of Anthony Phillips (2019, 46.31) ****/TTUm & AarghPaperchase Which Way the Wind Blows Silver Song Something Blue Pulling Faces Collections Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West Nightmare |
 |
Circus of Wire Dolls (2022, 95.04) **/T½ |
||
| Prologue: Riverside Circus of Wire Dolls Packed Up Senseless Sky Animate in 5/8 To Reach the Other Side Will You Be My Downfall? So Little Left |
It's Not About You Trapeze Waltz Burn Cut From a Different Cloth Face of Rain 0300 SY22 Lost a Piece of Me |
House Party at Jack's Flowers in November Every Show Must End All Shall Be Well Circus Waltz Coda: Slide Down the Cellar Door |
|
 |
The Last Pink Glow (2025, 61.37) ***/TT |
|
| Haunted It's the Small Things The Haunted Life If We're Silent & We Listen The Ballad of Joe Martin Changing Channels The Ballad of Wesley Martin Splitting Atoms |
Restless Wanderers Big City Small Town Blues The Last Pink Glow |
|
Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
As their name suggests, Rocking Horse Music Club are something of a collective, based around New Hampshire's Rocking Horse studio, while key member Brian Coombes is ex-'90s neo-proggers Tristan Park. They debuted with 2018's Every Change of Seasons, available in two versions, the download losing two track from the CD, for an unknown reason. For a band who are generally considered 'progressive', this is, effectively, a powerpop album, at its best on opener Waiting For The Leaves To Change, Be Free, with its unusual, largely spoken vocal and the laid-back Closer To The Sun. Coombes plays Mellotron on most tracks, with drifting strings on opener Waiting For The Leaves To Change and Be Free, background choirs and upfront strings on Roadblocks and a flute line on Closer To The Sun. Irritatingly, both of the missing tracks also feature the instrument, although one of these was re-recorded (I presume) for 2025's The Last Pink Glow, below. The album's T rating may improve should I ever get to hear the missing tracks.
The collective radically changed tack on their next project, the following year's Which Way the Wind Blows: The Music of Anthony Phillips. Ant is generally regarded as being underappreciated in the Genesis story, so a tribute set is probably long overdue, although he hasn't helped himself by sticking out fairly poor attempts at commerciality (pretty much anything on Sides or Invisible Men) and reams of pleasant-yet-forgettable acoustic material (multiple volumes of Private Parts & Pieces). Opening with the crummy Um & Aargh wasn't a great move, but this set redeems itself with their tour de force take on The Geese & the Ghost's beautiful Which Way The Wind Blows, what might just be the definitive version of the elusive Silver Song and an epic version of Sides' Nightmare (featuring Supertramp's John Helliwell), amongst other highlights. The album features a raft of guests, not least Steve Hackett (the solo on Which Way The Wind Blows), his brother John (flute on Sleepfall) and his old keyboard player Nick Magnus. Coombes on Mellotron, with strings and choirs on Paperchase, upfront strings and cello on Which Way The Wind Blows, high strings and choirs on Wise After the Event's Pulling Faces (spot those Genesis chord changes!), chordal strings on Collections, strings and choirs on Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West (both from Geese & the Ghost) and distant choirs on Nightmare.
I don't know if the Covid years allowed the band to experiment, but 2022's Circus of Wire Dolls is a double concept effort, over ninety minutes long. Once again, a major stylistic shift, this time into... neo-prog. Yup, Coombes' past catches up with him, in the shape of musical theatre-adjacent male and female vocals, cheesy melodies, uninteresting song structures and an overall off-Broadway feel. Seriously, at its worst, this is closer to MOR than anything you might think of as 'rock'. Any better tracks? Barely, frankly, although the brief, synth-driven House Party At Jack's and Circus Waltz at least do something slightly different. I'm genuinely sorry to be so down on this, as its predecessor is excellent, but this is one for prog fans who find Big Big Train a bit edgy. Many credited Mellotron tracks, with nothing audible on the title track or Burn, near-inaudible choirs on Packed Up and Senseless Sky, faint strings on To Reach The Other Side and So Little Left, more obvious flutes on Will You Be My Downfall?, chordal strings on It's Not About You, distant strings and choirs on SY22 (named for Yamaha's rather anodyne '90s synth?), a string line on House Party At Jack's, choirs and strings on Every Show Must End, strings on Circus Waltz and distant strings on Coda: Slide Down The Cellar Door. Do all those credits make this a Mellotron monster? They do not.
2025's The Last Pink Glow is something of an improvement, if only because they'd struggle to make a worse album. Opener Haunted is decent enough, likewise If We're Silent & We Listen and The Ballad Of Wesley Martin, but the overall feel is one of a band struggling to escape their all-pervading '90s neo-prog influences. Again. Oddly, all of Coombes' Mellotron use is clustered onto the second half of the album, with flutes on The Ballad Of Wesley Martin, upfront strings on Splitting Atoms, the re-recording from their debut, strings on Restless Wanderers, distant choirs on the surprisingly rocky Big City Small Town Blues and strings on the closing title track. Thinking of buying one Rocking Horse Music Club album? Which Way the Wind Blows. No contest.
 |
It's Now Winters Day (1967, 37.40) **½/½ |
|
| Leave Her Moontalk Aggravation Golden Girl Misty Eyes Have Pity on Me Sing Along With Me Long Live Love |
Nightime Cry on Crying Eyes Sweet Sounds It's Now Winters Day |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Tommy Roe is best known as an occasional hitmaker, notably for 1962's Sheila and '69's Dizzy, making It's Now Winters Day something of a minor obscurity. To be honest, its '60s pop feel had become distinctly outdated by 1967, although I've seen the record described as Roe's nod to psychedelia, chiefly due to being a Curt Boettcher (Millennium, Sagittarius) production, thus automatically falling into the same category as his other projects. It isn't a bad album as such, just a rather dull and dated one, although I can already hear Boettcher fans howling their disapproval...
Someone (probably Boettcher) plays Chamberlin flutes on the title track, although not so's you'd particularly notice. So; Boettcher fans will want this, ditto lightweight '60s pop types, but the rest of us are probably better off steering clear, I think.
 |
Lustwandel (1981, 38.14) ***½/T½ |
|
| Lustwandel Legende Ansinnen Betrachtung Draussen Vorbel Harlekin Von Ferne Her Vom Fliegen |
Wilkommen Pirouette Dein Antlitz Langer Atem Die Andere Blume |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Hans-Joachim Roedelius was born in 1934, making him getting on for forty when he released his first albums with Cluster, then Harmonia, putting him at the pulsating heart of what became known as Krautrock. His first solo album came in 1978, 1981's Lustwandel being his sixth, startlingly (he released no fewer than three the following year). Unlike the sinister, fake-cheery fairground feel of his second effort, '79's Jardin au Fou, Lustwandel sounds how I'd expect a Roedelius album to sound: gentle and reflective without going anywhere near New Age. Many of its tracks are effectively piano pieces, with or without embellishment, although Draussen Vorbel is all Clavinet over sequenced synths, Von Ferne Her is more percussion than anything, while Wilkommen is a twisted Mediæval jig, played out on some early form of wind instrument.
Although it isn't credited, Roedelius seems to be playing a Mellotron (the ex-Tangerine Dream MkV, according to Tony Haynes) on a handful of tracks, with strings, flutes and cellos on the opening title track, while Ansinnen is effectively an overdubbed Mellotron strings solo piece, with far more distant strings on Dein Antlitz. There are other 'is it/isn't it' moments, not least the cellos in Von Ferne Her, but despite a lack of any credit, they sound more real than anything. So; an intriguing album, in a class of its own, really, but one that should appeal to Krautrock enthusiasts looking for something a little gentler, or relaxation types trying to up the BPM a bit. Or, of course, anyone interested in hearing an accomplished record by a master craftsman, although don't go too far out of your way for its Mellotronic input.
 |
Lost in His Love (197?, 31.38) */TT½ |
|
| Lost in His Love I'm Yours The Next Time I See You More Than Conquerors He's Alive The Gospel Truth I've Been Blessed Steeple Song |
More of You Medley: What Will Ya Do/Come Unto Jesus |
|
Current availability:
Chamberlin used:
Ah, Mark Medley's latest Christian horror... I've no idea whether the husband/wife team of Cliff & Linda Rogers made any more records - we can only hope not - but the undated Lost in His Love (sometime between the late '70s and early '80s would be my guess, going by Cliff's suit and the haircuts) is, rather predictably, the most hideous thing I've heard since, well, the last Christian horror Mark sent me. There are, of course, no high points, although the album's least unpleasant track is probably the 'funky' The Gospel Truth, while the happy-clappy opening title track and I'm Yours are at least mildly amusing. Most of the rest consists of the expected slushy, God-bothering balladry (particularly nasty examples: He's Alive and closer Medley: What Will Ya Do/Come Unto Jesus), but the record reaches its nadir on The Next Time I See You, 'sung' by the Rogers' two little girls (Amy, 4 and April, 3, pictured on the rear sleeve), an event that might just possibly redefine the word 'schmaltz'. Putrid.
Our old Pal Larry Benson (Gateway Singers) plays his Chamberlin on half the album, with vibes and strings on More Than Conquerors, strings (and real brass) on He's Alive, strings on Steeple Song and More Of You and strings and flutes on Medley: What Will Ya Do/Come Unto Jesus, although the backing vocals on several tracks sound real. Well, I've heard some stinkers, but The Next Time I See You is right up there with the best/worst of 'em, the rest of the album paling into insignificance in comparison. All I can say, somewhat appropriately, is: Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
 |
Sparkle Lane (2010, 42.32) ***/T |
|
| Symbols 'n Mascots Passing the Sunshine Sparkle Lane Unknown Until Today Last of the Artful Dodgers Land of the Free Guy Fawkes Nite Little Angel |
Boys in Grey Slow World Sometimes You Win Whatever You've Been Told Walk Under the Clouds Original Excess Boy |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
After sustaining life-changing injuries in the '80s, British-born New York resident Edward Rogers wasted no time in getting back to playing and writing music, releasing his solo debut in 2004. 2010's Sparkle Lane is his third album, a strangely naïve work, material such as Unknown Until Today and Boys In Grey having a very British 'kitchen sink' kind of vocal delivery, reminding me, weirdly, of early Marillion in places, at least vocally. To be honest, a little of Rogers' half-spoken delivery goes a long way, but the title track and Boys In Grey, amongst others, make this worth hearing.
Joe McGinty plays Mellotron, with a real-sounding string line on Last Of The Artful Dodgers, although all other string parts seem to be either generic samples or real.
 |
7" (1965) **/TTTT Join in the Fight for Freedom Ballad of MacArthur |
 |
7" (1965) **/TTT John F. Kennedy The 678th |
Current availability:
Chamberlin used:
Join In The Fight For Freedom b/w Ballad Of MacArthur and John F. Kennedy b/w The 678th, both (I believe) from 1965, are just two of many, many 'song-poem' singles released by Rodd Keith, these ones under the pseudonym Rod Rogers & the Film City Orchestra, Film City being the two-bit label on which this drivel appeared. The lyrics are hysterically bad, as you might expect, literal to the point of autism, while the rhyming dictionary takes a good hammering in true 'total amateur' style, although Ballad Of MacArthur wins this particular round, as it gives us a four-minute resumé of his life story, in full-on hagiographic mode.
It sounds like the entire arrangements on all four songs were played on Keith's Chamberlin, with brass all over Join In The Fight For Freedom, while Ballad Of MacArthur's a strings-and-brass-fest, not to mention the military snare, various brass, woodwind and string instruments and a trumpet (?) solo on John F. Kennedy, and are those overdubbed Chamby voices? Hard to tell. Only worth tracking down for the dedicated masochist.
See: Rodd Keith
Rogue Element (UK) see: |
 |
 |
Rohmer (2008, 61.26) ***/TTAngolo 1Ecran Magique Lhz V. (Moda Reale) Wittgenstein Mon Amour 2.12 Cifra3 Angolo Due Metodiche Di Salvezza Elimini-Enne |
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Rohmer are essentially a Finisterre reformation, although I wasn't aware they'd split, involving that outfit's Fabio Zuffanti, Boris Valle and Agostino Macor. They've only released one, eponymous album to date, a mostly instrumental, relaxed, kind-of post-rock/prog crossover effort, although the band seem keen to be classified as jazz. Gentle piano cadences interact with flute, distant trumpet, viola and sax at different points, ambient, 22-minute closer Elimini-Enne being the album's centrepiece.
Agostino Macor (Maschera di Cera) plays Mellotron, with strings on opener Angolo 1 and Lhz, flutes and strings on V. (Moda Reale) and choirs on Wittgenstein Mon Amour 2.12, all to decent effect, without ever being overbearing. I'm not at all sure Rohmer is going to appeal to many prog fans, but, like Zuffanti's eponymous effort from the following year, post-rock types may wish to apply.
See: Fabio Zuffanti | Finisterre | Maschera di Cera
Rolling Stones (UK) see: |
 |
 |
Battlefield (1993, 58.33) **½/TT |
|
| In Progress The Dreambreaker Open the Gates Ode to Romantic Warriors Battlefield You're My Life Coloured Shades of a Rainbow |
Montmartre Spread Your Wings Song to John March of the Heartknights Beyond the Landmarks |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Romantic Warriors (named for Chick Corea's classic fusion LP, of course) appear to have been a one-off project instigated by the Italian Vinyl Magic label's mastermind, Beppe Crovella, ex-Arti e Mestieri. The cover of Batttlefield is a hoot, especially if it's not supposed to be funny, which it quite clearly isn't. Note the oxen-drawn cart carrying the B3 and Leslie, not to mention the leading knight's strap-on synth controller (oo-er missus). I'm afraid the music isn't that great, either; the analogue and digital keys sit uncomfortably together, with plenty of Hammond, overlaid with cheesy digital brass and orchestral stabs. Current progressive bands seem to've learnt to mix the two with more subtlety.
 |
Much of the album is faux-ELP (Emerson obviously being Crovella's chief influence), crossed with a rather dodgy Euro-neo-prog feel, giving rise to bad pseudo-AOR stuff like The Dreambreaker. A fair chunk of the album's instrumental, which at least spares us the female chorus, but gives Crovella full rein with the brass samples. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose. The Mellotron can be heard on a few tracks; mostly strings with the occasional flute part (chiefly on the cringeworthy Song To John), swelling above whatever else is going on at the time, at least detracting slightly from the cheap digital-ness of the rest of the album. None of the use is exactly groundbreaking and is invariably mixed with sampled strings or brass, but at least it's there. Strangely, the album's best track is kept till last, with Beyond The Landmarks being the most successful of Crovella's old/new fusion attempts (pun intended), but, sadly, he resists the temptation to put any Mellotron on the track.
Batttlefield is another of those albums I haven't played in a while that has deeply disappointed me upon my return; I'm afraid to say it's far cheesier than I remember it, its only real saving graces being the playing and a few (a very few!) of the keyboard sounds. Oh and the cover. Don't go too far out of your way.
See: Beppe Crovella | Arti e Mestieri | Cantina Sociale | Secret Cinema | Tower
 |
Room for Teeth (2020, 40.09) ***½/T |
|
| 05:38 09:27 13:24 15:18 17:39 20:11 21:46 22:12 |
23:14 00:50 |
|
Current availability:
Mellotron used:
Room for Teeth are the electronica duo of Dan Olsson (Sonores, Free Aktion) and Petter Herbertsson, both playing a wide range of instruments on their eponymous 2020 debut, their lone album to date. Best tracks? I'd say 09:27 (I have to assume they're named for times of the day), the sparse 17:39 and the synth-driven 22:12, although I find Adrian Åsling Sellius' frequent sax interjections a little offputting.
Mellotron? Both members play Sonores Studios' MkVI, if not a lot, with chordal strings on 13:24 and drifting choirs on closer 00:50. I'm not even really sure who to compare this with—suffice to say, it has little in common with 'rock', which will probably suit some of you perfectly.
 |
Mad Love (2004, 70.54) **½/T |
|
| Dancing in the Rain Lie Without a Lover Crash Push My Eyes Adore You Como Me Acuerdo Heaven Can Wait This Time California |
Try Me Solitary Man Never Know the Truth Do You Remember Mad Love Commitment Mas y Mas (Crash Push) Noche Fria (Dancing in the Rain) |
|
Current availability:
Mellotrons/Chamberlin used:
Robi Rosa, a.k.a. Dräco Rosa, Robby Rosa, Robi Draco Rosa, Draco Cornelius Rosa, Draco and Tommy Leaman, amongst others (!), is one of two ex-members of famous Puerto Rican boyband Menudo to have significant solo success, the other being the better-known Ricky Martin. Menudo? Probably the ultimate boyband, in that members leave at the age of sixteen, meaning the band have worked their through around thirty members in twenty years, although, given that most of their releases have been for the Latin market, you're forgiven for not having heard of them.
2004's Mad Love (as Robi Draco Rosa) is more varied than his early work, though I'd be hard-pushed to say it's a better listen, with schlocky ballads like California and Solitary Man vying with the more Latin stuff for which is likely to bore the average listener the most. Best track? The 'hidden' one, strangely, Commitment, which has a bit of a psychedelic bent to it, sounding completely unlike the rest of the album. The ubiquitous Patrick Warren (and bloody good luck to him) plays Chamberlin on the album, with what sounds like Chamby flutes on My Eyes Adore You and more definite ones on Solitary Man. It's quite possible that some of the album's strings are Chamby, too, but it's so hard to tell that I've had to leave them out.
See: Samples etc.
