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Touch & Go (1996, 39.03) **½/T |
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| What a Man City Rain Days of Desire Touch and Go Good for Me As the Days Go By What Can I Do Strange Girl |
Radioman Eternalize |
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Wildeve were Cecilia "Lili" Plieninger's solo project, 1996's Touch & Go being released on fifth-rate German prog label Music is Intelligence. It's a kind of piano-led singer-songwriter effort, Plieninger's piano and voice mostly backed by unnecessary and dated synth strings, with no obvious highlights. And what the hell's with her occasional half-laugh/half-singing hybrid? Did someone say something funny?
Hardy Heinlin plays what sound like genuine Mellotron strings on atypical closer Eternalize, by far the rockiest thing here and the only track to sound like anything much else on the label. Speaking of which, like pretty much everything else on Music is Intelligence, this is well worth avoiding.
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Live in Paris, 8 Janvier 1983 (2007, 56.55) ***/0DéfiléLe Curé Miroirs Passage Take Seven Jungles Ptérodactyles Soir |
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Maybe surprisingly, given his rather non-Gallic name, Barney Wilen was a French jazz saxophonist, whose recording career stretched from 1957 until just before his death in 1996. He was noted for his eclectic approach to his art, discovering rock in the late '60s, punk a decade later and electronics in the early '80s. As far as I can tell, Live in Paris, 8 Janvier 1983 was released in 2007; it doesn't seem to've appeared at the time of recording. Basically, it's a collaboration between Wilen and Dièse 440, a synth trio, the end result being a largely improvised mesh of analogue electronica and Wilen's bop-era sax runs, possibly too experimental for its own good, although the disparate elements occasionally coalesce into something worthwhile.
Michel Bertier is credited with 'prepared Mellotron'; er, huh? How do you 'prepare' a Mellotron? Stick drawing pins into its felt pads or pinch-rollers? I've had this in 'Mistaken ID' for years, as it appears to be so 'prepared' that it doesn't actually exist, until I found the pic to the right. Yup, the white box behind the chap in the dark jacket. And... It's totally inaudible, which is why it went into 'Mistaken ID' in the first place. Was Bertier playing sound FX? I can't hear any of the recognisable ones, but who knows? Without knowing how the machine was 'prepared', it's impossible to say. Anyway, pretty out-there synth jazz with no obvious Mellotron. Up to you, methinks...
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Rainy Day Assembly (2002, 53.38) **½/TT |
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| Small Things Define Rainy Day Assembly Nice and Warm Breathe Something Sweet and Real The Energy You Keep Skinny Little Line |
Favorite One Untitled Out of My Head |
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Tess Wiley has spent two periods in Sixpence None the Richer, which isn't a good start, although she doesn't appear to be some crazed evangelical. Her solo debut, 2002's Rainy Day Assembly, is a pretty dull effort overall, full of anodyne nonsense such as Nice And Warm and Something Sweet And Real, only picking up towards the end, with the darker, near-six-minute Untitled (yes, it's actually called that) and more electronic closer Out Of My Head.
Paul Bryan plays his Chamberlin, with chordal strings on Breathe, Favorite One and Untitled, muted horns on The Energy You Keep and cellos on Out Of My Head. Not enough to make this worth hearing, though.
See: Samples etc.
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Mojave (1999, 62.12) ***½/½ |
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| Another Lonely Night Color of the Sun The Work Song How to Get to Heaven Archy's Lullaby Go Jimmy Go I Miss You Best Cat Nap in the Boom Boom Room |
Front Porch Love Has No Meaning Sticky Right on Time The Visitor |
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The Willard Grant Conspiracy are essentially Robert Fisher plus whoever, although he formed the band with Paul Austin in the mid-'90s. 1999's Mojave is their third studio album and second to be recorded at Boston's all-analogue Zippah Studios, an alt.country set crossed with what I've seen described as 'American Gothic', which sounds about right. Top tracks include opener Another Lonely Night, which sets out their stall, The Work Song and slow-burning, eight-minute closer The Visitor, which builds to a massive crescendo without ever once entering post-rock territory. Not so sure about 'odd man out' Go Jimmy Go's hardcore approach, mind...
Someone (probably studio owner Pete Weiss) plays faint Mellotron strings on I Miss You Best, although that would seem to be your lot. I first saw a reference to Weiss playing Mellotron with the band years ago, so it's good to finally nail down an otherwise uncredited performance. So; good album of its type, but next to no Mellotron.
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Nectar (2003, 35.34) ***½/T |
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| Birth of the True Forget About Him Singing in the Dark Half the Grace May You Never Yellow Hummingbird Unexpected Rose Great Big Sea |
Mother Earth She Loves You (When I Try) |
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Americana singer-songwriter Brooks Williams was over thirty before he saw the release of his first album, 2003's Nectar being something like his tenth non-compilation. At its best on Yellow Hummingbird, Mother Earth and beautiful closer She Loves You (When I Try), I'd go as far as to say that, just for once, this album might actually be too short.
Producer Phil Madeira plays Chamberlin (unusual for him to work on a non-Christian album, actually), with a high-end cello part on Singing In The Dark. Usual mantra alert... Shame it wasn't used a little more.
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My Better Self (2005, 49.56) ***/TT½ |
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| Teen for God I'll Miss You Till I Meet You Echoes Blue Light of the Flame Everybody Knows This is Nowhere Two Sides of the River Empire |
Comfortably Numb So Close to My Heart Beautiful Enemy Liar You Rise and Meet the Day The Hudson |
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Dorothy "Dar" Williams is usually described as 'pop/folk', which is probably as good a description as you're going to get. She's essentially a protégé of Joan Baez, who's also covered several of her songs, which probably gives you a good idea of where she's coming from. My Better Self sounds ever so slightly more muscular than 2000's The Green World, although I've no idea whether or not this is deliberate. Dar covers a couple of classics, with good versions of Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and, bizarrely, Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb.
In direct contrast to The Green World, although only one musician is credited with playing Mellotron (Julie Wolf), it's on several tracks, with strings on I'll Miss You Till I Meet You, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and (quietly, sadly) Comfortably Numb (plus cellos), flutes and strings on Blue Light Of The Flame and flutes on You Rise And Meet The Day and The Hudson.
See: Samples etc.
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Visions (1977, 31.02) **/T |
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| Time on My Hands I'll Forgive But I'll Never Forget I'm Getting Good at Missing You In the Mornin' Missing You, Missing Me Some Broken Hearts Never Mend Fallin' in Love Again We Can Sing |
I'll Need Someone to Hold Me (When I Cry) Expert at Everything Cup o'Tea |
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Don Williams (1939-2017) was an old-school country singer, whose 1977 release, Visions, despite its 'traditional' sound, is rather more listenable than you might expect, although that may well depend on how much country you've been subjected to over the years. As someone from a nation where this isn't the default setting, it strikes me as harmless enough, but it's easy to understand how Williams' slightly hokey, downhome philosophy and mainstream sound could drive music lovers to distraction/homicide. Better tracks include I'm Getting Good At Missing You and closer Cup O'Tea, but I can't imagine they'll endear this to anyone other than fans of the genre.
Probably for financial reasons, someone (more than likely Charles Cochran) plays Chamberlin strings on several tracks, notably Time On My Hands, I'll Forgive But I'll Never Forget, Some Broken Hearts Never Mend (the album's hit) and Cup O'Tea, although his use is complicated by the solo violin that crops up here and there. To be honest, most of you are going to hate this with a vengeance, so with so little obvious tape-replay use, whether or not I recommend this is a bit of a no-brainer.
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Two [as Kathryn Williams & Neill MacColl] (2008, 39.34) ***½/½ |
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| 6am Corner Innocent When You Dream Come With Me Before it Goes Blue Fields Frame Grey Goes Weather Forever |
Shoulders Armchair Rolling Down All Holes in Your Life |
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After her 1999 zero-budget debut, Kathryn Williams came to the general public's attention when she was nominated for the 'prestigious' (it says here) Mercury Prize for the following year's Little Black Numbers. Five albums later, 2008's Two is a duet with Neill MacColl, a gentle, all-acoustic album of the pair's heartfelt songs, the kind of music that is often called 'folk', but isn't. Top tracks include Innocent When You Dream and Blue Fields, but there isn't anything here that should offend the discerning ear.
Williams plays clicky, clearly genuine Mellotron flutes on opener 6am Corner herself, although the strings on Shoulders are real.
Official Williams/MacColl site
See: Samples etc.
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Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (2014, 103.17) ***½/½ |
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| Compassion Protection Burning Bridges East Side of Town West Memphis Cold Day in Hell Foolishness Wrong Number |
Stand Right By Each Other It's Gonna Rain Something Wicked This Way Comes Big Mess When I Look at the World Walk on Temporary Nature (of Any Precious Thing) Everything But the Truth |
This Old Heartache Stowaway in Your Heart One More Day Magnolia |
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I've been waiting for Lucinda Williams to turn up here for years; somehow, she's the kind of artist you feel really should use a Mellotron (or Chamberlin) at some point. And here she is, with 2014's sprawling, two-disc Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, which feels like a summary of Williams' career to date, its stylistic reach stretching from trad.country to twin-guitar southern rock and all bases in between. Highlights? West Memphis ("That's the way we do things in West Memphis"), the bluesy Foolishness, Something Wicked This Way Comes and haunted, near-ten-minute closer Magnolia. However, if I'm going to be honest (and I think I should), many of the songs feel a little... overextended; some editing would actually improve the album. Honorary exception: Magnolia.
Patrick Warren plays his Chamberlin on three tracks, with a background string part, only occasionally audible, on Burning Bridges, a flute part dipping in and out of the mix on When I Look At The World and exceedingly faint strings on Stowaway In Your Heart, subtle to the point of near-inaudibility.
See: Samples etc.
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Mark Williams (1975, 36.19) **/T |
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| Gimme Little Sign Get on the Right Road Celebration Love the One You're With Let Love Come Between Us Disco Queen Sail on White Moon Ain't No Sunshine |
Wailing Wall Jimmy Loves Marianne Yesterday Was Just the Beginning of My Life A Perfect Love |
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Mark Williams left his band, The Face, in 1973 for a solo career; the first evidence of this, 1975's Mark Williams, was apparently New Zealand's 'best selling pop/rock album of the '70s'. With the benefit of hindsight, it consists of soul-inflected mid-'70s pop, concentrating on slightly lesser-known cover versions, although Stephen Stills' Love The One You're With isn't exactly unknown. Other writers featured on the album include Todd Rundgren (Wailing Wall), the Easybeats' Vanda and Young (Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life) and Tony Ashton and Jon Lord (Celebration), all tackled in a bland, mainstream sort of way that probably wouldn't have turned anyone's head in Britain or the States, or possibly even Australia.
David Fraser plays Mellotron on a couple of tracks, with flute and string lines on Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine and a rather maudlin string part on closer A Perfect Love, but as so often with this kind of album, nothing you can't do without. On the offchance you should happen to a) be in New Zealand or b) be a New Zealander, please avoid this album. It may be perfectly professional, but so are any number of tedious mainstream efforts; I think giving it two stars is rather generous, to be honest.
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Intensive Care (2005, 53.04) **½/T |
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| Ghosts Tripping Make Me Pure Spread Your Wings Advertising Space Please Don't Die Your Gay Friend Sin Sin Sin |
Random Acts of Kindness The Trouble With Me A Place to Crash King of Bloke and Bird |
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After Robbie Williams left the massively successful Take That, he was widely expected to disappear into obscurity, but surprised all and sundry by becoming everyone's favourite Cheeky Chappie, notching up hit after tedious hit. The biggest, or at least the most ubiquitous of these was the irredeemable Millennium, which without the replayed sample from Bond soundtrack You Only Live Twice wouldn't even have been a song. His popularity (almost exclusively with women of seemingly all ages) refuses to wane, however, mostly due to his saturnine good looks and 'rock star' persona. Yawn.
After acres of shit, Williams' music improved slightly in the early 2000s, 2005's Intensive Care carrying on in similar vein, mixing medium-outrageous lyrics (opening couplet "Here I stand victorious/The only man who made you come") with more heartfelt stuff like the pedal steel-infused King Of Bloke And Bird. It certainly toys with mainstream drivel (A Place To Crash), but avoids that awful dance-influenced style that so many of his contemporaries seem to find it perfectly acceptable to foist on the general public. Jebin Bruni plays something unidentifiable on a Chamberlin on Spread Your Wings (what is it about this guy and re-using Queen song titles?), but Claire Worrall's Mellotron strings on King Of Bloke And Bird cut through nicely throughout the track, which ends with a genuinely beautiful minute or so of solo lap steel.
So; a man improving himself, which has to be applauded; under no circumstances, however, even think about voluntarily hearing any of Williams' early work. Very nasty. For that matter, don't go too far out of your way for his recent albums, either; just because I'm saying 'it's a lot better' isn't to actually say 'it's any good'.
Official site (should you, for some bizarre reason, wish to go there)
See: Take That
See: Samples etc.
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Buy My Record (1981, 11.54) ***/TBuy My RecordBlack Yard Frankfurt Time to Dance Again |
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Robert Williams is probably best known as Captain Beefheart's drummer on his last couple of albums, although he was also co-credited on Hugh Cornwell's Nosferatu. Unsurprisingly, his first fully solo release, 1981's Buy My Record EP, is a fairly peculiar effort, sounding not unlike Beefheart at his most disorganised, with pretty odd vocals, if we're being generous. Of course, it's meant to sound odd; you think it'd have got three stars otherwise?
Beefheart's co-conspirator, Eric Drew Feldman, plays Mellotron here, amongst other things, with faint string and brass interjections on Black Yard, though nowhere near as upfront as on Doc at the Radar Station. Overall, then, an odd little effort that I don't believe's available anyway, although I could be wrong. Not worth it for the Mellotron, whatever.
See: Captain Beefheart | Hugh Cornwell
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The Sweetest Days (1994, 52.18) **/½ |
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| Intro-Lude The Way That You Love Betcha Never The Sweetest Days Higher Ground You Don't Have to Say You're Sorry Ellamental Sister Moon |
You Can't Run Moonlight Over Paris Constantly Long Way Home |
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Vanessa Williams achieved fame early, being the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America, although a Penthouse photo-shoot scandal outrageously forced her to resign, in true double-standards tradition. However, she fought back, becoming both an actress and a successful recording artist, which has to stand as a major blow against the (patriarchal) empire. The Sweetest Days was her third album, apparently more varied than her first two, including jazzier material such as Sister Moon alongside her usual R&B-flavoured stuff. You, the typical Planet Mellotron reader, are not going to like this album.
It's actually perfectly good at what it does and Williams has a fantastic voice, but if you don't like music variously described as 'adult contemporary' and 'smooth, sexy adult pop', you don't wanna go there... Credited Mellotron on two tracks, surprisingly, with something entirely inaudible under the real strings on Higher Ground, from Nick Moroch and a pleasant flute part on closer Long Way Home from Jeff Bova. I can only reiterate that unless you're a Vanessa Williams fan who's found their way to this site, you are MOST UNLIKLEY to like this album... One OK Mellotron track, but that really is your lot.
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Musings of a Creekdipper (1998, 43.27) ***½/TTT |
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| Periwinkle Sky Rainmaker Kashmir's Corn Train Song (the Demise of the Caboose) Last Word Nature Boy Tree Song (Eucalyptus Lullabye) Let it Be So |
Allergic Boy Humming Bird Grandpa in the Cornpatch Blackbirds Rise |
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Water to Drink (2000, 48.02) **½/TT |
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| Grandma's Hat Pin Gladys and Lucy Water to Drink Light the Lamp Freddie Claude Joy of Love Until the Real Thing Comes Along Lagniappe |
Junk Little Bird Young at Heart A Little Bit of Love |
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Victoria Williams (MS sufferer and now ex-wife of Jayhawk Mark Olson) released Musings of a Creekdipper in 1998, possibly best described (by someone else, I'll admit) as sounding like 'a southern Neil Young'; her thin, high voice certainly recalls Neil's more wind-blasted moments on the album's sparse, quirky Americana. It's actually quite difficult to pinpoint highlights; this is one of those albums best consumed as a whole (take that, iTunes), most of its tracks bearing comparison with each other, the sum greater than its parts. Patrick Warren plays Chamberlin on a good half of the album, with solo male and female vocals on Kashmir's Corn, strings (although voices are credited) on Train Song (The Demise Of The Caboose), more strings and mixed voices on Last Word, distant flutes on Tree Song (Eucalyptus Lullabye), voices and (inaudible) horns on Allergic Boy and (once again inaudible) horns and uncredited flutes on Grandpa In The Cornpatch, making this one of the more major Chamby albums to be found on this site.
Surprisingly, if not alarmingly, her follow-up, 2000's Water to Drink, sounds nothing like its predecessor, being an album of mixed-genre singer-songwriter stuff, frequently straying into light jazz, lighter blues or even 'standards' territory, none of which seem to be particularly well-suited to her voice. In fairness, there are a couple of countryish tracks (notably closer A Little Bit Of Love), but Williams' desire to 'stretch out' seems to be removing her from her natural constituency. Phil Parlapiano plays Mellotron, with distant cellos on opener Grandma's Hat Pin, strings and cellos on Light The Lamp Freddie, flutes and cellos on Claude and a major flute part on Junk, which is rather more than I'd expected.
Musings of a Creekdipper is a prime Americana release; all alt.country/Neil Young fans who haven't already encountered it need to do so immediately, ditto anyone wishing to hear Patrick Warren's Chamberlin used audibly for once. However, I'm not quite sure who at whom Water to Drink is actually aimed; chances are, such concepts are fairly alien to Williams and she made it because she wanted to. I'm not personally sure it's a success, but that's just one man's opinion. Anyway, a passable level of Mellotron use on a sadly rather mediocre album.
See: Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams
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The Chain Reaction [OST] (1980, 38.23) ***½/T |
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| Awakening The Beast Decontamination Heinrich's Theme Waldo A Swim in the River Chain Reaction Once More With Feeling |
Paradise Valley Car Chase Carmel's Theme Waldo Arrives The Hand at the Window Message to a Friend |
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Andrew Thomas Wilson soundtracked Aussie 1980 nuclear disaster flick The Chain Reaction with an electronically-inclined score, chiefly played on Moog and Roland modulars and an Oberheim four-voice, alongside a couple of non-synth 'boards. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of its contents are best described as 'atmospheric'; as with so many soundtracks (actual incidental music and themes, as against a list of popular songs), I'm sure this is best heard in context, although it's a decent enough listen in its own right. Highlights? The cheesy, sequencer-driven The Beast (wonderfully of its time), Decontamination, the skronky Waldo and the title track, amongst others.
Wilson also plays Mellotron on a couple of tracks, with distant choirs on Decontamination and Car Chase, quite distinct from the Moog vocoder that pops up here and there, but not exactly anything you can't live without. This hasn't been issued on CD - I doubt if there's much demand for it, sadly - but it's one of the better non-Vangelis/John Carpenter electronic soundtracks about.
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Fanfare (2013, 78.22) ***/T |
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| Fanfare Dear Friend Her Hair is Growing Long Love to Love Future Vision Moses Pain Cecil Taylor Illumination |
Desert Trip Fazon New Mexico Lovestrong All the Way Down |
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Dixie Blur (2020, 55.11) ***/T |
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| Just for Love '69 Corvette New Home So Alive In Heaven Making Love Oh Girl Pirate Enemies |
Fun for the Masses Platform Riding the Blinds El Camino Real Golden Apples Korean Tea [Deluxe edition adds: Baby You're a Star |
Simple Thing The Woods Are Greener Demon None But Us Enemies (acoustic) Golden Apples (acoustic) Fun For The Masses (acoustic) '69 Corvette (acoustic)] |
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Jonathan Wilson appeared in the mid-2000s, seemingly from nowhere, already over thirty; his 2013 release, Fanfare, isn't wildly dissimilar to his 2005 debut, Frankie Ray, although Wilson's tightened up his songwriting in the interim, better tracks including the jammed-out Dear Friend (all very Neil Young, albeit in a more West Coast kind of way) and the acoustic Cecil Taylor (very CSN&Y). Wilson has the likes of David Crosby, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne on backing vocals, not to mention members of Tom Petty's band in attendance, all of whom add their distinctive touches. Six credited Mellotron tracks, with Wilson playing something inaudible (strings under the real ones?) on the opening title track, strings on Dear Friend but nothing audible on Fazon or on All The Way Down, while Jason Borger is credited on Desert Trip and Omar Velasco on Lovestrong, with nothing obvious on either, although we get uncredited, authentically wobbly strings on Illumination. Given that Wilco's Pat Sansone's involved, could it be their machine? Once again, all very accomplished, but far too long, most of the tracks in the five-to-six minute range. Edit, please!
Two albums on, 2020's Dixie Blur is, perhaps, slightly less 'country', at its best on Pirate, moody, six-minute closer Korean Tea and the acoustic versions of several tracks added to the deluxe edition, notably '69 Corvette. Wilson and Sansone on credited 'M400', with Chamberlin solo male voice on '69 Corvette and Platform (presumably on M400 tapes), drifting flutes on New Home and what sounds like a solo male voice, played polyphonically, yet not the Chamby one, on deluxe ed. bonus Demon, although other possible sightings are more likely to be fast-Leslied Hammond.
See: Samples etc.
