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I believe Panama was limp Dutch indie songmeister Marinus "A Balladeer" de Goederen's debut; a wetter album you'd be hard-pushed to find, frankly. It's probably at its least bad on Fortune Teller, but that isn't saying a lot. Pity he didn't cover the Van Halen song of the same name. Peter Bauwens' Mellotron? Inaudible. Sorry, Kid was his third album, released as Mr. A Balladeer, for some reason. Well, I can't argue with their name; this is essentially an album full of indie balladry, wet as water, When A Law's Been Broken being the nearest it gets to anything energetic. René de Vries supposedly plays Mellotron on the amusingly-titled More Or Less The Sort Of Shit Ex-Lovers Get Restraining Orders For, but the choir on the track barely even sounds like a Mellotron sample. Get out of here.
ARC are two of the UK's most renowned synthesists, Ian Boddy and Mark Shreeve, both known for their multitudinous solo albums, not to mention their other projects. I believe 2000's live Radio Sputnik is their second joint release, a darker and less generic record than those by many of their contemporaries, with more experimental use of their instruments than the usual 'make 'em sound like The Tangs' approach. As with most such, it's difficult to pinpoint individual highlights, but the overall effect is certainly more inventive than some I could name (but shan't). One or the other (or both?) of these gentlemen add Mellotron samples to most tracks, with choirs and strings all over the place, to generally pleasing effect, albeit a slightly ersatz one (note the obligatory German term thrown in there).
2005's Arcturus is a document of the duo's improvised set at the 2004 Hampshire Jam, essentially consisting of one extremely long track and one medium-long, in an unsurprisingly similar vein to Radio Sputnik. Once again, the duo do their level best not to sound like anyone else doing this stuff; the best term I can find to describe the synths around twenty minutes into Arcturus - Part 2 is 'slippery', quickly followed by some rare-for-EM (admittedly horribly sampled) piano work. 'Mellotronically' speaking, we get very upfront flutes all over Arcturus - Part 1, unison cello and flute parts on Part 2, with string section later on, closing (in another unusual-for-EM crescendo) with choirs. Yup, a big crash-bang ending always does the trick... Anyway, more string section on Helicon makes for a decent enough samplotron release, although it would be so nice to hear an EM outfit outside the usual suspects using a real Mellotron occasionally. OK, often.
Glasgow's Abel Ganz (named in honour of French director Abel Gance) were second-rung British prog revivalists in the '80s, releasing three cassette albums that I should hate, but actually have something of a soft spot for, despite their blatant neo-proggisms. Reforming in the 2000s, Shooting Albatross, consisting of four lengthy pieces, gives us the 'new' Abel Ganz, who sound both like and unlike the old, combining 'modern prog' with more blatant neo-isms, notably the widdly monosynth part on So Far. Samplotron flute, string and choir parts scattered here and there fail to convince. In contrast, 2014's Abel Ganz is little like their earlier work, fitting more into the kind of overblown current style as typified by the likes of Big Big Train. It's clearly good at what it does, but I couldn't even finish listening to it. Sorry, guys. Jack Webb plays credited (for once!) Mellotron choir samples on two parts of the lengthy Obsolescence, Sunrise and Dawn, to no great effect, to be honest.
Abiogenesi are on Italy's Black Widow label, which tells you everything you need to know about them if you're au fait with the scene: early '70s-inspired, organ- and guitar-heavy hard rock/prog, none of your modern rubbish. Despite a few weak moments, their third album, 2000's Le Notti di Salem, is an enjoyable listen for those into the style, although little of its material really stands out. It's notable for a guest appearance by flautist Clive Jones from the original Black Widow, which could be construed as completing the circle, I suppose. Best tracks? Maybe Similia Similibus Curentur and Z.A.W. (Zombie Abiogenetic War), but there's nothing here that offends. Marco Cimino's credited with Mellotron, but I'll be amazed if it turns out to be real, although it's not as obviously sampled as many of the efforts in this part of the site. There's nothing on the first several tracks, but then we get murky choirs on Mr. Clive E Dr. Jones, similarly iffy strings on Similia Similibus Curentur and Z.A.W. and flutes here and there that pretty much merge with the real one on offer. Overall, then, a decent enough effort from a band who only record occasionally, with a few tracks of (probably) sampled Mellotron. Fans of Black Widow, Uriah Heep et al. should almost certainly give this lot a listen.
Texans Absu play what they term 'mythological occult metal', somewhere between the death, black and thrash sub-genres (no, I'm not making this stuff up); my nephew (hi, Gabe) loves this lot, so I can't be too harsh. 2009's Absu (actually their seventh album) is, to my surprise, highly competent, despite the silly vocals, with supremely tight playing and reasonably inventive riffery all round, although I wouldn't go as far as to single out any particular tracks for praise. Drummer/mainman Proscriptor owns up to using sampled Mellotron, with string parts on a few tracks, although they're not exactly a defining feature of the album. To be honest, I could've done with this being a little shorter, but that's just selfishness on my part; I'm sure their fans are happy to listen to fifty-odd minutes of Absu in one go. Two years on and Abzu is, basically, more of the same, guaranteed to keep the band's fans happy and to bore the rest of us rigid. In fairness, it's a good bit shorter than its predecessor and manages a degree of musical variation, the fourteen-minute, six-part A Song For Ea being about the most listenable thing here. Samplotron strings, flutes and choirs scattered across its length, used with surprising subtlety.
Accordo dei Contrari's second album, 2017's Violato Intatto, ups the ante from their 2011 debut, Kublai, in the prog/fusion crossover stakes, featuring not only a largish helping of saxophone, but also Deus ex Machina/PFM's Alessandro Bonetti's ripping violin on a couple of tracks. Highlights include the sax-led fusion of opener Folia Saxifraga, the magnificently-placed growling organ chords on Monodia and, as if to prove the band aren't entirely retro, the oddly contemporary delayed synth effects that open Shamash. The 'making of' video on YouTube shows us that while keys man Giovanni Parmeggiani plays fake Hammond, he uses real Rhodes, MiniMoog and ARP Odyssey, the last-named used to excellent effect with the filter squelches on Eros Vs Anteros. If the album has a fault, it's a little overlong and could probably have done with a bit of an edit; Idios Cosmos loses its way slightly, while the female vocals on the otherwise excellent E Verde È L'Ignoto Su Cui Corri (the album's only non-instrumental) sound rather out of place, but these are minor quibbles. Parmeggiani plays credited Mellotron strings on E Verde È L'Ignoto Su Cui Corri, building up slowly towards the end of the seven-minute piece, although I'm afraid I'm unconvinced, not least because there's no sign of it in that 'making of' video. Well, you'd show off something that cool, wouldn't you! Wouldn't you?
Acid Baby Jesus, from Athens, play a frequently unhinged form of psychedelia, somewhere between Syd's Floyd and '90s shoegaze, which was, I suppose, a psych sub-genre anyway. 2014's Selected Recordings seems to be their second album 'proper', ignoring an early cassette-only release, a fuzzed-out drone-fest of material like opener Diogenes, Ayahuasca Blues and I'm Becoming A Man, alongside more straightforward numbers like the rather wonderful Who's First and Vegetable. Markos Mazarakis is credited with Mellotron on You & Me, but the flutes are too smooth and the strings barely even sound Mellotronic.
Acme Rock Group (clearly a nod towards the running gag in Warner Bros. Road Runner cartoons) were a powerpop outfit, whose Star is a decent release that rarely approaches 'outstanding', if truth be told. It's at its best on their fine cover of The Who's Odorono, Wasting My Time and the lengthy Are You Dead, but the album's held back by too many mid-paced efforts. Erik Rex and Gordon Towns play samplotron flutes on Fly To The Sun and Are You Dead.
Mark Thomas Kluepfel's Action Action's second album manages the crafty trick of actually being even worse than their shoddy debut, dispensing with much of that release's landfill-indie sound for, er, landfill-electronica. The only tracks that stand out in any way from the morass of crud are probably The Game, which could be an Oasis outtake (not a recommendation, in case you hadn't guessed) and What Temperature Does Air Freeze At?, with its woozy, vaguely late '60s ambience. As if the rest of the album wasn't enraging enough, Kluepfel chooses to loop a little guitar/synth section for over six minutes at the end of the album, for no obviously good reason. Certainly not 'art'.
The 'Mellotron' is quite clearly sampled, if quite heavily used, with a couple of string swells at the beginning of opener Smoke And Mirrors, block string chords in Oh My Dear It's Just Chemical Frustration, more of the same in Sleep Paralysis, background strings in The Game and 120 Ways To Kill You, while What Temperature Does Air Freeze At? opens with a solo flute part, followed by upfront strings, which really give the sample game away. More upfront strings on The Other 90% Of The Iceberg and Attatched To The Fifth Story, assuming anyone actually cares by this point. Kluepfel's third (and, to date, last) album under this name was self-released in 2010, so he might just have taken the hint and stopped trying to make music.
Queens, NYC resident Ariyan "Action Bronson" Arslani's third album, 2015's Mr. Wonderful, diverges sharply from the hip-hop mainstream, many of its tracks featuring (albeit frequently sampled) jazz and '70s pop/rock influences. Fellow New Yorker Billy Joel has also been mentioned, his style of piano jazz/pop cropping up on one of the album's more listenable tracks, The Rising, while Only In America is based around a looped section from a perfectly acceptable bit of unidentified '80s rock. Does all this make for a good (or at least passable) album? If Mr. Bronson cut all the usual hip-hop nonsense, then yes, but he doesn't, so not really, no. Leon Michels is credited with Mellotron (and vibes) on Baby Blue, although exactly how and where he plays it will have to remain a mystery. The vibraphone is (obviously) real, while the repeating massed vocal line sounds like a sampled phrase from actual backing singers. OK, OK, the Mellotron choir is, of course, actual singers, recorded around 1972, but that's not what we're hearing here. The brass part at the end of the song? A trumpet. So, was an actual Mellotron present in the studio? Who knows?
Acuity are not so much a band as a solo project; Bradley Styles plays and sings almost everything on his debut, Skyward, with the exception of a violin solo by Discipline's Matthew Parmenter. Styles' talents vary in different areas, from perfectly good guitar, bass and keyboard work to so-so drumming and, to be honest, pretty poor vocals. The album draws heavily on the progressive metal genre, although it reminds the listener of Rush and their ilk in places, too, particularly on one of the album's finest moments, the closing riff in Voyager. Unfortunately, Styles' ambitions rather outweigh his talents, with whole sections that, if excised, would actually improve the album. Like many similar efforts, it's also far too long and should probably have been capped somewhere in the three quarter-hour zone.
There's no Mellotron input until track three, Milwaukee, which sounds OK until a high-speed flute part suddenly cuts in, obviously sequenced. In other words... Clearly samples. Unlike many similar efforts, Styles doesn't over-use them and plays them sympathetically, making them sound pretty authentic in the mix. The usual strings and choir can also be heard on Cul-De-Sacs Of Venus (alongside Parmenter's contribution) and Voyager, particularly nicely on the former, possibly the best piece on the album. In fact, it's a shame Styles feels he has to riff so hard so often, as his compositional talents seem to lie more in the progressive area. Sorry to be so hard on this album, as he's obviously operating on a tight budget, but listening to less Dream Theater would improve his style no end, as would a healthy dose of self-editing.
Claudia Acuña is a noted Chilean Latin/jazz vocalist who moved to New York in the '90s, subsequently guesting on albums by several big names in the field. 2009's En Este Momento is her fifth solo album, a laid-back halfway house between her two chosen genres, the Latin and the jazz combining better on some tracks than others, her stunning voice the one consistent feature. Best tracks? The last two pieces on the album, the energetic Sueño Contigo and the dynamic La Mentira (Se Te Olvida) grabbed me more than the more prevalent balladry to be heard elsewhere. Jason Lindner plays samplotron, with a gentle flute line on That's What They Say, although that would seem to be our lot.
Ad Infinitum's sole, eponymous album, was one of US neo- kings Kinesis' last releases and fits firmly into the label's standard remit, being unimaginative, by-numbers neo-prog, although not as bad as some I've heard, chiefly other albums on Kinesis. In fairness, they do try to be interesting, but there are far too many bland, bog-standard chord sequences played for several minutes on end to actually hold the attention of the discerning prog fan for long. Then there's Todd Braverman's voice... I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's the chief reason I couldn't listen to this album in one sitting. His strained, whiny tones grate on the (or at least my) ear and when combined with lyrics like, "Awaken in a mystic land/beyond the edge of time." Ouch... Fewer histrionics might've been nice, Mr. Braverman. Anyway, All Hallows Eve is about the best thing here, sounding an awful lot like (guess who) early Genesis, right down to Braverman's cod-Gabriel tones.
The band's one real coup was to secure the services of a little-known British illustrator by the name of Roger Dean to paint them a typically-Deanlike cover; the end result looks a bit like one of his backgrounds before he does something interesting to it, probably knocked out on a rainy Sunday afternoon, in the knowledge that the band would be ecstatic with almost anything he chose to throw at them. I'm reminded of Paul Whitehead's recent work (Submarine Silence, Colossus/Musea's Colossus of Rhodes project), where pale shadows of his early-'70s covers are treated like the second coming.
To clear up a persistent misunderstanding, there is NO Mellotron on this album. OK, I know the thanks list says, "Jim Rezek of Iluvatar for the Mellotron M400", but I've no idea why, as upon close scrutiny of the equipment list, despite several bits of decent vintage kit (Prophet, ARP Pro-Soloist, MiniMoog, Taurus), there's no mention of either a Hammond or a Mellotron, but every mention of the E-mu Vintage Keys and a Roland JV-1080 with both vintage synth cards. These are quite clearly what can be heard on a few tracks; in fact, I don't think Braverman or Ilan Goldman use anything other than the E-mu module, as the 'Mellotron' sounds have that awful murky, muted sound to them that seems to be the hallmark of those particular samples. Do you buy Ad Infinitum? No. It's overlong, boring and the singer makes me want to hit him.
Well, I'm not quite sure what else I expected of a Bryan Adams album, but On a Day Like Today is exactly the sort of blandola AOR mush with the usual touch of 'rootsiness' we've come to expect from the Golden Pen Of Bryan. Actually, said Golden Pen seem to've become somewhat tarnished over the last decade or so, with no major hit since that utterly execrable ballad stuck on the closing credits of that terrible Robin Hood film for NO REASON WHATSOEVER. Talking of which, you must all know the story about the couple about to get married who ask the elderly organist to play 'the Robin Hood song'? As the bride walks in, up he strikes, with the tune to the '50s TV series: 'Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen...' I really want that one to be true.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand, namely telling you more reasons why you shouldn't buy this album. Given this site's standard subject matter, there is next to no bloody Mellotron to be heard, with just a background string part on opener How Do Ya Feel Tonight from Bryan himself, quite certainly sampled. You know, you've gotta hand it to that Adams chap - he does it all: rockers, ballads, fast ones, slow ones... He even manages the occasional minor key. Not often, mind... And why the fuck (look, he's made me swear now) do the first two tracks sounds like bloody Oasis? Although they're pretty naff, his '80s hits like Summer of 69 (not about the year, apparently - see, he does rebellion, too!) and Run To You at least had decent tunes.
The Addison Groove Project apparently grew out of the Massachusetts jamband scene, concentrating on the jazzier and funkier ends of the genre. The end result, at least on Allophone (a term referring to the variants in the pronunciation of consonants), is a kind of jammed-out jazz rock, unsurprisingly; jazz and funk without being jazz/funk, possibly at its best on the likes of Skewer and Beantown and its worst on the occasional vocal tracks. An overall criticism? It's far too long. Rob Marscher's credited with Mellotron, but it's not exactly obvious; the brass (saxes?) on Canopy? Quite certainly sampled, anyway.
The Adorables are one of Zeena Parkins' various projects, an avant- stew of disconnected, found sound and occasional unearthly singing. However, Parkins's claimed Mellotron is, rather unsurprisingly, nowhere to be heard.
Advance Base are essentially Owen Ashworth, formerly of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, whose debut, 2012's A Shut-in's Prayer, is practically a case of 'text-book indie', every track a simplistic dirge, with little melodic invention. Harsh? But fair. I'm not sure why this degraded form of 'pop' has become so popular, but, when trawling through yet another indie release, I sometimes yearn for even a smidgeon of illumination, to light the indie shadows of dread. This album is miserabilism at its finest (?), My Sister's Birthday being a particularly dreary example. Ashworth plays credited Mellotron samples on Christmas In Oakland and Goldfish In A Robin's Nest, with muted flutes on both, not especially enhancing either. Don't bother. No, really. And I quite liked Casiotone...
Tatá Aeroplano (surely his real name?) is also vocalist for Cérebro Eletrônico; we can only hope that they're better than his eponymous solo effort, all Portuguese-language indie ramblings with a Latin influence. Is his inability to hit the note written off as a 'stylistic' quirk', I wonder? Incidentally, Dustan Gallas' 'Mellotron' flutes and strings (heard at their 'best' on Night Purpurina) are clearly nothing of the sort.
Aerosmith's fifteenth (and last?) studio album, 2012's Music From Another Dimension!, is a decent enough effort, considering they've been around the block a few times, although it suffers from over-length (if not quite as long as it could've been), several tracks heavily outstaying their welcome, although its worst crime is a lack of truly memorable songs. It all sounds like Aerosmith, just without the tunes. Saying that, there's some nicely angular riffage on Beautiful, Closer is undoubtedly the album's best ballad, while the Hammond-driven Something displays a little of the old band's fire. Mellotron? Paul Santo is credited on Closer, with a distant string part that sounds sampled to my ears, ditto the uncredited flutes (the strings are real) on closer Another Last Goodbye (played by Tyler?), which also features a vocal line copped directly from The Blue Öyster Cult's RU Ready 2 Rock.
At least in the eyes of the outside world, AfroReggae are intimately linked with 2005 documentary Favela Rising, which details Anderson Sá's heroic efforts to form a movement intended to stop disenfranchised kids in Rio de Janeiro joining gangs and getting involved in drugs. Exceedingly worthy, but does it produce good music? Unsurprisingly, on 2001's Nova Cara, the collective concentrate on hip-hop and funk, mixed with traditional Latin forms, 'tribal' chanting and a well thought-out rock/rap hybrid. The music's far enough from my personal comfort zone to make it difficult to review at all, although its quality is evident in its cross-genre experimentation, light years ahead of most of what passes as hip-hop. Apollo 9 produces, playing Clavinet and Mellotron himself, although it's pretty much impossible to tell where either might be heard, the occasional keyboard strings being so generic that they could come from almost anything, so into samples it goes. So; music that needs to be made and an organisation that needs to exist. Nova Cara is a joyful album, despite its background of poverty and violence, but it contains no obvious Mellotron and is something in which the average Planet Mellotron reader is unlikely to be interested.
Afterhours' 2002 release, Quello Che Non C'è, is something like their eighth album, neither actually bad nor especially good, better tracks including Sulle Labbra and closer Il Mio Ruolo, featuring one of those transcendent 'sticks like glue' melodies. Manuel Agnelli is credited with Mellotron, but without track-by-track credits, it's impossible to tell where it might be. Is that a cello? A flute? Another keyboard or even a guitar? Hopeless. 2008's I Milanesi Ammazzano il Sabato is supposed to be the band's 'most dissonant album yet', according to one online enthusiast, although to my ears, it's pretty much more of the same. Competent alt.rock, a couple of decent melodies, nothing you haven't heard done better by (chiefly) American bands. 'Mellotron' from Agnelli again, with mad, stabbing flutes on Pochi Istanti Nella Lavatrice and distant strings on the title track.
Aftertouch play exactly the kind of smooth jazz/funk that marred the late '70s and early '80s so badly, cheesy fuzak moves overlaid with superb, yet soulless playing. Despite the occasional burst of ripping guitar work, there are no best tracks, exacerbated by the album's excessive length. Danny Obadia's credited with Mellotron. Really?
Named for a rare wood product used for incense, Agalloch's fifth and final album, 2014's The Serpent & the Sphere, is surprisingly good, combining black metal, progressive metal and folk in roughly equal quantities, to pretty decent effect. The band have apparently moved through several phases, including a post-rock one, but their ultimate release seems closer to their metal roots than anything else. Best tracks? The short acoustic pieces, (Serpens Caput), Cor Serpentis and (Serpens Cauda), are all excellent, while longer, heavier material such as opener Birth And Death Of The Pillars Of Creation and Plateau Of The Ages show off the band's strengths. Although guitarist Don Anderson is credited with Mellotron, the strings on Birth And Death Of The Pillars Of Creation do little to convince, frankly. Given how good this is, I'm sad to report that the band split in 2016, although, given that three of the four members have regrouped under a new name, I suspect unresolved intra-band tensions were involved.
The Orion Years is a tribute to the iconic mid-'60s black and white German science fiction TV show Raumpatrouille Orion (Space Patrol Orion) that, despite the mere seven episodes filmed, influenced German culture heavily - their very own Star Trek. Musically speaking, the album apparently falls into the 'trance' sub-genre, a.k.a. relaxing bleeps and bloops over not-too-invasive rhythms, pootling along without making that much of an impression either way. The band use an impressive variety of equipment; while individual models aren't specified, manufacturers include Moog, ARP, Oberheim, OSC (presumably the Oscar), Octave (The Cat and/or Kitten) and Germany's very own PPG (early digital, a welcome alternative to Yamaha's ubiquitously tedious DX7). Plus, supposedly, the Mellotron. Allegedly. In actuality, it's entirely inaudible, the only 'possible' part turning out to be a synth patch.
Ageness are a Finnish neo-prog troupe who rose from the ashes of terrible '80s outfit Scarab, whose sole album should be avoided at all costs. Ageness' third album in this formation, 1998's Imageness, is a thoroughly clichéd neo- effort, touchstones including Genesis (assuming they couldn't write), Rush (assuming they couldn't play) and Asia, particularly in the awful, parpy synth parts splattered all over the album. Their worst crime, though, is the ten-part, twenty-six minute Sequels (The Feast Of Fools) that closes the record, almost a redefinition of the word 'hubris', the band massively overreaching and falling flat on their arses, that level of composition being way beyond their abilities. Prog/AOR epic, anyone? Thought not. Incidentally, I'm quite sure that at one point, I heard the lyrics, "The Jews of Kensal Green". What?
Vocalist/keys man Tommy Eriksson adds sampled Mellotron choir to Chain Reaction, Metamorphosis and Sequels, plus strings on the last-named. I'm struggling to think of anything nice to say about this album. It could've been even longer? Eriksson's vocals could've been even worse? The keyboard sounds could've been even nastier? No, scrap that one. Sorry, but this is a bloated, cheesy mess; if you love intricate, well-composed progressive rock, I can only advise you to go elsewhere.
Agent Error are German synthesist Richard Baumbach's solo project, which I've seen rather optimistically described as 'if Tangerine Dream was still making good innovative music'. 1999's Radioworld is more 'techno-informed electronica that sounds ever so slightly like the Tangs in places', which just goes to show that online reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt. Hang on a mo'... Anyway, while the album has its moments, the bulk of it consists of minor-key synth chords held for minutes on end, riding over rhythms that might have been current at the time. Incidentally, did he really think we weren't going to notice the Welcome To The Machine sample at the beginning of Plug & Pray? CD Baby states that 'many vintage electronic instruments guide the career of Richard: Mellotron, early PPG's 1002, 360 and many others', which isn't exactly the same thing as saying 'Richard plays Mellotron on this album'. Actually, it isn't even slightly like saying it. As a result, we get vaguely Mellotronic, clearly sampled strings on opener Another Rhythm and Plug & Pray and even more vaguely Mellotronic flutes on Radioworld II, leaving the slightly less vague flutes on closer Everything I Do as the closest this gets to 'Mellotron', which really isn't that close.
Apparently, Agents of Mercy were originally intended to be The Flower Kings' Roine Stolt's acoustic project, until he teamed up with Unifaun's vocalist Nad Sylvan, at which point it became a more typical Flower Kings-type outfit. Is that a good thing? All depends on how you feel about The Flower Kings, I suppose; I'm of the opinion that there's already far too much music about that sounds just like this, but then, I'm an old cynic. They have loads of fans who hang on their every utterance, so what do I know?
Actually, I know that I didn't really need to hear their debut, 2009's The Fading Ghosts of Twilight, but there you go. Aside from the vocals (and then not that much), it just sounds like another TFK-esque band, all of Stolt's usual harmonic quirks present and correct, not to mention their propensity for ludicrously overlong albums; almost eighty minutes in this case. Oh well, look on the bright side; it could've been a two-discer. It's not exactly the most original thing around, either; the title track rips off Genesis' Broadway Melody Of 1974 horribly - did they think no-one would notice? There's another Lamb... cop on Wait For The Sun, but I'm still trying to place it, while Ready To Fly has more than a hint of Jethro Tull about it, which at least makes a change from the usual suspects. Biggo Zelfries is credited with 'Mellotron', strings and choirs all over the place, yet never sounding quite right, for the obvious good reason.
Wasting no time, the combo released DramaRama the following year, a slightly more diverse album, taking in influences from psych and glam, alongside the ubiquitous prog. We get more Genesis and Tull 'borrowings' on opener The Duke Of Sadness, with paeans to a well-known brand of whisky (Meet Johnnie Walker) and (I presume) Queen (Roger The Tailor), amongst the lyrical witticisms on offer. Incidentally, I'm sure I spotted the line, "Your own special way", on Conspiracy. Deliberate? Sylvan and Lalle Larsson play keys, including the usual samplotron stuff, particularly noticeable in a couple of places. 2011's The Black Forest, allied with a suspicious lack of activity on the Flower Kings front, begins to make it look possible/likely that Stolt has grown tired of his re-entrée into the prog arena and is more enamoured with his current side-project these days. Or not? Either way, it's the most TFK-sounding album they've yet made, losing most of its immediate predecessor's mild eclecticism and committing the unforgivable (but all too TFK-familiar) crime of being boring. Unlike the band's first two releases, I'm having trouble thinking of anything much to say about this at all, as nothing about it actually stands out in any way. Samplotron here and there, but it's just another soundset in the band's large palette, rather than something that leaps out at you. Oh well, at least it's shorter.
Agricantus are an Italian ethno/new age outfit, whose 2001 release, Ethnosphere, is available in two different versions: an inexplicable two-disc version for their home market (even with a radio edit added, it's under seventy minutes) and a shorter international issue. It sounds exactly as you'd expect, with 'world' instruments and vocal styles melded to modern synths and programmed rhythms, the end result being the kind of thing that probably inspires about as much euphoria as detestation, this listener finding himself falling more towards the latter state than the former, especially after over an hour of its warbling inanities. Roberto "Pivio" Pischiutta plays alleged Mellotron on Gyantsé, with a chordal string part that strikes me as sampled.
Pepe Aguilar is the son of major Latin star Antonio Aguilar, his own career kicking off at the beginning of the '90s. Despite being American, he's travelled firmly down the Spanish-language route and why not? It's a huge market and he's clearly good at what he does. Which is, going by 2014's MTV Unplugged, fairly standard Latin pop/rock, although the set could be slanted towards ballads, I suppose, due to its acoustic format. Better tracks? The percussive, accordion-driven Arriba Quemando El Sol and El Cascabel aren't so bad, although the brassy, mariachi-style Juan Colorado/Chaparrita might be a bit much for Eurocentric listeners. No fewer that three 'Mellotron' players are credited, Francis Durán, Dario Gonzalez and Carmen Ruiz; while the whole concert's on YouTube, the keyboard players are hidden in the shadows, so it's near-impossible to determine whether or not there's a real Mellotron on stage. My suspicion is 'not', unsurprisingly, particularly when you hear the flutes on Miedo and El Cascabel, which could easily be generic samples, as against Mellotronic ones. So; kind-of unplugged Latin music, seems to do it well, no Mellotron.
Nanase Aikawa is a popular Japanese singer, her fifth album, Purana, being a kind of pop/rock/electronica effort, which would've been improved by dropping the electronica bit, in my humble opinion. Naoya Osada's credited Mellotron on Sakura Saku and Anata No Ondo turns out to be no more than sampled (almost inaudible) strings on the former and upfront flutes on the latter.
Aiko's Himitsu is a more straightforward soul/pop album than her earlier releases and subsequently less interesting, although at least now she sometimes holds notes without wavering. The only tracks that even slightly stand out are the early drum machine/Wurlitzer-driven Haru To Aki (although it quickly slips into the soul clichés that mar the rest of the record) and the rather bombastic Umi Usagi, which at least features a decent guitar solo. Masanori Shimada's 'Mellotron'? After listening to the whole, hour-plus effort, it crops up on the last track, Yakusoku, with a rather ordinary sampled flute part.
Georges Méliès Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902; spot the iconic image in the sleeve pic) is generally regarded as the first science fiction film, although it makes for rather odd viewing today. After a good decades'-worth of work, a newly restored and colourised print was released in 2011, soundtracked by Air (well, Daft Punk wouldn't have made much of a job of it, would they?), although many of their contributions must sit rather uncomfortably with the onscreen action. It makes for a decent enough listen in its own right, though, notable tracks including opener Astronomic Club, Nicolas Godin channelling Robert Fripp (or possibly his disciple, France's very own Richard Pinhas) like mad, while Sonic Armada features some inventive synth work.
Although both Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel are credited with Mellotron on various tracks, the audio evidence suggests that a well-known sample set is what we're actually hearing. Astronomic Club features some rather inauthentic pitchbent male voices, while the cascade of church bells on Parade sound a lot like the ones on the best-known FX set. Far-too-fast flutes on Sonic Armada and far too clean ones on Who am I Now? cement my opinion, with more of the same on Homme Lune and Lava. Overall, a good, typically Air-y effort, although you might have thought that the abomination of mid-'80s Queen soundtracking a colourised Metropolis (admittedly, using pre-existing music) would've put bands off doing this for good.
Going by their Far From Home (download-only?) single, Texans Airplane Mode combine indie and electronica in a way that, sad to say, really isn't appealing to your humble scribe. The basic track is... OK (he said, grudgingly), in a dreary-indie-with-extra-added-synths kind of way, but the 'b-side' remix is as dreadful as you'd expect (sorry, no fan of the 'art' of remixing). Despite Log S.' credited Mellotron, the string swells on the 'A' sound little like a real machine and those on the flip even less so, to the point where I'm not even sure if they're anything more than generic string samples.
AirSculpture (UK) see: |
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Carrie Akre's a singer-songwriter operating at the pop/rock end of the spectrum, at least on ...Last the Evening, probably at its best on Stupid Is and the mis-spelled Trafalger Square (Americans, eh?), although the 'contemporary' (now, of course, dated) production tricks could've been left on the cutting-room floor. Well-known sample user Steve Fisk adds samplotron to almost every track, with various combinations of strings, cellos and flutes everywhere you look. Or, indeed, listen. Definitely sampled, either way.
Busker is a singer-songwriter album, at its best on opener Being 25 and Lies Of Liars, maybe, while the lite jazz of the unlisted 'bonus track' is probably its lowpoint. Clay Cook's upfront 'Mellotron' flutes and brass on opener Being 25 are quite clearly sampled.
I suppose Minneapolis' Alarmists are usually described as 'indie', but to my ears, their 2007 debut, The Ghost & the Hired Gun, contains a quite timeless form of American pop/rock, with a distinct Britpop feel in places (not to mention the occasional Queen-like touch to the production, notably on beautifully overblown closer Ghost). It's one of those albums that doesn't specifically remind me of anyone and none of the songs really leap out, but the overall feel is of a very listenable record that may well appeal to lovers of both modern Indie and that much-overused term, 'classic rock'. Eric Lovold is credited with Mellotron, with strings on several tracks, while Nobody Knows You replaces them with choirs on the spaghetti-westernish intro and Thankful For The Chance adds flutes. However, the strings on a couple of other tracks sound too generic and sustain notes for too long, rather giving the sample game away.
Based in Brooklyn, Alberta Cross actually comprise an Englishman and a Swede, although, going by 2011's The Rolling Thunder EP (yeah, yeah, Dylan, blah) their musical outlook seems to be as American as their adopted hometown. The short disc veers between rock'n'roll-crossed-with-U2's-slide-guitar opener Money For The Weekend, the jammed-out pseudo-Americana of Ramblin' Home (see what I mean about the American influence?), electronica/rock crossover Wait and the dreary post-rock of Driving With Myself and Rolling Thunder itself, making for something of a curate's egg. Someone plays 'too smooth to be true' 'Mellotron' strings on Rolling Thunder, although they do little to improve the song. I haven't heard the duo's subsequent album, 2012's Songs of Patience, but I can only hope they've concentrated on their strengths, dropping the likes of this EP's last two tracks.