RELEASE MUSIC ORCHESTRA - GET THE BALL - 1976

Germany's Release Music Orchestra rose from the ashes of freakout band turned jazz-rockers Tomorrow's Gift, eventually recording five albums. They're usually described as fusion, and compared to Passport, but to my ears, there's as much progressive- as jazz-rock in their sound, certainly going by their debut, Life, that unusual, though not unique thing, a live debut album (recorded in Amsterdam and Hamburg, with studio overdubs). Unlike their later work, the album is instrumental, and has some fiery playing from all concerned; OK, maybe it is fusion. Fusion-prog. OK? The composition (such as it is) is less impressive, but this is music designed to showcase musicianship, rather than songwriting. OK, it's jazz.

Manfred Rürup plays Rhodes, synth and Mellotron, by the sound of it, although he keeps his 'Tron use well reined-in, with mostly short string parts designed to lift the sound at appropriate moments. Saying that, there's a lengthy organ (?) passage on Zemäs Rutan that almost sounds like a Mellotron (sort of high and wheezy), so is there actually any 'Tron at all? Without a credit, who knows, although it doesn't half sound like one most of the time.

Their first studio album, the following year's Garuda (**½), is Mellotron-free, although there is some minor use on '76's Get the Ball. Overall, the album isn't dissimilar to their debut, mixing fusion and prog in a pretty unique way, concentrating more on composition than lengthy, tedious soloing, although there's a fair bit of that to be heard, too. True to form, Rürup barely uses his 'Tron at all, with merely a faint string pitchbend and a couple of high, sustained notes in the title track and similar in Atlantis. I've never seen anything alluding to any 'Tron use on '78's Beyond the Limit, and while their last album, '79's News, has an odd, phased choir sound on one track, it's more likely to be a Roland Vocoder than anything Mellotronic. Musically, the album's a return to fusion-by-numbers, with the addition of polysynths (sounds like a Prophet), and rather dull brass riffs that go on for ever.

So; Life is a reasonably good album, far better than the dull fusion of Garuda, but don't go expecting a Mellotron Monster, while Get the Ball is even lighter on the tape-replay front. An archive live release, Bremen 1978, came out on Garden of Delights in 2004, but I've no idea whether or not there may be any Mellotronic input. As far as these albums are concerned, don't bother for the minimal 'Tron, but fusion fans might apply.
http://www.planetmellotron.com