Gnosis Ratings

Reviews:

Mike McLatchey 18-September-2002 Mellan Tre Ögon

The oddly named Mr. Brown hailed from Sweden and released one album in 1974 that is somewhat of a rarity interest for progressive rock collectors. This one probably gets pulled into focus due to the heavy Jethro Tull influence in both flute and composition. However, while Tull's flute was often the spotlight, Mr. Brown is usually led by some pretty strong piano and organ work. Generally, Mellan Tre Ogon is at heart a 70s rock album and mostly resembles progressive rock only in terms of instrumentation and common inspiration. Vocals tend to be extremely sparse, only showing up a couple times throughout. The music varies quite a bit over the length of the album, including a ballad with guitars, Bob Dylan-like vocals and no keys that seems surprisingly out of place. Generally, the major draw here is the keyboard work whose balance between the piano/Hammond organ and arrangement in terms of the flute accompaniment works more often than not. The long instrumental sections which are generally not oriented for solos seem to work the best, although the compositions at this point in the game did not seem to be very strong and/or memorable, tending to be little more than chord sequences with lead melodies. In summary, this is one where the superficial merits of the 70s instrumentation probably gets noticed before anyone looks under the surface at the dearth of strong compositional work. On the other hand it sounds like the prelude to a masterpiece, an event that unfortunately did not happen as the band broke up.

Links for further information

Mike McLatchey	18-September-2002	Mellan Tre Ögon
The oddly named Mr. Brown hailed from Sweden and released one album in 1974 that is somewhat of a rarity interest for progressive rock collectors. This one probably gets pulled into focus due to the heavy Jethro Tull influence in both flute and composition. However, while Tull's flute was often the spotlight, Mr. Brown is usually led by some pretty strong piano and organ work. Generally, Mellan Tre Ogon is at heart a 70s rock album and mostly resembles progressive rock only in terms of instrumentation and common inspiration. Vocals tend to be extremely sparse, only showing up a couple times throughout. The music varies quite a bit over the length of the album, including a ballad with guitars, Bob Dylan-like vocals and no keys that seems surprisingly out of place. Generally, the major draw here is the keyboard work whose balance between the piano/Hammond organ and arrangement in terms of the flute accompaniment works more often than not. The long instrumental sections which are generally not oriented for solos seem to work the best, although the compositions at this point in the game did not seem to be very strong and/or memorable, tending to be little more than chord sequences with lead melodies. In summary, this is one where the superficial merits of the 70s instrumentation probably gets noticed before anyone looks under the surface at the dearth of strong compositional work. On the other hand it sounds like the prelude to a masterpiece, an event that unfortunately did not happen as the band broke up.
Links for further information