"Mannheim Steamroller---more than just Christmas music": This week's newspaper column

[Willie G. Moseley]

Mannheim Steamroller—more than just Christmas music

The sojourn of a “band” called Mannheim Steamroller is one of the most unique in recent times, and also includes a lot of very unique—and very listenable—music. These days, the group is primarily associated with contemporary arrangements of Christmas carols, but their saga is intriguing.

Mannheim Steamroller founder Chip Davis was previously known for collaborating with country music singer C.W. McCall of “Convoy” fame (during the height of the C.B. radio fad in the mid-Seventies), but the first M.S. was also released around the same time, on Davis’ own American Gramophone label.

Early distribution was somewhat oddball, as well—American Gramophone albums were only available in high-fidelity shops that sold expensive brands of audio equipment like Crown and McIntosh. Somehow, such a strategy seemed to be appropriate, because the fidelity of the recordings and the music itself were quite “high-end.” 1975’s Fresh Aire and its first few numerical successors were probably used extensively as demo albums in such retailers (more about demos momentarily).

Perhaps the most intriguing songs by the band were the ones that started out in a minimal manner on “classical” instruments and were joined in the ensuing passages by more-modern instruments such as drums and synthesizers.

And perhaps the definitive example of such “progressions”/“musical snowballs” is found on in “Mere Image,” from Fresh Aire III. Obviously, a formal music naïf like me can’t be sure what all the instruments are (and I’m still trying to figure out the real words to “Louie Louie”), but the tune sounds like it begins with a lilting, whimsical-sounding recorder, and is then joined by a harpsichord, then an oboe (or maybe it’s a bassoon).

After about two minutes, a piano and drums kick in, with a fat-sounding synthesizer holding down the bass line…but the oboe/bassoon continues the melody line. There’s also a second synth riff flitting around, bird-like, as embellishment.

By the three-minute mark, a string section has joined the melody, and from what I can tell, three minutes later it’s a piano and strings that help the song to, uh, wind down, but that recorder whistles the melody again just prior to the fade out.

“Mere Image” is six minutes of sonic ecstasy, guaranteed to give first-time listeners goose bumps.

(TANGENT: Around the time Fresh Aire III debuted in 1979, I was working with the state distributor for Sony’s Consumer Products Division, and I used “Mere Image” as a demo song on an early Walkman before it was even released in the U.S….and it wasn’t even called a Walkman at the time. Listeners were impressed by the sound of the tiny gizmo, but many of them also wanted to know who they were listening to).

The first four Fresh Aire albums were reportedly about seasons, while the fifth album was about outer space, and the sixth had a Greek mythology theme. By the time of the fifth album, the London Symphony Orchestra and choirs were participating, and the albums had “standard” retail distribution.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Mannheim Steamroller also recorded an album with guitarist Mason Williams (who had a late Sixties instrumental hit called “Classical Gas”).

However, for many average music fans, their initial sonic experience with Mannheim Steamroller was indeed Christmas music, but even that turf has produced some memorable moments. “Pat a Pan” is in the same progressive vein as “Mere Image,” and could stand on its own any day of the year (not just during the Holiday season).

“Sixteenth Century rock and roll” is not an inappropriate term to describe the music of Mannheim Steamroller, and some of their material can be sampled on youtube. If you’re not familiar with their, er, non-seasonal music, you owe it to your ears to check it out.

Consider such a referral a Christmas present from yours truly.