A big hand for the MELLOTRON !!

pierreolivier wrote: pirkka wrote: pierreolivier wrote:   For me,the real starter for my love of the Mellotron is the fabulous Harmonium album "Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison".   For those intrested in Mellotron,I recommended the buy of " the Mellotron book" by Frank Samagaio,   Great album this Harmonium. I made a trip to europe this summer in my car and had this among a couple of other CD's with me and played it a couple of times. Beautiful music! And about the book of tron, I'll got to buy it. Thanks for advise, again.   I'm sorry but I must correct  Actually it is Frank Samagato not Samagaio... But found it in Amazon and ordered it, about £10.   Pirkka   Hi pirkka,sorry to contradict once more by my copy said Frank Samagaio as the author.I know Frank by reputation because he his a regular writer at the Mellotron forum,wich i am also a member.Anyway,you will had the truth when your copy will be shipped.   There's will be another Mellotron Book due this fall with apparently more photos but Frank's book is full of useful and interesting infos for Mellotron fans.

I think someone has recently started to manufacture Mellotrons again, real ones, not copies. I don't have any website address though, but I can try to look if you're interested.

Plileas wrote: I think someone has recently started to manufacture Mellotrons again

That's correct, but they're not to be called mellotrons any more (Streetley Electronics lost the right to use the name, apparently), I did know what they're called now... but I've forgotten

In addition to these, a German company is making a digital version called the Memotron:



Much smaller, much lighter, much more reliable & apparently contains samples of all the original tapes... but will it sound the same, eh?

Personal favorite Mellotron track? Seven Stones by Genesis - the deceptively simple understated closing section is guaranteed to melt me into a drooling puddle every time - Lovely!
    

Edited by Jim Garten - July 28 2006 at 07:21

Philéas wrote: Jim Garten wrote: That's correct, but they're not to be called mellotrons any more (Streetley Electronics lost the right to use the name, apparently), I did know what they're called now... but I've forgotten In addition to these, a German company is making a digital version called the Memotron: I know the Memotron, but I saw a pic from the NAMM show this year, where some guy presented a newly manufactured Mellotron, with the right name and everything. I'll try to find it again.

Mellotron Mk VI




The Mellotron Mk VII





Website is HERE

Excellent, Joolz -

I WANT ONE!

In The Court Of The Crimson King Mellotron Mark II:

Edited by erik neuteboom - July 28 2006 at 17:29

Emerson hated the Mellotron (because it caused unemployement for classical musicians) but recently I noticed a picture from early ELP with a Mellotron M400 on stage .. .. did he ever use it while being in ELP (he did in The Nice)?

Edited by erik neuteboom - July 28 2006 at 18:03

The Mellotron caught fire ... incredible story, it reminds me of the early Genesis Mellotron that stopped just before a show. Tony Banks was desperate but finally a roadie removed the motor from of a dust cleaner to the Mellotron and ... end good, all good, the Mellotron worked again  !

It gets a big hand from me! Apparently the mellotron was conceived to mimick, perfectly, the sounds of an orchestra playing. That was the intention. But it couldn't simulate a real orchestra, perfectly.

 

Instead, it put out sounds quite different from a 'real' orchestra. Creative rock musicians capitalized on this difference.

 

Now, I'm not the biggest Tony Banks fan in the world. But Banks (Genesis) knew how to make the mellotron sound like something really big. Reference: Intro to "Watcher of the Skies" and, especially, many sections of A Trick of the Tail.

 

Compared to other mellotron players of the day, Banks' stuff did not simply sound like a person playing keys of the instrument -- it actually sounded like the entire sky crashing to the earth, then reforming again. That's what music is all about.

 

I'm surprised Tony's name is not as synonymous with the mellotron as, say, The Moody Blues' name is.