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T.Rox View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 25 2008 at 06:39
I've just managed to land Chris Neal's "Winds Of Isis" LP, an Aussie prog rarity that is supposed to have loads of over the top mellotron moments ... here's hoping Thumbs%20Up 
 
The album should be here in a week or so. Here is some info from PlanetMellotron...
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 22 2008 at 11:40
Father of Night, Father of Day by Manfred Mann's Earth Band has some riveting choir and string mellotron throughout the 9 minute epic, fabulous guitar and Moog solos as well. But lots of Tron!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 22 2008 at 12:56

Rick Wakeman does some quirky things with the mellotron.  "Catherine Howard" from Six Wives is a mellotron workout.  At 3:28 he starts using it with a leslie speaker maybe?  Makes it sound like a Hammond a little.  Then at about 4:08 there are a couple of cool 'tron stabs.  You don't usually think of stabs on the mellotron.   The piece ends with solo mellotron on the flute or some kind of reed setting which of course doesn't sound like either a flute or a reed.

I need to listen to Epitaph again.  I love the song, but you guys lost me on the mellotron change or swell reference.  It's evidently been too long.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 22 2008 at 14:50
Willowglass' debut is also loaded with Mellotron. Tracks Remembering, Tower of the Kings Daughter and Walking the Angels is dripping , gripping stuff.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 22 2008 at 23:47
'Watcher of the Skies' - Genesis
'Return of the Giant Hogweed' - Genesis
'Strawberry Fields' - Beatles
'Starless' - King Crimson
'In the Court of the Crimson King' - King Crimson
'Sailor's Tale' - King Crimson
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 23 2008 at 00:08
(In no order)

1. Genesis- "Fly on a Windshield"
2. The Moody Blues- "Tuesday Afternoon"
3. King Crimson- "In the Wake of Poseidon"
4. David Bowie- "Quicksand"
5. Led Zeppelin- "The Rain Song"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 04 2008 at 15:46
Originally posted by Chameleon Chameleon wrote:

I'm going to go with Tangerine Dream's 'Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares'. So few notes say so much.

Oh yes, that song is bliss.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 04 2008 at 16:01
Originally posted by Weston Weston wrote:

Rick Wakeman does some quirky things with the mellotron.  "Catherine Howard" from Six Wives is a mellotron workout.  At 3:28 he starts using it with a leslie speaker maybe?  Makes it sound like a Hammond a little.  Then at about 4:08 there are a couple of cool 'tron stabs.  You don't usually think of stabs on the mellotron.   The piece ends with solo mellotron on the flute or some kind of reed setting which of course doesn't sound like either a flute or a reed.

I need to listen to Epitaph again.  I love the song, but you guys lost me on the mellotron change or swell reference.  It's evidently been too long.
 
Time to fall in love againLOL What a thrill  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 04 2008 at 16:08
 
                             As a TRON-maniac I would like to present you my Mellotron moment:
 
                                        http://www.progwalhalla.nl/progcorner/?page_id=45
 
 


Edited by erik neuteboom - July 04 2008 at 16:20
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 07 2008 at 11:04
(something especially for Erik):
 
Lifted from a very detailed biog of Graham Bond:
some info about what is claimed to be the first Mellotron recording:
[quote]
By late July (1965), the Organization was featured on ITV's weekend show, Ready Steady Go!, on which they promoted their new single, "Lease on Love." Bond also used the opportunity to demonstrate his newfound keyboard, the Mellotron. The Mellotron resembled an organ but was able to emulate strings, brass and woodwind, giving Bond command of a mini orchestra. As Bond explained to Melody Maker, "The Mellotron uses pre-recorded tapes of other instruments. For example, every note in the register of the trumpet is recorded-and I can play it on the organ keyboard getting the real sound." The instrument created a minor sensation when Bond first publicly used it at the Marquee. However, they soon suspended its use in shows because, as Dick Heckstall-Smith told Blues-Rock Explosion, "It went out of tune the whole bloody time. It was also very big." "Lease on Love" may have been the first recording to feature the Mellotron, and the song garnered outstanding reviews. A New Musical Express critic noted, "Here's a good one that I can confidently recommend: 'Lease On Love' by the Graham Bond Organisation. What I like about this group is that the soloist has an inherent R&B feeling, and this is particularly noticeable with the persistent organ blues riff behind him." Disc Weekly asserted, "Graham is singing better than ever with a hush-coloured voice and oodles of feeling."
[unquote]


Edited by Dick Heath - July 08 2008 at 17:51
The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS.
CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php
Host by PA's Dick Heath.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 07 2008 at 12:03
 
                          Great story, Dick Thumbs%20Up and so typically for the Mellotron: famous for its unique
                                      sound and infamous because of its imperfections Wacko !
 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 08 2008 at 11:39
strange thing no-one named some of the very best mellotron moments of all so far. how about "Epsilon in Malaysian Pale" by Edgar Froese? or "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" by Tangerine Dream?


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 09 2008 at 01:09
Cinema Show, no doubt about it
 
then, in no particular order
 
Legend of a Mind - Moodys
Fountain of Salmacis
Seven Stones
Epitaph
ITCOTCK
Starship Trooper (live from Yessongs, or is that a synthasizer?)
Echoes  (is that what they use after the sound effects interlude?)
 
 
 
Casting doubt on all I have to say...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 12 2008 at 12:42
Watcher of the Skies - Genesis - best mellotron introduction
Epitaph - King Crimson - best combination of mellotron and voice
Histoire sans paroles - Harmonium - the best description I've ever read of that is "That mellotron doesn't seem to be played by human hands"
Can-Utility and the Coastliners - Genesis - best mellotron solo
Three Friends - Gentle Giant - best mellotron coda

An album that everyone should check is The Great Deceiver, by King Crimson, live in 73-74. It features the most original mellotron improvisations, and also a great work in songs like Starless and Easy Money!
"You’ll never make any money playing music that people can’t sing.” Keith Emerson's father
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2008 at 08:20

I agree with you all in relation to mellotron moments of King Crimson and Genesis. Perhaps thats why I regard them so high....I mean just listen to to this new remasters of the first 7 Genesis. Especially the DVD audio versions are truly jawdropping in any possible meaning of the world. Drew moments, one after the other......And Yes, the Lamb is one of the highest mellotron percentage albums ever made. Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats, for example. Totally amazing. But also forgoing albums knew thier mellotron share. Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, Cinema Show...and ofcourse Watcher Of The Skies, Seven Stones and Fountain Of Salmacis....are all equally fantastic. As for King Crimson....They had their share too. Reading all this really made me want to listen to Epitaph again.....And ofcourse In The Court Of The Crimson King....but but should also not forget In The Wake Of Poseidon, truly amazing mellotron song also. It was also KC's use of mellotron that made Genesis decide to embrace the mellotron in such a prominent way.

Untill I read all this comments I never saw Yes as prominent exponent of the mellotron and always tend to associate Yes more with the Moog (like very obvious in Awaken). Also Pink Floyd does not come to mind to me as a frequest mellotron using band...and ELP....Im just starting with that (although Im already in Prog for more than 15 years).

What surpising me most is the absence of Swedish prog. Someone once is mentioning Anekdoten's Karelia....but my good heavens what are we missing out here. True, Anekdoten is the most typical example of the use of the mellotron (they even take one on tour...till this day) But I can truly recomand all of you to listen to the Flower Kings, Anglagard and Landberk as we'll. Talking about amazong use of mellotron. But the most amazing example of mellotron use for me is still Motre Macabre. This colaboration between members of Anekdoten and Landberk created a 16 min. long song that no-one should leave out of his collection, for A Symphonic Holocaust is really really one of the crowning achievements of mellotron use.

Further.....I know there are alot of already long forgotten bands......like Spring, Zombies or Rare Bird...that were extremely heavy in the use of the mellotron.

 

 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 28 2008 at 10:51
Originally posted by manray manray wrote:

what are your favourite moments from the famous mellotron?
 
Only in Progarchives can I get to discuss great Mellotron moments and not feel like a freak Smile
 
Here they go:
 
Genesis              - "Watcher of the Skies" (greatest Mellotron piece ever in the intro)
Genesis              - "Los Endos" (the choir break in the 'Volcano' reprise)
Yes                       - "Heart of the Sunrise" (strings)
King Crimson    - "Epitaph" (the evil strings build up in the middle still give me the chills)
King Crimson    - "Starless" (beautiful strings all through the song part)
King Crimson    - "In the Court of the Crimson King" (no need to explain)
Anekdoten          - "Ricochet" (the best collaboration Ian McDonald and U2 never did)
Porcupine Tree - "Gravity Eyelids" (massive evil choirs on intro againt trip-hop beat)
Smashing Pumpkins - "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"
 
Surely I am forgetting many more, but those are the ones that come to mind first.
 
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