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What was your first mellotron experience on LP and live ?

madmike

madmike

I feel much better now, I really do...
I was just musing on the mellotron and then the thought struck me that I don't know where I first heard one...

Not over the radio because that would be Strawberry Fields or Space Oddity or something.

For me it would be Fragile Yes on LP. Did I know it was a mellotron...nope.

I had Moving Waves by Focus but was unaware that Thijs Van Leer used a mellotron. My first awareness of such an instrument was at a Genesis concert in 1973 at the Manchester Free Trade Hall and Tony Banks' white mellotron.

But it was not the first time I heard one live, that would have been Tony Kaye's with Badger supporting Yes at the Manchester Hardrock in late 1972. The live LP from that tour features some very prominent 'tron.

What's yours first mellotron experience, live and on LP ?
 
The first time I really noticed the mellotron in a song was when i was about 8 years old Kites, by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. Live, that's a good question, probably Genesis when I was 14 in 1972.
 
That'll be on Tangerine Dream's Phaedra in '74. Not sure I've ever experienced one live.
 
I remember it being featured on Blue Peter, can't remember the exact year, but I would imagine it was late 60s.
 
Dad playing his "This is the Moody Blues" double LP. That Mike Pinder trick of playing a chord and then turning the speed down to half gave a 6-year old Seeker the creeps. It wasn't until I bought "Rubycon" by Tangerine Dream that I realised what instrument made that sound.

Live, the best user of the 'Tron was Free System Projekt at Leicester Space Centre but as it was samples, perhaps that's not the right answer. In which case it'll be Brendan Pollard live.

I always wanted a 'tron but having seen how much Brendan had to pay to keep his in order and how much of a sod they are to play, I may go for a Manikin Memotron.
 
My first Mellotron LP was T. Rex Tanx, though I think I first started associating 'that' sound once I'd heard The Moody Blues In Serach Of The Lost Chord, King Crimson ISOTCK etc. I owned TD's Phaedra and Rubycon back at the time too, though it wasn't until a lot later when I started playing with synths that I really started understanding the specific sounds and associating them with the instruments that created them. I've never used a Mellotron, though you can get one for your iPad these days, and for that matter a VCS3!
 
King Crimson - Dec. 04, 1972 Sheffield City Hall and I think there were two on stage

Also somehow an app for it for £8.99 seems wrong but much more portable
 
I would have to admit to Strawberry fields. But of the albums i really loved with a Mellotron on it i can't remember which i heard first, Fragile by Yes or Elton John. The first live performances i saw was Genesis and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
 
It's a beautiful instrument but a pig to keep going. Mine needs a tune up before each session and even then occasionally farts out - which is sometimes really charming. :D It really needs a proper service by Streetly, but getting out of the studio fills me with the jeebies - I really admire those '70s technicians. But it's worth it - every 'tron makes a unique sound.

Steven Wilson's just bought a new one after borrowing Fripp's for the Raven - iPad's be dammed!

Stephen
 
LP - Court of The Crimson King or some Barclay James Harvest, can't quite remember.

Live? Either Camel or Renaissance. Probably...
 
I couldn't say when I first heard or became aware of mellotrons but I certainly enjoyed Steven Wilson's chat about the use of mellotrons at the RAH the year before last.
 
Strawberry Fields, Small Faces "I'm Only Dreaming", Kinks - it's all over the "Village Green" album.
 
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