Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

-----Original Message-----
From: melloman@... [mailto:melloman@...]
Sent: 15 May 2003 12:13
To: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: RE: [Mellotronists] RE:first mellotrons in rock

 

Hi Chris!

 

> To  everyone,
    My name is Chris Haley.  I just joined the list this weekk and plan to contribute much to the online discussion.  I have a pretty definitive answer when it comes to the first American recordings which feature the mellotron.  Of all things, it is basically a tie between Curt Boetccher and Jan & Dean, both had recordings made in 1966 which featured the mellotron.  Curt Boetccher used in on recordings by his group the Ballroom, which appear on both the "Magic Time" Millennium box set and on the first album by Sagitarius "Present Tense."  There are swells of strings and brass of MK II on about four tracks.  Unfortunately there does not appear to be any mellotron on any of the later Millenium or Boetccher solo tracks.

 

    The Jan & Dean recording in question is "Save It For a Rainy Day" which appeared in late 1966.  It is basically a Dean Torrance solo album utilizing the Jan & Dean name after the famous "Deadman's Curve" Jan Berry car wreck.  There is a heavy Brian Wilson influence over the album and the mellotron is used to recreate the string sounds.  Basically it seems that the bass player Joe Osbourn owned the MK II mellotron as the album was recorded in his garage and Larry Knechtel, later with Bread, was the keyboard player.  Overall a very strange album as all of the songs have to do with rain.  The Sundazed cd reissue of the album has many of the instrumental backing tracks sans vocals, thus the tron use can be more readily heard and appreciated.

 

   One another American tron album from this period that is very good is "Intercourse" by the Tokens.  It was recorded in 1968 and features much MK II brass, flute, and strings.  There is an interesting artcle on the Tokens web site about how the album was recorded at Broadway Recording Studios in New York in 1968 and the mellotron use.

 

   A few other interesting tid bits.  An online interview with Billy Joel reveals he has a mellotron also in his studio.  Also, an interview with Glass Hammer on their recent "Lex Rex" cd reveals they use mellotron samples on all of their albums but the tron on the albums they produce like Sonambulist and Volare is real.  Finally, tomorrow night I am seeing the acoustic Strawbs in concert in Cincinnati.  I am definitely going to talk to Dave Cousins about tron related issues, like the possible tron on "Pieces of 79 and 15" off of the first Strawbs album, which model did Wakeman use on "The Shepherds Song" on "FRom the Witchwood", is there any mellotron on "Heartbreak Hill", and is the tron on the recently released Strawbs cd "Blue Angel" real.  I'll report back over the weekend with all of the answers I get.

 

    By the way, the Rolling Stones MK II owned by Mick Jagger and used by Brian Jones on "SAtanic Majesties" is on exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  I saw it back in January.

 

    Thanks again everybody.

 

                         Chris Haley Not a tron owner but hopefully one day.

 

Chris has been supplying me with info for a while now  - all I have to say is, 'brave man' for attempting to ask Cousins about, well, anything really! He'll be pissed as a parrot after the show, if not before, and I seriously doubt that he'll be able to remember anything at all from 30-something years ago, never mind Mellotron minutiae! Worth a try, though...  :-)

Andy T.

M400 #1145

'The Ultimate Mellotron Recordings List (Possibly)'

http://freespace.virgin.net/andy.thompson/