Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

previous by date index next by date
previous in topic topic list next in topic

Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: [Mellotronists] duh moment

From: Rick Blechta <rick@...>
Date: 2002-05-16

Well, Clay, you'vegot two problems here. One is that Ray Thomas is a bad
flutist.Ian Anderson was not bad. Gabriel, well...he put on a hell of a
show. Wouldthese songs have benefited from a better flutist? Have you heard
the GenesisRevisited or Hackett's Tokyo Tapes stuff? Ian McD makes a HUGE
differenceto the Genesis songs.

In 'ITWOP','Epitaph' and the 'Rain Song', the keyboard parts are not
difficultand are played VERY well. Just because you're a great session
player doesn'tmean you have to race all over the damn instrument. As a
matter offact, the players most in demand are the ones who keep it simple
(BenmontTench, anyone?). On the other hand, the flute pieces you mentioned
are simple(with the exception of 'Thick as a Brick') and are played poorly.

Don't confusegood playing with difficult playing. Many of the best pieces
are simpleto play, but nonetheless deserve to be played well.

Rick

PS Did I mentionthat Ray Thomas is a bad flutist?

ceccles_cawrote:

> --- In Mellotronists@y...,Rick Blechta <rick@r...> wrote:
> "...mostrock players (especially) figure if that can make a bit of a
> whistleand wiggle their fingers around a bit, they know what they're
> doing..."
>
> The pointis... A lot of our favorite tunes with flute wouldn't have
> been bettersongs if played by a great flautist.  Songs like "Timothy
> Leary","The Actor","Are You Sitting Comfortably","Thick as a
> Brick","Firthof Fifth".... None of this material would have
> benefitedif a "great session Flautist" had been brought in.  (IMHO).
>
> Would "ITWOP","Epitaph" or "The Rain Song" been better if a session
> keyboardwizard was brought in?
>
> Clay