Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists
Subject: In Search of the Lost Tune
From: kenmerb@...
Date: 2006-08-26
OK, things have been slow on this list lately, so I'll share a little story with everyone.
In the early 1970s I used to listen to a great "Progresssive" FM radio station in the Orlando, Florida area. It was named WORJ, located in the center of an orange grove (thus, the call letters).
This station had a promo song that opened the start of each broadcast day. I always loved the tune, but could never find out who did it. The tune had this great intro, which combined Echoplex guitar and what sounded to me like pitch bended mellotron choir. The chorus of the song went (appropriately) Good Morning To You, Good Morning To You, etc. etc. I woke up to the sound of that tune every morning, and it became imprinted on my brain.
Years went by, the radio station folded, and I never did find out who did the song and never heard it again, only in my head. I searched for it on the web, I asked several people on this list, no luck. I started to wonder if it was just a tune that I dreamed or something.
Nevertheless, I loved the mellotron sound and one day, in 1998, I came across an ad in Vintage Guitar magazine for someone selling a mellotron M400. I contacted the seller and it turns out that it belonged to a recording studio in Nashville, "Cinderella Recording Studios", which was affiliated with Columbia Records. The owner, Wayne Moss, had used it on some recordings, nothing that I recognized. The tron was in great shape and I bought it. This I still own, my beloved #1217.
Fast forward to last week. I was listening to XM "Deep Tracks" and I heard ∗that tune∗ for the first time in 30+ years. Now, the nice thing about XM radio is that you have the artist and song title there, right on the readout. Who was it?
It was the Steve Miller Band, name of the song was (of course) "Good Morning". After some quick research, I found out that it was the opening track on his "Number 5" album. I immediately ordered the CD, which arrived a couple of days ago.
As I listened to the song's intro, I can definitely hear the Echoplex, but what I thought was pitch bended mellotron now sounds like some other tape effect, possibly a mellotron going through an Echoplex unit or just some tape wizardry by someone fiddling with the tape recorder. It's definitely some kind of tape effect. I'd be interested to see if anyone on this list could identify it.
Now the strangest part of the story is that, as I read the liner notes, I saw that this album was recorded at.....Cinderella Studios in Nashville, and the recording engineer was.....Wayne Moss, the guy I bought #1217 from. Since this tune was recorded in 1970, it couln't have been my M400 on there, even if it was a mellotron, but still, quite a coincidence. Anyway I just thought that I would share that with the group here. That's either a very strange coincidence, or maybe just a case that it's a small world when it comes to the mellotron.
BTW, does anyone know where I could pick up an Echoplex these days? ;-)
Ken M.
M 400 #1217 (almost used by Steve Miller)
MKII #247 (almost used by Ken M.)