I totally disagree about losing their audience. I can tell you that the last time John Hawken played a Mellotron, it was one of mine. Dave Cousins wanted to use two on stage but Hawken was afraid that they would be like they were in the 70's. Finally, after playing it in rehearsal before the Sellersville show in 2004, and after much badgering from the rest of the band, he played it (briefly) during Hero & Heroine. I put a video up of it on you tube.
The next night he again played it live at NEARfest and that show was recorded and released by the band. It was great show. Most of the time Hawken was playing the "Pinder" samples.
After the show, Hawken said that he would have played it (them) more if he'd had a chance to rehearse with it/them properly. As it was, he has rearranged some of the Mellotron parts to take advantage of his more updated keyboard rig.
Frank
In a message dated 4/25/2012 7:32:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, bluesrock77@hotmail.com writes:
Hi Bernie,
I'd say Ghosts is the last one...Nomadness was recorded without a Mellotron, which was a silly idea by John Hawken according to the Mellotron book. At that point Strawbs lost its old audience and failed to acquire a new one...a bad move...to say the least.
best,
Roberto