Mellotronists

Genesis appears to have had a strict policy for studio recordings
where they'd always arrange the music "as if live", so nobody is
playing a combination of instruments they couldn't play in a live
performance.  I don't know how intentional this was, but it sure seems
consistant.  If not obsessive.

Arranging a song "as if live" has a number of interesting effects:
  Live performances can sound pretty much exactly like the studio
  recordings.

  There's a certain sense of musical honesty.

  The listener can very easily imagine a live performance in their
  head and picture what each member of the band is doing.  (One could
  even argue that this effectively increases the value of your hifi
  system, since lifelike sound is what you pay for.)

  Some arrangements are completely dependent on Mike Rutherford's bass
  pedals and double-neck.

  And you can deduce how they pulled off some of the stuff they did.

Of course they dropped this policy after they were three.  And
Trespass was pretty early, I doubt they had this thing fleshed out at
the time -- certainly there are piano/organ sections in Stagnation
that don't sound possible live.  So in this particular case the policy
might not be helpful.  Still, it's interesting.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don@...
http://www.till.com