Mellotronists

> Hi Bob,
> I have no orchestral background at all, but I was going to ask where do
> you hear an oboe in Tuesday Afternoon?  It's one of my favorite Moodies
> tracks, but over the years I've never detected an oboe sound in there.
> Roughly how many seconds in does it appear?  There's a part that would
> be natural for oboe at the beginning of the verse after JH sings the
> word TUESDAY and Mike Pinder plays what sounds like C,D,C,Bb,A and then
> the word AFTERNOON which Pinder follows with C, D,C, Bb,G.  If that's
> what you're referring to, it still sounds like Tenor Sax and Three
> violins mixed to me.
> curiously yours,
> john b


Well, it sounds oboe-esque to me and it is heard pretty much from the start.
Bear in mind that I first heard Tuesday Afternoon when I was in the 5th
grade and the sound as far as I could tell was that of an oboe and that is
the concept that stayed locked in what passes for my brain. I wouldn't learn
about the Mellotron for another seven years.

Anyways, the suggestion that the sound is actually that of a sax makes good
sense, especially as the sound seems to be played a little north of its
natural range.

I want to thank everybody for your replies,

Bob Vandiver

-- 

"Mentioning Jesus in your speech, that's small government. Doing what Jesus
asks, that's big government."

Stephen Colbert, 6/20/06

> 
> MAinPsych@... wrote:
>> In a message dated 3/13/2007 6:01:09 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>> rick@... writes:
>> 
>>     If memory and ears serves, that's a real oboe played by Mssr. Ray
>>     Thomas. There was no mellotron oboe at that point, and in
>>     listening to the recording, it sounds to me like the real deal.
>>     The percussive sound is "key clack" because he must be squeezing
>>     the hell out of the poor thing. The pinched quality of the tone
>>     also leads me to that conclusion.
>> 
>> ** 
>> *Sorry, Rick, but I respectfully beg to differ, and I have an
>> orchestral background as well.  You are correct in that there was no
>> Oboe sound for the MkII at that time.  I think it's been long
>> established that the "other" Tuesday Afternoon sound is Tenor Sax
>> (Station 2, Track 3 on Mike's standard MkII tapes (although live
>> recordings show that Mike only played 3 Violins despite having
>> identical tapes on both keyboards -- go figure).  Check it out
>> directly if you have both sounds in your SFX m/c.  I first heard this
>> sound alone playing Justin Mayer's MkII and was blown away at the
>> discovery, having originally thought that it was something like muted
>> trumpet.  I later recorded both sounds (the TA intro) when I got the
>> Pinder CD-ROM and THAT was the sound.  You can hear that it's the
>> Tenor Sax sound more prominently in later recordings (e.g., alternate
>> takes, the MFSL disk).  The new Classic Artists Moodies DVD and my
>> interview with Tony Clarke confirm that Ray's exposure to the oboe
>> (bleeding lips and all) was not until ISOTLC, where he dubbed them
>> "the world's smallest orchestra".  Mike also used the Tenor Sax sound
>> on the break in "Evening (Time To Get Away)" on DOFP, and on "Lazy
>> Day" from OTTOAD.*
>> ** 
>> *Cheers,*
>> *Frank*
>>