Mellotronists

chris.dale@... wrote:
>
> It might be Robby Robbins you're referring to who played keys for
> him (Seger).
>
> It also might be a chamberlin and not a mellotron as well.
>
> According to the person I purchased my chamberlin from, the
> chamberlin belonged to a fellow named Tom Neme (receipts for repairs
> are abundant!) who had purchased it from Robby Robbins (Seger's
> keyboard player).
>
> Although he was sure it was used professionally, he didn't know what
> ; recordings it was used on, so the only way to ascertain this is
> scrutiny of liner notes. I believe it's possible since everyone
> involved was and is local to the area, but apart from said receipts
> there is no paperwork to back it up. Perhaps some phone calls would
> yield some info.
>
> Turn The Page does sound more like mellotron than chamberlin to my
> ears though.
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> Thanks for confirming what I always figured about the Seger. Who
> ; played keyboards for him at the time? I don't own any Seger, though
> this is such a great song, I wouldn't mind having a copy!

"Turn The Page" was written in 1973, first appearing on "Back In '72".
"Smokin' O.P.'s" came out in 1972. "Seven" came out in 1974. ; Robin
Robbins is credited with Mellotron on the latter album, but "TTP" is not
in the track list, so there must be 'tron on one of the other "rock ballad
with balls" found on it.

Knowing that I had the studio version of "TTP" around somewhere, I went
digging through some MP3 roms looking for "Back In '72" (released in
1973), an album not in my wife's Bob Seger collection because it's never
been legally released on CD. Sure enough, "Turn The Page" is there, with
Robbins on keyboards. So, first mystery solved. Robbins is the guy.
He's also the keys player on the "Live Bullet" album from 1976, playing
piano, organ, clavinet and...Mellotron. So even though Robbins owned a
Chamberlin, all of his work with Seger credits him on Mellotron. This is
probably erroneous, since it's not likely he'd be playing someone else's
'tron if he had a chamby of his own. It's likely that only an afficionado
would know the difference, or even care enough to "get it right", so I can
see how he'd get credited with 'tron.

Before I went nosing through my wife's CDs in search of this piece of
'tron-trivia, I'd have sworn it was Craig Frost handling 'tron on "TTP",
but he didn't join Seger's band until Grand Funk disbanded in 1977. I bet
most people hearing "TTP" [either version], who know a little about
Seger's band, probably assume it's Craig Frost, simply because of him
being a high profile guy from a major US hard rock band. So credit where
it's due to Mr. Robbins, who did an excellent job both times.

"We have a Mellotron that simulates the sax very well, though...I play
piano, and the organ player plays a violin-kind-of Mellotron wall, and he
covers the sax pretty good." (Bob Seger commenting in an early 1975 radio
interview). For an fairly extensive disection of this missing album go to
http://www.segerfile.com/72.html

That breakthrough live album seriously kicks arse from start to finish.
My wife (a Michigan gal) was in the audience on the first gig of the two
night stand from which "Live Bullet" was assembled. Seger in his
home-town, in front of a rockin' Detroit audience...magic! It's one of
her favourites, and the only Seger album I ever bought for myself.
--
Cheers,
SDM -- a 21st century schizoid man
http://systemstheory.net internet music project
http://thecleanersystem.com software for dry cleaners
NP: nothing