The Mellotron Group

Burn him...burn him...what DARK FORCES be he MEDDLING WITH (etc)

fdoddy@aol.com wrote:
>  
>
> You wanna hear heresy?  I don't even own that album...never have.
>
> fritz
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@gmail.com>
> To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Fri, Oct 16, 2009 12:57 pm
> Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Court
>
>  
> This may sound like heresy....
>
> Does anyone else have the new 40th anniversary edition of 'In The 
> Court of the Crimson King'? I do (as you may expect) and believe it or 
> not, what has been done to it in terms of sonic quality is astounding. 
> It's even better than the 30th anniversary edition (which I thought 
> was outstanding) and comes with some really good extras too.
>
> But.
>
> To me, the biggie on this album was always 'Epitaph'. It was really 
> this track that showed me the way and pointed me at a style of music I 
> don't think anyone else in the genre has come /close /to equalling. 
> And it was always the Mellotron that did it. Everything else in the 
> track was great, but the piercing shreik of the Mellotron propelled it 
> from being a /fairly/ standard minor key tune into something really 
> magical.
>
> Which begs the question: /what the shiny blue fuck has happened here? 
> /I was listening to the track again today having had a feeling of loss 
> in a couple of previous listens, and have suddenly found out where it 
> was coming from. Or not. At the close of the first chorus the 
> Mellotron climbs to the top E as well all know...and never gets there. 
> The note is /not there/. One note. Big deal, you may say, but it is a 
> /sublime /note. As Fripp himself has droned, you '/can play any note 
> they like provided it's the right one/'. And this is the right one. 
> It's sweet and perfect and rounds off the chorus perfectly. So why is 
> it omitted. It's even in tune!
>
> Worse is to come. /That pitch bend. /My 14 year old jaw dropped on 
> hearing it for the first time. I think I destroyed my first copy by 
> dropping the needle onto at point again and again and again. It is a 
> fantastic, blood-curdling hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck experience. And 
> on the 40th anniversary set it is /sludged out/. The crescendo behind 
> it absolutely overwhelms it to the extent that you can hear the trick; 
> one Mellotron plays a crescendo climbing 'flat' to E-minor whilst the 
> other one bends up to it. Expert fading on the original ensured that 
> the /effect /was heard but that the squeak of strings ratcheted up 
> like that /was not/. It's a superb moment. And you can barely hear it 
> on the new release.
>
> Has anyone else noticed this or any other weirdness/ It's the only 
> track I have listened to in such detail so far, which makes me a tad 
> scared for the rest now. Actually, I'm playing it now and the clarity 
> of the piece now makes it sound like Mike Giles banging on timpani in 
> a studio, not the far-off and distant /sound of doom /that I know so 
> well. Maybe less is nore. Perhaps Fripp has /tinkered beyond. /Perhaps 
> I'll ask him.
>
> Musical choices aside, the sound quality is to be heard and 
> disbelieved. A friend with a good 5:1 system says that 21CSM is like 
> having the band play in your front room.  It's that good.
> -- 
>
> Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
>
>
>
> Free Music Project: http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/ 
>
> Or http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
>
> Or http://soundcloud.com/mikedickson
>
> Or http://www.planetmellotron.com/revd4.htm#mikedickson
>
> You
>
> 

-- 
Mike Dickson, Edinburgh

Free Music Project: http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/ 
Or http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
Or http://soundcloud.com/mikedickson
Or http://www.planetmellotron.com/revd4.htm#mikedickson