The Mellotron Group group photo

Yahoo Groups archive

The Mellotron Group

Index last updated: 2026-04-03 22:19 UTC

Message

Re: [newmellotrongroup] Court

2009-10-16 by fdoddy@aol.com

funny!


 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@gmail.com>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, Oct 16, 2009 4:48 pm
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Court






















    

                  
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

Attachments