Celebrating music with six random tracks at a time
Happy Sunday and welcome to another imaginary music time travel excursion to leave any current worries you may have on your mind behind for a while or simply listen to some great music. As always, our itinerary includes six stops in six different decades with tracks in different flavors.
Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie/Bloomdido
Our journey today starts in July 1952 and an album by two jazz greats: saxophonist Charlie Parker, aka. Bird, and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Parker was known for his blazing speed and introducing new harmonic ideas. Gillespie was a virtuoso and improviser building on Roy Eldridge’s style but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. Both musicians are credited as key figures for the development of bebop. On Bird and Diz, they came together. Bloomdido, a jazz standard, was composed by Parker who also wrote or co-wrote all other tracks except one. Feel free to groove along!
Little River Band/Lonesome Loser
Next, let’s head down under and pay a visit to Little River Band, a pop rock group formed in Melbourne in March 1975. I’ve always dug their great harmony vocals. They have also had some catchy songs. One of my favorites is Lonesome Loser, written by guitarist David Briggs who was a member from 1976-1981. The song was on the group’s fifth studio album First Under the Wire. It also appeared separately as the first single, reaching no. 6 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the group’s highest-charting songs there. Check out that killer three-part a cappella intro!
World Party/Is It Like Today?
Earlier this week, news broke of the untimely death of Welsh singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger at age 66. He was best known as the man behind World Party and as a member of The Waterboys from 1983 until 1985. After leaving the British-Irish folk rock band, Wallinger formed World Party as a solo project in 1986 and released his debut Private Revolution in March 1987. In February 2001, a brain aneurysm sidelined his career until 2006. He slowly returned to performing and recording thereafter. In a 2022 interview, Wallinger said he was working on a new album. Is It Like Today? appeared on World Party’s third studio album Bang! released in April 1993. It also became the lead single – love that song and its retro vibe!
Monster Truck/Don’t Tell Me How to Live
Our next stop takes us to Canada and Hamilton, Ontario rock band Monster Truck. The group was formed in 2009 by guitarist Jeremy Widerman, drummer Steve Kiely and keyboarder Brandon Bliss, who teamed up with vocalist and bassist Jon Harvey. Following two EPs in 2010 and 2011, Monster Truck released their first full-length album Furiosity in June 2013. Don’t Tell Me How to Live is a song from their sophomore album Sittin’ Heavy that came out in February 2016. This rocks nicely!
Yes/Every Little Thing
Time to head to the ’60s for a dose of progressive rock by one of my favorites in a genre that has been an acquired taste: Yes. The British band were formed in London in 1968 by Jon Anderson (lead vocals), Peter Banks (guitar), Tony Kaye (keyboards), Chris Squire (bass) and Bill Bruford (drums). That line-up also recorded the group’s eponymous debut album, which dropped in July 1969. Apart from six original tracks, Yes featured two covers: I See You by the Byrds and Every Little Thing by The Beatles. Shout-out to my dear longtime German music friend Gerd for suggesting the latter, a song that first appeared on the December 1964 album Beatles For Sale. This is a dynamite cover – and, yes, after a 2-minute instrumental opening, there’s singing – gorgeous singing!
The Fixx/One Thing Leads to Another
And once again we’re reaching the point where we need to wrap up our little music excursion. This time, the trip ends in May 1983 with a song that kind of sums up how The Sunday Six oftentimes come together: One Thing Leads to Another by English new wave rock band The Fixx. I’ve always thought this song has a cool sound. Credited to all members of the band at the time – Cy Curnin (lead vocals), Jamie West-Oram (guitar, backing vocals), Rupert Greenall (keyboards, backing vocals), Alfie Agius (bass, backing vocals) and Adam Woods (drums, percussion) – One Thing Leads to Another is from the group’s May 1983 sophomore studio album Reach the Beach. It also became a single and their biggest hit on U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (no. 4) and in Canada where it topped the pop charts.
Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of the above goodies. As always, I hope there’s something you like and you will be back for more!
Sources: Wikipedia; The Big Takeover; YouTube; Spotify
What you always wanted to know about…I’ve Seen All Good People
Happy Wednesday and welcome to another installment of my midweek feature that takes a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. This time I’ve decided to pick I’ve Seen All Good People by English progressive rock band Yes.
This song was co-written by the group’s lead vocalist Jon Anderson and bassist Chris Squire. It first appeared on their third studio release The Yes Album, which came out in February 1971. The first part of the song, Your Move, was also issued separately as the album’s second single in July of the same year.
Not only is I’ve Seen All Good People one of the best known Yes songs, but the single Your Move also helped them build some momentum at a opportune moment. It peaked at no. 40 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to no. 32 in Australia. The album also was a critical success and a commercial breakthrough – a welcome development after the low impact of Yes’s first two albums, which had put them at risk to be dropped by Atlantic Records.
The Yes Album surged to no. 4 in the UK and hit no. 40 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200. Elsewhere, it reached no. 7 in The Netherlands, no. 20 in Australia and no. 46 in Canada. It was the first Yes album with Steve Howe who had replaced original guitarist Peter Banks in 1970. It also was the last to feature co-founder and keyboarder Tony Kaye until their 1983 smash 90125. Here’s a neat live version of the song captured in London in 1972. By that time, Kaye and original drummer Bill Bruford had been replaced by Rick Wakeman and Alan White, respectively.
SongfactscharacterizesI’ve Seen All Good People as an anti-war song, explaining “all good people” includes the so-called enemy. The first part Your Move, which was penned by Anderson, uses references to the game chess as metaphors of human behavior. One example Songfacts notes is the term “move on back two squares”, which means to retreat and rethink one’s position. There are also references to the John Lennon songs Instant Karma! (“send an instant karma to me”) and toward the end of the first part where backing vocalists can be heard singing the chorus of Give Peace a Chance under the main melody.
The song’s stunning a cappella opening line “I’ve seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I’m on my way” is sung by Anderson, Squire and Howe in three-part harmony. This is followed by a laúd, a Spanish plectrum-plucked chordophone played by Howe. From there Your Move builds and in addition to beautiful vocals eventually includes bass drum, flute-like woodwind instruments and organ until it stops at around 3:30 minutes.
This is followed by the second part, All Good People, which was written by Squire. This part has a driving rock vibe and features multiple repetitions of the line “I’ve seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I’m on my way”. As the song fades out, each repetition of the line is one whole step lower than the previous one. During this fade-out is the organ is swelling to a fat sound – pretty neat!
Neither Songfacts nor Wikipedia noted any covers of the song. Thanks to fellow blogger Randy from Mostly Music Covers, I recalled the website SecondHandSongs, a great resource for cover song information. There, I found Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs included a great rendition of I’ve Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People on their second collaboration album Under the Covers, Vol. 2, released July 2009. It features Steve Howe on electric guitar and laúd.
Following are some remaining insights from Songfacts:
In a Songfacts interview with Yes frontman Jon Anderson, he explained: “The song is about initiation of yourself into the idea that there is more to life than war and fighting within religions and things like that. So when we were singing ‘see all good people,’ it’s like, ‘we can see you all in the audience because you’re good people no matter what, and when you’re with music you’re enlightened, you’re good, you’re happy, you’re excited.’ And music is the kingpin of it all. It’s not just Yes, it’s music that brings people together like no other energy on such a level.”
Lead singer/lyricist Jon Anderson says that on the “Your Move” portion of this song, he was using the game of chess in this song as a metaphor for life’s spiritual challenges. “Life is a game of strategically placed situations presented to you, and you have to learn to live with them and work with them,” he said. “Doors are open and sometimes they’re closed. It’s the idea that we are surrounded by a spirit or god or energy is in time with our understanding of who we are.
With the line, “Send an instant comment to me, initial it with loving care,” this song references “Instant Karma,” which was a song recorded by John Lennon a year earlier. Lennon was a huge influence on Yes, who covered The Beatles song “Every Little Thing” on their first album.
The line, “Just remember that the gold is for us to capture all we want, anywhere, Yea, yea, yea,” refers to the rich and powerful victimizing the weak and poor. The US was taken off the Gold standard by Richard Nixon August 15, 1971 the same year this was released.
English prog rock stalwarts celebrate 50th anniversary of “Close to the Edge” album and other classic tunes
When I learned a few weeks ago that Yes would play right in my backyard, I spontaneously decided to get a ticket. After all, what would be the chances that would happen again anytime soon or perhaps ever? Plus, prices were fairly reasonable and State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick is a nice midsize venue only 20 minutes away by car from my house. But as the show was coming up, I started second-guessing myself. After all, Yes have seen multiple lineup changes over the decades, and none of their current members are original. Plus, while I’ve generally come to dig their music, there’s only so much love I have for prog rock. It turned out to be a good decision, so let me share my wonderous story from last evening (October 9)!
Yes are among the few exceptions of prog rock I’ve sufficiently come to appreciate to a level where I dig them, though it did take me a while. My journey started in 1983 when the English group scored their biggest mainstream hit Owner of a Lonely Heart and released 90125, their most commercially successful album. Both marked a significant departure from the band’s original sound. In fact, by the time that music appeared, Yes had ended their initial 13-year run from 1968-1981 and reunited with a modified line-up: Jon Anderson (vocals), Trevor Rabin (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Tony Kaye (organ, electric piano), Chris Squire (bass, vocals) and Alan White (drums, percussion, backing vocals, synthesizer).
None of the musicians who recorded 90125 was on stage last night, though White who sadly passed away this May at the age of 72 after a short illness did have a presence. In addition to being listed on the tour poster, he was remembered with a video at the beginning of the night. In 1972, White replaced the group’s original drummer Bill Bruford. The currently performing line-up of Yes features longtime members Steve Howe (guitar, vocals), Geoff Downes (keyboards, vocals) and Billy Sherwood (bass) who first joined in 1970, 1980 and 1989, respectively; together with Jon Davison, lead vocalist since 2012 (also acoustic guitar, percussion, keyboards) and Jay Schellen (drums, percussion), who first toured with Yes in 2016.
Yes: Left: Steve Howe; right (clockwise from upper left corner: Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Jay Schellen and Billy Sherwood
The concert was part of the ongoing U.S. leg of the band’s tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Close to the Edge, their fourth studio album released on September 13, 1972. In addition to performing the record in its entirety as the second set, Yes played an introductory set that mostly drew from their ’70s catalog, including Time and a Word (July 1970), The Yes Album (February 1971), Fragile (November 1971), Relayer (November 1974), Going for the One (July 1977) and Tormato (September 1978).
The set also featured two tracks from The Quest, the most recent Yes album that came out in July this year, their first in seven years. While it was a legitimate reminder the current version of Yes is more than their own touring tribute band, perhaps somewhat selfishly, I wished they would have kept it to one new song and instead included Owner of a Lonely Heart or thrown it in as an encore. For the latter, the band picked two other excellent tunes from Fragile and The Yes Album.
I’d say it’s time to finally get to some music. Capturing clips of a group performing songs ranging from approximately four to 19 minutes in length is a challenge. I’m not only talking about physical endurance but more importantly the real possibility of testing the patience of people seated around you. Luckily, the conditions turned out to be great, so I decided to rely on my own clips for the most part.
Let’s kick it off with Yours Is No Disgrace, the opening track from The Yes Album, which was credited to all members of the band at the time including Steve Howe. Jon AndersontoldSongfacts the song’s lyrics were about “how crazy we can be as a human race to be out there flittering money around and gambling, trying to earn that big payout, when actually that’s not what life is truly about.” Another influence was the Vietnam war: …Death defying, mutilated armies scatter the earth, Crawling out of dirty holes, their morals, their morals disappear… Killing is brutal and cruel, but the disgrace falls not on the soldiers, but on those who orchestrated the war. This is the only footage I didn’t capture myself, and I could only find a partial clip on YouTube. It still nicely illustrates this line-up of Yes has the necessary chops to master the band’s complex tunes.
Next up is a tune that at under 5 minutes presented a good opportunity to film in its entirety without overly taxing my arms from holding up the phone. Why can’t prog rock acts have more tunes with that duration? No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed was co-written by Richie Havens and Jerome Moross. As such, the song held the distinction of being the only cover in the set. It originally appeared on Havens’ sophomore album Something Else Again, which came out in January 1968. Yes also chose their second album Time and a Word to include their rendition.
Wonderous Stories, off Going For the One, was the shortest song of the night. Therefore, I decided to, well, go for it and record it as well! Penned by Anderson, the beautiful ballad also became the album’s first single in September 1977. Peaking at no. 7 on the Official Singles Chart, it remains the band’s highest-charting single in the UK to this day. Anderson said he wrote the tune on “a beautiful day” during a stay in Montreux, Switzerland, “one of those days you want to remember for years afterwards.”
While the night was mostly a celebration of the band’s ’70s catalog, as noted above, Yes did include two tracks from their most recent album The Quest. At first, I was going to ignore it. Then I changed my mind. After all, when listening to some of its tunes back in July, I thought they sounded pretty good. Here’s Dare to Know, written by Howe.
After Yes finished the first set with Heart of the Sunshine, a track from Fragile, and took a short break, they returned for the main reason of the night, to perform the Close to the Edge album. I decided to film the third and final track on that record, Siberian Khatru. In retrospect, I wish I would have recorded And You And I, the album’s second tune, which I thought was the highlight of the set. Yes also did a great job with Siberian Khatru, co-written by Anderson, Howe and the amazing Rick Wakeman, who in 1971 had replaced the group’s original keyboarder, Tony Kaye.
And then it was time for the encore, a terrific one-two punch with Roundabout and Starship Trooper. Since the former has become one of my all-time favorite Yes tunes, it was an easy decision to pick. Co-written by Anderson and Howe, Roundabout was the opener of Fragile. A single edit was also released in the U.S. in January 1972. It climbed to no. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group’s highest-charting ’70s single there and the second-highest to date. I guess you know the one tune that beat it: Owner of a Lonely Heart.
This was my first Yes concert, so I don’t have a comparator. I think while it’s fair to say that with Chris Squire, who died from blood cancer in June 2015 at age 67, and Rick Wakeman two essential members of the band’s ’70s line-up were missing, the current incarnation of Yes sounded pretty solid to me. I’m not only talking about Steve Howe who remains a great guitarist. Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood and Jay Shellen demonstrated impressive chops as well. I must also call out Jon Davison, an excellent vocalist who perfectly nailed Jon Anderson’s parts.
Here’s the setlist:
Set 1 • On the Silent Wings of Freedom [Tormato] • Yours Is No Disgrace [The Yes Album] • No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed (Richie Havens cover) [Time and a Word] • To Be Over [Relayer] (Steve Howe solo acoustic performance) • Wonderous Stories [Going For the One] • The Ice Bridge [The Quest] • Dare to Know [The Quest] • Heart of the Sunrise [Fragile]
Set 2 (Close to the Edge) • Close to the Edge • And You and I • Siberian Khatru
Encore • Roundabout [Fragile] • Starship Trooper [The Yes Album]
I’m also throwing in a Spotify playlist of the setlist:
I’d like to close with a quote from Steve Howe included in Guitar Magazine’s September cover story about the 50th anniversary of Close to the Edge: “Our spirits were very high,” Howe says. “We were young, enthusiastic, and adventurous, and we had this incredible breakthrough success with Fragile. We saw our next album as a real opportunity to prove our worth as a band. The door had been opened and we weren’t going to go backward. We wanted to sharpen our skills as far as writing and arranging.
“Concerts come and go, but a record is forever. I think we all had a sense that whatever we did next, it had to feel like some sort of definitive statement. A record like this was destined to be made, and we wanted to be the ones making it.”
If you’re curious about the remaining U.S. tour, which closes on November 19 in Westbury, N.Y., here’s the schedule.
What do you do when you’re in the mood for some great blues rock? You get some! And so I did with Street Corner Talking by Britain’s Savoy Brown released in September 1971. As it oftentimes goes with these types of posts, I got the idea to listen to their seventh studio album after my streaming music provider had served up Tell Mama, the record’s dynamite opener.
Savoy Brown – btw, what a cool name! – have been around for a bit. ‘How long’, you might wonder. How about more than 55 years! Not surprisingly, their line-up has changed many times over the decades, though the founder is still around and going strongly. Before getting to the album, a bit of history is in order. The following background is taken from the band’s bio on their website.
Savoy Brown was formed in 1965 by guitarist Kim Simmonds in London, England. Simmonds has been the group’s guiding hand from the first singles released in 1966 through the band’s newest effort, their forty-first album “Ain’t Done Yet” [released in August 2020. At the time, I featured one of the album’s tunes in a Best of What’s Newinstallment]
…Energetic blues has been the calling card of the band from the beginning. Blues Rock became the catch-all phrase in the late 1960s to describe the band’s music along with that of contemporaries including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and Jimi Hendrix…
...Through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980’s songs such as “I’m Tired”, “Train to Nowhere”, “Tell Mama” and “Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone” became Hot 100 entries. Two of the band’s albums in the 1970s, “Looking In” and “Hellbound Train”, appeared on the Billboard Top Forty charts…Along the way, Savoy Brown has toured continuously, making it one of the longest running blues rock bands in existence. Through the years, the band has headlined concerts at many prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Fillmore East, the Fillmore West, and London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall...
…Former [Savoy Brown] members, having cut their teeth under Simmonds’ leadership, have gone on to complete their careers with other bands. Among others, these include singer Dave Walker with Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath, Bill Bruford with King Crimson, Andy Pyle with the Kinks and Paul Raymond with UFO… Three other band alumni – Lonesome Dave Peverett, Roger Earl, and Tony Stevens, went on to become the founding members of the multi-platinum act Foghat. Sounds a bit like John Mayall to me!
Kim Simmonds (guitar, vocals), who has lived in the U.S. since 1980, remains the only original member of Savoy Brown’s current line-up. The other core members include Pat DeSalvo (bass, backing vocals) and Garnet Grimm (drums). Both have been with the band since 2009. With that, let’s get to some music!
I’d like to kick it off with the song that inspired the post. Tell Mama, the first track on the album, was co-written by Simmonds and Paul Raymond, the band’s keyboarder at the time. Just a great catchy rocker with some cool slide guitar action.
Taking on The Temptations perhaps is a near-impossible task, but I have to say I really dig where Savoy Brown took I Can’t Get Next to You. Co-written by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, this psychedelic soul gem was first released by The Temptations as a single in July 1969. It also appeared on their 11th studio album Puzzle People that came out in September of the same year. Check out how nicely Savoy Brown’s version of the tune is shuffling along. I also dig the keyboard work.
Time Does Tell is another great track. It was written by Simmonds. Andy Sylvester’s bass work gives this tune a great groove. I also like Simmonds’ guitar solo that starts at about 2:42 minutes. Damn, this is really cool – don’t take it from me, give it a listen!
Here’s the title track, another song Simmonds wrote. I can hear some Cream in that guitar riff. And that’s never a bad thing!
I’d like to wrap things up with another nice cover: Willie Dixon’sWang Dang Doodle. Dixon wrote that tune in 1960, and it was first released by Howlin’ Wolf in 1961. Haven’t we all felt like hanging out with automatic slim, razor totin’ jim, butcher knife totin’ annie and fast talkin’ fanny to pitch a wang dang doodle all night long? 🙂
This is the first album by Savoy Brown I’ve explored in greater depth, and I really dig it – can you tell? 🙂 This certainly wants me to listen to more from this band. Any tips are welcome!
The electro-mechanical keyboards are known for amazing sound capabilities and quirks
Yesterday, when all my troubles seemed so far away, I came across this YouTubedemo of the Mellotron. It reminded me what a cool musical instrument this type of keyboard is and that I hadn’t done a “hardware” post since this one about the Vox Continental from August 2018. Two great reasons for a new installment, don’t you agree? 🙂
I realize writing about musical gear can quickly get you into geeky territory. As a hobby musician, I can’t deny I get easily excited when it comes to instruments and their sounds and looks. I guess you could call that geeky. At the same time, I’m not exactly a tech wiz – in fact, far from it! As such, I mostly approach gear posts from the sound (and looks) side and keep the tech side relatively light.
Which brings me to the Mellotron. The first time I ever heard this marvelous keyboard in action, I didn’t realize I was listening to a Mellotron. Clever, huh? Well, it’s true. I suppose more frequent visitors of the blog may already have an idea where I’m going with this. I’ll give you a hint: Four lads from Liverpool…
Strawberry Fields Forever. Undoubtedly, my fellow Beatles fans already knew that! 🙂 This John Lennon gem from 1967, which was co-credited to him and Paul McCartney as usual, is perhaps the most famous example in pop rock of a Mellotron in action. I’m particularly referring to the beautiful flute sound intro, which was played by McCartney. According to The Beatles Bible, George Martin and Lennon also played two Mellotron parts, using the ‘swinging flutes’ and, towards the end of the song, ‘piano riff’ settings.
U.S. picture sleeve of “Strawberry Fields Forever”, released as a double A-side single with “Penny Lane” in February 1967
I could easily dedicate an entire post to Strawberry Fields Forever, which was one of the most complex tunes The Beatles ever recorded. Perhaps one day I will, but for now, let’s get back to the Mellotron and some history, as well as an attempt to explain how the mighty instrument works, based on my ingenious tech understanding. 🙂 And, of course, I’ll wrap things up with some examples that illustrate what Mellotron keyboards can do!
Let’s start with the technology. Fortunately, there’s Wikipedia! Basically, the Mellotron is what’s called a sampler, meaning it samples music instruments and other sounds, but instead of relying on digital sampling like the modern samplers do, it’s based on analogue samples recorded on audio tapes – essentially like an old-fashioned tape deck! When a player presses a key, a tape that’s connected to it gets pushed against a playback head, which in turn generates the sound. Once released, the tape moves back in its default position.
The tapes in a Mellotron include recordings of actual instruments, voices and other sounds, which is pretty neat when you think about it. Each tape recording lasts for about 8 seconds. This means a player cannot indefinitely hold down a key and get a sound – one of the instrument’s many quirks. There are others. As Sound on Soundexplains, the Mellotron had 35 tape heads and other interconnected hardware, which made it quite challenging to maintain from a mechanical perspective.
Inside of a Mellotron M400. The tapes are underneath the brown-colored key extensions.
For example, if the springs that pull back the tapes to their start position malfunction, this could mean the sampled sound only starts in the middle of the tape, and a player would have even less than 8 seconds of sound; or I suppose no sound at all, if the spring gets stuck in a completely extended position. There are different Mellotron models, so I’m not sure they all have 35 tape heads. My point here is to illustrate the instrument’s delicacy!
As you’d expect, the Mellotron offers a variety of sounds. From Wikipedia: On earlier models, the instrument is split into “lead” and “rhythm” sections. There is a choice of six “stations” of rhythm sounds, each containing three rhythm tracks and three fill tracks. The fill tracks can also be mixed together.
Similarly, there is a choice of six lead stations, each containing three lead instruments which can be mixed. In the centre of the Mellotron, there is a tuning button that allows a variation in both pitch and tempo. Later models do not have the concept of stations and have a single knob to select a sound, along with the tuning control. However, the frame containing the tapes is designed to be removed, and replaced with one with different sounds.
Okay, I promised to keep it “light” on the technology, so the above shall be sufficient. Next, I’d like to touch on the Mellotron’s history. While tape samplers had been explored in research studios, it wasn’t until 1962 that the instrument’s commercial concept originated. And it took a little help not exactly from a friend, as would become clear later.
Bill Fransen, a sales agent for the California-based maker of the Chamberlin electro-mechanical keyboards, took two Chamberlin Musicmaster 600 instruments to England to find a suitable manufacturer that could make tape heads for future Chamberlin keyboards. He met Frank Bradley, Norman Bradley and Les Bradley of tape engineering company Bradmatic Ltd. in Birmingham. The Bradleys told him they could advance the original instrument design, and keyboard history started to change.
The Bradleys subsequently teamed up with BBC music conductor Eric Robinson, who not only agreed to arrange the recording of the necessary instruments and sounds for the tapes but also to help finance the effort. They also pulled in English magician and TV personality David Nixon and formed Mellotronics, a company to produce and market the Mellotron.
Bill Fransen with the first Mellotron off the production line, 1963. Photo credit: Sound on Sound
In 1963, Mellotronics started making the Mk I, the first commercially manufactured model of the Mellotron. The following year, the company introduced the Mk II, an updated version featuring the full set of sounds selectable by banks and stations. There are multiple other models that were developed thereafter, including the M400, which is pictured on top of this post and became a particular popular version.
There was only one hiccup. Fransen had never told the Bradleys that he wasn’t the original owner of the Chamberlin concept. Suffice to say the California company wasn’t exactly pleased that a British competitor essentially had copied their technology. After some back and forth, the two companies eventually agreed that each would be allowed to continue manufacture instruments independently.
In the ’70s, the Mellotron name was acquired by American company Sound Sales. After 1976, Bradmatic that had renamed themselves Streetly Electronics in 1970, manufactured and sold Mellotron type keyboards under the Novatron brand name. But eventually, the advent of modern electronic samplers caught up with both companies. As a result, they found themselves in dire financial straits by the mid ’80s. In 1986, Streetly folded altogether.
In 1989, Les Bradley’s son John Bradley and Martin Smith, who had built Mellotron keyboards for the Bradleys at the original factory in Birmingham, England, revived Streetly Electronics as a Mellotron support and refurbishment business. The company exists to this day. In 2007, they also developed a new model that became the M4000. It combined features of several previous models with the layout and chassis of the popular M400 but with a digital bank selector that emulated the mechanical original in the Mk II.
If you’re still with me, let’s now move on to the post’s final and actual fun section: Seeing and hearing Mellotron keyboards in action. And while many things in pop music start with The Beatles, the Mellotron is one of the exceptions that prove the rule! Apparently, in the mid ’60s, English multi-instrumentalist Graham Bond became the first rock artist to record with a Mellotron. He also was an early user of the legendary Hammond organ and Leslie speaker combination. Here’s Baby Can It Be True from The Graham Bond Organization’s 1965 sophomore album There’s a Bond Between Us. Per Wikipedia, the tune was the first hit song to feature a Mellotron Mk II.
Another early adopter of the Mellotron was Mike Pinder, who had worked as a tester at Streetly Electronics (then still called Bradmatic) for 18 months in the early 1960s and became the keyboarder and co-founder of The Moody Blues in 1964. Pinder started using the Mellotron extensively on each of the band’s albums from Days of Future Passed (1967) to Octave (1978). Here’s one of the former record’s absolute gems written by Justin Hayward: Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon). In addition to Mellotron, the album used plenty of actual orchestration.
And since it was Pinder who introduced The Beatles to the Mellotron, now it’s time to come back to Strawberry Fields Forever. Notably, George Martin was less than excited about the Mellotron, reportedly describing it “as if a Neanderthal piano had impregnated a primitive electronic keyboard” – ouch! Probably, he was referring to some of the instrument’s quirks I mentioned above! The Beatles still ended up using various Mellotron keyboards on their albums Magical Mystery Tour and The White Album.
Another well-known user of the Mellotron was Rick Wakeman. Before joining Yes in 1971, Wakeman was a full-time session musician. Among others, this included work with David Bowie on his second eponymous studio album and the mighty Space Oddity. As reported by Ultimate Classic Rock, the initial idea was for Wakeman to play a guide track with the Mellotron that would be replaced by an actual orchestra. But producer Tony Visconti decided to keep Wakeman’s Mellotron part.
Let’s do a few more Mellotron examples from the ’70s. These selections are taken from the previously noted Ultimate Classic Rock piece. First up: And You And I, a tune from Close to the Edge, the fifth studio album by Yes released in September 1972. The more than 10-minute track was co-written by Jon Anderson, Steve Howe (except the Eclipse section), Chris Squire and Bill Bruford. Wakeman used the Mellotron to capture stings, brass and flutes sounds, especially during the tune’s Eclipse section.
One month later, in October 1972, Genesis released their fourth studio album Foxtrot. Here’s the opener Watcher of the Skies, which like all of the record’s tracks was credited to all members of the band. Ultimate Classic Rock notes the sound of the Mellotron created by Tony Banks turned out to be so popular that the manufacturer introduced a “Watcher Mix” sound on the next version of the keyboard – pretty cool in my book!
Since all things must pass including epic gear blog posts, let’s wrap up things with one final – and I might add particularly mighty – example of Mellotron use: Kashmir, from Led Zeppelin’s sixth studio album Physical Graffiti, which came out in February 1975. Credited to Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham, the closer of Side 2 of the double LP features plenty of orchestration arranged by John Paul Jones. This includes both Mellotron strings and an actual string and brass section. While this makes it tricky to distinguish between the Mellotron and “real instruments”, Ultimate Classic Rock notes, The consensus is that Jones’s fake strings are heard during the “All I see turns to brown…” bridge (starting around 3:25) and join up with the actual strings in the tune’s closing minutes, adding a weird and wonderful effect.
This post focused on the use of the Mellotron during its most popular period from the mid ’60s to the second half of the ’70s. One can also find occasional examples thereafter like Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and XTC on albums they released during the first half of the ’80s, as well as Oasis and Radiohead on recordings made during the second half of the ’90s. I think it’s safe to assume some keyboarders continue to use Mellotrons to this day, though with the modern digital samplers, it has to be a niche product.
Sources: Wikipedia; The Beatles Bible; Sound on Sound; Streetly Electronics website; Ultimate Classic Rock; YouTube
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