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Monday Coffee Break: Mellotron!

Posted at 8:48 AM on March 15, 2010 by Steve Seel (14 Comments)
Filed under: 9:30 Coffee Break

(updated below)

What the heck is a Mellotron? Well, if you're a fan of '60s and '70s rock that was in any way experimental you've heard the sound. From the Beatles to Bowie to the prog-rock pioneers, this amazingly clunky yet heavenly-sounding keyboard instrument was regularly used to provide the sound of strings, brass, and choirs. It was like an early "sampling" keyboard - except, since sampling hadn't been invented yet, the various acoustic instrument sounds were contained on tape loops spinning inside the keyboards's giant housing. As you can imagine, it broke down - a lot.

Still, musicians loved using it, because it didn't really sound like any of the instruments it was imitating; it sounded like it's own instrument. Even today, a few bands use it to create unearthly keyboard effects.

Today, we want to pay tribute to this bizarre and beautifu keyboard instrument, and we're putting together a set. Meanwhile, know any songs that feature it? We'd love to have your input too.

Update: Thanks for the terrific suggestions; we got a couple of ideas that definitely hadn't occured to us (specifically,#4 and #5). We played:

1) The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever"
2) Wilco, "She's A Jar"
3) David Bowie, "Space Oddity"
4) The Flaming Lips, "Race For the Prize"
5) Fiery Furnaces, "Duplexes of the Dead"

Comments (14)

Fiery Furnaces - Duplexes of the Dead

Posted by Patrick | March 15, 2010 9:01 AM

Lucky Man -- Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Posted by lou | March 15, 2010 9:06 AM

"The Rain Song" Led Zeppelin.

http://www.planetmellotron.com/revledzep.htm

Posted by Geoff Forscher | March 15, 2010 9:08 AM

The Kinks, "Days"

Posted by Will C. | March 15, 2010 9:08 AM

This should be Wacky Instrument Week for the 9:30 Coffee Break. Just think of your other themes:

Celesta
Clavinet
Melodica
Optigan

Posted by Mac Wilson | March 15, 2010 9:15 AM

As Genesis is going into the R&R HOF tonight, and you want a Mellotron, you can't do much worse than play their "Watcher of The Skies."

Posted by Terry | March 15, 2010 9:16 AM

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

Radiohead - Exit Music (For A Film)

Posted by Eric | March 15, 2010 9:18 AM

"Blinded By the Light"- Mannfried Mann

"Space Oddity"- David Bowie

Posted by Justin | March 15, 2010 9:18 AM

The Alarmists - Rhyme & Reason (the breakdown is mellotron!)

Posted by Brian | March 15, 2010 9:20 AM

How about some Sigur Ros

Posted by Susie | March 15, 2010 9:20 AM

"Hold Your Head Up" by Argent
"Early Morning" by Barclay James Harvest
"So Deep Within You" by the Moody Blues

Just a side note: Keith Emerson refused to use a mellotron because he said it put classical musicians out of work. Most of his synthesizer work was done on the moog.

Posted by Mike C | March 15, 2010 9:21 AM

decades--joy division
various tom waits (he uses it on almost all his albums)
anything off the soft bulletin--the flaming lips
wish--the cure
baracuda--heart
kraftwerk!
sparklehorse

Posted by beth | March 15, 2010 9:25 AM

"Touched" off Loveless, My Bloody Valentine.
it's 57 seconds long, but that's like a STOCK mellotron sound. The bends in the song were made by pressing harder on the mellotron keys, to loosen the tape loop as it cycled, caused it to spin slightly fast. GREAT show idea.

So many to pick from, but that's a trademark mellotron track.

Posted by Damon Kalar | March 15, 2010 9:31 AM

They don't necessarily break down a lot. There is a local band called Thunderbolt Pagoda that uses a Mellotron.

Posted by Jazzhorse | March 19, 2010 4:32 PM

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