Tony: "Io e il mellotron"

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Tony: "Io e il mellotron"

Postby Rael Matrix » 05 Jul 2007, 11:08

Da una intervista a Planet Mellotron: http://www.planetmellotron.com/genesis.htm

Everyone knows the Genesis story: formed at Charterhouse School from two rival bands, sent a demo to old boy Jonathan King, he gets them a deal with Decca, record pleasant psych/pop album two years too late, reinvent themselves (not for the first time).

Their first 'proper' album, Trespass, displayed their new style, forged over the preceding year. Heavily influenced by King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King, the LP contained six mostly lengthy tracks. Genesis didn't own a Mellotron at this point, but used one on three tracks on the LP, with standard strings on Visions of Angels and Stagnation and, unusually, mandolins at a couple of points in White Mountain. After a lineup change that almost split the band, when original guitarist Anthony Phillips left due to persistent stagefright, new guitarist Steve Hackett persuaded the band to buy their own 'Tron. Rumour has it they (fittingly) purchased one of King Crimson's old MkIIs, even though the M400 was available.

From next LP Nursery Cryme on, the Mellotron became more central to the band's sound. It was still used sparingly on Nursery Cryme (The Musical Box contains none whatsoever), although The Return of the Giant Hogweed has its end section beefed up with brass, and The Fountain of Salmacis is drenched in strings. The lesser-known Seven Stones not only has huge dollops of strings all over its closing section, but also features one of the Mark II's Hammond sounds, probably the 'church organ', in its first half, sometimes alongside the real Hammond. By Foxtrot it was really starting to make its presence felt, particularly on opener Watcher of the Skies, with its infamous violins/brass mix with bass accordion (!). Can-Utility and the Coastliners and Supper's Ready also feature it fairly heavily, with a bit of flute thrown in on Get 'Em Out By Friday. Keyboardist Tony Banks always had a certain deftness of touch and considerable taste, both qualities in short supply at the time (and, for that matter, subsequently), and was careful not to overuse the 'Tron, hardly using it at all on some tracks. At this point, Banks relied mainly on the 'strings', although brass (solo and mixed with strings) and flute appeared occasionally.


Between Foxtrot and 1973's Selling England by the Pound, Banks replaced his MkII with an M400, choosing three violins, brass and mixed choir. In an interview from a few years later he remarked that the strings and brass were noticeably out of tune with each other, making it impossible to mix the two as he had on the MkII. He also added an ARP Pro-Soloist to his rig at the same time, and both it and the 'Tron choir were much in evidence on Selling England, particularly on Dancing With the Moonlit Knight, Firth of Fifth and The Cinema Show. A small burst of Mellotron flute is heard on the album, at the beginning of The Battle of Epping Forest, but apparently another M400 tape frame was used (see interview quoted below). There may just possibly be a brief snatch of brass on Selling England, but Banks never recorded with it again; in fact he only ever used it live on Supper's Ready, played on and off until the early '80s.


Tony Banks made considerable use of the Mellotron through The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering, despite the advent (and his occasional use of) string synths. Particular highlights of The Lamb include Broadway Melody of 1974, Hairless Heart, The Chamber of 32 Doors and The Lamia, while Lilywhite Lilith again features the flutes from his other tape frame. On A Trick of the Tail, Dance on a Volcano and Los Endos are the chief culprits, but it also puts in appearances on Entangled and Mad Man Moon. Wind & Wuthering's major 'Tron tracks are opener Eleventh Earl of Mar, containing what must be one of the classic Mellotron Moments and Blood on the Rooftops. Afterglow is a frequently-quoted 'Tron track' (and it's certainly Mellotron on the live version), but although rumour has it that what you can hear is tapes of Phil Collins' own voice, it seems far more likely that it's actually Collins multi-tracked in the studio.

The development of the polysynth, however, in this case a Polymoog, killed the Genesis 'Tron stone dead. From being used on almost every track on '76's Wind & Wuthering, '77's Spot the Pigeon EP and '78's ...And Then There Were Three... were almost completely Tronless, although he definitely used one on stage alongside his Polymoog in '78. After considerable debate, it turns out that Banks used a smattering of 'Tron on ...ATTWT..., as this interview excerpt proves:

Q: "Are you getting into mixing the string sounds of the Polymoog and the Mellotron at all?"

A: "There's one song on the new album, "Many Too Many" which uses the combined string sound of a Roland string synthesizer and the Mellotron. I still feel that the basic string sound on the Polymoog isn't that great a string imitation. You can get some pretty nice sounds using that setting, but I think you can get better string sounds using the string synthesizer. And when you put the Mellotron in with a string synthesizer you get a sort of rough edge effect. It's a nice sound. On "Many Too Many" I also combined the Roland string sounds with other sounds from the Roland, like its brass setting. When it's mixed into the background, it does sound quite orchestral. It's a fat sound".

The interview carries on to put to rest the various theories regarding the tape set in Banks' Mellotron:

Q: "What tapes have you got in the Mellotron?"

A: "I use the strings, brass and choir. (n.d.RM cioe' io: e' lo stesso tipo di Mellotron che ho in cantina fermo da 25 anni, ancora da riparare[I8)]) In fact, I'm only using the strings and the choir onstage now. The only thing I might ever use the brass for now is when we have to do "Supper's Ready" as an encore. The final section of it uses the old brass sound. Other than that, though, I don't have a need for it now".

Q: "Does the Mellotron you're using now have the recent updates that were made by Sound Sales, the new owners of Mellotronics?"

A: "I'm using a Mellotron that came from Europe now and any modifications that were done to it came from there. If I remember rightly, I didn't like the modifications that were done to my other Mellotron, the one that I used on the "Wind And Wuthering" tour. They didn't seem to help. The American Mellotron that I used was really falling to pieces after the last tour, so after they'd done the modifications I lost interest. The unit I was using in Europe actually broke down at a gig, so I had to buy a new one. That's the one I'm using now. I find it amazingly stable. I mean, it's the (ARP) 2600 I have to think about nowadays, If I have to worry about anything, and it's not really much to worry about. The Mellotron I can set almost without having to play it. I've gotten slightly less critical of it. I find that as long as it has been on a bit and warmed up, there's no problem. They warm up a lot quicker now, too".

A curious interview... did Tony Banks really say 'gotten', or is that a US journalist taking liberties with his phraseology? Anyway, the last time a Mellotron was heard played by Tony Banks was on his first solo album, A Curious Feeling, where a smattering of choir finds its way onto You on side 2.

By 1980's 'Duke' tour, Banks had ditched both the 'Tron and the Hammond in favour of the monstrous twin-manual Prophet 10, which he obviously felt covered most bases, along with Roland's Vocoder, which actually provided a passable 'Tron choir simulation (check out the In the Cage medley from '82's Three Sides Live). By this time, Banks had switched across completely to polysynths, and the band's sound had moved into the realms of commercial, if musicianly pop, with the occasional epic that rarely showed any of the spark of their earlier work. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Banks seems to have no nostalgia for his musical past, never mind his old instruments, so don't expect a return to the glory days of 1973, even as a one-off.





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As a footnote, a brief phone interview was carried out with Tony recently on the subject of his Mellotron use. The answers are, er, 'short and to the point', but a few queries are cleared up. Unfortunately, a few more are created, but that's another story...

Q: The first part of the intro to "Watcher of the Skies" consists of mixed strings and brass played on the right-hand manual of the Mellotron Mk II.

A: Yes, this is true.

Tony is presumably referring to the studio version here, although the same goes for the live version during the Foxtrot period, including "Genesis Live".

Q: Was the left hand playing single notes on the left-hand manual of the Mellotron, using a sound called "Bass Accordion"?

A: Yes.

Q: Was the bass part, which also consisted of single-note lines, played on the Hammond organ pedals?

A: No.

Q: Did part of the Mellotron sound go through the Leslie 760 rotating speakers for a fuller sound?

A: Yes, but only because everything went through the Leslie.

This is especially interesting; sometimes you can hear that the 'Tron is going through a Leslie, but most of the time it sounds uneffected. Was Banks only referring to "Watcher"?

Q: Was the second part of the intro, consisting of descending 3rd intervals, played using the strings/brass mix (left hand), and Hammond organ (right hand)?

A: Can't remember for the studio recording, but yes for on stage.

Q: Was the left-hand manual on the Mellotron Mk II used for any other parts?

A: Can't remember.

Q: The Mellotron 400 that was used for the "Selling England" tour had the Mk II strings and brass. Was the left-hand Mellotron part now played on the Hammond?

A: No.

There is video footage showing Tony playing the "Watcher" intro on the Hammond and Mellotron, so presumably he's referring to the bass part here, not the chords.

Q: Did he have a second tape frame for recording the flute parts on things like "Epping Forest" and "Lilywhite Lilith"?

A: Yes. He said he remembered having strings, brass, voices, flute and oboe.

So that clears that one up... the Mk.II (s) obviously went into retirement after the "Foxtrot" tour.

Q: Did Tony Banks ever use a Chamberlin tape replay keyboard?

A: No, but he did use some other type of tape replay.

What this might be remains a mystery. Surely not a Birotron?! A Chamberlin was found at the Farm (Genesis studio complex) by an equipment dealer, but presumably it was never used. Probably didn't work...

Q: What kind of string synthesiser did he use for the "Lamb" sessions?

A: Elka Rhapsody mixed with the Mellotron.

Q: Was the recording of "A Curious Feeling" (1979 solo album) the last time he used a Mellotron?

A: Unlikely, but not sure.

This answer is rather unclear. Does Banks mean that he used a Mellotron later (unlikely, it has to be said), or does he mean that it wasn't used on "A Curious Feeling"?

Q: Did the ARP Centaur prototype synth end up on any recording?

A: No. Never used it.

So there you have it. Probably the most direct answers we're ever going to get on the subject, given that Tony seems generally disinterested in his old gear. I suppose if I'd had to lug an L100 and and Mk.II 'Tron about before I could afford a full-time crew, I might be a little jaded, too...
Last edited by Rael Matrix on 05 Jul 2007, 11:10, edited 1 time in total.
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Tony: "Io e il mellotron"

Postby Senka76 » 05 Jul 2007, 11:12

quote:
Originally posted by Rael Matrix

Unlike some of his contemporaries, Banks seems to have no nostalgia for his musical past, never mind his old instruments, so don't expect a return to the glory days of 1973, even as a one-off.




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Tony: "Io e il mellotron"

Postby Dalex_61 » 24 Jul 2007, 21:10

L'interessantissima intervista conferma che Banks ama poco rivangare il passato. Snobismo? Tensione verso il futuro? Scarsa memoria? Fate voi... [:-I]
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