Audio excerpts of a M400

(rought recording, taken directly from the instrument)

3 violins

cello

mellotron > models > M300 > sound list

El Cumbanchero

There's A Bond Between Us - 1965 -
Baby Can It Be True
excerpt 1   (flute - Mk II)

                   excerpt 2   (3 violins - Mk II)
                   

                   Last Night   (3 violins - Mk II)
                   

                   Don't Let Go   (3 violins - Mk II)
                   

Certainly the first album with a Mellotron

Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James - 1966 -
Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James   (flute, brass - Mk II)

One of the first hit singles featuring a Mellotron

Magical Mystery Tour - 1967 -
Strawberry Fields Forever  (flute - Mk II)

The Beatles - 1968 -
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
excerpt 1 : introduction   (classic guitar - Mk II)

                   excerpt 2   (mandolin - Mk II)
                   
                   excerpt 3 : end   (trombone - Mk II)
                   

Excerpts from home sessions, probably recorded in may 1968, where John Lennon plays on his Mk II in his Weybridge house :

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Days Of Future Passed - 1967 -
Nights In White Satin  (3 violins - Mk II)

In Search Of The Lost Chord - 1968 -
Legend Of A Mind  (3 violins - Mk II)

On The Threshold Of A Dream - 1969 -
Have You Heard  (brass, 3 violins - Mk II)

To Our Children's Children's Children - 1969 -
Watching And Waiting  (violin - M300B)

Their Satanic Majesties Request - 1967 -
2000 Light Years from Home  (3 violins - Mk II)

Village Green Preservation Society - 1968 -
Phenomenal Cat
excerpt 1   (flutes fill section , flute - Mk II)

                   excerpt 2   (rock guitar - Mk II)
                   

In The Court Of The Crimson King - 1969 -
Epitaph   (3 violins, brass - Mk II)

                   The Court Of The Crimson King   (3 violins - Mk II)
                   

Ummagumma - 1969 -
Sysyphus part. 1   (3 violins, brass - Mk II)

Atom Heart Mother - 1970 -
Atom Heart Mother    (3 violins, brass - Mk II)

Barclay James Harvest - 1970 -
Early Morning   (flute - M300A)

Barclay James Harvest And Other Short Stories - 1971 -
After The Day   (violins - M300A)

Song Of The Marching Children - 1971 -
Storm And Thunder   (violins - M300A)

                   Song Of The Marching Children   (trombone - M300A)
                   

Pawn Hearts - 1971 -
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers   (3 violins - M400)

Acquiring The Taste - 1971 -
Pantagruel's Nativity   (violins - M300A)

Nursery Cryme - 1971 -
Seven Stones   (organ - Mk II)

Foxtrot - 1972 -
Watcher Of The Skies   (3 violins + brass + accordion - Mk II)

A Trick Of The Tail - 1976 -
Entangled   (8 voice choir - M400)

Matching Mole - 1972 -
Instant Kitten   (flute - M400)

                   Immediate Curtain   (3 violins - M400)
                   

Close To The Edge - 1972 -
And You and I   (3 violins - M400)

Tales From Topographic Oceans - 1973 -
The Ancient   (3 violins, cello - M400)

Per Un Amico - 1972 -
Appena Un Po   (vibes, 3 violins - Mk II)

This is... Gracious - 1972 -
Super Nova
excerpt 1   (saxophone - FX Console)

                   excerpt 2   (vibes, brass - FX Console)
                   

The Gracious! FX console is now owned by Damon Fox of the band Big Elf.

Houses of the Holy - 1973 -
The Rain Song   (3 violins, cello - Mk II)

Contrary to a widespread idea, the introduction to Stairway to Heaven, from the Led Zeppelin IV album, was not played on a Mellotron, but on real flutes. Only the live version was played on a Mellotron M400.

Mwandishi - 1971 -
Water Torture   (3 violins - M400)

Sextant - 1973 -
Hidden Shadows   (3 violins - M400)

Phaedra - 1974 -
Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares   (3 violins, cello - M400)

Rubycon - 1975 -
Part 1   (oboe - M400)

                   Part 2   (male choir - M400)
                   

Epsilon In Malaysian Pale - 1975 -
Epsilon In Malaysian Pale   (flute, 3 violins, cello - Mk V)

Edgar Froese's second solo album, recorded almost exclusively with a Mellotron

Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison - 1975 -
Histoires Sans paroles   (3 violins - M400)

First Seven Days - 1975 -
Darkness / Earth In Search Of A Sun   (3 violins - Mk V)

Jan Hammer's first solo album, long before the Miami Vice theme (!)

Garden Shed - 1977 -
Three Piece Suite   (brass, 3 violins - Mk II)

                   Poisoned Youth
                   excerpt 1   (timpani - Mk II)
                  
                   excerpt 2   (half speed 3 violins - Mk II)
                  

Robert Webb, the keyboard player, used a special Mellotron Mark II : it was divided vertically into two separate keyboard instruments and one half was fitted into a newly-made plywood case. This was done to make the instrument more portable for gigging and also to enable other keyboards to be mounted above it. Its nickname was The Black Melly or the Half-a-Tron.

» pictures of the Half-a-Tron

» England's web site, with a section about the famous Mellotron

Guet-Apens - 1977 -
Dans Les Poches Du Berger   (3 violins - M400)

                   Capitaine Coeur de Miel   (male choir - M400)
                   

Ange never used a Mellotron before the Guet-Apens album. The sounds that you can find on all of their albums, and which is the band's main feature, is in fact that of a Viscount organ modified by a fiddled Hammond reverb.

Today, the Mellotron is back, and it is used by more and more musicians. Interestingly enough, it is not used exclusively by progressive bands anymore :

Blood Sugar Sex Magik - 1991 -
Sir Psycho Sexy   (3 violins, cello - M400)

Siamese Dream - 1993 -
Spaceboy   (3 violins, cello, flute - M400)

OK Computer - 1997 -
Exit Music   (8 voice choir - M400)

Virgin Suicides - 2000 -
Playground Love   (3 violins - M400)

Nucleus - 2000 -
In Freedom   (vibes - M400)

Hold A Match For A Gasoline World - 2005 -
Only A Ghost   (flute - M400)

And also, Oasis (M400 and FX Console), Pulp (Novatron 400), Julian Cope (2 x M400 and Mark II), Blur (M400), Lenny Kravitz (M400), JM Jarre (Novatron 400 and Mark II)...