Is that a Mellotron on the intro of Tarkus?!

[GuitarGeek]

OK, I'm having an argument with someone about the intro of Tarkus, saying that the vocals were done on a Mellotron? Does anyone know if that's actually true? It seems like a lot of work, having custom a Mellotron tape made up, then doing a lot of cutting and pasting to get around the second time limit, all for a 30 second vocal thing, that could have been much more easily accomplished with more conventional means (ie just putting Greg in the vocal booth and having him overdub each note on a separate pass).

[zravkapt]

No. Lake overdubbed a zillion times.

[Sean]

But can any of you identify the chord it makes??

[AncientChord]

From what I've read Emerson never liked the mellotron. He preferred his synthesizers to create his symphonic effects. Speaking of Tarkus, the first time I heard it was on an old PBS music show with Elliott Mintz called Head Shop. It was before the album was released so it had to be 1970 or early 71. It was a live video and it completely blew my shit away! It was, to me anyway, so highly advanced for its time. I'll never forget seeing it, but I've never found it anywhere since. Anyone else remember it?


Update: I just did some research on Elliott Mintz, and he discusses Head Shop on a video interview that's on Youtube. Sadly, he says that all of the video tapes of the show's episodes were erased years ago. No wonder nobody has replied about this obscure moment in prog history tragically gone.

[JJ88]

This is heavy-duty vocal overdubbing- see also 'I'm Not In Love'. Mike Oldfield's Incantations opens with a similar thing.

I think Emerson only ever used the Mellotron on one song...'The Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon'.

[rickmoraz]

Planetmellotron says this:

http://www.planetmellotron.com/revposs.htm#elp

For my money, it was a moog. Tomita for example made some incredible voice-like sounds with his equipment.

Ed

[Rand Kelly]

I did it on my E-mu Proteus after playing around with the choir patches on it I nailed it around 1992. I locked it in and can access it anytime I choose. I named the patch,Tarkus Choir. The chord in sequence is F,Bb,Ab,C,D,F which is an Fm6sus4.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I think Emerson only ever used the Mellotron on one song...'The Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon'.

Wasn't there a tiny tad on "Dawn" or "War and Peace" as well?

[JJ88]

^Don't remember exactly, but you're doubtless right- same era, anyway.

For my money, it was a moog. Tomita for example made some incredible voice-like sounds with his equipment.

Ed

Not to my ears. I think it's vocal overdubbing with some tape-speed manipulation.

[zravkapt]

I think when Gawd(aka Stephen Nilsson) remixed Tarkus a few years ago someone here quoted someone saying it was Lake overdubbed like 14 times or something.

[Man In The Mountain]

Here's some Mellotron in ELP, played by Greg Lake!

[Jeremy Bender]

They only did Abaddon's Bolero a few times (3? 4?) on the 1973 European "Get Me A Ladder" tour, it just didn't work. They were using tapes and as The Who found out when they tried to do Quadrophenia in 1973 using a bunch of backing tapes, they are fickle, break down, are hard to play along with etc. One of the few bright spots for me of having the orchestra in 1977 (besides Pirates, of course) was they could finally do Abbadon's Bolero justice.

I'm glad ELP never used Mellotron as part of their sound, it set them apart sonically a bit from King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and Gentle Giant.

[Mister Triscuits]

The chord in sequence is F,Bb,Ab,C,D,F which is an Fm6sus4.

It can't be a sus chord if the third is present. A simpler way to parse the chord you describe is Bb9 (second inversion).

[JJ88]

I think when [I]Gawd[/I](aka Stephen Nilsson) remixed Tarkus a few years ago someone here quoted someone saying it was Lake overdubbed like 14 times or something.

[Rand Kelly]

It can't be a sus chord if the third is present. A simpler way to parse the chord you describe is Bb9 (second inversion).

Fm6add4.

[gearHed289]

Nice patch Rand, sounds real good!

[GuitarGeek]

Planetmellotron says this:

http://www.planetmellotron.com/revposs.htm#elp

For my money, it was a moog. Tomita for example made some incredible voice-like sounds with his equipment.

Ed

There's no way that's a synthesizer of any kind, certainly not in 1971. Those are human voices you're hearing, the question is exactly how were said voices recorded.

[GuitarGeek]

They only did Abaddon's Bolero a few times (3? 4?) on the 1973 European "Get Me A Ladder" tour, it just didn't work. They were using tapes and as The Who found out when they tried to do Quadrophenia in 1973 using a bunch of backing tapes, they are fickle, break down, are hard to play along with etc

And yet, The Who continued to use tapes, every time they played Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again, Who Are You (well, except for the Kilburn show in 77), and Eminence Front.

[Scrotum Scissor]

It's not a 'tron but an army of highly tasteful fart kazoos.

[popeyebonaparte]

That clip is bad quality and backed with the studio version as it was originally broadcast.

I uploaded my synchronized version on YouTube with audio from the original show and the original video footage:

[Derk]

According to the notes on the 2012 remix of Tarkus (Steven Wilson remix) the intro was done with Greg overdubbing the voices twenty times. There is one piece of tape with a block of Greg's voices singing 'Ahh' at many different pitches. The same piece of tape was used at the end of the Tarkus track.

[Rand Kelly]

Nice patch Rand, sounds real good!

Thank you,very nice of you to say.

[ProgArtist]

Mike Oldfield's Incantations opens with a similar thing.

Yes indeed! I've noticed that, too.

[Jeremy Bender]

And yet, The Who continued to use tapes, every time they played Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again, Who Are You (well, except for the Kilburn show in 77), and Eminence Front

The difference being that the first song was just the sequencer part, the second the Lowrey organ through a VCS sound that runs throughout the song and the other two could be done today with a cheap sequencer program on a computer. For the Quadrophenia tour, the tapes had all the brass parts, all the keyboard parts, backing vocals, the sea sound effects etc., much more complicated.

[JJ88]

What a shame there's so little film of ELP in their early 70s pomp, it's basically amateur footage like that (which isn't bad) which is all that we have for this particular period. There's quite a bit from right at the beginning of their career...and then basically only bits and pieces.

Even the California Jam footage is brutally edited. Does anyone know if the CalJam ELP set was actually broadcast in full at the time?