The Mellotron

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https://daily.jstor.org/tape-heads/  

Interesting story on this instrumental instrument.

John Paul Jones used the mellotron on Kashmir, the Rain Song, and the intro to Stairway to Heaven when playing it live.   Those things were prone to breaking down and JPJ said he would get nervous every time he played it at a concert:

http://www.geocities.ws/jpjkeys/mellotron.html

Good read.... of course they fail to mention King Crimson who probably used it more than all of the other bands they list combined. Not surprised as they always flew under the radar, but damn they used it extensively from 1969-1975. Here's a pic of the band in 1973 with 2 mellotrons on stage:

   

pretty cool Mellotron app called Streetlytron 63.

Michael Pinder was all over it on the Moody Blues' "Days Of Future Passed" in 1967, well before Robert Fripp's use of it with King Crimson.  Another early example is when Paul McCartney played the Mellotron on Strawberry Fields Forever. 
 

Fripp was a heavy proponent though, and used it extensively.  Paired with pianist's Keith Tippet's keyboard tapestries, it gave those early KC records a unique sound.

 

And of course there's a Wikipedia page about recordings that use a Mellotron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mellotron_recordings

Interesting list. Didn't know Trent Reznor was a fan of the instrument.  

Pappalardi played it on Cream's final album.

Here's a pic of the band in 1973>>>All Star's of Prog...Bill Bruford, John Wetton, David Cross.   Larks' Tongues in Aspic came from this lineup.  From Wikepadia...

The Mellotron was retained for this new phase and was played by Fripp and Cross.  The instrumental pieces on this album have strong jazz fusion and European free-improvisation influences, and some aggressively hard-hitting portions verging on heavy metal. .

And a real nice album cover...Still have it on vinyl.

 

In_the_Court_of_the_Crimson_King_-_40th_Anniversary_Box_Set_-_Front_cover.jpeg

'73-'74 KC is by far my favorite, especially live.  It has the most interesting use of the mellotron by both Fripp and David Cross.  But, it's the first album and title track that were super influential in popularizing the mellotron. 

The Aggrotron never caught on.  Huh.