There is ongoing debate as to what instruments were used on Beggars Banquet, in particular the whining sound on Jigsaw Puzzle. As you will hear, this was recorded using a MKII Mellotron using the flute sound.

Another lesser known use of the mellotron on the album is the mandolin part on Factory Girl. This features use of the MKII's mandolin sound as previously heard on Citadel from 1967.

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Here are 2 sound clips which should help clarify the use of the mellotron on those particular tracks.

What you will hear is an excerpt from the original stones recording, followed by a short clip recorded with M-tron mellotron samples(I can't afford a real mellotron!) followed by the original stones recording with the solo M-tron at the same time.

1 - Original recording excerpt
2 - M-tron recreation of the part
3 - Combination of original and recreation

Jigsaw Puzzle






Factory Girl

Are you playing a Mellotron, or isolating the tracks?

Its sounds similar on Jigsaw.
I guess I always thought they were flutes?

They're not?

I recreated the parts with M-tron samples.

The first excerpt you hear is the stones with no additions by me.

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Munichhilton
Its sounds similar on Jigsaw.
I guess I always thought they were flutes?

They're not?

Well technically it isn't a flute, but it is a flute recording played on the mellotron.

let's ask Mike Pinder. the king of the mellotron

Fascinating. Thanks for the insight HM.

nice work

Some youtube clips showing mellotrons being played with the aforementioned sounds.

These clips feature the later MKIV model...

mandolin:





flute:

The Mellotrom mandolin is also used on the Beatles Bungalow Bill,
played by Chris Thomas. At the end, he switches the settings
for the trombone sound.

Good job, too, HM.

Once again, HM, that's some pretty awesome work. Thanks for clarifying things.

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tomk
The Mellotrom mandolin is also used on the Beatles Bungalow Bill,
played by Chris Thomas. At the end, he switches the settings
for the trombone sound.

Indeed, it's that track which caused me to check out whether the stones used that sound too awhile ago.

Another less known use of the mandolin sound is towards the end of the song Badge by Cream.

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His Majesty

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tomk
The Mellotrom mandolin is also used on the Beatles Bungalow Bill,
played by Chris Thomas. At the end, he switches the settings
for the trombone sound.

Indeed, it's that track which caused me to check out whether the stones used that sound too awhile ago.

Another less known use of the mandolin sound is towards the end of the song Badge by Cream.

I knew there was one on Badge, but I didn't know which setting
Felix Papalardi used. Thanks for the info.
My favorite use use of the Mellotron is on the Kinks'
Village Green Preservation Society album played by Nicky Hopkins.

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tomk
My favorite use use of the Mellotron is on the Kinks'
Village Green Preservation Society album played by Nicky Hopkins.

Yeah, some great mellotron on there, lots of different sounds.

I think it's possibly Nicky playing the mellotron on Factory Girl, or, as he's always been credited with playing ''mandolin'' on the track Dave Mason.

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His Majesty

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tomk
My favorite use use of the Mellotron is on the Kinks'
Village Green Preservation Society album played by Nicky Hopkins.

Yeah, some great mellotron on there, lots of different sounds.

I think it's possibly Nicky playing the mellotron on Factory Girl, or, as he's always been credited with playing ''mandolin'' on the track Dave Mason.

I think you may be right. I just don't see Dave Mason sitting behind
a Mellotron, but stranger things have happened. It could be Brian, too.

Great job His Majesty, it can not be more convincing!

Mathijs

Fascinating stuff! Thanks His Majesty!

- Doxa

Wow, posts like these make coming to this site such a wonderful experience. Thank you very
much, your Majesty.

Another wonderful experience

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tomk

I think you may be right. I just don't see Dave Mason sitting behind
a Mellotron, but stranger things have happened. It could be Brian, too.

Dave played mellotron on Traffic's debut album as well as Family's debut album which he also produced.

Keith has said that Nicky suggested the fiddle part, so perhaps that's an indication that he played on the track too, there's only one keyboard instrument on there so!?

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His Majesty

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tomk

I think you may be right. I just don't see Dave Mason sitting behind
a Mellotron, but stranger things have happened. It could be Brian, too.

Dave played mellotron on Traffic's debut album as well as Family's debut album which he also produced.

Keith has said that Nicky suggested the fiddle part, so perhaps that's an indication that he played on the track too, there's only one keyboard instrument on there so!?

You're right. I totally forgot about Mason and Family.
I always think of him as just a guitar player.

I didn't mention the mellotron on Stray Cat Blues due to my assumption that it was well known. Also, the part is too hard to replicate with samples due to the sound selected(mixed brass).

The samples just sound crap when played aggressively ala We Love You which the Stray Cat Blues mellotron is similar to during the majority of the song.

Due to the similarities to the We Love You mellotron part, I'm assuming it's Brian playing it...

To help you focus in on the mellotron part, listen to the 2002 remaster, the mellotron is on the right speaker.

There are 3 parts to listen for -

Chorus: Brian plays sustained chords towards the end of each chorus.

During the chorus the mellotron can be heard from approx 1.16 - 1.23, then 2.00 - 2.10, then 2.43 - 2.59.

Verse: Brian plays discordant/jarring chords which are faded in and out.

During the verses jarring chords are faded in and out from approx 1.27 - 1.46 then 2.15 - 2.32

Outro: Brian plays sustained and choppy chords from approx 4.00 till the end.

HM, now you gotta do the Mellotron parts for Satanic Majesties.
BTW, is that a Mellotron on Child Of The Moon?
Didn't we have that discussion a while back?

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tomk
HM, now you gotta do the Mellotron parts for Satanic Majesties.
BTW, is that a Mellotron on Child Of The Moon?
Didn't we have that discussion a while back?

Oh my, I'd be hear all day if I were to do something similar for Satanic Majesties!!!

I did try to make a video which detailed all of the mellotron sounds and the tracks they feature on though, but my windows movie maker made a mockery of my images and black screens with words on em.

There's no mellotron on COTM, I'm assuming you mean Brian's soprano saxophone line?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-12-05 22:27 by His Majesty.

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His Majesty

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tomk
HM, now you gotta do the Mellotron parts for Satanic Majesties.
BTW, is that a Mellotron on Child Of The Moon?
Didn't we have that discussion a while back?

Oh my, I'd be hear all day if I were to do something similar for Satanic Majesties!!!

I did try to make a video which detailed all of the mellotron sounds and the tracks they feature on though, but my windows movie maker made a mockery of my images and black screens with words on em.

There's no mellotron on COTM, I'm assuming you mean Brian's soprano saxophone line?

Is it a sax? I thought it was a bit "clean" for a Mellotron.
BTW, on that Mellotron program, is a note only for 7 seconds or so
like the original or can you hold a note indefiitely?

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tomk


Is it a sax? I thought it was a bit "clean" for a Mellotron.
BTW, on that Mellotron program, is a note only for 7 seconds or so
like the original or can you hold a note indefiitely?

Yes, it's definitely a soprano saxophone. I finally found some solid evidence about that part, an old NME article by Keith Altham mentions Brian ''spending considerable time' working on that part. Keith visited them in the studio and wrote about it.

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It has the 7 - 8 second limit.