While this site normally concentrates on official releases, it seems there is room for a page detailing Mellotron-related bootlegs. Official live releases cover a lot of Mellotronic ground, but unless they're by King Crimson, they're unlikely to cover everything (well, nearly), so here are some less-than-completely-legal albums, some only available through the trading community on CD-R or as downloads, others pressed up commercially. And before you ask, no, I don't sell bootlegs.

Of course, the more popular bands are likely to have many boots available from the same tour, so I've concentrated on the best I've heard, or those with rare performances. Expect regular additions to this page as I expand my collection. You may notice that I've listed releases slightly differently to those on my 'regular' pages; the same concert is often released under a multitude of titles, or none at all, so unless it's a specific collection (usually of studio material), I've listed venue/date, rather than title. To avoid the inevitable continentally-induced confusion, performance dates are written in full. Since sleeve art is a rather moveable feast in bootleg circles, I've tended not to bother putting anything at all, unless one very specific sleeve is generally used.

Highlighting in album tracklistings denotes 'contains Mellotron'. On 'multi-part' tracks I've tried to indicate which parts contain Mellotron, although this isn't always possible.

Ratings:
The * rating (½-5) is my personal, entirely subjective and completely partisan rating of the music.
The 'T' (Mellotron, of course...) rating (0-5) is an only slightly more objective indicator of an album's Mellotronness.

America  (US)

Mellotrons used:

• Both titles: band's own M400?

Although America often used acres of lush, cheesy strings in the studio (frequently arranged by no lesser a personage than George Martin), a Mellotron crops up (albeit briefly) on 1977's Live, confirming a long-mooted rumour that they used one on stage for a portion of their career.

They were clearly using one as early as 1975; a good audience recording from Boston's Music Hall in May that year does the rounds, showcasing what I take to be a typical set of the time. The first half is exactly what you'd expect: CSN-lite, combining hits with album tracks, to no great effect, but from the excellent Half A Man on, the band rock out, metaphorically adding the 'Y' to the 'CSN'. Despite the use of a string synth on Old Man Took, the flutes on To Each His Own (including tuning up at the beginning) are clearly Mellotron (player unknown), though hardly enough to make this worth tracking down specially.

By the following year, they'd moved up to the Boston Garden, giving their audience a slightly bigger show, by the sound of it. I get the impression that America used to play around with their sets, not necessarily sticking to the 'hits and recent album tracks' formula that so many bands slip into, also messing around with on-stage arrangements. That string synth turns up again, notably on Amber Cascades and although you can hear someone (presumably their regular keys guy Jim Calire) tuning their Mellotron up at the beginning of Moon Song, it isn't actually utilised until a string part on Today's The Day, with an upfront flute solo on Old Virginia, strings again on Old Man Took (switching to string synth later in the song) and cello and string lines on Daisy Jane.

There may well be more relevant America boots out there, as they clearly used a Mellotron in '77 and I can hear it on a single track on a '78 recording (Daisy Jane again). Anyway, probably not the most exciting use ever, but nice to hear it in a live setting.

Official site

See: America

Anekdoten  (Sweden)  see:

Angel  (US)  see:

Änglagård  (Sweden)  see:

Beatles  (UK)  see:

Be-Bop Deluxe  (UK)  see:

Black Sabbath  (UK)  see:

Jon Brion  (US)

Home Demos  (112.09)  ***½/TT½
I'll Take You Anyday Pray for Rain All for Nothing As Bad as You Citgo Sign Strings That Tie to You Handed Down Impossibility Don't Make Me Fall in Love With You Everybody Knows I'll Never Forgive Myself	Happy Birthday Self-Destructive (a.k.a. Any Other Way) No One Can Hurt Me Pray For Rain (Jungle Version) All the While Through With You Her Ghost Everything Makes You Sad Love at the Bottom Easy to Fool All Coming Back to Me Now	I'm Not Going Anywhere C'mon Baby So What if Her Heart is Broken Popular One Breakdown Lane Anything's Possible Not Ready Yet Hook Line and Sinker Heart of Dysfunction

Chamberlin used:

• Brion's M1?

Some years before his first solo album, 2000's Meaningless, Jon Brion recorded a slew of demos, some arranged quite sparsely, some for a full band. Most of the best stuff's concentrated on disc one, not least the prime powerpop of Pray For Rain, All For Nothing, Citgo Sign and Don't Make Me Fall In Love With You, although the second disc's preponderance of gloopy ballads tends to drag it down, just about rescued by the potent Anything's Possible and the harmonium-and-banjo-fest Hook Line And Sinker. Two of these songs were reworked for Meaningless, which still leaves nearly two hours of previously-unheard Brion for those who can't get enough of his thing, er, so to speak.

Brion plays Chamberlin, with flutes and an unidentified woodwind on As Bad As You, cellos and strings on Handed Down, distant strings and a mad, high-pitched something on Everybody Knows, vibes on the 'Jungle Version' of Pray For Rain, distant strings on Through With You and a cello/flutes mix and upfront strings on Her Ghost on side one. Considerably less on disc two (are these sessions from a different period?), merely what I presume is a Chamby rhythm tape kicking off So What If Her Heart Is Broken and a different one ending Popular One. Rhythm tapes? The compact M1 doesn't have them, so perhaps he was using a borrowed twin-manual MusicMaster 600 (think: the precursor to the MkII Mellotron). The whole kit and caboodle's now on YouTube; what are you waiting for?

See: Jon Brion

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come  (UK)  see:

Crack the Sky  (US)  see:

Dawnwatcher  (US)

Rehearsals/Unreleased Tracks, 1978-80  (48.52)  ***/TTT A Winter's Tale Bird in Flight In the Wake of Dawn Bird in Flight Spellbound Taking it Easy Attitudes Children of the Night

Mellotron used:

• Band's own M400

Dawnwatcher were an unfairly obscure NWoBHM outfit, operating towards the progressive end of that particular spectrum; much of their history has been filled in from NWoBHM Vault's interview with original bassist Ges Smith, here. The 75-minute boot I own actually comprises all the above plus the band's five officially released tracks, both sides of both singles and a Mellotron-free compilation appearance, but I've restricted this review to the unreleased stuff. The image I've used comes from an exceedingly unflattering online review of what the reviewer describes as a three-track demo (actual tracklisting omitted, helpfully), so, in lieu of anything else, it might as well live here.

To be brutally honest, the band's sound was a little amateurish compared to, say, White Spirit or Limelight, although I suppose judging anyone from a rehearsal tape is rather unfair. The first three tracks appear to've been recorded by the original four-piece lineup, Smith doubling on bass and keys; things improve dramatically with the addition of permanent keys man Pete Darley, from track four onwards. Musically, we get fairly well-crafted hard rock from a band clearly looking to stretch their wings and escape the three-chord trap, obvious influences including Deep Purple and Rush; some of their more ambitious efforts, not least the eight-minute In The Wake Of Dawn, just fail to cut the mustard, although the early version of Spellbound (heavily reworked as their first single) works far better. It's probably fair to say that the band overreached themselves on occasion, but surely trying too hard is better than not trying hard enough?

Pete Darley's Mellotron (according to Smith, he also owned a Hammond L100 and a MicroMoog) first appears on the second version of Bird In Flight (I presume the doomy church bell opening proceedings on In The Wake Of Dawn is no more than a tape effect), with choir and string parts, background choirs on the original Spellbound, upfront strings and choirs on Taking It Easy, less upfront ones on Attitudes and occasional strings on Children Of The Night. I don't know how easy this is to find, although I've seen a download of their seven studio tracks, including the last two here. So; are Dawnwatcher worth hearing? Anyone interested in the more complex (i.e. less 'metal') end of the NWoBHM spectrum stands a reasonable chance of enjoying this stuff, just bear in mind that, while I'm sure they were a great live act, they were unlikely to ever seriously challenge the bigger bands of the era.

See: Dawnwatcher

Earth & Fire  (Netherlands)  see:

Electric Light Orchestra  (UK)  see:

Maurice Gibb  (UK)  see:

Goblin  (Italy)  see:

Greenslade  (UK)  see:

George Harrison  (UK)

Wonderwall Music Extras  (recorded 1968,  23.04)  ***/T½
Opening Are You in a Hole Butterflies Drilling a Home Medley Lennon Poem Drilling a Home Samba Flute Dance Factory Wedding Scene	Ski-ing (Sitar) The Operation On the Roof

Mellotron used:

• George's MkII?

George's Wonderwall Music is surprisingly hard to find, given the stature of its creator, insult added to injury by the non-inclusion of nearly a dozen extra pieces of soundtrack music, presumably as they wouldn't fit on the original vinyl release. They're a pretty eclectic selection (another reason for their non-inclusion?), veering between Opening's wailing Indian woodwind, Are You In A Hole's rock, Butterflies' musical saw (or near equivalent) and several other tracks of general experimentation, with varying levels of Indian influence.

George's MkII (or is it the ubiquitous Abbey Road machine?) can obviously be heard on two tracks, with Dixieland rhythms on some of the Drilling a Home Medley, as on the track on the official album) and a different rhythm track and vibes on Drilling A Home Samba, although that would appear to be your lot. George completists may well be able to find this online somewhere, but unless you have to hear every note with which he was involved, I wouldn't really go too far out of your way.

See: George Harrison

Elton John  (UK)  see:

Kaipa  (Sweden)  see:

Landberk  (Sweden)  see:

Led Zeppelin  (UK)  see:

Magnum  (UK)  see:

Marillion  (UK)  see:

Pavlov's Dog  (US)  see:

Pink Floyd  (UK)  see:

Trace  (Netherlands)  see:

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