The Mellotron Group

I remember seeing Genesis at the Tower theater in Philadelphia back in  
1973. no Mark II but an M400. Mike might think the whole thing is silly, but 
for  a 21 year old I was pretty impressionable. I LOVED IT! The first live 
concert I  ever saw was outdoors on the Mall in DC. I don't think I was yet 16. 
It was  Alice Cooper opening for Arthur Brown. Spring or summer of 1968. I 
didn't turn  16 until that November.
 
Alice Cooper came out in a pink dress. The band was called "Alice Cooper"  
at the time. I don't think Vince Furnier had adopted the name for himself 
yet. I  was about 50 feet from the stage and I remember the guitarist (I 
think) at some  point in the show had a giant Styrofoam fist that he slid up and 
down Vince's  body (in the pink dress) until he spit some kind of white 
creamy fluid all over  the people in front of the stage.
 
I freaked out. It was great stuff.
 
Then, after Alice Cooper left the stage, the back line guys swapped out the 
 gear and the stage went dark... for about ten minutes. Suddenly there was 
a  rumble after a few seconds, a voice in the dark screamed out..." I AM THE 
GOD OF  HELL FIRE... AND I BRING YOU... FIRE. There was an explosion of 
light and this  guy comes down down on a wire (Deus Ex Machina- only at the 
beginning  instead of the end) with one arm extended outwards and the other  
holding a mic and HIS HEAD WAS ON FIRE. Well, at least that what I thought at  
first, but it was actually a helmet of some kind. I remember little else of 
that  show, but that much, I will never forget.
 
I saw lots of concerts after that but nothing that approached the wonder  
and surprise until 1973 at the Tower. I saw Gabriel era Genesis twice more 
after  that also in Philadelphia and was fortunate enough to be 4th row center 
at the  Civic Center for The Lamb show.
 
Looking back at now, at the age of 60  I still get a sense of  what I felt 
back then. And over the years, having seen The Musical Box recreate  these 
shows, as good at it as they are (were) Nothing can touch the memories of  
those shows when I was that age.
 
So make fun of it if you will, Mike... I pity you for having missed it.  
Real people playing real instruments.
 
 
In a message dated 11/19/2012 1:30:35 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
pocotron@yahoo.com writes:

 
 
 
 
Hi all-
   In listening to the "Watcher" intro, one can hear the  brass/violins 
mix, but the brass sounds a bit like the "Brass B"  recording to me.  Later on, 
in "Dancing with the Moonlight Knight",  the violins are alone.  A choir 
can also be heard by itself  elswhere (I forget where) in the concert.  I have 
to assume the  frame was loaded with Brass B, 3 Violins (probably M400 
Violins) and  8 Choir.
 
   -Bruce D.
   



 
 

From: gino  wong <wonggster@gmail.com>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com  
Sent: Sunday, November 18,  2012 3:55 PM
Subject: Re:  [newmellotrongroup] Genesis Live 1973

<WBR
 
 
 
So they doubled the organ with the 400 strings ?    
I guess they had to do something when they went from many to three  
sounds.I gue
On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 4:26 PM, <_lsf5275@aol.com_ 
(mailto:lsf5275@aol.com) > wrote: wrot
   
 
 
 

They began using the organ instead of  the bass accordion .
 

 
In a message dated 11/18/2012 2:34:37 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
_wonggster@gmail.com_ (mailto:wonggster@gmail.com)  writes:

I think they were using an M 400 in the studio by the time of Selling  
England....  I do wonder how they accounted for the difference in  sound between 
the Mk2 strings and the bass accordion for Watcher which was  a big part of 
their show for a long time. Did they have special tapes or  did they just 
roll with what was around. 


Surely somebody  knows.











<WBR


--  


Gino Wong Birgelo
BSComm,  BSEE,
ReRED Recording, Analog Sound Design
Audio Mastering,  Recording & Restoration, Logistics<WBR>


_Ginowong@gmail.com_ (mailto:Ginowong@gmail.com)