Home

Statistics

For the certifiably anally-retentive only, or maybe just the certifiable... I suppose this page is a bit of an excuse for getting snippets of interesting information in about artists who otherwise wouldn't get mentioned. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

These are rough statistics for the Albums List, as of 2.6.2004. All figures are slightly approximate...

Bands

A quick note to anyone who's ever bothered to actually look at this page: only albums qualify for inclusion, as too many bands seem to have too many entries with a string of singles.

  1. King Crimson have the highest 'confirmed' count, at 28, although this figure has been wildly bumped up by the number of 'official bootlegs' released recently. Expect it to rise.
  2. Radio Massacre International (r.m.i. to their friends), are on 21 after only ten years' recording, although one of these is a multi-CD V/A collection. They have a heavy release schedule, including their CD-R 'companion to regular releases' albums, so expect this figure to rise... Also, due to the retirement of their M400 from 'regular' live work, some of their recent releases may actually not be eligible for the list.
  3. Tangerine Dream are on 16, with the possibility of more archive releases, all probably buggered about by Fat Edgar.
  4. Barclay James Harvest are on 15, rising there after the releases of the recentish live album by the tortuously-named 'Barclay James Harvest Through the Eyes of John Lees' and 'BBC in Concert', from 1972, plus the confirmation of '77's 'Gone to Earth'. I've decided to reverse my original decision not to count the 'Through the Eyes' album towards their total as a) it's in the spirit of the original band, and b) anyone who's prepared to tour with a Mellotron these days deserves encouragement! The name? A get-out clause with relation to bassist Les Holroyd. Incidentally, anyone with a copy of 'Live Tapes', have a look at the picture of Les inside the gatefold, and tell me with a straight face he wasn't the inspiration for Spïnal Tap's Derek Smalls...
  5. Gandalf's next, with 14, although these are confirmed entries only, so the figure could eventually rise dramatically.
  6. Genesis, David Bowie, The Moody Blues and The Strawbs are next, with 13. Rumour has it Genesis will be releasing 'official bootlegs', à la Crimson at some point in the distant future, while The Moodies jump up to this figure with a recent archive live release. There's rumoured Chamberlin on another recent Bowie album, so his figure could yet go up again.
  7. Paul McCartney/Wings and Rick Wakeman have just hit 11, with the discovery of several more tracks on Wings' '70s albums and a BRAND NEW Wakey 'Tron album.
  8. Spock's Beard, Tomita, Lana Lane, Yes and 'Saint' Julian Cope are on 10, although Cope's figure doesn't include his work with Queen Elizabeth etc. and Yes having dropped to this figure with the discovery that they used Mk.II samples on 'The Ladder', then risen with a new archive live release, then dropped again as it looks likely 'Relayer' is all Orchestron, then risen again as 'Drama' was added. Phew.
  9. Gentle Giant, Eberhard Schoener and Klaus Schulze are on 9.
  10. There are now several acts on 8, including Stackridge, Grobschnitt (plus several unconfirmed), Pallas (albums, that is), The Bee Gees, Elton John, Steve Hackett, Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Paul Weller.
  11. On 7 we have (alphabetically speaking) Ekseption, Greenslade/Dave Greenslade, IQ, Mind Over Matter, PFM and Tom Waits. PFM have been dropped to this figure, despite the discovery of another album, as two of their previous entries are simply English-language versions of their original Italian LPs.
  12. There are surprisingly few artists on 6, including Angel, Arena, Earth & Fire, Magnum, Aimee Mann (including a soundtrack), Omega, Plasticland, (I) Pooh, Porcupine Tree, Roxy Music, Leon Russell and the Walkabouts.

Several current acts not mentioned above are likely to put out more 'Tron-orientated stuff over the next few years, including:

And doubtless many more...

Artists

It's difficult to know how to arrange this section; several musicians have played Mellotron on stacks of albums, all of which are their own. It doesn't take a genius to work out that Tony Banks has used the instrument on fourteen albums; thirteen Genesis and one of his own. Where it gets interesting (?!) is in finding out the musicians who have played on a variety of other artists' recordings. This list is based around this idea, although of course, many session players release their own material too. So, although it's not definitive, here's an overview of the more diverse talents to be found in the Wonderful World of Mellotron (cough).

  1. Patrick Warren's on a thoroughly ridiculous 52 (!!), all sessions, all on Chamberlin. There seems to be something about the Chamberlin that makes it more of a session player's instrument - its relative portability, maybe? It also seems as though artists who wouldn't be seen dead with a credit for 'Mellotron' on their album have no problem with its less-famous predecessor. Very strange.
  2. After my recent discovery of a complete sessionography for the man, Jon Brion was top of the league table with a stunning 40 confirmed sightings, only to be overtaken by the esteemed Mr.Warren. His chosen implement, again, is the Chamberlin - I suspect an M1, as they're the easiest to transport, and he seems to get around a bit... He appears to get some into the bulk of his extensive session work, with the occasional dash of Mellotron and Birotron thrown in. It's most likely that this figure is actually higher, but the list I found exactly duplicates the album credits, and some of them only say 'keyboards'.
  3. Rick Wakeman: Third on the list with a paltry 18, but I'm not sure whether he counts, going by the above criteria. Several of these are his own albums, and the bulk of the remainder are by Yes, but there are a few session appearances thrown in. He was King Of The Session Men in the late '60s/early '70s, so there may be a few more hidden away somewhere.
  4. Woolly Wolstenholme's on 15 sightings (excluding repetition), most of which are with Barclay James Harvest.
  5. A name I've only recently become aware of is Phil Madeira, who plays both Chamberlin and Mellotron on 12 sessions (so far), mostly, it seems, in the Christian Music industry. Well, we all have our crosses to bear... (ho ho).
  6. Maurice Gibb has quietly crept up to 10 sightings, most, though not all, on Bee Gees albums.
  7. John (Mark) Painter's on 9, with or without his middle name.
  8. Sean Slade has crept up to 7, as have Michael Beinhorn and Tim Christensen. As producers, they seem to have carte blanche to add Mellotron wherever they see fit, of course. Incidentally, a couple of Beinhorn's are unconfirmed, but likely. Christensen is a bit of a 'new boy' on the Mellotron circuit; a Danish singer/guitarist, he made his name in the rather wonderful (though sadly 'Tron-free and terribly named) Dizzy Mizz Lizzy. After the band's split, he apparently bought three Mellotrons (probably cleared out the Danish market, then), and has become rather in-demand as a producer/guest musician up Denmark way.
  9. Benmont Tench and Kramer are on 6. Tench is Tom Petty's long-term keyboard player, and has guested on various other artists' albums, too.
  10. Lenny Kravitz, Charles Thaxton, Beppe Crovella and John Philip Shenale are on 5. Thaxton, an American, has been around since the early '70s, adding Mellotron rather sporadically to his own and other people's records. Kravitz has played 'Tron on his own albums and those of artists he produces. Crovella was a member of Italian fusion outfit Arti e Mestieri, and now runs the Vinyl Magic label, guesting on various artists' albums.
  11. Ken Ascher, Al Kooper, John Wetton, Brendan O'Brien, Thighpaulsandra and Mitchell Froom are on 4. Froom's the Chamberlin-master extraordinaire, and probably has at least a dozen actual credits. He's rarely credited for what he's actually played (presumably through choice), so the tape-replay stuff on all the Crowded House albums may well be him, but then it could be Neil Finn instead. As a result, he has the unwanted distinction of being the artist on the list with the most 'italicised' entries. Kooper rose to prominence in the '60s with Bob Dylan and Blood, Sweat and Tears, and has used Mellotron on both his own and other artists' albums. More may follow as I track down more of his work. Wetton bought one of the King Crimson M400s after the band split in 1974, but only played it on other artists' albums. Thighpaulsandra (real name unknown!) is a Julian Cope collaborator, who I believe has also worked with Spiritualized, among others. A bit of an 'analogue freak', I suspect his session credits will increase as time goes on.

These are the main entries for the 'only their own albums' bunch:

  1. Steve Dinsdale of Radio Massacre International is on 17 (so far!), although some of these may be samples.
  2. Robert Fripp is on 15, so far.
  3. As previously mentioned, Tony Banks is on 14.
  4. Mike Pinder is on 13, mostly Moodies.
  5. Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock has reached 12, although one of these is unconfirmed.
  6. Edgar Froese and Martin Orford (of IQ) are on 11 apiece, and Duncan Goddard of Radio Massacre International may be, too. Although he owns the band's M400, it's difficult to tell how many of their albums he's actually played it on; because they record everything live to two-track, they use samples along with the real thing. Like Cope, top marks for using it live.
  7. Ryo Okumoto of Spock's Beard is on 10, including two V/A albums and one from his early-'80s days with Kitaro.
  8. David Cross (King Crimson) and "Gandalf" (Heinz Strobl), are on 9, so far.
  9. Paul McCartney, Flavio Premoli (of PFM), Rick van der Linden (of Ekseption and Trace), Eberhard Schoener, and Andy Davis of Stackridge are all on 8. A couple more may turn up for Schoener, and Macca's still using one occasionally, but I rather doubt that there'll be any more entries for the others.
  10. Finally, Dave Greenslade and "Mist" (Volker Kahrs) of Grobschnitt are both on 7.

Reviews

To date, there are 1693 album reviews, plus 58 singles, with another 55 not sures/mistaken identities/samples. I'll never get that time back, you know...