Hi all, 

Been curious about this for a while as I'm completely in love with the backing track to this song, and to me it sounds a lot like the sort of sounds a Mellotron would make - those woozy, grungy-sounding flutes for one thing. 

It is not impossible as the instrument predates the song by two years, but at the same time it just seems like an unusual choice for a record in this genre and time period. There is absolutely zero information online - does anyone know anything about this? 

Cheers! 

 D 

 

TL is very active on FB, so you could try asking her; though she might have been attending more to the mic than the music.  Worth a shot? 

Nice, thank you - didn't think about that. I'll see if I can find her. 

I'll stick my neck out here and say that isn't a mellotron on the recording.

As someone who listens to tons of 70s Prog Rock recordings that feature the mellotron, it just doesn't sound quite right to me .

I could be totally wrong of course but I really don't think that's the same instrument.

Lovely track though,Damian !

Edited July 28, 20186 yr by Soulsides

24 minutes ago, Soulsides said:

I'll stick my neck out here and say that isn't a mellotron on the recording.

As someone who listens to tons of 70s Prog Rock recordings that feature the mellotron, it just doesn't sound quite right to me .

I could be totally wrong of course but I really don't think that's the same instrument.

Lovely track though,Damian !

Isn't it? Happy to be proven wrong about the Mellotron.. it could just be a grungy recording (not that that ever happened on a '60s soul record..) 

I have forwarded a link to TL on FB and invited her to comment.

Kind regards

Stu

Thank you so much - I deactivated mine a month ago. 

I know what you mean, those flutes right at the end from 2:00 onwards, sound almost like Strawberry Fields Forever, it might just be the slightly odd ascending pattern they are playing though? The strings sound real enough to me on the rest. I wonder where it was recorded? I seem to remember reading about a group in the 60's who were in a studio where there happened to be a mellotron so they tried it out as they cost an absolute fortune at the time. 

 

 

Edited July 28, 20186 yr by Timillustrator

10 minutes ago, Timillustrator said:

I know what you mean, those flutes right at the end from 2:00 onwards, sound almost like Strawberry Fields Forever, it might just be the slightly odd ascending pattern they are playing though? The strings sound real enough to me on the rest. I wonder where it was recorded? I seem to remember reading about a group in the 60's who were in a studio where there happened to be a mellotron so they tried it out as they cost an absolute fortune at the time. 

 

 

Exactly, it's not only the sound of the instruments but the slightly unusual way in which some of them are played - Strawberry Fields is a good example, it sounds like flutes but the playing is totally "unflutelike". Some of the parts in the TL song strike me the same way. And yes, I've read about "chance encounters" with Mellotron's that ended up on record, too. 

This was Wilbert Golden’s final release on his Correc-tone label in July 1965.

He had moved from 12th Street to 8912 Grand River. Both were his own studios so I assume that this beautiful recording was created in the latter some weeks prior to the release.

Raynoma Gordy who was close to it’s Arranger Dale Warren had moved out to Washington D.C. sometime in 1964 to build the Shrine label with Eddie Singleton.

Did Raynoma lend or sell her Ondioline to Wilbert via Dale?

More importantly could her Ondioline produce the sounds featured on this 45?

Edited July 28, 20186 yr by David Meikle

Nice one, thanks. I haven't read about the Ondioline in a while but I seem to recall it was oscillator-based, though? I don't think it would've been able to reproduce that sort of sound that early on. Most likely it would've sounded closer to a Theremin in timbre. 

Damian

I should have added that I have zero knowledge of musical instruments !

The first half of this link might help you.

https://ondioline.com/

I think I recall Raynoma declaring in her book that it was second hand when she bought it. So it might be a 50’s model.

In the book "Berry, Me, and Motown" , Raynoma does mention using the ondioline on "Dream Come True".

You can hear it clearly a little after the 2:10 mark- 

 

Edited July 28, 20186 yr by the yank

Does this one fit?