by Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock (Mind Over Matter)

 Mellotron MK IV

Do you still remember the beginning of the Beatles´ song "Strawberry Fields Forever"? These sounds of a flute originate just like the string sounds of the Moody Blues´ Classic "Nights in white satin" from the analog ancestor of the modern sampler, the Mellotron. For the past 30 years this English "tape recorder keyboard" helped thousands of musicians and bands  to land those megahits and gain worldwide fame. To name only a few: GENESIS, YES, KING CRIMSON, BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST.

On January 16th, 1997, at the age of 80, Leslie Bradley, who was known as the man who built the Mellotron together with his brothers Frank and Norman, died. We dedicate this collection of popular and newly arranged Mello-Sounds to him and to the countless Mellotron fans as a source of authentic samples.

Martin Smith  and  Leslie Bradley  and a Mellotron Mark II

In 1962 the small company of the Bradleys in Birmingham had received an order to make 70 mono replay heads for the American Bill Franzen. Upon delivery of their products Franzen showed the astonished brothers the prototype of a keyboard instrument, that was named after its inventor "Chamberlin". It had a 3-track tape recorder for each key and you could hear its recording when the key was pushed. For example: if the tape contained on track A a recording of original string sounds and you pushed a key, these "true" strings sounded for 8 seconds until the tape was at its end. The "Chamberlin" was polyphonic and even though it was by far not mass production material, it opened up musical possibilities unheard of until then. After Les Bradley's team took on the issue, it became the foundation for the later Mellotron.

DJ Alan Freeman, award-winning  Leslie & Norman Bradley  and Roy Wood (ELO) - 1993

The production facility was moved to the suburb of Streetly and was called from now on "Streetly Electronics". In the years of 1962 to 1964 many other construction problems were mastered and in months of hard work instruments, complete rhythms and sounds were recorded onto master tape in the studio. Soon the Bradleys had plenty of original samples to work with, which were the base for the first, thoroughly redone Mellotron, the Mark I, in 1964. After some "childhood illnesses" in the beginning they continued the improving for another year, and finally in 1965, the double-keyboard Mark II was born. "It's a miracle" you could read in the Mark II advertisement and it really seemed like a wonder what this instrument was able to do. In 1965 everyone of the Beatles got this "Fairlight of the Sixties".

In 1967 the Bradleys started their first efforts to build a smaller and lighter Mellotron which was released one year later as the "Model 300". It had less features than its big brother and only had 52 keys.

Mellotron M 400

In 1970 they came out with the M 400, a smaller and easier to transport "people´s-Mellotron". Its technology was simpler than its predecessor, it offered only 3 of the most popular Mellotron sounds (with ability to switch and merge) and was clearly cheaper. The dream of the personal orchestra for everybody came true! When you speak about the Mellotron today one usually means this snow white Model 400 with 35 wooden keys. When specially ordered it was also available in a very decorative brown mahogany.

The M 400 hit the music industry like a bomb. That's why it isn't surprising that you heard the Mellotron on thousands of LPs and singles after 1970. 1972 the M 400 won big with the recording of choir voices of four men and four women. The sales figures went up quickly and the "8-Choir" was next to the "Violins" the most popular M 400-sound.

In 1976 it seemed to be the right time for a larger, worldwide distribution of the Mellotron by the giant "Dallas Music", who against all expectations declared bankruptcy in 1977. Unfortunately it forced Les Bradley's company from then on to sell its product under the new name "Novatron", since the product name "Mellotron" was wrongly sold to the United States as part of the bankrupt's estate. "Streetly Electronics" never really recovered from these severe setbacks to the Mellotron's success and went bankrupt themselves in 1988, after a long, tough fight against the polyphonic synthesizers and digital samplers that had pushed ahead steadily.

John Bradley  and  Mellotron Mark I

Les Bradley's son John still to this day continues the tradition of his father and dedicates his and his partner Martin Smith's time to the restoring and upkeeping of those Mellotrons, that still or maybe just because of their inadequacies sound so great and unique. Keep on mellotroning!

Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock
(Mind Over Matter)

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