TRON

This is a video I have wanted to record for a long time. My love affair of the Mellotron started when I heard my first Genesis album as a young teenager. Expanding my musical tastes to Yes, Tangerine Dream, Steve Hackett, David Bowie and many others simply reinforced that love of this instrument. I have an older brother and in the early 80’s some of his school friends formed a band. To my total joy and amazement the keyboard player, Andy, acquired a used Mellotron M400 – an instrument I literally salivated over! Seeing one in the flesh and being able to play some chords on it left me spellbound.

I had no idea of the Chamberlin’s existence at that time, and later in my adult life the only photos I came across of a Chamberlin were of a heavy, wooden home keyboard, not the sleek looking Mellotron M400’s I had known since a teenager. Spending time researching Harry Chamberlin has been an absolute joy. I think it is such a travesty that, at least on this side of the Atlantic, so many have heard of the Mellotron but not of Harry Chamberlin. This video is my own very small and humble attempt at putting that right, at least I feel happier for making it.

In an attempt to give legitimacy to the verbal information in this video, I have included numerous images but which I did not expressly obtain permission to reproduce. My hope is that the copyright owners will be accepting of the use here, which – as this video is of a documentary nature – is considered “fair use” under copyright law.

As to the information I have provided, I have gone to great lengths to research the information from available sources. However, it should be stated that the reliability of those sources is not always possible to determine and there will always be a chance that some inaccuracies exist. I therefore do not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided in this video.

I have come across a number of valuable resources during the research of this video and provide links to those resources below where possible. I have also included links of YouTube videos that may be of interest to anyone who is keen on the Mellotron or Chamberlin instruments.

Useful links:

Home of the Mellotron M4000D: https://www.mellotron.com/
Home of the Streetly Mellotron M4000: http://www.mellotronics.com/

Wikipedia Mellotron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellotron
Wikipedia Chamberlin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamberlin

Chamberlin Patents: http://www.till.com/articles/Mellotro…
Harry Chamberlin Interview: http://egrefin.free.fr/images/Chamber…

Mellotron Archives: https://www.mellotron.com/archives.html
Planet Mellotron: https://www.planetmellotron.com/links…
Mellotron Demo: https://youtu.be/yrXtmKGkSa4
GForce Video: https://youtu.be/ODNVNjcV_58

Chamerlin Resources: https://amplify.nmc.ca/an-orchestra-a…
SOS On the Mellotron: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/…
M4000: https://www.outofphase.fr/2018/04/05/…
Mike Pinder, Moody Blues: http://www.mikepinder.com/?page_id=159

Chamberlin 1962 TV: https://youtu.be/_A-pbH-Wtxs
Chamberlin Jerry Lewis TV: https://youtu.be/eU87HCxM_lM