Harpsichord in rock

There are also other songs which contain the harpsichord....

Tull's "Songs From the Wood" has some harpsichord-like synths, especially on "Velvet Green" and "Pibroch". Though there's no actual harpsichord there, I think the keyboardists' endeavor to get mediaeval-like sounds (both in tone and playing style) of the modern instruments is a sign of creativity. 

Richardw wrote: I can't find the harpsichord on Focus 3 either, but I have found another track : Frank Zappa - 'Twenty Small Cigars' from the Chunga's Revenge album.

Thanks for the Zappa now included on the second burn! - 150 minutes recorded to date ~9 minutes of space to fill - keep going.

rileydog22 wrote: Also, in Sid Smith's wonderful King Crimson biography, he mentioned that there was a Harpsichord in the studio where the band was recording the debut that appears on various parts of the record, but I haven't ever noticed it.

No mention of it in the liner notes to the CD.......

Thanks however, to all who have supplied further input. Now just short of two 80 minute burns, based on what I have in my collection, i.e. (list here based on track order on the second burn):
Blood Sweat & Tears: The Battle
Judy Collins: I'll Keep It With Mine
The Waphphles: I Want You
Judy Collins: Both Sides Now
Jimi Hendrix: Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
The Beatles: Piggies/In My Life
Yes: Siberian Khatru
The Doors: Love Me Two Times
Zombies: I Want Her/She Wants Me/Imagine The Swan/Smokey Days
Rolling Stones: Lady Jane
Beggars Banquet: MacArthur Park
Happy The Man: Service With A Smile
Its A Beautiful Day: Girl With No Eyes
The Beatles: Fixing A Hole/All You Need Is Love
Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band: Sport (Odd Boy)

Comments:
1. While harpsichord is listed amongst the instruments played on Focus 3, I've managed to miss it - anybody enlighten me to which track?
2. The Stones' Lady Jane sounded to start with an spinnette(?), another mechanically plucked keyboard instrument,  which dates back to at least the Elizabethan period - I had a colleague who owned and played one, and you needed to be less than 6 foot from it to hear it. The harpsichord comes in several verses later and sounds quite different.
3. Siberian Khatru's use of the harpsichord is even shorter than Love's use on Revelation - what some would call 'brief colouring'.
4. Elektra Records studios must have had a harpsichord around 1966 to '8 (other had the Moog), the number of the artists who used it. For instance the two Judy Collins listed here sound to have just about the same arrangement, and really different from the previously mentioned Hard Lovin' Loser.


Finally keep coming with suggestions

4 hours later. Now have Nico's Marble Index (remastered as part of Frozen Borderline set)) and the liner notes don't suggest a harpsichord is used - however, no idea now what is being played on Evening of Light?

Checked the Zappa, and I'm afraid the suggested track sounds like an upright piano with drawing pins in the hammers (a trick we kids got up to at school on the morning assembly piano - gave those hymns a certain edge) - similarly the Zombies do that on Oddyssey & Oracle (my other purchase lunchtime) although there are at least two tracks with real harpsichord.

Nice compilation, Dick.

Edited by salmacis - April 07 2007 at 07:24

andu wrote: How can one tell the difference between a true harpsichord and a synthesized one, when listening to a recording? For example, the "Siberian Khatru" harpsichord part sounds genuine on the studio version, but when played live there's no harpsichord on stage, and that certain part is obviously performed on synth. Or maybe they replaced it with a similar synth harpsichord sound in order no to carry the original instrument along when touring?  Yesterdays, the band some sympho-maniacs here like and will soon be added to the site , has an excellent harpsichord part. I'll have to check with the band, though, for the list of the actual instruments used on the album.

That is a real problem - but you'll notice most of what I listed so far, probably predates synths with a trigger labelled 'harpsichord'. I'm sure the Stranglers used a harpsichord for the studio version of Golden Brown.

Relistening to that Nico tracks, I remain only half convinced of that being harpsichord - the playing is so chopped compared with anything else - and indeed I'm wondering if a mandolin was used , despite the liner note's claim the keyboards where used (btw can you tell if a spinette or one of the earlier plucked keyboard instruments from a harpsichord?)

How can one tell the difference between a true harpsichord and a synthesized one, when listening to a recording? For example, the "Siberian Khatru" harpsichord part sounds genuine on the studio version, but when played live there's no harpsichord on stage, and that certain part is obviously performed on synth. Or maybe they replaced it with a similar synth harpsichord sound in order no to carry the original instrument along when touring? 

Yesterdays, the band some sympho-maniacs here like and will soon be added to the site , has an excellent harpsichord part. I'll have to check with the band, though, for the list of the actual instruments used on the album.

The opening of the Focus track 'Birth' has a wonderful harpsichord intro. One of my favourite tracks ever.

Also, in Sid Smith's wonderful King Crimson biography, he mentioned that there was a Harpsichord in the studio where the band was recording the debut that appears on various parts of the record, but I haven't ever noticed it.