Ok, time to answer own questions
:
It seems that among ethnic instruments the most popular are these connected with Celtic culture. And I like them very much: flutes, harp, violins... From the mentioned ones I like flute most but Ian Anderson like performance and flute sound is not my favourite. I prefer deep, "wet" and delicate sound of the instrument called panflute. It reminds of the traditional Mayan or Aztec instruments because of the characteristic sound of exhaled air. It sounds fantastic but is not very popular among rock flutists.
I love also mentioned by Moses pipes. Their master Troy Donockley is phenomenal musician. Try his recent solo album The Pursuit of Illusion.
Now about keyboards. Definitely Hammond Organ and mellotron are symbols of 70's music, especially progressive rock. The last mentioned instrument has some incredible "banks", being sincere I have to admit that there is some shit on mellotron too
. But let's concentrate of the pleasant ones. So:
- choir - still popular in symphonic rock. They were used by Tony Banks, sounded fantastic in Genesis compositions. Do you remember incredible Los Endos fragment as the ending of Seconds Out album? What a moment, what a fantastic mellotron choir performance!
- violins - very often mixed up with strings. No, this ghastly, shrill sound, symbol of classic mellotron is not 'strings' but 'violins'. Mellotron has 'strings' bank but it's sth different.
- flutes - very nice, old-school sound. Very often used by for ex. Tomas Bodin.
To sum up, in my opinion adding varied palette of instruments to the album is a symptom of big musical imagination and idea for music.
PS. One question. I know that Spock's Beards uses bozouki, I know what it is. But where is it heard on their albums?
PS2. Great banjo on Tiles albums.
