Wolfmancatsup
Empire State Human
Moody Blues founder Mike Pinder dies, age 82
Tributes have been paid after Mike Pinder, the keyboard player and founding member of the Moody Blues, died aged 82.
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Mike Pinder RIP
- Thread starter Wolfmancatsup
- Start date
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Tony L
Administrator
Sad news. Always felt the Moody Blues were rather overlooked/marginalised compared to other UK prog acts of their era. I know they started as more ‘beat’ but anything from In Search Of The Lost Chord onwards is pretty ‘prog’. You can still find 60s and 70s first pressings in bargain bins which amazes me. They are far tattier than they were a few years ago, but even so that just seems wrong. I landed a very tidy EX/EX or better pretty complete set decades ago and I don’t think I paid more than a quid for any of them. I guess rather an odd RIP post, but RIP anyway.
PS Hearing A Question Of Balance on a good system as a kid is actually what got me into hi-fi. One of those real ‘wow, I need that’ moments.
PS Hearing A Question Of Balance on a good system as a kid is actually what got me into hi-fi. One of those real ‘wow, I need that’ moments.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Big Moodies fan here. Dad had a copy of the brilliant "This is the..." compilation (the 'tron pitchbend used to fascinate / scare me a bit as a kid) and this was one of the standouts on it - probably Mike's finest moment out of loads. Patrick Moraz never really filled the gap left when he went.
Had it not been for Mike Pinder taking the massively heavy Mellotron on stage, it would have possibly remained a novelty home organ. Without that, King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, Tangerine Dream, Gracious!, Spring, Novalis and a load of other bands would have sounded different.
An often overlooked key player in the development of progressive rock and I'll be playing a few Moodies albums tonight in memory. RIP.
Had it not been for Mike Pinder taking the massively heavy Mellotron on stage, it would have possibly remained a novelty home organ. Without that, King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, Tangerine Dream, Gracious!, Spring, Novalis and a load of other bands would have sounded different.
An often overlooked key player in the development of progressive rock and I'll be playing a few Moodies albums tonight in memory. RIP.
Snufkin
pfm Member
As a former employee of Meletron he was very handy when inevitably the thing required fettling.
Echoing Tony’s point I picked up a near mint Japanese pressing of Lost Chord a few years ago for about £20, it sounds stunning.
And agree, like Rick Wright was to Pink Floyd, The Moodies would have been nothing without Mike Pinder.
RIP
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Looking at footage of their IoW appearance just now, I saw that his MkII had right-hand tape sets on both sides (a Mellotron bore writes.) I would imagine he was responsible for that.
As for Moodies albums, I always thought they were OK as long as you avoided the Ray Thomas songs.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
The left hand sets were rhythm backing tracks and unless you were David Nixon not much use.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Quite. That’s why I had my old MkII modified in the same way that Mike’s was. But the rhythm tapes have shown up on records once or twice - notably on the White Album (Bungalow Bill) and some improv sections of King Crimson 1969 live albums.
(I sold my MkII because it sounded a bit like a car idling in the corner of the room. The M400 is much more user-friendly.)
Oops - sorry. Told you I was a Mellotron bore…
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
And Lol Coxhill's "A Series of Superbly Played Mellotron Codas"
No such thing. I've always wanted an M400 but I have to suffice with VSTs.
