Mike Pinder R.I.P.

[loveless]

Moody Blues Mellotron man (and founding member). Probably did more for Mellotron sales than anyone of that era.

[Charlie O.]

I'm sorry to hear it.

Besides popularizing the Mellotron, he had actually worked for the company, and continued to suggest refinements to the instrument.

And he's the one who got out of the band while the getting was good.

R.I.P.

[quaco]

Definitely the soul of the band, a band I adore precisely during the period he was in it.

His concept—to use a playable orchestra as your "thing"— was fascinating and he did a good job of it. It put the "moody" in Moody Blues. So many memorable and great bits, including stuff like using the pitch bending feature ("The Best Way to Travel").

[Charlie O.]

[The Mellotron] was a deucedly awkward instrument to play and keep. The recorded tapes were easily thrown out of alignment and were subject to warping. Mr. Pinder understood the Mellotron as few others, yet there was one concert when his own instrument broke open, the tapes running out of the box onto the stage. He got the instrument back into working order within 20 minutes, while the light crew entertained the audience by projecting cartoons.

In 1971, Mr. Pinder guested on John Lennon’s “Imagine” album on the songs “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier (I Don’t Wanna Die)” and “Jealous Guy,” playing tambourine rather than the Mellotron he had intended to play because he said the tapes in Lennon’s instrument looked like “a bowl of spaghetti.”

www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/04/25/mike-pinder-moody-blues-dead-obituary/

[loveless]

When I mentioned the Mellotron to Denny Laine, he claimed that a huge part of the appeal for Pinder and Co. was the reality of touring the ballroom circuit in an era where 11/10 bands featured harmonica, to which all instruments could be tuned - save the miserable old, out of tune pianos at nearly every venue.

[Charlie O.]

Which reminds me of Robert Fripp's axiom: "Tuning a Mellotron doesn't."

[loveless]