RIP Mike Pinder

[Bapu]

The Blues are no longer Moody.

Edited April 25 by Bapu

[Starship Krupa]

He's magnetic ink.

Huge fan here, both of The Moody Blues and of Mr. Pinder's contribution to same.

[craigb]

Sad news indeed!

[Starship Krupa]

Here's a clip I find interesting, must have been just after Days of Future Passed came out, they seem to be on a European TV show, and from what Pinder is saying to them, the audience must have been rude to them before the tape started rolling.

When he asks them how many people can make their dickie-birds go 'round, for the non-Brits, "dickie-bird" is a slang term for....well, say it without the "ie bird" part. Kinda clashes with their mellow hippie image.

Anyway, they do pretty well with "Peak Hour," Tuesday Afternoon," and "Nights in White Satin" from the new-at-the-time album. When John Lodge was still able to hit those wailing high notes.

 

[Terry Kelley]

I hung out with him at his California house several times (he lived close) trying the help get some electronics working. I didn’t know what to expect but it turned out he was just a dad/husband in a T-shirt and shorts trying to get his son to do his god-damn homework before heading out. LOL! No rockstar pomp.

Really nice guy and his wife too. I tried to not be a crazy fan and he was appreciative of that. We talked Mellotron (50% plate reverb, double tracked and keep the fingers and faders moving), MB mixing wishes (louder drums) among other things.

What little he said about the other band members was all positive although he alluded to the Graeme Edge conflict.  I missed Hayward and Lodge visiting him by a day. Oh, I should have called you!

But a great guy to hang with and talk music and science/space. He and Ian McDonald will be remembered for what they brought to music. 

RIP Mike.

Edited April 26 by Terry Kelley

[Johannes H]

RIP

[Starship Krupa]

2 hours ago, Terry Kelley said:

I missed Hayward and Lodge visiting him by a day. Oh, I should have called you!

AIEEEEEEEEEEE! Justin is one of my few musical heroes I'd be interested in meeting.

Oy, that Graeme grudge. I guess he really felt like Mike pulled the rug out.

So you must have lived in Santa Barbara? I lived there from 1981-1983. My hippie period. Worked on an organic farm, took LSD, got WAY into The Moody Blues (Long Distance Voyager was just out).

[Terry Kelley]

5 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

AIEEEEEEEEEEE! Justin is one of my few musical heroes I'd be interested in meeting.

Oy, that Graeme grudge. I guess he really felt like Mike pulled the rug out.

So you must have lived in Santa Barbara? I lived there from 1981-1983. My hippie period. Worked on an organic farm, took LSD, got WAY into The Moody Blues (Long Distance Voyager was just out).

No, this was in the 90s after he left SoCal.

[Old Joad]

?

[JnTuneTech]

22 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

they do pretty well with "Peak Hour," Tuesday Afternoon," and "Nights in White Satin" from the new-at-the-time album. When John Lodge was still able to hit those wailing high notes.

Indeed! That video clip - nice that it is fairly straight forward performance snippet. I have a few "Long Distance Voyager" cover tracks on hand, but I have skipped "Night In White Satin" and songs of that era so far. That clip sort of makes me want to add it now (the song itself has a place in my dusty HS dance memory), after seeing them do it live, just using the mellotron & regular rock band kit. And Justin's stuff always works with my vocal range. Hmm.

RIP Mike Pinder.   Days Of Future Passed.   Sigh.

[Starship Krupa]

34 minutes ago, JnTuneTech said:

That video clip - nice that it is fairly straight forward performance snippet.

It's my favorite clip of theirs because it shows them on the threshold, so to speak. They've just made the major shift in direction from trying to be a white blues band to experimenting with the prog direction? "Peak Hour" is sort of a Who-ish track, but "Nights" and "Tuesday" point to where they're headed.

Here's another of my favorite Moody Blues tracks. "Lovely to See You" is their most "what if the Men of Gondor had a rock band?" song, IMO. And a beautiful, open hearted lyric. When I started writing lyrics myself it helped show me that writing emotionally honest and vulnerable lyrics, especially positive ones, is really hard to do. In the little sketch at the beginning, it's Mike Pinder who comes in with the "there you go, man, keep as cool as you can" bit.

Here's another favorite clip where they're miming for a TV show. Still showing the beat influence, but now has the 4-voice male choir lead vocal, and is a showcase for Justin Hayward to rip an Indian-flavored guitar solo. I love their clothes and hair and the way they move.

 

[57Gregy]

Breath deep...