Without Pinder helping to popularize the mellotron, his songwriting contribution to the band and without him bringing in Justin Hayward, the MB wouldn’t have existed in the way we know it. He was an essential part of the band and a marvelous talent.
I think he brought the "spiritual" sensibilities to the band. That and the drugs resulted in the Moodies' mystical musical output.
I forgot about Thinking from In Search Of..! One other unforgettable from Mike is, as you travel into the Evening section of Days following Ray's flute intro, at about 40 sec. in, the mesmerizing Sunset -
So sad to hear this. The Moody Blues were an extraordinary band and Mike Pinder was a big part of the magic. Master of the mellotron (from what I've heard a temperamental instrument that a lot of musicians have struggled with) and also composer of some of the band's greatest songs.
The best you can get is the Moraz trial. For some odd reason, his lawyer questions each individual member about details that don’t really seem pertinent to the case. As a fan it is interesting to hear about the workings of the band, but not sure that anybody came out looking good from the whole spectacle. A real ‘Spinal Tap’ moment for them.
Saturday, and a chance finally to enjoy both the Moodies, and another band that has lost a founding member this week, the Allmans. Rock on.
After Denny Laine passed, I went through all of the early Moodies songs to see which ones he wrote. Finding him and Pinder were the main force of writing partnership at the beginning really made me reevaluate his role in the Moody Blues.
I was listening to my 22 track 'Core 7' Moodies playlist yesterday, and most of the tracks were written by Mike Pinder, RIP.
This is the Moody Blues is a fantastic compilation that I wore out back in high school. My sister had most of their core albums and they were her favorite band. I was able to take her to see them at the Meadowlands arena in 83 I think it was. Of course Mike had left by then but what a great show as I recall.
The L.A. Forum show from that tour is on the Timeless Flight box set (minus, mysteriously, “Going Nowhere”), and it does capture the post-Pinder band at probably its peak.
Q. What post MB recordings anyone recommend for Mike Pinder? Thank you.. RIP Mr. Pinder Awesome music
Same here. It was on PBS somewhere around 91 or 92, recorded it to VHS, had interruptions to contribute to PBS with Justin and John doing some of it. Wad definitely my intro....went and got what's now referred to as the "core 7" bit by bit, them Other Side and Sur La Mur. Good stuff. The LOAB doc doesn't show much about Pinder's leaving of the band, although the PBS showing could've been heavily edited, but the remainder of the material is fantastic. The start of the YouTube age brought Pinder out a bit, though. Dude was chill as hell. RIP.
Saw that too. Absolutely petty and stupid at Patrick's expense. Curious if Pinder spoke with Moraz later on with some similar dramas and such; guys worked on the same jobsite, lots of stories of getting aggravated with The Management.
He really didn’t do much music at all after the MB. Disappointing. He did one solo album shortly after leaving called The Promise which was pretty much mellow cali rock with no Mellotron (!). And then nothing, really. There was one from the 90s or something called In The Stars or something and honestly it was a bit awful. As though he was suddenly trying to write songs for the radio or something.
The Promise was from before Octave. And the second album called Among the Stars. I was just listening to it a couple weeks ago and it's not all great, but there are a handful of decent tracks.
I have a bootleg of the Seattle show from the 79 tour. Even without Pinder they still had something good going on here. Once the 80s hits began to happen they became a different band. But in 79 they were still proggy and rocking and playing nothing beyond Octave. And Moraz was new so he played some Mellotron parts of Mike’s. This is the last music by them that i own. My first show was the LDV tour and it really wasn’t as thrilling as i had hoped. I wish i had seen 79.
I’ll admit that Among the Stars is definitely patchy. Some of the songs on it are too jazz lite or 90’s easy listening or whatever. But I’m a big fan of Mike and he hadn’t released much after the Moody Blues, so like you apparently, I was happy for the three or four songs I like on Among the Stars . Among his other talents, I’ve always found his vocals really .. calming or reassuring or .. something. And, it’s about the cheapest looking cover art of all time . The cover got changed later.
I remember being disappointed by THE PROMISE, as it was a completely different style from his Moodies work. To this day, the best tracks for me are the same ones I liked when it first came out: Free as a Dove, Carry On, and the instrumental Air, which is probably my favorite. However, I find AMONG THE STARS to be a much stronger release, as the songs are more melodic and memorable.
I can’t swear to it, but I’ll bet the last recording with Mike playing his Mellotron was on this song from John Lodge’s 2015 release 10,000 Light Years Ago. Amazingly, he got Ray Thomas to play flute on it also, so it’s nice to hear the three of them together again. .
I'll show some love for Mike's The Promise album. It's my favorite of the hiatus albums, including even Blue Jays. It elevates my mood whenever I listen to it.
