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The Heart and soul of the Moodies along with Ray Thomas. It is insane what sounds he got out of the early mellotron. He is one of the greatest keyboard players of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3YiZXfA-is

Mike is awesome. He's also one of my favorite keyboard players as well. Watch him in interviews...he's very patient and laid back - years of fiddling with malfunctioning mellotrons on the road would do that to anyone!

His solo albums aren't that bad, either. The Promise is an acquired taste (especially if you dig his mellotron playing), mainly because it's more acoustic guitars and ARP synthesizers than mellotrons. Among the Stars is practically soaked in mellotrons. He also did two children's albums - A Planet with One Mind and A People with One Heart. Both of those are just him reading children's stories over incidental music, usually related to the story he's reading.

I need to pick up his solo albums, he was smart to sense the Moodies weren't the same once they reunited in 1978. The moodies have moved on without him, but a reunion would blow my mind since a digital mellotron came out without the tape problems that Mike always had to fix like a pro.

I think the situation in 1977 was made worse by the fact that Mike just wasn't interested in the band anymore. Years of living in California and raising a family turned him off from being in the band. What made things worse was that the road began to sit poorly with him, mainly due to the crazy fans who insisted that their music had some kind of secret or hidden messages. The recording sessions were generally unhappy due to the myriad of technical and nature problems - the day they were scheduled to record in Los Angeles, the city received its heaviest rainfall in fifty years (and the ensuing mudslides), forcing the band to move the recording sessions to Mike's garage studio, where they were stuck for days before they received power back. The band were not getting along well at the time.

He originally was going to tour with them after Octave came out, but only got as far as the contract signing. Cue Patrick Moraz...and the rest is history.

Thats truly what happened and I don't blame him for getting creeped out by crazy fans , I get pissed at Graeme Edge for spreading those awful rumors about Mike when he only yelled at Edge for being annoying while Mike was working out a song arrangement. I honestly wish Mike and Ray could be full moodies again with the group to remind the UK of their last full great band.

I think it's to the point where the Moodies are very happy where they are. I think we'd have a better shot of seeing Ray come back, but not Mike. Mike is happy doing his own thing, and Ray's enjoying his retirement. Sure, their songs are definitely missed, but so many of the younger fans don't even know the Moody Blues with Mike in the live band. If anything, Mike would have been considered even less commercial than Ray and Graeme were in the mid-1980s - if you look at all of the music videos, they're pretty much "Justin and John...and some other chaps".

Remember, Justin, John, Ray and Graeme don't have any bad feelings towards Mike. But part of being a Moody to them was being in the live band. There wasn't any type of Brian Wilson arrangement, although Mike initially thought (and later sued the band over it) that the band would use Patrick as a live musician only while Mike would write and contribute to the records. The courts saw it differently in 1981...and again in 1991 when Patrick was removed from the band.

Understandable situation by the remaining members, thought Mike should have had some input IMO. Justin and John are great keepers of the legacy at this point after ditching Tony Visconti and Patrick Moraz. I get mad at the way Ray was treated as a sideman in the 1980s by record company.

Yeah...but that was Polydor's thing. Polydor insisted from 1981 onward that Justin and John be the two most visible members in the public eye and that the albums be dominated by Hayward/Lodge songs, with a Hayward song to lead off every album and be released as the first single.

Funnily enough, if you listen to bootlegs of the 1980s tours, the song that probably receives the biggest of crowd responses is Legend of a Mind. Ray might not have had much to do with the records, but he always stepped up to the plate in concert. The band obviously liked his material at the time, too, since Painted Smile/Reflective Smile/Veteran Cosmic Rocker was in the setlists until 1990!

Shame on polydor's part, Ray's voice still had that booming sound that worked well when he did eternity road  in 1994.

What happened with Moraz at the end?  I felt that he played a pretty integral role in the 80s and then he was gone.  I've not found much info detailing that period.

He ended up getting fired by the group.

The Patrick situation was quite messy. Around 1986 or so, the band hired Bias Boshell on keyboards to back up Patrick, who had made it a point to randomly no-show at gigs. By 1990, three tracks into the Keys of the Kingdom sessions, Patrick quit and then sued the band, claiming years of unpaid back royalties and live fees, and also that the band had allegedly promised him the status of a full member. The band countered with the fact that Patrick had signed paperwork with the band in 1981 that listed him as a paid musician and that he would be paid on a gig by gig basis. He sued the band for something like $5 million and won, but only $125,000. Highlights from the trial were actually aired on Court TV in the United States - it's required listening. Patrick basically made a complete fool of himself, which probably contributed to the judge giving him a paltry fee.

Patrick remarked years later that Justin Hayward "would cut his mother's throat if it meant he'd get ahead."

Funny how court TV covered that case, usually the Moodies were so low key.

Thanks!  That's more than I've ever heard/seen before.  It does, however, remind me of stories surrounding him as it relates to his previous bands (Yes, Refugee, Mainhorse) as well.  He seems to be a difficult guy with whom to work.

Our own Erik H. on this board met him and its quite the story. :lol

Back on topic, whats your favorite Mike Pinder mellotron performances?

Sheesh...tough choice!

Probably On the Threshold of a Dream. The whole album. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, too.

Yes, that is a much cherished, much hilarious incident :)

If you posted it before, point me in the right direction.  Or might you care to share again?  I am intrigued!

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,12111.0.html

Thanks!  That "Windows of Time" got a fair amount of indy press when it was released, as I recall.  Or at least enough to cause me to purchase it, listen to it twice, then ultimately, ignore.

My favorite is To Our Children's Children's Children album, Mike plays like a god on "out and in"

Any chances of Denny Laine going back to the Moodies?? :lol :lol

I'm not a fan of The Moody Blues, but I enjoy the threads on them. Nice to see this type of fandom.

Mike's solo albums are definitely more of a hardcore fans-only deal. The Promise makes more sense in the 1976 context; Mike was in between a lot of different belief processes and religions, so The Promise is definitely a product of that time. It hasn't dated well at all.

I think that, easily, the best Moody solo records are Justin's Songwriter and (a bit of a reach) the Justin/John Blue Jays album. Ray's From Mighty Oaks album is pretty good, too.

The best album to start with is Days of Future Passed...and honestly, go chronologically from there.

The Live Plus Five show from 1969, is pretty awesome for an "off" concert. "The voyage" with "have you heard" is transformed live with the Moodies playing and harmonies.

Yeah, Caught Live +5 is a great record. It's also a rare case where the CD sounds better than the original vinyl.

I hope the band finds a 1973 tour recording and releases it...they were on fire then.

Same here, the 1973-1974 tour was a great way for the Mark Two Moodies to go out.

Another common misconception about the Moody Blues is that they started out as an R&B band and then did a 180 degree musical and personality turn once Justin and John joined the group in 1966...it makes for nice sensationalism, but the recorded proof doesn't match up. The common story is that one day Ray just picked up a flute, Mike just picked up a mellotron, Graeme became the poet, and they brought Justin and John into the band and Days of Future Passed happened overnight. Great fun, but not the truth.

If you listen to The Magnificent Moodies and all of the Denny Laine-era singles, the flute was actually quite common in the band from 1965 onward - listen to From the Bottom of My Heart, I've Got a Dream (coincidentally a Barry/Greenwich tune that was gifted to the band thanks to their access to leagues of American demos), I Don't Want To Go On Without You, Something You Got, Let Me Go, and You Don't (All the Time). Lots of flute on those. And the three 1966-67 singles they recorded before Denny and Clint Warwick left the band (the final single, Life's Not Life/He Can Win, was released in January of 1967, months after Denny and Clint left and after Justin and John had already joined) have a distinctly more "progressive" sound than the stuff before with lots of acoustic guitars and keyboards, all written by Denny and Mike.

When Justin and John joined the band, they didn't write Days of Future Passed immediately. They toured Europe for much of the end of 1966 with the R&B act (and matching suits) in cabarets and strip clubs. Justin recalled years later that he felt extremely uncomfortable singing Go Now onstage. The kicker happened late in 1966 when the band were living and playing in France. After their gig was over, the promoter told them that there was an individual outside who wanted to see them. Expecting a fan begging for autographs, they found an angry man who had nothing but bile for them - "I just thought you should know that you're the worst band I've ever heard in my life; you're f***ing crap."

It was at this time that the band decided to do all of their own material. They were still contracted to Decca, who allowed them to record four tracks for single releases. The first two were Fly Me High/I Really Haven't Got the Time, released as a single in May of 1967. The other two tracks, Long Summer Days and Please Think About It, were left unreleased until 1977.

Mike remembered the mellotron from when he worked on testing the instruments at Streetly Electronics in Birmingham, the home of the instrument. They bought one from a social club for £2000. Mike immediately removed the sound effects and rhythm tapes from the left side of the mellotron and replaced them with copies of the same tapes from the right side of the instrument, which housed the strings, choirs, and horns. They recorded the next single, Love and Beauty/Leave This Man Alone and the Nights in White Satin B-side, Cities, with the mellotron. By this time they had already finished writing Days of Future Passed, which was being performed and worked out in concert and on sessions for the BBC.

Go Now! with a Justin Hayward vocal would be interesting to hear, along with the Mark Two moodies doing mark one material.

Here is some clarification:
Caught Live plus five- released in 1977 but contains a concert from 1969 along with unreleased tracks left off the 1960s albums
Mark one moodies- fan term for the original lineup moodies with Denny Laine that played R&B "Go Now!"
Mark Two Moodies- Fan term for the classic lineup of the moodies.
Mark Three moodies- the group after Mike Pinder left and was replaced by Patrick Moraz.

The Voyage Suite is transformed live when the group did it live in the 1960s. Mike's singing live with so much character and power goes perfectly together with the 4 other Moodies playing such a complex song live. criticism of the Moodies being a bad live band is groundless. 

Well, no one could hope to possibly reproduce the amount of overdubs on the albums in concert, but the band was able to make the tunes work. Even the stuff from To Our Children's Children's Children worked in concert.

When they toured with orchestras in the 1990s it did add a bit more of a dimension to the live sound, closer to the albums. Even the later songs performed with the orchestra had another element added. Look for the Live at Red Rocks CD/DVD set. Unfortunately the entire video of the show hasn't been put out, but all of the audio has been. That was an EVENT in 1992. I also have a soundboard tape of the band playing live in 1994 backed by an orchestra...LOTS of rare songs - Eternity Road, Gypsy, Steppin' in a Slide Zone, The Actor...and all with the orchestra. Amazing stuff.

Finally listened to this CD and its amazing.  And the stupid Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won't let this group in.....

Forget the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All it is is basically the "Now Playing" list on Jann Wenner's iPod.

Great Description of it :lol I visited the hall this summer and it was pretty lame with selective exhibits. They had a mellotron MK2, but it was John Lennon's, who was amateur on a mellotron compared to Mike Pinder.  Also, there were no exhibits on the BBs and surf music be because music was dead between 1959 and 1963. ::)

I wonder if The Moodies DID get into the hall of fame: would Pinder show up and play with the band that night???

If they were inducted I can imagine that the inductees would be the Mark II lineup...although I think Denny Laine deserves to be alongside them. If Ray and Mike would play with them, that's another story. I'd like to hope they would.

I honestly couldn't care less if they got in or not. I don't need Jann Wenner's stamp of approval to validate my musical tastes. He can get in line with the long queue of people and kiss my ass.

Damn straight!

Wenner should be barred from the hall of fame and from having anything to do with "rock n roll" altogether. The public should vote the inductees in anyhow.

I really don't understand why Jann hates them so much, they made a revolutionary album in 1967 that was a great companion to Sgt. Pepper.

Because he's an idiot

I get that part, just trying to understand the mind of a madman.

Probably because he's both and idiot and gets a funny feeling in his tummy when he sees Justin Hayward singing Knights In White Satin at him....

:lol, then afterwards the Moodies do the whole voyage suite just for him.

And then Mike gets down from the stage and dedicates "So Deep Within You" to Jan and sings it to him sitting in his lap.

Then Mike punches Jann out, and the Moodies call out the HOF harder than the Sex Pistols did.

I really like the Denny Laine era and through Cities I like the second group a lot as well. I know they got big from Days on but that never appealed to me as much as there stuff before it.

And then a drunken Patrick Moraz is lowered onto the stage behind a massive keyboard, who then calls everyone out hard and performs the lengthy keyboard into to "22,000 Days" that they wouldn't let him put on the album!

Then plugs his new book, "haircare by Patrick Moraz" 

A book that will include a CD of "Windows Of Time" to "stimulate" the hair follicles!

Jann Wenner hates everyone who isn't the Beatles, because music began and ended with the Beatles.

Jann is a sick man and history will forget him. The moodies will be remembered as music legends.

Imagine Mike Pinder in this 1980s moodies performance at 0.25. :lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbXULXL5DiE&feature=relmfu

Mojo is more Beatles-oriented than Rolling Stone. Jann is more of a Dylan guy, anyway.

I think John Lodge took pointers from Patrick on haircare in 1980s. I could almost start a thread on a moodies forum about John Lodge hairstyles.

People always talk about Justin being the hit with the female fans, but you'd be shocked at the John fans. Bunch of cougars looking to corrupt!

Didn't know that, where are the cougars for Ray, Graeme, Mike? ;D

There was also a funny thread on a Moodies forum recently where the classic era male fans from 1970s were trying to figure out how the cougars took over a big chunk of  the moodies fanbase.

Ray and Graeme have some cougar fans. Mike, I doubt it. He was before the cougar era.

The cougars would be confused by this bald man giving deep lectures behind a mellotron at reunion. :lol

If they had a DVD of the reunion concert, I would love to see cougar audience reaction shots of Mike doing the voyage.

It might go over well. Mike looks great nowadays. Looks like a dead ringer for Tony Levin.

Mike looks EXCELLENT for almost 71. Ray as well, even though he did put on a bit of weight.

I recently saw pictures of Mike and Ray hanging out in 2011, they both look healthy and enjoying retirement.

Apparently the Moodies are now working on a 12-disc box set to be released THIS year...also all previously unreleased stuff, too. Only thing confirmed to be part of it as of yet is the 1975 live recording of Justin and John in concert during the Blue Jays tour.

Holy sh*t!!!!! This year is going to be amazing.

I would be interested to see just WHAT they could put on a 12-disc box set of ALL previously unreleased stuff. As far as I recall, they don't have much in the way of unreleased songs and the 2006 reissues put many of them out there. Unless it's going to be mostly live stuff, of which they definitely have enough. Bring on that 1973-74 tour recording (if they still have it)!

I would love more live  stuff with the moodies being the awesome live band they were by 1974. Even their "off" live show from 1969 is a great album.

They could also release the original 1967 mix of DOFP as well.

I'd love to see that...but I'm not holding my breath.

12 CDs is a lot though, I am still trying to figure out how they will fill out 12 modern age CDs. :thud

10 CDs of "PATRICK MORAZ REINTERPRETS "THE BIG SEVEN" AND BEYOND"?

I hope not.... :lol :lol :lol

Don't make me hate it.

In honor of "Pinder Goes to Kokomo", what would happen if Mike Pinder went to Kokomo?

Presumably he'd get there fast and then take it slow.

I'd imagine Mike and him would discuss male pattern baldness.....

How about making the "Mike Pinder mellotron  BBs Covers" album.