The Mellotron Group

Jason,

 

All I can say is that you had to be there, living and growing up in the 60's
and 70's, to truly appreciate the Moody Blues' music. Yes, it was
lightweight, but there was a whole counter-culture that liked lightweight
music (for special moments, if you know what I mean). I was turned on to the
Moodies when one of my friend's mom use to play it at their house. I was
more into Deep Purple, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf generator, and other
heavyweights. But in the right frame of mind, the Moody's were the ticket.

 

I also remember a time when I drove cross country to my university and had
the Moodies playing as the dawn rose.  Nice..

  _____  

From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jason Locke
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 11:06 AM
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Re: Second thoughts, an update

 

So, a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had gone to our wonderful library
for the Classic 7 MB albums, to see what I thought of them, since I missed
out the first time around.  I've listened to all but Children's Children...I
don't feel like I've missed anything, to be honest.  However, I am also
learning from all of you that it's not about how "good" or "bad" something
is -- it's more about preference.  I find their music a little lightweight,
can't get past the poetry, and not aggressive enough for my tastes.  There
aren't dramatic changes in dynamics (the first record, sure), nothing but
the hits that stood out.  NiWS is still haunting and wonderful (definite
chills up the spine, even after all this time), Story in Your Eyes has nice
chord changes.  On the flip side, Melancholy Man is probably the worst thing
I've ever heard...let me say that differently...it would be at the bottom of
my list of preferences.  :)  The instrumentation doesn't seem to weave in
and out like a Yes or a King Crimson piece would.  Maybe that isn't the
goal, though, so again, it's a preference.  Nothing hits me in the gut,
though.  What am I not getting, because I want to understand!  What aspects
of their music do the fans here appreciate and enjoy?

 

Jason 

thinkingalouduk <owen@thinking-aloud.co.uk> wrote:

--- In newmellotrongroup@ <mailto:newmellotrongroup%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com, Mark Pring <markpringnz@...> wrote:
> I think Mike Pinder's mellotron and chamberlin playing
> is beautiful, particularly the chamberlin playing on
> "New Horizons" at first hearing I thought they were
> real strings. I also like the mellotron on "The Candle
> of Life". However I don't like the songs that much,
> too sweet for my taste and for some reason I have
> never enoyed Justin Hayward's singing.

As an unashamed Moodies fan, I'm glad you enjoyed the Pindertron sounds!
Ironically, 
getting a recent Moodies compilation like "Gold" does rather bias the
playlist towards 
Hayward (10 of the 17 on the "Classic 7" disk by him, unlike the usual mix
on an album - 
and one of the two Pinder tracks included doesn't have Tron on it (in fact,
I think Lost in a 
Lost World is all Chamberlin)), which while they are the "hits" don't really
give a true 
impression of an early album. If you do get chance to listen to Children's
Children's 
Children, take it - mostly because you get to hear Pinder's "Out and In"!
(Not to mention 
pitch-bend Tron vibes on "Floating", apparently.)

From what I've read of Pinder's recording techniques (mostly from Frank's
book) he usually 
double-tracked the Tron pieces, occasionally with more parts as required.
"Out an In" as 
recorded uses at least two, if not three, some of which seem to be
double-tracked (I've 
tried to reproduce it myself and ended up using five or more tracks!) - live
he usually 
played a variation on the recording - sometimes more spartan, sometimes
doing a very 
good job. If you've heard "The Voyage" from "On The Threshold Of A Dream",
have a listen 
to the live version from "Caught Live + 5", which to my ears is quite
impressive, given the 
lack of layering.

Good luck with your new beast!

Owen