Sadly and on a more serious note, Mike Pinder has died, he had suffered from dementia for many years, he was 82. He was important. This from Wikipedia:

Between 1962-3, Pinder worked for 18 months as an engineer at Streetly Electronics, in Streetly Birmingham, a factory manufacturing the first models of the Mellotron. In May 1964, Pinder left Streetly Electronics to co-found The Moody Blues.

This from my friend Nicklas Barker, guitarist, singer and composer from Swedish proggers Anekdoten. He is also a connoisseur of the Mellotron:

Very sad, imagine if he had not started working at the Mellotron factory and done something else before joining The Moody Blues and introducing the glorious Mellotron string sound to a wider audience through Nights in White Satin. What would have happened then? No King Crimson? He was also friends with John Lennon and introduced the Mellotron to him. No Strawberry Fields? Mike Pinder was the first, and the impact of his use of the Mellotron changed music history. He was also the greatest Mellotron player ever. Just listen to Out and In from To Our Children’s Children’s Children. He was the wizard of the astral orchestra.

Music today has been The Moody Blues – Days of Future Passed (1967) and To Our Children’s Children’s Children (1969). RIP Mike Pinder.

Music Of The Daze

The musical musings in this post are an excerpt from my daily blog, TO WHERE I AM NOW, featured on my main website. Read the full blog post here.