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Subject: [Mellotronists] Colorful Brits [OT]

From: John Hofmeyer <j_hofmeyer@...>
Date: 2005-01-30

After reading the thread about Mike Pinder, I decided to take
a look at his site. Although I prefer more aggressive music,
I'm also a Moody Blues fan. It seems the british have a keen
sense of melody. Americans tend to favor rhythm.

In following through with my own introspection of bands that
have become a fixture in my record collection, I thought
about the various british bands and their 'colorful' names...

Moody Blues, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, King Crimson

...each of which have used the Mellotron in some capacity
(clearly some more than others)

Coincidentally, as I was browsing the web (...these
applications are called "browsers", not "surfers"...), my 20
billion disc changer loaded up "Heaven and Hell" by Black
Sabbath.

...yet another colorful british group...

(colourful ?)

So - I browsed over to their official site.

[official site: coming soon WTF? ]

With their official site under construcion, I selected a link
to a fan site and started poking through. There is a
reference to Rick Wakeman performing on the Sabbath Bloody
Sabbath album. Having just read this little bit of trivia, I
returned to the sites' home page, which lists the current
band members; all 5 of them.

Yeah - 5 band members. The 5th member is, of course, a
keyboard player - Adam Wakeman.

And yes - the biography on this Sabbath site confirms that he
is, in fact, the son of Rick.

http://www.black-sabbath.com/personnel/wakeman.html

So - what does this have to do with the Mellotron?

I guess, not much. Didn't Sabbath have a tape rack with
sound effects? One wonders if young Adam has inherited the
pyromaniac proclivities of his father...

-jh






--- mellotrongirl <mellotrongirl@...> wrote:

>
>
> Where's the footage? I'm assuming this is on Pinder's
> official site
> imbedded in the forums as a link...
>
> I had never visited Pinder's site before.
> Excellent--especially
> considering I had thought all this time recently he had
> been quite
> reclusive. I had always wondered why he left the
> Moodies--was it the
> wear and tear of traveling, or did he just feel he was
> running out of
> creative ideas and considered himself a floundering member
> of the band?
>
> The Mellotron story he told nearly moved me to tears. What
> an
> adventure to work in the very factory making those things
> (let alone
> being the talented keys player he is), and with the
> Streetly crew, of
> whom I've always had the impression as a great bunch of
> witty folks
> very much involved in keeping these creatures alive.