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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 theMoody Blues’ music. Yes, it was lightweight, but there was a wholecounter-culture that liked lightweight music (for special moments, if you knowwhat I mean)… I was turned on to the Moodies when one of my friend’smom 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 frameof mind, the Moody’s were the ticket.
I also remember a time when I drove crosscountry 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, 200811:06 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 wonderfullibrary for the Classic 7 MB albums, to see what I thought of them, since Imissed out the first time around. I've listened to all but Children'sChildren...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 theirmusic a little lightweight, can't get past the poetry, and not aggressiveenough for my tastes. There aren't dramatic changes in dynamics (thefirst record, sure), nothing but the hits that stood out. NiWS is stillhaunting and wonderful (definite chills up the spine, even after all thistime), 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 thatdifferently. ..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 aKing Crimson piece would. Maybe that isn't the goal,though, so again, it's a preference. Nothing hits me in thegut, 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@ 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 theplaylist towards
Hayward (10 of the 17 on the "Classic 7" disk by him, unlike theusual mix on an album -
and one of the two Pinder tracks included doesn't have Tron on it (in fact, Ithink 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'sChildren's
Children, take it - mostly because you get to hear Pinder's "Out andIn"! (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 bedouble-tracked (I've
tried to reproduce it myself and ended up using five or more tracks!) - live heusually
played a variation on the recording - sometimes more spartan, sometimes doing avery
good job. If you've heard "The Voyage" from "On The Threshold OfA Dream", have a listen
to the live version from "Caught Live + 5", which to my ears is quiteimpressive, given the
lack of layering.
Good luck with your new beast!
Owen