Good afternoon Family
Had a pretty good storm last night, just got power back a while ago, I needed this rai n to get my garden stuff goin.
Glad to see goph is goin to graduate his MG coarse, We are all Proud of you
@gopher_byrd 
I hope everyone is havin a fantastic day
The Heart and Soul of the Moody Blues, Mike Pinder, passed away two days ago.He was probably the most widespread influence on Music that many people had never heard of. His Sound: The Mellotron: He was the undisputed Master of that Instrument, and did more with it than any other Band or Musician. Bands such as Yes, King Crimson, The Beatles and Stones all used the Mellotron (many with Mike's instruction), but none produced the widespread Huge Spacy Orchestral Sound that he played. All Popular Music today that features spacy orchestral sounds are a direct influence of Mike Pinder. The Moody Blues produced Seven Masterpieces with Pinder, starting with Days Of Future Passed. It was released in 1967, the same year as Sgt. Pepper, and had a more expansive creative sound. Many of the sections that we thought were the Orchestra were actually played by Mike Pinder - For the most part, the Orchestral Sections were recorded separate from the Band tracks. But the Band tracks sounded huge and orchestral due to Pinder's Mellotron. All of the Classic Seven Masterpieces have the words on the cover: "All Instruments Played By The Moody Blues." Their range of sonic expression and creativity seemed to be without boundaries or limits. The test of a good stereo can be done using Moody Blues albums. Their songs, in great part due to Pinder, are Deep, Intelligent, Emotional and hair-raising, and they Rock. Pinder's songs on the Moodies albums are most often the Most Experimental, Moody, Deep, and are often Amazing Sonic Journeys into the Mind as well as Outer Space. As he sang, "You Gotta Make the Journey Out and In." Tunes such as "My Song" are not to be believed. You just need to sit and listen to that Journey - He takes you deep into your Soul and out into Space and back. The Sounds are unworldly.
Justin Hayward said "Nights In White Satin" was just another song until Mike Pinder told him to run through it one more time. Pinder added that 7 - note phrase that transported the song. Then the powerful orchestral Mellotron on the chorus lifted it into Heaven.
That same 7 - note phrase has been repeated countless times on other songs: Those notes are the intro to "Layla," played by Duane Allman and the ABB used that phrase constantly in their improvisations. Pinder first recorded it on "Nights" from Days Of Future Passed.
The Sounds played and Pioneered by Mike Pinder resonate through all Music through the decades and still are heard today. When you hear a Band that sounds deep, spacy, orchestral, and powerful - that's the Influence of the Moody Blues and their Black Light Soul: Michael Pinder. God Bless him on his continuing Spiritual Journey.
Millions of Moody Blues fans are mourning tonight. The greatest thing we can do is to play his Music - Loud - and feel that Power and Emotion. Rest In Peace.
