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Mike Pinder, Moody Blues Founding Keyboardist Dead At 82
Mike Pinder, the founding keyboardist of British prog rock band The Moody Blues died at his California home on Wednesday (April 24) at age 82.
The new lineup released one of the landmark early prog rock albums, Days of Future Passed, in 1967, on which Pinder made his recorded debut playing the mellotron, a keyboard that used prerecorded three-track tapes to reproduced a variety of orchestral instrumental sounds and special effects. He contributed vocals to the propulsive single “Ride My See-Saw” and is the credited songwriter on the mind-tripping psychedelic journey through the universe “The Best Way to Travel,” featuring the acid-tinged lyrics, “Speeding through the universe/ Thinking is the best way to travel/ And you can fly, high as a kite if you want to.” He also wrote the Indian-influenced album ender “Om,” which incorporates Pinder’s mellotron, as well as sitar, tambura, tabla and cello. The group’s 1972 LP, Seventh Sojourn, found Pinder blazing a trail with another new instrument, the Chamberlin, another electro-mechanical keyboard that also used a tape-like device that would later be featured on recordings by Stevie Wonder, James Taylor and Edgar Winter.
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