I doubt that they begrudgingly got up there with Mike. They knew he was an essential part of the band. I didn’t think they were terrible either obviously not the same but no terrible.
There was a Moodies concert in Santa Rosa CA a few years back and Mike was actually in the audience. When the band noticed him, they turned the lights on him and complimented him. I think I remember that they referred to him as "Mr Mellotron" or something like that. Mike even had photos from the show up on his site for a short time after. They might still be over there somewhere as far as I know.
Me too i got a spot for it. Blue vinyl doesn’t hurt. Some nice songs, yes but they sound much better live I’ve found, particularly on the Live in Seattle’79 album. But it is clear the magic was gone, Pinder was on the way out and Tony Clarke basically abandoned the project.
I read an interview with Justin in Goldmine or somewhere similar, sometime in the 2000's or early 2010's. He mentioned he had visited with Mike Pinder recently and it was pleasant, but that they didn't have much to talk about anymore.
Boy there were high hopes for Pinder’s first solo album, being the most cosmic and mr. Mellotron and the fact that he called it The Promise and it had this psychedelic cosmic album cover and what did we get? California soft country rock and scarcely any Mellotron - if there was any, can’t recall. It’s pleasant enough but still what a bust! Since then he’s done zilch. I even found a signed LP of his, a new album from not too ling ago and it was the worst most lame crap one could imagine, i traded it back in pretty quick, I didn’t even care it was signed cuz I didn’t get the autograph so it means nothing. But boy since leaving the band he’s done near nothing musical of worth that i know of. Wish he’d write a book at least, nobody else seems to want to bother.
You can see Mike and Justin chatting in the background during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. At this remove of time I don't think there's bad blood, but they've been on separate paths for decades. It's like meeting up with your former best friend at a high school reunion.
I found the songs lazy and devoid of the melodic touch his MB songs had, and not even a hint of the inventive arrangements he did in the group albums. A big disappointment.
IMO, no. Personally, it's one of the most mesmerizing covers I've seen. It's also my personal favorite album of the Core 7.
The band seems to think so. "The Story in Your Eyes" is the only album track on several of their 2-CD compilations, including This Is the Moody Blues, Anthology, and Gold. It's not my favorite but I like several of the tracks. "After You Came" is an overlooked gem, in my opinion. And "Our Guessing Game" is one of my favorite songs by Ray. Ray's "The Dreamer," issued as a bonus track in 2008, is obviously not quite finished but it ranks with ELP's "Oh My Father" in the pantheon of Songs From 1971 That Were Left Off The Album Despite Being Demonstrably Stronger Than Filler Tracks That Inexplicably Made The Cut.
I like Thomas’ solo albums myself. I put them on with a playlist of Hayward, Lodge nd Edge (for his band-granted he doesn’t do anything but play drums and co-write the material). It creates sort of faux Moodies albums for me. I think that, with time, that Ray was just less prolific. He always had an out with his solo albums if he felt marginalized as well but he only put out two and it just points -to me at least - to him being less prolific. I also think that for some of the albums he just didn’t think his music fit the style that Justin and John were pursuing.
Do we know how much pinder is on octave? Who’s playing all the synths? In a documentary i just watched he made it sound like he left before it was finished.
I think he did. I believe that Justin and John did some of the keyboard work. If I remember right, I believe that both Mike and Tony Clarke left before the album was finished.
Which would have made things awkward as heck because they recorded the album in Mike's home studio after a fire at the Record Plant....
Pinder definitely on Slidezone and his own song of course. Likely on Level With You Hayward did the long Farfisa organ intro on Day we meet Again.
They have also said that Mike was more interested in watching TV with his family. Tony Clarke was going through a painful divorce at the time as well. One Step Into The Light was actually a leftover song from Mike's solo album The Promise. In fact , the slightly expanded version from the 90s has the original solo version of the song added as a bonus song. There's also a reason Justin and John are credited with keyboards.
The cover doesn't reveal any details, but I understood that the bonus version on The Promise was a remake, done years after Octave. Also, where on the cover of Octave are Hayward and Lodge credited with playing keyboards?