Talk:Mike Pinder

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"Balky"[edit]

Pinder was one of the first notable musicians to use the Mellotron in live performance, relying on the mechanical skills garnered from his time with Streetly to keep the balky instrument in working order.

I don't know this word 'balky'. Is it perhaps a misspelling of 'bulky'?

82.152.193.228 19:59, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In context, it must mean "unreliable; breaks easily." From "balk." But it isn't a great choice of a word. Carlo 22:13, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As the original author and the one who used the word, I commend you both to any standard English dictionary. Here's one:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balky

I'd recommend consulting dictionaries in future if you don't know a word; this one's really not so uncommon.

Truddick (talk) 16:55, 11 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merriam-Webster long ago ceased to be an authoratative source. "Balky" is slang at best and does not belong in an encyclopedia. TheScotch (talk) 20:23, 22 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Compositions[edit]

I think a "Composition" section is needed (like Graeme Edge has). 79.152.38.241 (talk) 18:03, 21 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Pinder's initial acquisition of a Mellotron[edit]

The text on this subject is not quite correct. For about 18 months, Pinder actually worked for Streetly (the manufacturer of the Mellotron) at their plant in Birmingham, though I'm not entirely sure what his function was (Quality Control?) When he returned, full-time, to the Moody Blues, he approached Streetly, hoping to acquire a Mellotron on the cheap. They declined, but directed Pinder to the Recreation Club at the Dunlop works on Tyburn Road, Birmingham, who had a Mellotron. Pinder duly acquired it, and modified it as per the rest of the text.

Taff Hewitt (talk) 11:55, 25 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for this - I noticed there were some issues with the incompleteness in how this article told that story, but I didn't take it on myself to make corrections. One other important point, though - the manufacturer of the Mellotron didn't change their name to 'Streetly' until the early 70s, and was called Bradmatic Ltd before then, which is when Pinder would have been with them. That should be changed in the article. This books is a really good source on the history of the Mellotron and includes quite a bit about Mike Pinder: Awde, Nick (2008). Mellotron: The Machines and the Musicians that Revolutionised Rock. This would be probably the best primary source for content in this article on Pinder and the Mellotron. Peter G Werner (talk) 03:34, 28 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Peter. If you have that book, perhaps could you use it to improve the article? I added a brief explanation of Pinder's employment here, but based only on his own archived blog source. He mentions the three Bradley brothers, but does not use the name "Bradmatic". He says: "My position was quality control and test driver" and he mentions "Dunlop Tyre Factory's recreation centre". Many thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 08:07, 28 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Mother's maiden name[edit]

The FreeBMD entry here confirms his mother's maiden name was Lay. The current GRO source, however, which is needed only for this detail, is WP:PRIMARY. So I have replaced it with the obituary from The Guardian. Martinevans123 (talk) 14:08, 3 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]