By the end of 1966, the Moody Blues had about had it. After two years of work, they had one hit single out of nearly a dozen tries, an ignored album and a pile of debt. As if that weren't enough, two of the band's founding members had left, and the managers were missing (along with a large sum of money), putting their whole future in doubt.
But in the spirit of the times, the group soldiered on with a forward-looking sound, aided by new blood and new songs. Their November 1967 album "Days of Futures Past" pioneered this entirely new sound: rock music with sweeping orchestral arrangements and extended, multiform structures.
Helped along by the singles "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon," the album was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and helped to create a new genre that would in a few years be dubbed progressive rock. The Moody Blues will no doubt perform a cut or two from that album when the band takes the stage Saturday, March 27, at American Music Theatre on Lincoln Highway East.
It was clear from the outset that hiring an orchestra to replicate the album's grand sound at live stage shows would be out of the question. Luckily, keyboardist and group co-founder Mike Pinder was an early enthusiast of a unique instrument called the Mellotron. A forerunner of modern synthesizers, it was the first mass-produced electromechanical sample-playback machine.
Able to reproduce flutes, brass, violins, even an eight-voice choir, it put the sounds of an orchestra at one's fingertips.
The magic came not from oscillators or tone generators, as with a synthesizer, but from two 35-key manuals that triggered prerecorded sounds on lengths of audiotape contained inside the instrument's wooden cabinet: one tape per key.
Each 6-foot length of tape could play for about eight seconds continuously before running out, to be quickly recoiled by a spring mechanism for continuous play. In short, it was the birth of sampling.
The imperfect nature of analog tape meant that each note had a barely perceptible wobble or flutter to it. Thus whole chords sounded warm, slightly eerie, sepia-toned in a way that musicians found both intoxicating and endlessly useful.
"The sound they make is iconic," said writer and filmmaker Dianna Dilworth. "The sounds were first made to replace those of an orchestra, but they failed to do that. Instead, they sounded like they were coming out of an old radio."
Dilworth produced and directed last year's "Mellodrama," a documentary about the Mellotron. In it, Pinder and other famous players (Brian Wilson, Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick, Ron Argent of the Zombies) tell the unlikely story of how something designed for simple living-room entertainment became a tool for some of the most ambitious and memorable music of its time.
"Everybody has heard the Mellotron and enjoyed it, but I don't think everyone knows about what a unique instrument it is," Dilworth said.
For the Moody Blues, it turned out to be the most important tool in the band's musical arsenal. Following "Days of Futures Past," the band's next six albums would become classics. They would sell 50 million records and become one of the top concert draws of the 1970s.
"I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)," "Question," "The Story in Your Eyes" and "Ride My See-Saw" were just a few of the hits that featured the instrument. Pinder's almost exclusive use of the Mellotron on all of them set the standard for psychedelic and progressive rock.
Along the way, Pinder introduced the Beatles to the instrument when the bands briefly toured together. Always eager to embrace new technologies, the Beatles bought four of them, utilizing the instrument numerous times, most notably on "Strawberry Fields Forever." That "flute" intro? Probably the most famous bit ever played on a Mellotron.
Mellotron models would go on to figure significantly in the music of Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, Procol Harum, Traffic, The Move, Family, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Elton John, Tangerine Dream, King Crimson — pretty much anyone who might have deliberately worn a sparkly cape or silk caftan on stage.
As desirable as it was, the instrument had drawbacks, too. Mellotrons were heavy and fragile, a roadie's nightmare. Their power transformers were too weak, often causing a noticeable loss in pitch if the electrical source they were plugged into was even slightly overloaded.
The delicate tapes could be thrown out of alignment with just a gentle nudge, and they sometimes broke, stretched or recoiled improperly. Changing temperatures (an unfortunate reality on tour) led to moisture buildup on sensitive components and caused warped key stems. Pinder's own machine once flopped open right at the start of a show, spilling its tapes onto the stage like a pile of magnetic spaghetti. (He got it back up and running in 20 minutes.)
They weren't cheap either: In the 1960s, $4,000 could buy you new a Mellotron Mk II or a new Jaguar E-Type.
Thanks in large part to modifications Pinder made to his own machines — which would become standard on future production models — the Mellotron slowly became more roadworthy.
By the mid-1970s, the Mellotron had gone from being a secret weapon to one of the most commonly seen instruments on rock stages worldwide.
Still, many players rejoiced when newer, cheaper, more reliable synthesizers finally made the Mellotron obsolete. Tony Banks of Genesis was thrilled at the prospect of leaving his at home, and Rick Wakeman of Yes burned two of them in celebration.
Ironically, the Mellotron's usefulness ended right around the time Pinder left the Moody Blues. The group reconvened in 1978 for "Octave" after a four-year break. Pinder opted out of the supporting tour, and that was the end of his tenure with the band.
When the Moody Blues enjoyed several Top 40 hits in the mid-1980s ("Wildest Dreams," "The Other Side of Life Tonight," "I Know You're Out There Somewhere"), old Mellotrons were little more than museum pieces, collecting dust in the backrooms of recording studios.
A decade or so later, artists like Paul Weller, Beck, Radiohead, Oasis, Tom Waits, Matthew Sweet, Michael Penn, Wilco, Gomez and ace producers Jon Brion and Mitchell Froom were once again seeking out the Mellotron's unique sound. They often bought them on the cheap and spent thousands of dollars restoring them.
The renewed demand, coupled with a growing availability of 'Tron information on the Internet, led to brisk international business in Mellotron restoration. A partnership between American and Swedish enthusiasts led to a brand new model, the Mk VI, in 1999. Several more editions have followed since. They sell for about $7,000.
"Having the sound of different instruments on a keyboard right at your fingertips is something we take for granted now," Dilworth said. "Not only was the Mellotron an influential sound, but it had an influence on how people make records still today."
Pinder, who championed the instrument perhaps more than any other musician, is cautious about fetishizing an instrument that, for all its sonic wonder, was a pain in the neck at times.
"I still play the Mellotron, and when I do, it never breaks down because I have all of the sounds stored in my digital samplers," Pinder writes on his Web site.
"I would have given almost anything to have [today's digital gear] when I needed it," he writes. "And there were plenty of times it would have saved the day."
The Moody Blues will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at American Music Theatre, 2425 Lincoln Highway East. For ticket information, call 397-7700 or visit amtshows.com. 
