| Go Now | 1965 |
| Days Of Future Passed | review #2 | review #3 | 1967 |
| In Search Of The Lost Chord | review #2 | 1968 |
| On The Threshold Of A Dream | review #2 | 1969 |
| To Our Children's Children's Children | review #2 | 1969 |
| A Question Of Balance | review #2 | 1970 |
| Every Good Boy Deserves Favour | review #2 | 1971 |
| Seventh Sojourn | review #2 | 1972 |
| Caught Live + 5 | 1977 |
| Octave | 1978 |
| Long Distance Voyager | 1981 |
| The Present | 1983 |
| The Other Side Of Life | 1986 |
| Prelude (compilation) | 1987 |
| Sur La Mer | 1988 |
| Keys Of The Kingdom | 1991 |
| A Night at Red Rocks (w/ Colorado Symphony Orchestra) (live) | 1993 |
| Time Traveller (boxed set) | 1994 |
| The Best Of The Moody Blues | 1996 |
| Strange Times | 1999 |
| Live At The Royal Albert Hall | 2000 |
The Moody Blues are an interesting phenomenon that, to a certain degree, I have a huge amount of respect for. Seemingly out of nowhere making the change from their early R&B style, the band really helped pioneer art rock as a genre with their 'rock band and orchestra' collaboration Days Of Future Passed. Out of that sound, they developed a taste for lush Mellotron based atmospheres and cosmic lyrics that combined for a somewhat unique approach to their 'classic' period albums, which very often took conceptual approaches to the 'themes' they explored. This often got them tagged as an overwhelmingly banal and pretentious outfit (as witnessed by the poor album ratings they get in Rolling Stone), but most of the time, their ambitions never got in the way of their actual musical quality all that much. Adding to that, these guys were simply fantastic pop melody writers, and not only that, they sang great together in harmony.
What's also interesting about the band was that there was never only one person responsible for their songwriting and lead vocals - this band was also a great democratic unit, with all five members of the by now famous 'core seven' lineup (Justin Hayward - guitar, John Lodge - bass, Ray Thomas - flute, Mike Pinder - Mellotron/keyboards, and Graeme Edge - drums) from 1967 to 1972 contributing their share of classic songs in their own fascinating styles. And every one of them had a neat vocal approach, too (except for drummer Edge, who instead of singing, was mainly responsible for the dumb poetry on several albums, some neat instrumentals, and a couple solid pop gems later on).
From listening to their core seven work, however, I have a few curious observations to make about the Moodies. Although their melody writing ability was often used to a very great advantage (which is certainly their main strength, in my mind), I'm not all that much of a fan of their general sound and arrangements. The Moodies are really a band that I have to be in the right mood to listen to (and I know fellow reviewer Casey Brennan can confirm this), as their overall sound is very mellow and lush, and often too much so. As a result, a lot of their slower songs and/or ballads are a little hit or miss. And curiously, quite a few of their numbers actually sound better stuck in my head then they do when I'm actually listening to them. Considering they stuck with basically the same style throughout their peak period, they can also get a bit tiresome to listen to.
As far as the members of the band go, the two most talented of these are definitely Justin Hayward and John Lodge. Hayward was in mine and many others' opinion one of the finest and most gifted singers of the late 60's and early 70's - like Greg Lake, his voice had a very angelic and powerful quality to it. He was also a very, very talented songwriter, accounting for many of the most beautiful and majestic compositions in their catalog ("Nights In White Satin" and "Question" should be reminder enough of his talents). As for Lodge, his songs often ran the tables from very uplifting to energetic to weary, and he was nearly as great a presence songwriting wise as Hayward (witness Seventh Sojourn). Then there's the curious matter of his vocals: Rich Bunnell says that Lodge actually has no voice, as his vocals are often double-tracked and covered in harmonies on nearly every one of his songs, making it difficult to tell what he actually sounds like. Can't say I can disagree with that assessment.
Ray Thomas, on the other hand, provided a lot of the more charming (though sometimes a bit too much so) and playful, child-like material throughout the band's catalog, and his shaking voice often suited that style just fine. Plus, as many have stated, his flute playing was simply awesome (he was probably the most virtuosic player in the band, too). I have a bit more of a problem with Mike Pinder, though - there's little doubt he was a very talented player and integral part of the sound with the Mellotron/Chamberlin, but several of the most preachy and boring songs in the core seven came from the pen of his, and he's pretty much the center of that sound I have mixed feelings about in the first place. Nevertheless, he, along with the others, did contribute his share of great stuff (like on Threshold), so I can't complain too much.
Thus far, not including the compilation reviewed at the bottom, this page mostly covers the 'core seven' releases from the band, only including Long Distance Voyager from the crop of the more modernized, Pinder-less efforts (he left in '78) where Hayward contributes most of the big hits. I'm sure the rest will be covered in due time, however.
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Go Now, From The Bottom Of My Heart. LOW POINTS: I Don't Want To Go On Without You, Bye Bye Bird.
Despite the appearance of Days Of Future Passed two years after this from seemingly out of nowhere, one listen to this collection is enough to show that the Moody Blues weren't always a lush, cosmic art rock outfit. Nope - this is actually a different incarnation of the group, one without Justin Hayward and John Lodge, two of the most crucial elements in their sound. Instead, their positions are filled by a rather ordinary 60's pop vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Denny Laine (who would later end up in Paul McCartney's Wings throughout the 70's after his short stint with the Moodies here) and bassist Clint Warwick. This version of the band specialized in R&B covers with a few Laine originals here and there, but the result? There's not much that special here, really - most of the material is very standard for the time, basically generic early/mid 60's pop without much of the reinterpreting personality, conviction, or tightness of someone like the Rolling Stones or Animals.
That being said, this version of the band isn't without merit, as evidenced by the songs here (by the way, the track listing on the version I'm reviewing coincides with the one on the All Music Guide). There aren't really more than a couple real misfires here, and even the Motown-ish "I Don't Want To Go On Without You" and the fast bluesy workout "Bye Bye Bird" - complete with Ray Thomas harmonica - aren't really awful, just a little too bland or corny for my taste. And hey, the title track alone, their hit version of an obscure soul number, is enough to ensure this portion of their history should never be completely forgotten - everything from Laine's passionate vocals (particularly on the opening 'we've already saiiiiiiiid... goodbye...' line), the haunting band harmonies, Mike Pinder's excellent piano work in the middle (as well as the descending gospel-ish line that opens the song) and of course the timeless vocal melody makes it a well-deserved classic.
It's tough to go over a lot of these songs, since a lot of them aren't very memorable and mostly follow the same patterns, but they're okay while on nonetheless. The best of the rest is actually the one track that points to at least one aspect of the band's future - while "From The Bottom Of My Heart" is a Laine original, within the verses it has quite a lot of the dark and moody atmosphere typical of later Mike Pinder contributions in the 'core seven' (it's also sung by him, of course). The upbeat "I Had A Dream" is catchier than most, "And My Baby's Gone", the only other memorable Laine tune, is a decent piano-driven R&B song, and the other songs, while not bad at all, pretty much escape me. All I have to say it's a good thing the Moodies Mark I were pretty much a flop in terms of commercial success, since they moved on to much better things when, after Hayward and Lodge joined a still struggling band continuing to perform the same old covers, were given the opportunity to take part in a little classical music experiment....
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(Casey Brennan's review)
This is actually the second Moody Blues album, as the band in a different incarnation released the R' n B'-styled pop/rock album called The Magnificent Moodies two years earlier. But Days Of Future Passed might as well be considered their real debut album (not saying that the first one is bad or anything -I've never actually heard it before) since the band's distinctive and otherworldly pop/rock sound is already in place and focus here, setting the stage for all subsequent Moody Blues albums. Though instead of being mellotron-based like the next several albums, this first outing takes the revolutionary idea of integrating pop and classical music together by using the London Festival Orchestra.
Now, not knowing what to expect when I actually first bought this album years ago, I was kind of surprised and discouraged at the lack of guitar on this record - which is kind of strange considering that I was heavily into psychedelic and piano-pop stuff back then (around age 13). Fortunately, after growing up a bit and listening to this a lot, I realized that the songs themselves are quite excellent, and that the orchestra actually works well in complimenting the epic pop herein. Of course there are a few unnecessary moments where the orchestration slows things down a bit (although it's hard to tell exactly where), but luckily it hardly ever approaches cheesiness. Grand and sparkling are more the words, compared to the normally shmaltzy orchestration found in various mid to late 60's tunes.
Anyway, the album uses the simple concept of showing the transition from morning to night by way of seven tracks (eight songs if you wanna get down to it), with an alright spoken-word piece in the intro and outro to gracefully tie everything together. Containing the first of many spoken-word intros to be found on a Moody Blues album, the first track "The Day Begins" mainly shows the London Orchestra devoting itself to playing a few snippets of several melodies found later on. It's not until a minute or so into dawn that we get the first real taste of the band in the short, but seemingly towering "Dawn Is a Feeling", which sounds like it is sung in a 'mature beyond years' voice by Mike Pinder. Carried by a beautiful and sweeping arrangement, this great song has a wonderfully somber tone throughout, and a majestic bridge which enlivens the atmosphere a bit with its' more upbeat piano melody.
At this stage the orchestra is still a little too prominent in spots, but does segue well into the playful "Another Morning", a Ray Thomas tune which is quite the opposite in mood from the previous song. Ending the first half is the only rocker "Peak Hour", a pretty good tune which sounds great bursting in all of a sudden like it does, and has a nice harmonic section where the boys voices blend together wonderfully (I'd like to say it sounds heavenly).
The majority of the meat though is on the second half of the album, which in spots approaches classic status. First off is the otherworldly and breathtaking ballad "Tuesday Afternoon", which is possibly the very best song of the band's career; Hayward's vocal job is almighty and flows wonderfully into the bouncy mid-section, where a flute compliments his voice. "Time To Get Away" on the other hand is an underrated, although by no means great, great tune. A dark mood is set off at the beginning of this haunting tune as evening has set in; the track unfolds and develops into a heavenly orchestrated section before going into the pretty chorus a few times, and finally a relaxing, melodic, and mainly acoustic part with solo vocals by John Lodge.
"The Sun Set" has a sparse arrangement (just a big Eastern-sounding drum set against a great vocal melody by Pinder) and a very mysterious atmosphere, while "Twilight Time" strikingly comes in with a great minor-key piano melody and heavily echoed vocals. Even so, the latter tune doesn't quite captivate me like it used to for some reason. Maybe its' the slightly weak production or the over-done vocals, but whatever, it could just be me. The same can't be said for "Nights In White Satin" though, which is simply a classic way to end this creative set of songs. The flute solo to this lovely and beyond famous tune simply rules! At one point I was going to up the rating a little because of how perfectly Days Of Future Passed ends, but overall there are too many slow moments (the orchestration like I said before isn't offensive, but still too prominent on here) and a few tunes just pass by as merely good. Even though it doesn't nearly live up to landmark releases like Sgt. Pepper's or Something Else, this still is a great and very accomplished album.
HIGH POINTS: Tuesday Afternoon/Time To Get Away, Nights In White Satin, Another Morning, Peak Hour. LOW POINTS: The Day Begins.
The Moody Blues decided to use the services of the London Festival Orchestra for their breakthrough release Days Of Future Passed, and as a result of this and the ambitious sound they have going for them here, created an album that is not only timelessly epic and breathtaking, but also a groundbreaking effort in art rock - combining orchestration with pop songs for an often devastating effect. While it's true the orchestra is a little too prominent in places (and maybe a little dated sounding), the melodies and arrangements of the songs are in most cases so powerful and incredibly skilled, charming, and accomplished that it's easy to overlook that minor weakness - it is in fact right up there with many of the most incredible albums made in the revolutionary year of 1967. It's also the peak in the band's catalog, for that matter - as far as quality goes, they never got better than this, and this sound is merely a blueprint for lesser, but still fine, efforts.
As far as the overall concept of Days goes, it's divided into different 'song segments' that represent various points of the day, and each of them flow into one another by way of orchestral segues that effortlessly weave the main melodies of the actual songs together. The only problem here is that the introductory track "The Day Begins", is pretty much an entire orchestral piece and musically doesn't have all that much to do with the Moodies at all. It certainly isn't awful, since it foreshadows the awesome melodies that are yet to come in a musical overture, but it's probably the point where I can most understand 'the orchestra sounds dated and gets in the way' complaints, not to mention that introductory poem by Graeme Edge is of course rather corny and awkward-sounding. But once we actually move on to the songs themselves...
There's not much left to complain about. The Mike Pinder composed, Justin Hayward sung "Dawn Is A Feeling" has a highly appropriate tired-sounding vibe to it, as if the listener is just waking up from sleep. What a fine sweeping arrangement here, and the weary Hayward vocals ('this day will last a thousand years, if you want it to') are effective. Then the dawn turns to morning, and Ray Thomas contributes perhaps his best song of the entire Moodies catalog in "Another Morning", which establishes his 'playful' songs formula in the most shattering way imaginable - the melody is incredibly fun, charming and bouncy in addition to being insanely catchy. The way the chorus is sung with the musical backing ('time seems to stand quite still, in a child's world, it always will') is surely, for me, one of the most emotionally striking moments you can find on an album by this band. Wow.
Then the playfulness shifts to pure energy to close the first side in the first John Lodge contribution here, "Peak Hour". It starts with a fast-moving and gripping orchestral segue from "Another Morning", and then turns into a fantastically energetic rocker with an entertaining harmonic burst in the chorus. Now as far as the second side of this effort goes, this is where the album truly earns its' near classic status. In fact, this is probably the best side of songs ever conceived by the band, starting off with the 8 minute two-song suite by Hayward and Lodge "Tuesday Afternoon/Time To Get Away". The first of these is deservedly one of the band's hugest radio staples - the melodies, backing instrumentation and especially Hayward's vocal performance are all gorgeous beyond words, and the uptempo, piano-led counterpoint is incredibly great.
The flow between this and the second Lodge part is so immaculate and natural, though, that I have to consider this masterpiece merely one half of a mindblowing epic song, and the second half of it is no less awesome, due to the engaging, shuffling chorus of 'evening time to get away!', Lodge's worn down vocals and beautiful falsetto. The whole piece really hits me emotionally like nothing else in their catalog can even come close to doing, and is a true masterpiece. Then as we shift over to the evening, another collaborative effort, this time between Pinder and Thomas, comes in the form of "The Sun Set/Twilight Time". The first part of this 6-1/2 minute suite is a neat, almost tribal sort of thing, with a very solid melody. It's definitely the most meditative and relaxing point of the album, and Thomas' half of the song is even better, with a very dramatic orchestral sweep really enhancing the mood ('in twilight time', etc.), echoey vocals and all. Great captivating melody, too.
This serves as a fine setup for the most famous song on the whole album in the form of "Nights In White Satin", which is regarded as one of the best romantic ballads ever written, and I have to very much agree with that assessment. Who else could vocally pull off such a heavenly song better than Justin Hayward does here? The orchestration is at its' most effective in the background, especially in creating a true majesty in the verses, and Thomas' flute playing is also a really integral feature here. Heck, even as the song makes the transition to the final orchestral parts, the closing poem is even effective! Basically, this is the Moodies' sound at its' most revolutionary and quintessential, with the powerful melodies and arrangements at their peak (despite what Children lovers may tell you, more on that later). Hooray for art rock!
Yes! Where the hell did this come from! Heaven, you say? I bet! The best thing about this one is the melodies, man! Shitloads of em, all over the place. The main melodies to "Dawn is a Feeling", "Another Morning", "The Sunset" (LOVE this one!), "Twilight Time", and of course, the tune that led me to this piece of art, "Nights In White Satin", are all excellent. No tune is weak! The orchestra parts are written perfectly! Even those stupid poems fit in with the mood! Wow. Also, the album floooooows. Wow does it flow, in that Moody Blues-ish way, like honey, slow and beautiful. And damn, does that Hayward have a voice of an angel. A masculine angel, though. He reminds me of Greg Lake (a good thing). Damn, the songs!!! I guess that happens when you have a handful of excellent songwriters, huh?
So, a 10 for this one, right? Wrong! Nein! Um, why..... Oh yeah, some of those beautiful orchestra parts that I love are played with less emotion than Lilith from "Cheers", in other words, cold as an eskimo's teats. Just some, though, not all; in fact, some of the parts, specially in "Nights" are chock full of emotion. But that's it! One lowlight amongst all those highlights! But alas, it's enough to deny Days the honor of a 10. I might change my mind later, but for now, a high high high high high high 9. At any rate, buy it! If for nothing else, for "Nights in White Satin". Enjoy!
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Rich Bunnell)
To Casey: That's actually Hayward singing on "Dawn Is A Feeling." It's one of the only times when a bandmember wrote a song but didn't sing it, and it was definitely for the better - Pinder's voice could never have pulled off that song.
(Casey Brennan's review)
The Moody Blues ditch the London Festival Orchestra on this, their sophomore effort, and instead rely on the mellotron for all the orchestral effects and moods. With an array of instruments (tablas,sitars, harpsichord, etc.) under their belt, the band goes on a mystical and psychedelic adventure, which at times is pretty haunting and enduring. At times it can be also be a fairly uneventful and dull trip, but the meditative and lightly experimental nature of In Search Of The Lost Chord does give the album an elegant vibe. Also of note is the gripping and totally magnificent album cover, which as possibly the band's best, compliments the music and concept very well for the most part. The same can be said for all subsequent Moodies album covers in this period too, but unfortunately a good deal of the time the beautiful artwork on the cover outstrips the actual quality of the music inside. Despite often great melodies and nice harmonies, some of the band's tunes are arranged rather poorly, or just have too much of a dull and colorless tone to them. Complaints aside though, the band's albums were usually at least good, this one being no exception.
Starting off with the twisted spoken-word intro "Departure" (a curious little piece), the band breaks right into the gentle rocker "Ride My Seesaw", which has exquisite background vocals and a superb melody, set against a wonderfully uplifting and airy atmosphere. Some melodic bass opens up the joyful gem "Dr. Livingston, I Presume", a crafty popster with fun lyrics - 'I've seen butterflies galore..', and a great chorus dominated by a lively organ sound. The most important part of the album though seems to be centered around the eeringly beautiful "House Of Four Doors", which is broken up into four majestic sections and has some attractive harmonies, and the psychedelic epic "Legend Of A Mind", where Ray Thomas sings through a vocoder during the sweeping verses. This serious-minded track contains a bouncy mid-section where a vocal shrill follows every line Thomas sings, to great effect, and also a lengthy section with nice flute-playing accompanying a soothing and distant mellotron.
After this staggering piece is over with "House Of Four Doors (Part 2)" comes to close off the first half. The pretty and subtle-verses of "Voices In the Sky" and the decent psychedelia of "The Best Way to Travel" (the breaks in structure are a drawback though) follow nicely, although they aren't quite as good as the first six songs. At this point though the trip is in fairly dull territory, as "Visions Of Paradise" is too lush for its' own good (although not a bad tune), with a lame bridge to boot. Furthermore, Justin Hayward's "The Actor" is a rather poorly arranged track, with a limpid atmosphere, although it's a little better than the former tune. Keeping things mellow, the album ends on an unsatisfactory note with the stupid "OM" (which follows the spoken-word piece "The Word"), which with all the tablas, sitars, and such creates a sea of boredom. In Search Of The Lost Chord does become fairly lame towards the end, but overall it's a rewarding album with a wave of curiousness surrounding it, and a few incredible highs in the first half.
HIGH POINTS: House Of Four Doors, Legend Of A Mind, Voices In The Sky, Ride My Seesaw. LOW POINTS: Om, The Best Way To Travel, Visions Of Paradise.
This time, the band found themselves without the services of an orchestra, but they still maintained the symphonic elements of their sound by replacing it with a rather wide variety of different instruments, not only basic guitar, bass, flute and drums, but also enhancing the atmosphere with the signature Mike Pinder Mellotron appearing for the first time among other embellishments here (sitars, tablas, etc.). Just like Days, this is also another concept album, this time focusing on the pursuit of a lost chord that sends those who play it into a higher plane, enabling them to have full comprehension of the universe. On account of this concept (which is sometimes a little too hippy-ish and frozen in the 60s) and the lush quality of the music, it can't help but sounding a little dated, but the exceptional melodies and harmonies and the quality of the material on the first half makes up for it, though it does stumble a bit near the end.
After a typically corny (though interestingly presented) introductory poem called "Departure", the rocking hit single "Ride My Seesaw" thankfully takes full advantage of the Moodies' melodic capabilities, with fantastic harmony work, and it's quite playful, with great, entertaining, drive and not a bit corny like its' title suggests. The Ray Thomas number "Dr. Livingston I Presume" continues in a similar vein, as it's even more bouncy and upbeat in its' verses (even though it does dangerously approach novelty status in points) with its' really fun clap-along chorus of 'we're all looking for someone...' getting the journey/concept off on the right foot. Conceptually, the album really gels with Lodge's "House Of Four Doors", a song which takes the masterful idea of placing musical selections from four eras of music history (classical, medieval, baroque, and rock) behind the four doors described in the song, and it's presented masterfully without a hint of clumsiness. Plus that harmony-filled chorus is another gorgeous moment.
The most interesting hippie-ish song here comes in "Legend Of A Mind", a really trippy piece centering around Timothy Leary, with lyrics that sound as if they were written by someone completely stoned out of their mind, effective Mellotron work from Pinder, and a lengthy middle section featuring Thomas' masterful flute soloing abilities at their best. Then just to add more conceptual continuity, a short reprise of "House Of Four Doors" closes the first side on a satisfying note. The second half, however, isn't quite as spectacular. In fact, the only pieces that really stand out here are two very memorable and majestic Justin Hayward numbers. The first of these, "Voices In The Sky", is quite melodically pleasant, with more beautiful flute work, and a really great refrain ('something is happening to me.... ahhhhhhh'), and "The Actor" is a fine multi-faceted pop song, with the first part featuring effective acoustic guitar and flute interplay in its' verses, and a gorgeous (though out of place) romantic chorus.
The remainder of the tunes here, though, are somewhat less pleasurable. "The Best Way To Travel" (with awkward stop-start breaks) and "Visions Of Paradise" (a somewhat unmemorable lush song) don't seem to be much more than slow, lifeless atmosphere, even though there are nice acoustic and flute playing on these tracks respectively. Then there's the last two tracks that let the album down even more - "The Word" is another highly disposable Edge poem, and the concept really stumbles into lameness on the closing "Om", which actually turns out to be the 'lost chord' (a questionable idea to say the least). And all the song turns out to be is a boring, overlong mantra with little melody other than the nice harmony-filled chorus (thanks a lot Pinder). So in all, due to its' rather nasty inconsistency and datedness, this is somewhat of a step down from Days, but the good stuff here ensures Lost Chord to be a worthwhile venture into the increasingly likeable world of the Moody Blues.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
The band's third album, On The Threshold Of A Dream, continues their psychedelic period, and is known for its' successful mixture of 'classical' (all by way of the mellotron of course) and 'pop' music. Classical pop in other words. Like most other Moody Blues releases from this period, the album starts off with a traditional spoken-word piece called "In The Beginning", which compared to their other intros is actually pretty decent. The poem may be kinda dumb, but the transition from the mystical 'wall of air' part to the computerized part is fairly neat. This brief intro is followed by twelve tracks that nicely flow into each other, albeit not always following a clear concept (which doesn't matter at all to me one bit).
Taken as a whole, Threshold is possibly the band's most consistently enjoyable album, as there aren't really any weak cuts or anything too drawn-out. The album is a much more cohesive effort than In Search..Chord, but this time around the songs are of a more conventional-sounding and accessible nature. All of the tracks are fairly catchy and memorable, with none of them hitting the five minute mark (unless you like to count the 3-part mini-suite ending the album one song). What keeps this album from being only a little better than Chord though is that there is nothing as great as tunes like "Legend Of A Mind" or "House Of Four Doors" on here. The only two tracks that even come kinda close to 'classic' status are the pure melodies of "Send Me No Wine" and "Lazy Day", which as good as they are don't really leap out at you while listening to them. Instead, all the songs on here are just good; there isn't anything particularly spectacular about the lush tone of the record or any of the melodies themselves, but it's all very nice.
To start things off "Lovely To See You" is a decent and very catchy rocker, with an overall generic sound but typically good singing and harmonies. A melancholy tone is then set for the following "Dear Diary", a richly lush tune with quietly thumping bass and some beautiful flute work which really compliments the mood of the tune. Next up, are three mid-tempo popsters. First and best of the three is "Send Me No Wine"; it may be a rather simple and repetitious tune, but the country-tinged atmosphere is beautifully heartwarming and uplifting, and the harmonies and singing are superb. It's simply a comfortable tune fit for listening to after a hard day of work. As the tune fades out, it goes right into the shuffling "To Share Our Love", which despite having some more great harmonies and a short, but welcoming instrumental break, is just a little too repetitious to be anything great.
Meanwhile, the fine "So Deep Within You" is a satisfying pop tune with interesting Mike Pinder vocals (when I first heard the opening line it reminded me of Frank Zappa for some reason. hehe). Following that is the ballad "Never Comes The Day", which is quite powerful during the acoustic melody in the verses, but when the fruity choruses come in it's a bit of a letdown. Still a good tune though, as the heightening drama of the verses is stunning. The best choice for a single would probably be "Lazy Day", a gorgeous and simple pop tune with lovely background vocals and a nice bridge - a rather warm and soothing mellotron sound to it too.
The subtle ballad "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" (some more nice flute work on here) follows and leads into the short interlude "The Dream" (a one minute spoken-word piece), which flows into the three part mini-epic "Have You Heard/The Voyage/Have You Heard (part 2)". "Have You Heard (part 1)" and "(part 2)" are pretty good tunes, and as a whole the suite isn't that bad, but "The Voyage" is a little uneventful and dull-sounding (the parts where the organ is sustained for a few seconds and the piano melody comes in are pretty good though). Overall, Threshold is a very good and consistent Moody Blues album - there may not be any classics on here but at least it doesn't have a weak second side like the previous album.
HIGH POINTS: Dear Diary, So Deep Within You, Lazy Day. LOW POINTS: Are You Sitting Comfortably.
Following the psychedelic hippie-influenced In Search Of The Lost Chord, the Moodies decided to return more to the symphonic sound of Days, with of course, the mellotron and flute still in place of the orchestra on that album. On first listen, this venture left me sort of cold, probably due to the fact that not all the melodies here are immediately striking, and much of this stuff comes in at a concise under three minute length. Thankfully, though, the album itself is pretty enjoyable and even all the way through, the songs sound less forced and the concept a lot more subtle (if you can actually tell one's going on at all) than Chord. Interestingly enough, this is also the album where the two less celebrated songwriters of the band (Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder) really come up with some of their best material ever, and they do it by in large part breaking away from their normal songwriting styles.
Justin Hayward, however, is not so prominent this time as far as contributions go. In fact, those songs are probably his least significant out of any album from the 'core 7' era. For one, the radio hit "Lovely To See You" is an all too typical Moodies generic rock number, with a nice lush chorus and decent guitar riff but not much else. "Never Comes The Day", meanwhile, is kind of a mixed number - the verses of the tune are somewhat unmemorable and don't quite do justice to its' totally infectious chorus (one of the most enjoyable moments on the album. And in his collaboration with Ray Thomas, he also helps contribute the weakest (though still mildly enjoyable) tune on the album in "Are You Sitting Comfortably" is sort of a standard acoustic ballad, with good flute work but stupid medieval lyrics (courtesy of Thomas, of course) and only decent melody.
Fortunately, though, the remainder of the songs are for the most part quite fine, except maybe the laughably dumb opening poem "In The Beginning" (though in places even that's eerie because of its' interesting ideas and musical atmosphere). Thomas' stuff (other than those aforementioned lyrics of "Are You Sitting...") is arguably the most impressive of the lot - "Dear Diary" is quite a powerful acoustic/flute shuffle, with a first rate melody and reflective but melancholic lyrics (some of the more effectively depressing in the Moodies catalog), and "Lazy Day", another highly memorable pop gem with another fantastic melody enhanced by great harmonies the remainder of the song (those 'ahhs' really do it for me). Pinder contributes the atypical sexually-themed "So Deep Within You", whose quirky melody and chorus ('so deep within youuuuuuuu') really work, plus the worthy closing chunk of the album, which consists of a lovely acoustic number "Have You Heard?" divided into two parts - in between both of them comes the instrumental "The Voyage", which really uses the atmosphere of the mellotron effectively.
Rounding out the album are the two John Lodge tunes, both having a distinct R&B flavor, of which "Send Me No Wine" is the most memorable, with a good groove to it, a wonderfully warm atmosphere and a very pretty harmonized chorus. "To Share Our Love" is also very snappy and of course catchy, though the repetitive nature of the song is a bit much for me, especially since it's short. Those two songs probably demonstrate the unassuming nature of Threshold most - they all seem to pass by without much care at first, enough that you can't even really tell there's an apparent concept within the album, but eventually the charm of these songs take hold. This is kind of a tough bridge between a high 7 and a low 8, but the quality of the Thomas and Pinder material, plus the very enjoyable overall consistency of the rest, moves it up toward the latter rating for me.
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(Casey Brennnan's review)
Dealing with the concept of space and time, the Moody Blues fourth album was recorded right before the launch of the first man on the moon. Obviously excited about space travel and all the possibilities the band used it as a loose theme for this album. Working hard in the studio, the band eventually called for the recorded sound of a rocket launching into space from NASA to open up the album, but after being disappointed by it the band decided to make their own powerful version of a rocket launch in the studio. This rocket launch is sure used to great effect in the spine-tingling opener "Higher And Higher", which at least in the first half is a stunner, as the fast-paced guitar-work, poetic spoken-word piece, and echoy background vocals work together magically to make a truly earth-shattering track. Sounds like the unravelling of a great album, right?
Well, unfortunately, despite such a monumental start, the album contains a couple major flaws which keep it far from being a classic. For one thing, some of the shorter tracks (except for "Eyes Of A Child (part 2)" that is) are a little too insignificant and just pass by without notice, but my major gripe of the record is the overall lifeless atmosphere. The mellotron does create a wonderfully otherworldly and airy atmosphere on many of the tracks, but many times it is too mellow and dead for its' own good, actually bogging down some of the good melodies. In particular, tunes on side two like "Candle Of Life" and "Eternity Road" are well-written and majestic in nature, but in all their lushness come across as very dull and colorless - we sure are on an eternity road. The closing Justin Hayward ballad "Watching And Waiting" contains a lame atmosphere too, but is also a fairly weak tune un-capable of reaching the majestic highs of previous ballads by the man.
Although somewhat unmemorable, "Sun Is Still Shining" fares better than the three previously mentioned songs as it sports an attractive and drifting melody, and a more tolerable atmosphere. On a lesser note, the two short tracks "I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Hundred" and its' sequel "I Never...Million" just pass by as O.K. acoustic interludes, and the cosmic instrumental rocker "Beyond" is not too special, even though the main part does thump along nicely, fading in and out for the quieter flute-inflected parts. On the other hand, "Eyes Of A Child" is a great ballad that contains a gentle acoustic melody, with a sparkling harp flowing through every now and then, and some lovely falsetto and deep harmonies mixed together in fine Moodies fashion.
The faster sequel, "Eyes Of A Child (Part 2)" is about just as great, with a totally different but awesome rocking melody, and simply amazing harmonies (I love stuff like this for some reason). "Gypsy" is a great anthemic rocker with powerful singing by Hayward, which actually works wonderfully well against the powerful (not dull) and airy atmosphere, while "Out And In" is basically made because of its' rich and heavy mellotron atmosphere. The curious and lonely mood created is just fascinating in this really good song. One can't also forget the childish but really infectious "Floating", a Ray Thomas number with a good sing-a-long melody, which fits in nicely between the two "Eyes Of a Child" tracks. To Our Childrens.. has a few outstanding tracks and not really too many weak cuts, but the too-lush-for-its'-own-good and lifeless atmosphere which mostly bogs down side two, doesn't do anything to enhance the tunes, instead making them sit there.
HIGH POINTS: Eyes Of A Child, Floating, Gypsy, Higher And Higher. LOW POINTS: Watching And Waiting, Candle Of Life, Eternity Road.
The Moodies' second album of 1969 has actually become quite a favorite among web reviewers (George Starostin, John McFerrin, Mark Prindle), many of them who rate it as their very best effort. The best explanation I can give is that, other than Days Of Future Passed, this is probably the most ambitious and immaculately flowing album they ever put out, but there's also another side to this - it seems to me that this is essentially the Moody Blues album for those who really dig the band's overall sound and style just as much as, if not more than, the great melodies they have to offer. Unfortunately, I'm just not a fan of the lush style here - I admit the atmosphere, especially on the second side, is very unique to their catalog, but for my tastes, it's just way too mellow, sleepy and depressing for me to enjoy all that much, and the sound is bothersome enough to really obscure the melodies on several occasions.
Fortunately, the album does get off to a really fantastic start with the first few songs. The opening "Higher And Higher" is again a poetic introduction, but it's presented in a different way than usual, this time over a really energetic and fast backdrop in which the band attempts to simulate a rocket launch. It's definitely a chilling and otherworldly experience, and if it didn't ramble somewhat at the end with the guitar soloing and chanting at the end, I'd have to call it a classic. John Lodge's "Eyes Of A Child" is even better, as it's a gentle and simply gorgeous acoustic ballad, with an immaculate melody and awesome harmonized chorus (though the short, rocking reprise "Eyes Of A Child II" that shows up later on kind of drifts away from me for some reason). Ray Thomas' "Floating" is another playful and majestic gem, with pretty acoustic guitar work, a great atmosphere that conveys the title very well, and the chorus ('ohhhhh, you like it') just rules.
Unfortunately, from this point onward, things get decidedly mixed. The short acoustic bit "I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Hundred" is faithful to the concept and all, but that doesn't mean it's all that captivating, and The cosmic rock instrumental "Beyond" has a solid and engaging tempo, with fine interplay between all the instruments, but the atmosphere is just tiresome rather than anything special. Mike Pinder's "Out And In", though, is a moving, heavily Mellotron laced ballad, with a solitary and rich atmosphere, and is a rather nice way to close out side one. Even side two's opener, Hayward's "Gypsy", has a powerful symphonic chord progression and it has a hint of excellent energy, plus his vocal performance and the very striking melody really make the song come to life, and it's surely one of the major highlights of the album.
The remaining songs, however, are not a captivating experience. Sorry for this dissenting opinion, but Thomas' "Eternity Road" and Lodge's "Candle Of Life" are really dull tunes that are utterly ruined by the bland and lifeless quality to the music. Both are nicely reflective and all, but ugh... that sound is just tiring, and it puts me to sleep. It is surprising, though, that Pinder actually comes up with a mildly cheerful and uptempo song here in "Sun Is Still Shining", which isn't anything great, but it at least has some life, and a neat Eastern atmosphere to it. It's at least much better than the short and pointless "I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Million" reprise and totally weak closing Hayward ballad "Watching And Waiting", a flat and tiresome attempt to write another "Nights In White Satin". It isn't majestic, there's hardly any conviction in the vocals, and the melody is hardly that striking. Much like a good portion of this album. I can still give it a 7 since the highlights here are so excellent, but to be honest, it's a very low one, since this sound just refuses to stick with me.
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(Casey Brennan's review)
The Moodies enter the 1970's with this release. After recording two studio albums the previous year, which involved the use of heavy overdubs and various amounts of double-tracking, the band decided to go for a more stripped-down approach on the instrumentation of the songs in order to be able to perform them live. The band's distinct mellotron-laced sound is pretty much the same as always (they do bring in the synthesizer for the first time on a few tracks though), although the lonely atmospheric dirges of To Our...Children is absent on here for the most part. The major hit on this album "Question" is, by a decent stretch, the very best song on here. The sound of fastly strummed acoustic guitars and a bombastic mellotron blast open this thrilling tune, which after the minute and a half mark goes into a softer and highly melodic mid-section with some of the best singing of Hayward's career, before ending as a fast-paced rocker again.
This may be the only classic on here, but I'm going to tell you, this stuff really grows on you. On the first few listens a lot of these tunes sound rather insignificant and not too special compared to what you hear on all previous Moody Blues albums, but after awhile many of them pop up in your face and become quite good (even great). The second best tune might be another Justin Hayward-penned tune, the beautiful acoustic melody of "Dawning Is The Day", which is in essence a wonderfully arranged song. Great bridge too. I'd take this track over "Never Comes A Day" and, especially, "Watching And Waiting" any day. The treading acoustic-led rocker "Tortoise And The Hare" is also another highlight, with its' fantastic harmonic bridge and good melody overall.
Ray Thomas contributes another one of his pure melodies in "And The Tide Rushes In" (a lovely tune written after a fight with his ex-wife), while lighthearted fun comes in "Minstrel's Song" (a harmonic sing-a-long chorus enraptures this one), where a flute plays along the quiet melody in the verses. In stark contrast is the doomy "Melancholy Man", an effective cut with some harsh synthesizer washes against the most obviously despairing melody off of the whole album, definitely not as bad of a song as some people say it is. Two of the stranger tunes on the album are "How Is It (We Are Here)" and "Don't You Feel Small", both of which appear to be kind of stupid and pointless at first. Well, in reality maybe the second one is a little stupid-sounding with those whispering vocals and all, but the former, with its' squeaking and slithering synthesizer sound and interesting Pinder vocals, is actually pretty neat.
Finally there is the decent rocker "It's Up To You", which is still worthwhile although not as awesome as the other two Hayward stunners on here, and the (gasp) spoken-word piece "The Balance", which has a good refrain despite opening up with some, once again horribly corny poetry.. 'he saw an orange... he tasted it'. Blah but laughable. With another superb album cover and some really good and invigorating music, I can now say that this is the band's best album since Days Of Future Passed three years before. I'll give Question Of Balance an overall score of 8, which is not bad for an album I at one time thought was the second worst of their 'core seven' releases.
HIGH POINTS: Question, Melancholy Man, And The Tide Rushes In, How Is It (We Are Here). LOW POINTS: Minstrel's Song.
Following the often lifeless tone of the last album, the band thankfully integrated a more stripped down approach to the sound and came up with a neat ecologically-themed concept within the songs here. The really good news here is that A Question Of Balance is somewhat more focused in being less overly heavy on the softer, mellow atmosphere alone like TOCCC and 'balancing' them with more quirky material, energetically bombastic moments, and uptempo pop stuff. This also seems to be a more subtle effort than before - just like Threshold, a lot of this material passed by for me at first, but there are nuances in the way the songs are presented that this is very capable of growing on you if you're kind of indifferent towards this at first. Side one of this effort is also the best example of the Moodies' status as a great democratic band, with each member getting one contribution.
The best of these, of course, is the most well known opening Justin Hayward classic "Question", one of the absolute best tunes of the band's career (maybe even second for me after "Tuesday Afternoon"). It's really made by the fast acoustic guitar strumming, really bombastic instrumentation, and really great bassline complement an excellent melody and 'questioning' lyrics while the song rocks out. The slow, romantic middle in between the opening and closing rocking portions to go also works extremely well, with Hayward's vocals in top form throughout. This is definitely a defining piece for the band in its' arrangement, overall ambition and melodic strength. Mike Pinder's "How Is It (We Are Here)" is a worthy follow up to it as a really interesting short pop song. It has an extremely irresistible, quirky melody and arrangement (with nice Mellotron bursts here and there), with lyrics that very much in tune with the album's environmental theme.
The Ray Thomas number "And The Tide Rushes In" is another major highlight here, it's a simply gorgeous romantic ballad with that undeniable charm which he really excels at. The main melody rules, and his trembling vocals really suit a pained romantic song like this (the line 'and I'm really not so sure, which side of the bed I should lay, I should laaaaaay' is very effective). Graeme Edge even contributes "Don't You Feel Small", an actual song instead of a poetic piece or an instrumental, whose background whispering of the lyrics may be slightly distracting, but the main melody is nothing to ignore, the flute playing is good, and it has an engaging tempo. The side one closer, John Lodge's "Tortoise And The Hare", is probably the least impressive of the stretch, but it's still a fine uptempo number with a good bassline and overall pace, with a great energetic guitar chorus ('it's alright, it's alright...')
The second half is somewhat weaker than what came before, since the melodies aren't as solid and the flow isn't as captivating as before. The two Hayward compositions "It's Up To You" and "Dawning Is The Day" are certainly decent but far from his best, especially in the presence of "Question" from earlier. The former tune actually grew on me a little more, as it's a really pretty pop number that reveals its' quite catchy melody on repeated listens, and the latter is most notable for its' yearning vocals and refrain ('listen we think we have found you') that rescue a rather average tune. Lodge's "Minstrel's Song" is the only real weak point on the side (and on the album as a whole, in fact) - the melody and overall bounciness is somewhat grating, and the song itself just feels like something of a tossoff.
The two final songs get the album to a strong ending, however, as interestingly enough, they're among the most controversial numbers here. Pinder's "Melancholy Man" is often regarded as a long, depressing bore, and it's certainly 'melancholy', but that actually works to the song's advantage, in my mind. The shatteringly despairing vibe of this song is just so effective (as are his vocals), with appropriate synth work and a really wonderful and gripping melody. The arrangement is somewhat overlong, but since the effect is so powerful, that can be forgiven. The closing "The Balance" could also be regarded as a disaster, with some of Edge's most embarassingly dumb poetry, but it's beautifully countered with a great life affirming chorus ('just open your eyes...') Though it isn't a consistent album start to finish, A Question Of Balance is a very reasonable and impressive showcase of the Moodies' talents as individual songwriters and as a band.
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(Casey Brennan's review)
Named after the tunings for a guitar, this album continued the band's popularity streak by hitting number one in the charts again. A moog synthesizer is added to the bands mellotron prog/pop sound, as is a fuller production compared to the previous set. As usual, the record starts off with a strange little intro (no poetry this time though), immediately welcoming you into the Moodies world, and then a rocker or two, surrounded by ballads and couple of child-like tunes (from Ray Thomas of course!). This album is not too far behind in Question in terms of quality, except for a couple of duffers that hurt the album a bit. I'll get to that a little later though. There actually are quite a few really decent tunes on here; in fact this record is an easier one to get into compared to other Moodies releases during this period, although not the best one.
The one rocker, the short and sweet "The Story In Your Eyes" is a typical piece from the band, but also one of the single-handedly strongest tunes on the whole set, as it has great guitar jamming(!) from the band, along with a fantastic melody and fierce quality to it. John Lodge's "Emily's Song" and Graeme Edge's "After You Came" shine as well. The former is a very melodic and bittersweet ballad, with a nice violin accompaniment during the verses, while the latter one almost works as a mini-epic with various melodies to it. The vocal switches during the pre-chorus, throw the song right into the towering chorus where the tempo changes and a moog sounding like a violin creates a good backdrop.
Lodge's song "One More Time To Live" follows as a good ballad with melodic verses and a memorable chorus of 'delusion, confusion, salvation, every nation...ect.'. Next is Ray Thomas's "Nice To Be Here" which brightens up the proceedings as usual. As an extremely infectious, child-like tune with cute background vocals and a little fuzzy guitar solo, it is in the same vein as "Floating" and "Another Morning" - equally as fun and bouncy too! His other contribution "Our Guessing Game" is a decent tune, with a piano-led intro and more lively, though somewhat messy chorus of voices, which eventually repeat and fade out the song. All the same, the vocals do sound pretty cool and make me chuckle a little.
Unfortunately, the album is let down a bit by the other three tunes. The best of them is "Procession" which is at least halfway interesting, as it neatly goes from being Eastern-flavored, to a flute and harpsichord section respectively, and finally to a preachy organ section. But the rest is fairly uneventful, and there really doesn't seem to be a point to the whole tune anyway. Accordingly, Hayward's "You Can Never Go Home" and Pinder's lone cut "My Song" are deeply marred by ugly arrangements. The opening piano melody of the latter tune is actually quite good, but the rest is fairly yucky and goes nowhere at all. Luckily, since they are the last two songs they don't mess up the actual flow of this otherwise very worthwhile set.
HIGH POINTS: The Story In Your Eyes, After You Came, One More Time To Live, Nice To Be Here. LOW POINTS: My Song, You Can Never Go Home.
Commonly referred to as the most generic of all the Moodies 'core seven' releases, the material on Every Good Boy Deserves Favour certainly justifies that assessment. Pretty much all the musical and conceptual territory on here (Mellotron-laced harmony sound, lyrical focus on stages of life, stages of life, growing older, blah blah blah) had already been covered and nearly exhausted by this point, and the qualities of each individual songwriter are completely up for display to both good and bad effect. Although this approach for the album's material could have certainly signaled boring stagnation, the overall sound is still gorgeous, with the songwriting and especially the melodies being good quality. There are, in fact, several tunes here that display quite an infectious and addictive tone to them, and as a whole, the song quality is fairly consistent until towards the end of the album.
The opening track, usually a signal for the entrance of corny poetry, goes for a more ambitious approach in actually attempting to write the whole history of music, and it's mixed. On one hand, around half the 'song' is taken up by really dumb chanting and pointless sound effects, but on the other, the portion of it where the flute melts into the harpsichord, and that melts into the electric guitar is an incredible transition to the next song, and it rescues things from disaster. Especially when that 'next song' happens to be the most well known classic and highlight of the album, "The Story In Your Eyes". A fantastic Justin Hayward rocker with more drive than can be found in most of the Moodies canon, it has an incredibly catchy fast melody, and the backing harmonies are simply awesome.
Things don't get any better than that afterwards, though, there are certainly more noteworthy songs to be found. The first Ray Thomas song, the ballad "Our Guessing Game", doesn't really differ much from his typical compositions, but it's reasonably pretty and reflective, and "Emily's Song", the well-known John Lodge tune to his newborn daughter, is a mildly beautiful violin-led ballad with a memorable soft melody (though it can sound a bit dull and not as emotionally moving as it deserves to be). It also leads into a really solid song stretch in the next three tracks, started with Graeme Edge's "After You Came", which can truly count as one of the catchiest tunes the band ever wrote, and that's quite an accomplishment. The melody is insanely addictive, and the song itself soars and rocks, with the neat feature of the other members trading off vocals during each line of the chorus.
Lodge's second tune "One More Time To Live" is almost as great, with totally beautiful acoustic/flute laden verses, and the anthemic musical backdrop in the chorus is a much more appropriate place for the "Procession" chants that get reprised here. Thomas' "Nice To Be Here", while little more than a rewrite of "Another Morning" and featuring almost cringe-worthy lyrics like 'I'm certain that I did see / a mouse playing daffodils', has a wonderful melody, and it's extremely entertaining. Alas, though, the album falls off somewhat in quality in the last two tracks. Hayward's "You Can Never Go Home" has an awkward and iffy sounding chorus, and the rest of the song ain't anything too special.
Then there's that closer - Mike Pinder's "My Song" is a candidate for the worst song the band wrote during the 'core seven' - lifeless and ponderous melody and lyrics ('I'm gonna sing my song, and sing it all day long, the song that never ends...' - what is he, holding us up at gunpoint here?), a clueless arrangement, and sound effects that rip off Threshold's intro and outro. A heavily disappointing end to the album, to be sure, and along with the 'Moodies generic' tendencies of a few other tracks, it's why the album's kept just out of 8 territory. Even with its' shortcomings, EGBDF still has a few fantastic songs going for it, though, and it's a good, easily accessible, introduction to the band's style.
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(Casey Brennan's review)
The Moodies at the time of this release were more than exhausted from doing live tours across the U.K. and United States, and also very tired from each other, having spent almost every day of the past five or six years together. Unfortunately, the last album of their most popular period, is affected by this exhaustion. Whereas the previous two albums each had a unique and fresh-sounding atmosphere (especially Question), tunes that were distinguishable from one another, and a certain identity, this album is an extremely bland and dull listen, with a good amount of songs that are horribly weakened by the production, lifeless atmosphere, lack of hooks or all three. As it takes quite a few listens to find the melodies that lurk behind the drabby-sounding and depressed tunes, this is, by far, the hardest Moodies album to get into.
Some of the tunes which sound kind of crappy at first, such as the despairing "Lost In A Lost World", actually are well-written and contain nice melodies. It's just that you have to get past the production values, which undermine the overall strength of each individual tune, and make the album rather insipid. Now, mind you, this is probably the best-produced album of the band's first seven releases, but that's only in terms of quality of sound; to me the production creates an atmosphere which simply bores the hell out of each tune, making them dull (and sometimes sappy) sounding. In the case of "Lost In A Lost World", the way the too lushly-produced atmosphere and cluttered voices (which, on the whole, aren't done too well) mix together is just plain blah-sounding, even though the actual tune is fairly good. Compared to the three or four other stinkers that are also in the 'weak' category, this at least has a good hook.
Taking up almost all of side two, clunkers like the record's absolute low-point "When You're A Free Man", the cute, but we've-heard-it-all-before "The Land Of Make Believe", and "You And Me" (the nice riff in the beginning is one of the only redeeming factors about it) are simply put, unmemorable. The hopeful ballad "New Horizons" fares better, but to me is a bit overrated (I can see the flames coming now), as the chorus is a little iffy and the tone is too, you know... sappy. It sounds good while on, but I always forget what it sounds like afterwards. I may have said a lot of negative things about this album so far, but there are a few good to great songs, which allow the album to at least get a decent rating. One of them is "For My Lady". It may sound overly sweet, but it's a wonderfully sung Ray Thomas tune with a very nice little melody.
The other two, "Isn't Life Strange" and "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)", both written by John Lodge, are classics which overpower everything else on here. The former opens with a melodic chamberlain (the main new instrument used for this album) playing along-side the quavering vocals - 'Isn't life str-a-a-a-ange...', before going into the louder more harmonic choruses, while the latter, in all of its' glory, is a perfect way to end this era of the Moodies recording career, as it is a fantastic rocker (their best in my humble opinion), with a fantastic pulsating rhythm against a mellotron-laden background. So, after all it isn't a bad listen, just the sound of the record is bothersome. You might think it's a better album than I (most hardcore Moodies fans seem to like it quite a bit)... but then again you might not think so. Minus the very last track, the record itself is a good cure for insomnia (I mean that in the best way), or a restless night, which in that case is good for listening to on headphones.
HIGH POINTS: I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band), Isn't Life Strange, New Horizons, For My Lady. LOW POINTS: When You're A Free Man.
On the final effort of the band's 'core seven' albums before they went on a six year hiatus and reformed with Octave (how convenient), it was obvious the Moodies were really worn out by this time, certainly apparent not only in the music, but also in the album title and cover art (oh boy). Thankfully, though, on Seventh Sojourn the tired atmosphere is compensated by the usual fine melodies and songwriting to go along with a fuller sound. In fact, this is the best produced album of their career so far, and it actually helps carry the depressing mood of the album forward. The production style is also very much helped by more electric guitar work and Mike Pinder's replacing of the Mellotron with an instrument called the Chamberlin, which makes the sound even richer and less bothersome than in the past.
It's Pinder who actually starts the album off with "Lost In A Lost World", which, predictably enough, has that depressing mood typical of him. It's somewhat better than the song he closed the last album off with, though, in that it actually has an engaging bassline and almost uptempo rhythm in contrast to the downtempo lyrics, whose preachiness isn't a bit bothersome. His other contribution "When You're A Free Man", however, isn't such a success. It's another ode to Timothy Leary like "Legend Of A Mind" was, but in comparison to the classic trippiness of that song, this is just a dull, slow, flute-oriented ballad with little in the way of memorable melody that works at creating a dismal mood and nothing more. Thankfully, though, its the only real weak number on the album, as the other ballad-like efforts present here are somewhat more successful.
The Justin Hayward tune "New Horizons" is particularly excellent as his ode to deceased family members - although the chorus may be a little too adult pop-ish (even though it's emotional and moving), the overall effect of the song in combining the lyrics, his typical vocal power, and the strong melody, is really breathtaking, especially the ending guitar solo with the Chamberlin backing. The other two Hayward numbers on here, "The Land Of Make-Believe" and "You And Me" (co-written with Graeme Edge) are a little formulaic in the presence of what he's written before, but both of them have their great features. The former features nice childish melody and lyrics that almost make it sound like a Ray Thomas number, though Hayward's vocals, and the guitar playing after the '...into the clear blue sky' line, suit it well. The latter, meanwhile, is a fairly solid rocker with a really cool intro riff and a very, very catchy chorus. Speaking of Thomas numbers, he contributes the medieval influenced "For My Lady", though its' a little too similar in melody to "Our Guessing Game", is a charming, extremely pretty number in its' mood, with his vocals and instrumentation here.
But heck, those songs, as good as they are, aren't what push Seventh Sojourn to the ranking of 'my second favorite Moodies album'. It may sound somewhat predictable of me, but the major highlights here are undoubtedly the two famous radio hits by John Lodge that close each side. The first of these, "Isn't Life Strange", has a chorus refrain that's a little repetitive at the end, but that's no big problem, since that refrain rules, with the way it's sung in harmony creating a fabulously moving effect, and the vibrating vocals on the verses ('isn't life straa-a-a-a-nge...') are an awesome addition. The rest of the song in all its' fabulous sweep is no slouch either, since the melody is simply top-notch.
What's even more awesome is the closing track "I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)", which is basically a rant on the God-like status they received from some fans. What a rant it is, though, as it's arguably the best rocker the band ever did, with the guys singing all the lyrics in great four-part harmony to the most impressive melody on the whole album. This track, and the not exactly joyful mood of the rest of the album, goes to show the Moodies weren't exactly insecure about putting their emotions on record, and it does so in about the most awesome way possible. What a great song to close out this phase of their career before a very long break, and one of the Moodies' most consistently satisfying efforts, even though it's admittedly not one of their freshest ones.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: In My World, Meanwhile. LOW POINTS: None.
The Moody Blues finally enter the 1980's in a different musical climate to say the least, and without Mike Pinder, who had declined to join the rest of the band for the supporting Octave tour, and Patrick Moraz took his spot. Pinder was basically kicked out of the band and Moraz ended up being his replacement for several years. Of course, this had a big effect on the band's approach - his keyboards are quite prominent in the sound, almost to the point of completely taking over it. Plus, this album very much features your typical early 80's contemporary production, and both of these things also contribute to making Long Distance Voyager sound quite dated in places. But despite all the obvious weaknesses that come with the sound, I really like this album quite a bit, simply because the actual songs are for the most part very enjoyable to listen to. Only a couple of them are truly great all the way through, but still, what a surprisingly consistent and satisfying listen this is anyway.
The biggest reason for this is undoubtedly Justin Hayward. His vocal tone here exhibits a more mature and rich approach, which suits the material fine enough, but what really becomes apparent is that his sense of melody and how to write a beautiful song hasn't really diminished. The opening uptempo number "The Voice" does admittedly sound slightly awkward and not exactly helped by the smooth overproduction and the synths (which are a little much for me here), but still, it has a really great melody, and it's thoroughly enjoyable straight through. His other two songs here, are staggeringly good, and I wouldn't hesitate to say they rank up there with the best material he's written.
This is particularly true with the gorgeous acoustic ballad "In My World", which has the most beautiful melody and arrangement on the entire album, with extremely moving lyrics, and I simply love how the harmonies gradually become more powerful until the triumphant 'it's heaven on Earth when you're near' line right before the lengthy guitar solo at the end (the perfect touch for the song). "Meanwhile" is fairly close to it, though - the instrumentation reminds me a lot of Christmas music for some reason (the keys, mainly), and that adds to the warmth of another extremely pretty - exceptional uplifting chorus here. Even his collaboration with John Lodge, the disco-influenced "Gemini Dream", is such a guilty pleasure - this is where the sound is the most laughably dated, and the whole pace of the song just cracks me up with those early 80's keys and rhythms, but the melody is insanely catchy (I love those 'make it work out! make it work!' bursts in the chorus), so I dig it. Seriously.
Speaking of John Lodge, his two numbers are a little mixed in presentation, but worthwhile. For instance, the plodding tempo and melody of the verses in "Talking Out Of Turn" are a bit dull (with more dated synths in there), but the chorus rules - it's hard to resist those intonations there ('TAL-king out of turn... SHOT to pieces... when will I leaaaaaaarrrn'). On the opposite end, the verses of "Nervous" are very much in the vein of his classic ballad style (acoustic guitar and flute arrangement), with an extremely moving melody and emotional lyrics that make it one of the best moments on here, but the overly cheesy and adult contemporary chorus ('bring it on home.. bring it on home... your love') has little to do with the rest of the song at all and kinda kills the momentum a bit.
The remaining numbers here, meanwhile, are from Graeme Edge and Ray Thomas. The first of them is Edge's "22,000 Days", whose most notable feature is the fantastic harmony work throughout the catchy chorus, and it's a pretty good pop song overall. Thomas' work, though, is considerably more out there - it's basically a three song mini suite that closes the album. The first part of it ("Painted Smile") is uplifting and cheery (with that great refrain of 'laughter is free / but it's so haaaaard to be...'), the second ("Reflective Smile") is a short poetic interlude, and the third ("Veteran Cosmic Rocker") is just plain weird - it's almost like a carnival tune, a combination of "Karn Evil 9" (Thomas really belts out a couple lines like Greg Lake might, I swear!) and "The Safety Dance", but the melody is just so incredibly fun and blatantly silly that I like it (with the little 'he's afraaaaaaid that heeeeee willlll dieeeeeee' yell particularly standing out at the end). A wonderfully bizarre (even if sometimes overly parodic) end to the album, which is quite satisfying in spite of its' obvious weaknesses - so strong, in fact, that I would really recommend this one to listeners who are curious about the band's post 'core seven' work.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Nights In White Satin, Tuesday Afternoon, Your Wildest Dreams, Ride My See-Saw, Question. LOW POINTS: I Know You're Out There Somewhere
A loooooooooong best of album, and for me it's too much Moodies. They aren't really my favorite band or even close to it (though I'm not extremely familiar with their stuff, and I do LOVE Days Of Future Passed), and I just kind of find it hard to listen to seventeen of their songs straight through in one sitting. As it often is with excessive greatest hits albums. If you want to buy this to get a good idea of their music, be careful, you might get too much of an idea. Though to be honest, the only song on here that's actually bad is "I Know You're Out There Somewhere," mostly because it sounds far too much like "Your Wildest Dreams", which is one of my favorites on the album. And I think it's also interesting that not a single track from To Our Children's Children's Children, which seems to be extremely popular among web reviewers (on other sites, anyway) is included, not even "Gypsy," which I have heard on the radio. But they stuck on a track from Sur La Mer, which, if I understand correctly, is shit. Funny how silly these selections can be sometimes. I have seen only a few completely excellent best of albums, and this isn't one of them.
Other than those complaints, being overlong and some poor song selections, this album can be quite enjoyable. Most of these songs are great. "Nights In White Satin" is a classic, maybe the best Moodies song ever, though maybe it misses something without the ending orchestration and the full seven minutes of the song. And the others, well, I'm not sure what to say. As I said I'm not a Moodies fanatic, but I enjoy them. Until about "Forever Autumn," track 12, when the 'too much Moodies' factor kicks in. Not that it's a bad song or anything, but there's only so much of this band I can handle at a time. Give me a break! And there's no previously unreleased tracks either. Which means that there is no reason that someone who is already a Moody Blues fan should run out to buy this, unless you want some short interview with Justin Hayward
Anyway the main point is that enough is enough, they should have only put eleven or twelve tracks on here. And I'd still recommend someone interested in the band to look at Days Of Future Passed instead, which is widely considered their best album by almost everyone except those guys who love To Our Children's Children's Children instead. Why don't you just get both?
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COMMENTS
If you want a shorter Moody Blues collection, then you should get the 1989 compilation Greatest Hits, which has 12 songs, including all the high points you mentioned. There's also a new compilation, 20th Century Masters--Millennium Collection: The Best of the Moody Blues, which has 11 songs, with almost the same song selection as Greatest Hits, but it doesn't include "Tuesday Afternoon," and it also has the edited version of "Nights in White Satin," whereas Greatest Hits has the full version. Be warned, though, that both collections do have "I Know You're Out There Somewhere." I also recommend the 2-disc compilation This Is the Moody Blues, which is an overview of the band's 1967-1972 period. Many regard it as the best Moody Blues compilation.