Moody Blues : C/D, S/D

One of my daughter's favorite kinds of mac-and-cheese is Shells and White Cheddar. This causes me to hum involuntarily whenever I take it off the shelf.

I read last night that these guys are Urantian. Is that true?

tbh this was on a list that stated Neil Peart's religion is Objectivism.

If some band was writing/playing/sounding like this now, they would be total indiepop darlings.

If they'd cut down on their production budgets/studio time and play/sing a bit out of time/tune on purpose, then maybe.

For reasons I can't quite describe, Thee Oh Sees remind me of the Moody Blue. Like a Moody Blues rock number with the central vocal track eliminated and the remaining sounds run through a tape delay.

I read last night that these guys are Urantian. Is that true?

If memory serves, I think Justin Hayward was mixed up in Urantia for some time but I don't know how recent that was. John Lodge has occasionally spoken about being Christian/avoiding drugs/being "born again" but not in any kind of dogmatic fashion IIRC.

If some band was writing/playing/sounding like this now, they would be total indiepop darlings.

When I think about The Moody Blues, "The Actor" always pops in my mind. It has to be my favorite song by them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VDGwPiyLS8

do they really sound that much like far east family band?

anybody going?

http://www.moodiescruise.com/email/2013/10052012.html

So weird, I just queued up some Moody Blues on Spotify and then I see this. Not interested in the slightest, but I love the coincidence.

fuck i love this band ..

i mean seriously ..

60s psych vs 70s excess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CqwECqxGf4

If you're too young to remember them at the time they sound very fresh in comparison to the over-exposed likes of The Beatles, Small Faces etc.

how true this is ...

"Pre-1967: Dud
1967-1972: Classic
1975 onwards: Neither

― Geir Hongro,

"

despite the lack of ILM love for this band, i say that this summary is totally spot on.

ilm hates the moody blues.

i listen and enjoyed the moody blues today.
i search ilm and reminded that i am the only person to post in this thread for years.
not wanting to go all geir, but, ilm is wrong.
for a few years these guys totally killed it.
oh, and the remastered editions sound fucking brilliant.

"Days of future passed" is a tremendous album, very well recorded.

"Ride my see saw" is so so classic, harrowing psychedelic propulsion

And I love that mid 80s synth-y hit of theirs, something so subtle and delicate and disarmingly catchy

In Search of the Lost Chord really blew me away last time I heard it, I forgot how many great melodies there were on that thing. "Voices in the Sky" is just one of the prettiest little songs ever written, really

from the EGBDF wiki entry:

The album was the last to feature only the Mellotron, as it would be assisted by the Chamberlin (another device that uses recorded tape to generate sound) on the Moody Blues' next studio album, 1972's Seventh Sojourn.

Never heard of the Chamberlin before, I guess it was a precursor of the mellotron? Wonder who else used it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=21&v=REwMm3tiN10

i have the albums up to and including EGBDF, so never heard 'seventh sojourn', but i know i will succumb one of these days.
but, i have yet to take the chance on any of the 80s material.

I listened to the debut after seeing the long Classic Artists documentary on them, it's a totally brilliant album and I definitely want everything up to Seventh Sojourn.

I wondered why I hadn't really heard much about them even though they were apparently very famous. Even recently someone said they were extremely overrated, but by who? A lot of the magazines I would have expected to suck their dicks on a regular basis rarely mentioned them.

This thread is mostly positive so I don't see evidence that the forum hates them. Awesome band.

One of the live performances on the documentary with a flute solo blown me away. I'm just hoping that's on their early albums.

I don't see evidence that the forum hates them

true .. i was drunk.

why late at night in the usa does ilm get all moody bluesy?

Something I found funny in the documentary was one member moving to America as soon as Labour won an election. I think it was one of the moustache guys I think.

Subtract the second "I think" at the end, I think.

I rarely want to hear one of these albums all the way through but the rare song is always great.

also Long Distance Voyager is probably their most underrated album.

Why such a long gap between Seventh Sojourn and Octave?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moody_Blues

this seems to imply general band exhaustion

God, reading over this thread again makes me glad I wasn't there for the early shitty hater era of ilx.

Listening to In Search Of The Lost Chord, some really great songs but there's something that bothers me about the album as a whole.

I loved Bongwater's cover of "Ride My See-Saw" and the original is awesome too and much fuller sounding.

I quite dislike the tone of the vocals in "Dr Livingston, I Presume", I felt similarly about "Another Morning" on the previous album. I can't quite describe it but it's as if Ray Thomas is speaking in a brisk carefree manner, which shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing but I find it irritating. I hope he doesn't keep that manner later on.

Justin seems by far the best vocalist of them. All his songs on this are great.

Just seen that there are some versions of the early albums with way more bonus tracks. Hope the "standard" editions keep all the best stuff. The bonus tracks on Days Of Future Passed were fantastic.

Finished listening to it, it's very good mostly.

"The Actor" and "Visions Of Paradise" are pretty gorgeous.

The Peel show version of "The Best Way To Travel" has this clattering at the end that should have been on the album version.
Bonus tracks "A Simple Game" (Justin vocals version is better) and "What Am I Doing Here?" are great.

The Actor would be my #1 Moody Blues song

would be a definite top 10 of mine ..

In Search Of the Lost Chord is definitely a great album - I even wrote about it a few months ago. When people describe the sort of music that the Beatles made in their psychedelic period I often think of this one. It's been played out a lot but I still think "Voices in the Sky" is one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded.

Played on the radio? Are they far more popular in America, Like The Zombies?

Nice piece. I guessed they might be considered bandwagon jumpers too square to really get in deep with the eastern spiritualism (which is probably going to be looked back on less favourably than ever) and psychedelic stuff. I don't recall them really going into that stuff on the documentary. I bet a lot of people held their big garden party album launch against them.

As someone earlier in this thread says, people who are fresh to this band will probably really like them. I knew virtually nothing about them before I saw Tim Burton's Dark Shadows (of all things; my sister thought the song was the only good thing about the film and she doesn't really listen to this sort of music). I think I first heard of them in an early issue of Prog magazine and admittedly I was slightly put off them because they looked very Austin Powers in some photos.

I haven't listened to enough to really place them properly but right now I associate them with Procol Harum and Family.

Played on the radio? Are they far more popular in America, Like The Zombies?

I haven't listened much to classic rock radio in a decade or so but from what I recall they were played fairly frequently, more than just "Thursday" and "Nights" - iirc lots of their later, not-so-good stuff as well.

God, reading over this thread again makes me glad I wasn't there for the early shitty hater era of ilx.

Far too many ugly men with moustaches (who looked about 42 in 1967 so God knows what they look like now) in this band for my liking.

"the story in your eyes", "just a singer in a rock & roll band", "ride my see saw", and "lovely to see you" are still classic rock radio highlights

They're great. I bet they influenced a lot of bands, even if those bands wouldn't name drop the Moodies as an influence. Hawkwind, Genesis, Even Joy Division / early New Order have audible Moody Blues influences.

In Search of the Lost Chord is great all the way through, and stands up to A Saucerful of Secrets by Pink Floyd, Forever Changes by Love, Odessey and Oracle by The Zombies, and really anything from that milieu.

But I agree that there's something seemingly uncool about them -- maybe just the idea of them. But then I listen to them and remember how great they are!

Also, Mike Pinder's playing is probably the most iconic use of the Mellotron anywhere in rock history.

C/D: Classic!
S: In Search of the Lost Chord, To Our Children's Children's Children; D: Most of Days of Future Passed, Their 80s comeback.

In Search of the Lost Chord was the first LP my grandma gave me when she found out I had a turntable. Still had bongwater stains on it.

For the record, I think it's great. Sorta what I imagined the Beatles sounded like before I heard them. "Voices in the Sky" is still one of the prettiest songs ever written.

I fucking loathe this song.

Your loss, but I never really payed attention to the lyrics. I'm sure a lot of people love it.

Love this song

last week ordered the 2cd set 'this is .. ' cos its the easiest way to just kick back and listen to the best stuff by the band when they were at their peak.
last night after some booze I pressed play and had the best 90 mins I have had in ages.
brilliant band.

yea they definitely had enough material for an absolutely killer greatest hits. TOCCC is the only Moodys album that I think is actually great from start to finish. though their filler stuff is plenty fine too sometimes

yea they definitely had enough material for an absolutely killer greatest hits.

"This is .." is clearly the best comp as it covers the glory years, and has edits/revisions so that it flows making it the best to experience the hits and more as opposed to diving in deep.
that said, every time I heard a song I just wanted to hear the full album that the song had been lifted from.
brilliant band.

you are proper ace Alfred, but you are massively wrong re this one.

It's okay. The world usually orients itself to me after a generation!

I’ve always felt that while “Nights in White Satin” was understandably the Moodies’ most iconic song—with its orchestral sweep, maudlin sentiment and earnest Hayward vocal—that it’s still a good distance from their best work. I’d say I feel that way about Days of Future Past generally tho “Tuesday Afternoon” is great and that BBC take of “Peak Hour” mentioned upthread is killer.