Moody Blues : C/D, S/D

Days of Future Passed: Kind of their breakthrough album with their 'classic' line-up with Justin Hayward and Jon Lodge (before this, they were one of those early 60s British beatrock bands with the ties, though they had a couple of hits with leader Denny Laine), recorded with the "London Festival Orchestra" (entirely made-up; basically, session orchestra musicians). Basically, the orchestra bits and band bits are generally separate, and overlay occasionally. The orchestra bits I find to be a bit filler, but some of the bands' tunes, even apart from the well-recognized "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" are great. Personal favorites: "Dawn Is a Feeling", "The Sunset", and the chorus/middle eight to "Time To Get Away".

In Search of the Lost Chord: Their follow-up to DoFP, them trying to prove they could go it alone, without the orchestra. I think this is their first with producer Tony Clarke, who produced all the albums of their classic period. This one is the most firmly steeped in the psychedelic period, but features some great songs, mostly from Hayward and Ray Thomas. The most well-known tracks on the album are "Ride My See-Saw" and "Legend of a Mind" ('Timothy Leary's dead...no, n-n-no, he's outside) Personal favorites: "Voices in the Sky", "Visions of Paradise".

On the Threshold of a Dream: The next couple of album continue the Beatles-emulation begun on Lost Chord, though less overtly psychedelic. Personal favorites: the opening ("In the Beginning") and "Lovely to See You"

To Our Children's Children's Children: All in all, this is my personal favorite album of theirs, just lots of beautiful songs throughout. Also, Hayward (the main hit-writer and most prolific writer, who since has dominated the band) seems to hang uncharacteristically in the background on this one. Jon Lodge's writing and Mike Pinder's mellotron own this baby. Personal faves: "Eyes of a Child 1 & 2", "Out and In", "Sun Is Still Shining", "Candle of Life", "Watching and Waiting"

A Question of Balance: This is their Let It Be (retreat from experimentation, strange content, wacky interludes, etc. From here on, they would become increasingly straightforward, with standard track lengths, more stripped down, etc. The hit on this album was "Question". Personal faves: "And the Tide Rushes In", "Minstrel's Song", "The Balance" (many might find it sappy, but I love it, myself).

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour: Hmm, I think it's the least of their 'classic' albums, but some good stuff. Favorites: "You Can Never Go Home", and my roommate in college and I adore the rather goofy last song, a typically melancholic Mike Pinder track called "My Song" (we used to improvise our own lyrics: "How can I tell you...aliens inside my brain...").

Seventh Sojourn: Apart from TOCCC, this is the next album I still play the most from them. Their last 'classic'-period album, the green leaf surrounded by the desert. Has a lot of despair to it, too (courtesy Mike Pinder), which is always a good thing. :) Favorites: "New Horizons", "You and I", "Land of Make Believe", "When You're a Free Man Again".

Octave: Made after a 5 or 6 year hiatus. The only studio album from them I've never heard (apart from their latest one, which I haven't gotten around to). Drummer Graeme Edge describes this one as "full of pain". Pinder's last album with the band (Edge says he freaked out on religion; Pinder says he just didn't like the album and didn't want to tour it). Also, Hayward had to talk producer Tony Clarke down from a cliff.

Long Distance Voyager: The strongest of their post-Pinder albums, made with Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz (formerly of Yes). I personally love it, again, some classic pop tunes mixing with some admittedly cheesy/dated stuff, and Moraz, though showing a fraction of his ability, does some great keyboard arranging. Favorites: "The Voice" (also the biggest hit from the album), "Meanwhile" (the Moodies go country; good electric piano sound from Moraz).

The Present: A bit more generic than LDV, but still generally acceptable. Favorites: Lodge's "Sitting at the Wheel", another country-rock kind of tune, "Meet Me Halfway" and Thomas' final song for a long time, "Sorry" (and preceded by the hilarious 'poem' "I Am").

The Other Side of Life: Features their biggest 'comeback' hit, "Your Wildest Dreams" (personally, I think it's a great pop tune, Hayward's melodies and Thomas' choir back-up...aahhhhHHHH). The rest of the album is awful.

Sur La Mer: Pretty forgettable, sounds very generic. The hit here was "I Know You're Out There Somewhere", which like "Your Wildest Dreams", leans heavily on "The Voice". Moraz obviously underutilized, Thomas and Edge pushed aside.

Keys to the Kingdom: Their worst, in my opinion. Too sugary even for my standards. Moraz was bored with them and ditched before completion, replaced effectively by a sequencer. If you can get past a song title like "I Bless the Wings that Bring You Back", then be my guest.

Strange Times: Their latest album, haven't heard all of it, but what little I've heard sounds a step up from Keys to the Kingdom (admittedly not a hard thing to do).

There ya go. If I could only pick three, it would be (in order): "To Our Children's Children's Children", "Seventh Sojourn" and (for historical reference) "Days of Future Passed".

.. You should probably listen to them and make up your own mind... I'd recommend anything from Days of Future Passed through to Seventh Sojourn.... Anything after that, you may as well buy a Foreigner record.

Blasting, billowing, bursting forth
With the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes,
Man with his flaming pyre
Has conquered the wayward breezes,
Climbing to tranquility far above the cloud,
Conceiving the heaven clear of misty shroud.

Higher and higher,
Now we've learned to play with fire,
We go higher
And higher
And higher.

Vast vision must improve our sight,
And perhaps at last we'll see
An end to our home's endless blight
And the beginning of the free.
Climb to tranquility, finding its real worth,
Conceiving the heavens flourishing on Earth.

Higher and higher,
Now we've learned to play with fire,
We go higher
And higher
And higher.

when the final night is over
and it's certain that the curtain's gonna fall
i can hide inside your sweet, sweet love
forevermore

and then that riff again! and then the piano outro!

I've been tempted to revive this thread late at night drunk a bunch of times.. the paucity of responses is depressing. "Legend Of A Mind" rools

S: "Cities" (B-side of "NiWS"), In Search of the Lost Chord, A Question of Balance, and Hayward's upbeat singles "Ride My See-Saw," "Lovely to See You," "Gypsy," "The Story in Your Eyes".

D: Days of Future Passed (ironically a Classic, but you've heard it enough already, no need to own it) also "I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)," one of the hits from Seventh Sojourn.

I actually quite like Long Distance Voyager (a UK #1 album, if I recall correctly) and The Present. They're both slick, but totally tuneful and have aged much better than a lot of other 20-year-old albums. I like On the Threshold of a Dream but it's neither as weird as Lost Chord or as powerul as Question. (Listening to it now: evocative of aspects of Swinging London, imaginary transition scenes left on the cutting room from from Blow-Up.)

Can't stand "Go Now" or (predictably) the '80s stuff.

Hayward's upbeat singles "Ride My See-Saw"

I think Jon Lodge wrote that one, actually.

"I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)"

Agree with you here. I've always found that one more than a little overrated (one of the weakest songs, actually, on Seventh Sojourn).

OTM

The only albums by them that I don't like much are "Keys to the Kingdom" (2 good songs) and "December" (2 good songs).

As for the material they made after Mike Pinder left, it was OK for a few years but the quality has been decreasing. Meaning their key material consists of the seven excellent albums they released from 1967 to 1972.

I realize I also have a real soft spot for "Driftwood"...

I normally wouldn't write about this but they were dope when they had Denny Laine. Get yourself a copy of the 1965 NME Awards and tell me who was the best band on.

The rest of that shit I wouldn't wipe my ass with (except it IS soft!).

Last few days, I've been going nuts over "Blue Guitar" -- for all the Moody's faults--not least of which is a tendency to mistake grandiosity for meaning--Hayward's voice is never one of them. Really, a wonderful, wonderful singer...

i have never heard this song before - it's pretty good! i can hear the 10cc influence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny5Jr6Zz8_4

Sorry - ech! Although the opening is a nice reminder that Justin could play some tasty lyrical guitar when he wanted to.

i'm surprised Geir doesn't at least like "go now" which is easily one of the best british invasion hits ever. pity denny laine never matched it in wings.

also, almost all moody blues albums = crap. and I like lots of bad music

i'm surprised Geir doesn't at least like "go now" which is easily one of the best british invasion hits ever.

It isn't. Terrible production, and not much of a melody either.

For the best "British Invasion" hits ever, look for (other than The Beatles), Hollies, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas and similar stuff.

this is a good resource if you're wondering about what Mellotron sounds they were using:

https://www.planetmellotron.com/revmoodies.htm

my local shop has some of the post-7th Sojourn LPs for very cheap, still not sure if I want to check them out. of all the 60's psych/art rock bands I think they were the least able to adapt to the 70s, even the stuff they did do in the early 70's has a very 1968 vibe to it. either way I grabbed the Caught Live LP (for $2.99) and will probably be listening to it tonight

Surprised that "The Voice" hasn't popped up as a needle drop in something like "Stranger Things."

otm, I love Long Distance Voyager so much, love that they just went all in on synth-pop for the next decade and totally pulled it off, maybe the most graceful transition for a psych/prog band from the sixties into the eighties?

how many psych prog bands even tried? I guess Pink Floyd did. Genesis technically started in the 60s but I'm gonna say they don't count.

Long Distance Voyager is indeed a surprisingly good album but I think it's their only one post-7th which is worth listening to at all. not that I've heard many of them. I have Octave and pretty much never want to listen to it.

In the very long Classic Artists documentary (which is great) there was a 90s performance of a song with an absolutely gorgeous flute solo and I had no idea of that was early or late material, I haven't got past the 60s yet.

I had the Yes documentary (which oddly treats Relayer like it was no big deal) and I really need to see the Jethro Tull one because these are usually at least 4 hours long, I wish there was much more but I think they only did Yes, Jethro Tull, Moody Blues, Cream and Jimi Hendrix. A shame.

In the Moody Blues documentary it was shown that Ian Anderson was considering joining the band for a while but they got another flute player

I think this was in the 90s too

its so weird that the Moodies were still a fairly well known pop culture phenomenon even well into the late 80s. did those later singles like "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" and "Your Wildest Dreams" actually get a lot of airplay? or were all the classic tunes still popular? (I certainly remember hearing them quite a bit in the 90s) just wondering because even their good ones tend to be landfill LPs nowadays, they're one of the few prog/psych bands of that era which just didn't seem to get re-evaluated at all.

Those two songs were both pretty big Top 40 hits, got MTV airplay etc.

They were all over the radio, iirc ("Your Wildest Dreams" hit number 9). As was America's "Magic," Alan Parsons "Eye in the Sky," etc. All sorts of future lite rock staples of that era. I heard an Air Supply song on the radio the other day, and I turned to my teen and said: this is what pop music often used to sound like.

My kids listen politely to the old man's tales of how great mid-70s music was.

Days of Future Passed remains a classic.

America had MoodysFever: "Gemini Dream" and "The Voice" got into the Top 40 in '81, and Long Distance Voyager actually hit #1 on the album chart.

raise your hand if your intro to the moodies was their cameo on the simpsons.

🙋

Heard "Your Wildest Dreams" all the time on AC radio in the 90s

of all the 60's psych/art rock bands I think they were the least able to adapt to the 70s, even the stuff they did do in the early 70's has a very 1968 vibe to it.

To be fair, they had a number 1 hit in 1972 with a song originally released in 1967, so they probably felt they had a mandate to keep that sound and spirit alive.

even their good ones tend to be landfill LPs nowadays, they're one of the few prog/psych bands of that era which just didn't seem to get re-evaluated at all.

True, but they sold a lot more than all the other bands of that ilk except Pink Floyd, so there were just more LPs sitting around to fill up the bins.

Forgot about "Go Now" - they do a nice cover, and I'm pleasantly surprised to find that I'm enjoying Denny Laine singing lead vocals on something:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98rcKVLN-Q

That was one of his feature numbers on Wings Over America. The other was “Richard Cory” iirc.

listening to Threshold right now. every time I put it on I remember there's one song on it I absolutely love but never remember the name of. well I finally took note of it, it's "To Share Our Love". I really dig when this band does their psych rock Beach Boys thing, like on "Peak Hour" and "Ride Me See-Saw" and not much else. oooh and I forgot how massive the chorus of "Never Comes the Day" is. what a fuckin tune.

and then you've got "So Deep Within You" which somehow manages to predict the exact sound of the gross mid-70s Zappa stuff. except it says "I wanna touch your fire" instead of "girl I'm gonna grease up your oinker" or some shit.

"So Deep Within You" also recorded by the Four Tops! Though 70s Zappa would surely not cover everything in reverb to that extent, he loved dry close-miking.

Amazing album

and then you've got "So Deep Within You" which somehow manages to predict the exact sound of the gross mid-70s Zappa stuff. except it says "I wanna touch your fire" instead of "girl I'm gonna grease up your oinker" or some shit.

"So Deep Within You" also recorded by the Four Tops! Though 70s Zappa would surely not cover everything in reverb to that extent, he loved dry close-miking.

surprised that Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is the lowest rated on RYM of their classic albums. it's def as good as anything else they did if you ask me. it's way better than Question of Balance. though I admit maybe Question felt a bit more modern and clean while this goes back to their Lost Chord head-in-the-clouds psychedelia. can't imagine too many bands were still making music like this in 1971. also I can respect them going really out there on the first and last track - "My Song" is like a mini prog epic, albeit one from a band without a whole lot of techinical skill.

Fun fact, from Glenn Kenny’s book on Goodfellas: “Question” was considered for the soundtrack. I don’t know which scene, or if it was left off due to licensing, or if Scorsese just changed his mind or what. I can almost see it working as part of the May 11, 1980 sequence.

(He did use “Nights In White Satin” in Casino, and it worked perfectly.)

I don't really like any of the songs on EGBDF, it seems really tired and low-energy even by their standards (and not in a self-conscious, let's-write-songs-about-disillusionment way like the Pinder songs on Seventh Sojourn). Even "Story in Your Eyes" is a second-rate retread of the uptempo Hayward songs from the previous few records.

I agree it doesn't really have a strong single but there's a lot of really pretty moments on it, especially in the second half. mostly I'm just surprised people like Question of Balance more, if not for the title track I don't think I'd ever want to listen to that album.

personally I like it better than Days of Future Passed too. that album takes forever to get going and I really don't like most of the orchestration. mostly cuz it just reminds me of the really boring "retro" films my Dad would always watch.

Yes, the orchestrated segments of Days are a big mark against it. My pick of the big 7 is Threshold; though in honesty, any Moody Blues compilation (of that era) will have more good songs than any of their proper albums.

oh that's definitely true, the first CD I bought was a comp and it was really great but not in a way that made me wonder what the albums actually sounded like. then I saw them live and still recognized nearly every song they played so I figured maybe they just didn't have a lot of good deep cuts. hearing DoFP (which I'd always heard was the classic one) didn't really change my mind but Lost Chord kinda did. TOCCC was the one that really turned me around, it doesn't necessarily have my favorite material but for me track-for-track it's totally their best

My dad always had a cassette of Days Of Future Past and Seventh Sojourn in the car, but the first album I bought with my own money was the double This Is The Moody Blues comp. I still prefer its sequencing to the actual albums
https://www.discogs.com/release/2129159-The-Moody-Blues-This-Is-The-Moody-Blues

Yes, several of the records wheee around my house but that’s the one I latched on to. It felt like a very complete sixties epic, like White Album or Tommy more than a greatest hits.

some pretty crazy stories here. is the "brown note" thing really true? I thought that was an urban legend that just became an episode of South Park

https://www.loudersound.com/features/moody-blues-weird-fans-1960s

cracking article.
really enjoyed that and learnt loads that i had no idea about.
especially the whole thing re timothy leary.
i thought the song was because they personally knew him.
i love the moodies, but weirdly i know very little about them.
and, being honest, i kind of like it that way.

same, I thought it was some well-known lore that they used to hang out a bunch. surprising to me that the song was actually made during the Days of Future Past sessions, it would not have fit on that album at all. if I had to guess which track was from those sessions I'd say "Voices in the Sky".

still think In Search Of the Lost Chord is a total classic, one of those albums where I don't think it's their best but it's my personal favorite. idk if it's held up well exactly but it totally does feel like the sort of album a lot of teenagers got stoned to for the first time and I can respect that.

Moodies trivia: their 90s-era touring keyboardist was a founder member of hipster-adjacent folk-rock act Trees. Bonus trivia: he also wrote Kiki Dee's signature hit.

Bias Boshell is a heck of a rock and roll name

The long ass documentary is worth a watch. No great revelations but fun and I think it got me to buy their albums

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.

Four guys who look like West Bromwich Albion legend, Tony Brown, fronted by Tim Brooke Taylor is how I would characterize this band's look.

I'm not seeing this look as a problem myself

https://artist1.cdn107.com/08f/08fe9d2f776ad8199fc4ed945320db97_xl.jpg

I still hear Your Wildest Dreams while out and about at least twice a year.

Four guys who look like West Bromwich Albion legend, Tony Brown

I had always assumed that the falsetto backing vocals in "Nights in White Satin" were provided by session singers, and was vaguely amused to eventually discover that they were performed by these stolid-looking blokes.

xpost - That's because it's a jam. It came on my all-time faves playlist this morning on my way into work.

The long ass documentary is worth a watch. No great revelations but fun and I think it got me to buy their albums

No, it was a newer documentary, but amazing that there's more than one of them so long