{"id":22567,"date":"2022-03-17T05:30:52","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T09:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22567"},"modified":"2022-02-22T08:33:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T13:33:43","slug":"march-through-time-the-moody-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/17\/march-through-time-the-moody-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: The Moody Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22568\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_moodies.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_moodies.jpg 900w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_moodies-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_moodies-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_moodies-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>The Moody Blues\u2019 career arc can be neatly divided into four distinct if unequal parts. The first is the r&amp;b\/pop era during which Denny Laine was a lead vocalist. The second is the one that listeners of a certain age remember fondly: the years of what even the band members call their \u201cbig six\u201d albums. The third is the group\u2019s MTV-era resurgence, and the fourth and final is the Moody Blues post-album nostalgia era.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s my rundown of the merits of the band\u2019s music, all of which was released during the first three of those eras.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i><b>Go Now: The Moody Blues #1<\/b><\/i><b> (1965)<\/b> \u2013 If the early Moodies never did anything beyond their reading of \u201cGo Now,\u201d they\u2019d be worthy or remembering. But there are many more beat-era gems to be found on this record. Just don\u2019t go in expecting Mellotrons or orchestras.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Days of Future Passed<\/b><\/i><b> (1967)<\/b> \u2013 The classic, the template for everything that wold follow. Pop as program music; it still thrills.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>In Search of the Lost Chord<\/b><\/i><b> (1968)<\/b> \u2013 Here, Mike Pinder\u2019s Mellotron takes over for the London Festival Orchestra, yielding something closer to what the band could sound like onstage. Great songs, too.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>On the Threshold of a Dream<\/b><\/i><b> (1969)<\/b> \u2013 Cranking out albums at a pace that today we\u2019d consider rapid-fire \u2013 at least one per year \u2013 the group didn\u2019t sacrifice quality<\/li>\n<li><i><b>To Our Children&#8217;s Children&#8217;s Children<\/b><\/i><b> (1969)<\/b> \u2013 This one fits in with the others but lacked a major hit single, so it\u2019s sometimes overlooked. Still worthwhile and varied.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>A Question of Balance<\/b><\/i><b> (1970)<\/b> \u2013 Lots of great deep cuts, and \u2013 in keeping with the title \u2013 well balanced in terms of contributions form all members of the group. Less complex arrangement-wise, but still filled with subtlety.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Every Good Boy Deserves Favour<\/b><\/i><b> (1971)<\/b> \u2013 \u201cThe Story in Your Eyes\u201d is among the Moodies\u2019 best cuts, and it\u2019s joined here by plenty of lesser-known yet worthwhile material.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Seventh Sojourn<\/b><\/i><b> (1972)<\/b> \u2013 Bassist John Lodge contributes the band\u2019s hardest rocker, the classic \u201cI\u2019m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)\u201d plus \u201cIsn\u2019t Life Strange.\u201d But the delicate balance is maintained among the group as a whole.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>This is the Moody B<\/b><\/i><i><b>l<\/b><\/i><i><b>ues<\/b><\/i><b> (1974)<\/b> \u2013 A sort of best-of notable for a remarkably different (and arguably superior) mix of \u201cQuestion.\u201d It\u2019s also programmed like a single work, with the tunes fading into one another.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Caught Live + 5<\/b><\/i><b> (1977)<\/b> \u2013 As we\u2019d discover on later archival releases, the prime-era Moodies were quite good live. But this thin document doesn\u2019t show them in the best light. But it was the late \u201870s, and <i>every<\/i> group seemed to have to have its live album. That said, the five studio bonus cuts are quite good; they\u2019rem ore than leftovers.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Octave<\/b><\/i><b> (1978) <\/b>\u2013 Very much out of step with prevailing musical trends at the time of its release, Octave nonetheless remains a criminally overlooked LP. It\u2019s lush and romantic. And \u201cDriftwood\u201d ranks among Justin Hayward\u2019s finest musical moments.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Long Distance Voyager <\/b><\/i><b>(1981)<\/b> \u2013 Three years \u2013 an eternity in the music business \u2013 wold pass before the group returned, and with its first personnel change in 14 years. Virtuoso keyboardist Patrick Moraz replaced Mike Pinder, and the band aimed for a more mainstream style. They hit the commercial bullseye.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>The Present<\/b><\/i><b> (1983)<\/b> \u2013 The new approach didn\u2019t work quite as well here; this record is solid but short on memorable songs.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>The Other Side of Life<\/b><\/i><b> (1986)<\/b> \u2013 Ray Thomas was sidelined for this record, and many of the elements that made the group special were dialed back in favor of a more trendy character. Of course it was a massive success.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Sur la Mer<\/b><\/i><b> (1988)<\/b> \u2013 If you liked<i> Other Side<\/i>, you liked this. But fans of the \u201cbig six\u201d were mystified and \u2013 daresay \u2013 disappointed. Save for a hit single, it\u2019s weak sauce. And sadly, no Ray Thomas!<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Keys of the Kingdom<\/b><\/i><b> (1991)<\/b> \u2013 I\u2019m not sure who was listening to Moody Blues albums \u2013 at least new ones \u2013 in 1991. Not only have I never heard this record, I\u2019ve never seen a copy.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>Strange Times<\/b><\/i><b> (1999)<\/b> \u2013 For the band, most of the 1990s would be characterized by regular touring and release of several compilation and archival sets. Ray Thomas returned, but \u2013 like <i>Kingdom<\/i> \u2013 I don\u2019t recall ever hearing any of this music.<\/li>\n<li><i><b>December<\/b><\/i><b> (2003)<\/b> \u2013 The (apparently) obligatory Christmas album, and the final word from the band. A bit mawkish, as these things tend to be. Not terrible; also not necessary. And no Ray Thomas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Moody Blues\u2019 career arc can be neatly divided into four distinct if unequal parts. The first is the r&amp;b\/pop era during which Denny Laine was a lead vocalist. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[1512],"class_list":["post-22567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-moody-blues","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22569,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22567\/revisions\/22569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}