{"id":25290,"date":"2023-05-30T05:30:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T09:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25290"},"modified":"2023-05-16T09:56:51","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T13:56:51","slug":"take-5-the-moody-blues-graeme-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/30\/take-5-the-moody-blues-graeme-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Take 5: The Moody Blues&#8217; Graeme Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Beloved drummer-poet Graeme Edge passed away in 2021 at the age of 80. Edge had been a mainstay of the Moody Blues; by the time of his passing, he was the only founding member still with the band. Edge was somewhat unusual in that he was a drummer who also wrote songs; most every Moody Blues album would feature at least one of his compositions. Edge also had a fulfilling side career leading The Graeme Edge Band, often featuring guitarist Adrian Gurvitz.<\/p>\n<p>Staffordshire-born Edge would have celebrated his 82nd birthday on March 30. Here are five standout tracks featuring Graeme Edge. All are Moody Blues tracks except where indicated<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cLate Lament\u201d from <em>Days of Future Passed<\/em> (1967)<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen the Moody Blues reformed with Justin Hayward and John Lodge, many changes took place. The band\u2019s early r&amp;b sound \u2013 exemplified by their hit single \u201cGo Now\u201d \u2013 was left behind in favor of a sweeping, orchestral and slightly psychedelic style. And poetic spoken word interludes became a trademark of the band. None, perhaps is more famous than this one, written by Graeme Edge and recited by keyboardist Mike Pinder.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VNC54BKv3mc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe Word\u201d from <em>In Search of the Lost Chord<\/em> (1968)<\/strong><br \/>\nFor the band\u2019s second album in its new style, the orchestra was left behind; instead the band\u2019s sound coalesced around Mike Pinder\u2019s Mellotron and Chamberlin, giving a distinctive quality to the music. Graeme Edge\u2019s spoken-word pieces figure prominently on the record. This one is brief, but it ties together the album\u2019s central theme in an almost limerick fashion.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N36oRaEF4jA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cLost in Space\u201d from The Graeme Edge Band\u2019s <em>Kick Off your Muddy Boots<\/em> (1975)<\/strong><br \/>\nEdge was always a tasteful drummer. And his work with his solo project sometimes allowed him to explore that rockier side of his style in a way that Moody Blues tracks wouldn\u2019t always accommodate. With singer\/guitarist Adrian Gurvitz (formerly of power trio Gun) he made a pair of enjoyable records. This track is a highlight from the band\u2019s debut album.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hxgoGtz919A\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI\u2019ll Be Level With You\u201d from <em>Octave<\/em> (1978)<\/strong><br \/>\nBy 1978 the Moody Blues were ready for a break; years of touring and an unbroken string of fine albums had left them exhausted. But before taking a several year hiatus, the group released <em>Octave<\/em>, a kind of victory lap capping what would come to known as the band\u2019s \u201ccore seven\u201d albums. While many of Edge\u2019s lyrics were spoken, this track features a massed \u201clead\u201d vocal featuring all the band members\u2026 except Edge.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VxykJrFuhWs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c22,000 Days\u201d from <em>Long Distance Voyager<\/em> (1981)<\/strong><br \/>\nThree years would pass between the release of Octave and the debut of the new, \u201880s version of the Moody Blues. Founding member Mike Pinder retired, his place taken by former Yes keyboardist extraordinaire, Swiss virtuoso Patric Moraz. Graeme Edge\u2019s written contribution to the smash comeback album was this track, sung by flutist Ray Thomas, guitarist Justin Hayward and bassist John Lodge.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uYh0z0bENEU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beloved drummer-poet Graeme Edge passed away in 2021 at the age of 80. Edge had been a mainstay of the Moody Blues; by the time of his passing, he was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[926,1512],"class_list":["post-25290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-graeme-edge","tag-moody-blues","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25290","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=25290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25292,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25290\/revisions\/25292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}