― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 11:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 13:21 (eighteen years ago) link
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).
― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 13:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 16:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link
OTM
― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:21 (eighteen years ago) link
The only albums by them that I don't like much are "Keys to the Kingdom" (2 good songs) and "December" (2 good songs).
― Phoebe Sabbatini (Feebee), Saturday, 17 June 2006 08:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Marmot 4-Tay (marmotwolof), Saturday, 17 June 2006 08:58 (seventeen years ago) link
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.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 17 June 2006 22:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 00:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 00:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jeff Treppel, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 00:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 00:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 00:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― Joe, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 00:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 01:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 18 May 2007 04:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 18 May 2007 10:25 (seventeen years ago) link
I realize I also have a real soft spot for "Driftwood"...
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 19 May 2007 03:45 (seventeen years ago) link
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!).
― Saxby D. Elder, Saturday, 19 May 2007 05:21 (seventeen years ago) link
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...
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 20 May 2007 04:18 (seventeen years ago) link
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
― gershy, Sunday, 20 May 2007 04:39 (seventeen years ago) link
Sorry - ech! Although the opening is a nice reminder that Justin could play some tasty lyrical guitar when he wanted to.
― mitya, Sunday, 20 May 2007 05:06 (seventeen years ago) link
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
― akm, Sunday, 20 May 2007 05:15 (seventeen years ago) link
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.
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 20 May 2007 12:16 (seventeen years ago) link
So, is the consensus that Children's Children and Seventh Sojourn are their two best? Aside from ...Lost Chord, which I had when I was 16 y/o, I've never really listened to them beyond hits and various singles...
"Beyond," btw, is totally Froese'd out...
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 20 May 2007 18:19 (seventeen years ago) link
I would say "On The Threshold Of a Dream" and "A Question Of Balance" are at least equally as good as the ones you mention. I actually consider the former their best album ever.
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 20 May 2007 20:52 (seventeen years ago) link
Clearly, John Mendelsohn disagrees, courtesy of his RS review in 1970:
Recently something of unexaggerable beauty came into my life, something that was to enthrall me musically and elevate me spiritually, to pour oil on the turgid waters of my soul, to diminish my worldly riches by four-odd dollars while increasing my hopes of attaining far greater riches in another world.
That unexaggerably beautiful something was a record album; not just any ordinary record album, mind you, but one offering to my weary ears an abundance of spiritual and other insights and poetry that recalled the best ofâyes, I dare say itâGibran, colossal Straussian orchestrations simulated by a mellotron and heavenly choirs comprising seemingly thousands of over-dubbed falsetto voices.
That unexaggerably beautiful record album was the Moody Blues' very newest testament, A Question of Balance.
Everything about this remarkable artistic achievement, up to and including its very marvelous cover (which was done in gouache, compellingly depicting the confusion that is currently rampant in this topsyturvy world of ours, and rumored to be scheduled for reproduction on Threshold's forthcoming official lunch-boxes), borders on the divine.
Don't think for a wink that the Moodies compose anything other than very groovy music, music that might at first seem capable of standing on its own despite its melodic and harmonic puerility. That the Moodies never hesitate to add the aforementioned mellotron orchestrations and gigantic multi-voice choruses is simply a testament to their really caring about giving their all.
And their heady, thoughtful, eminently poetic lyrics just cannot be topped when it comes to important stuff like the universe and man's plight and soon. They're always real sticklers about giving us all those rhymes (mind/find, free/me, man/understand) that we're fondest of, and, unlike so many of their contemporaries, have the balls to pose the "thousand million questions about hate and death and war" that all of us want answers to.
Me, I can meditate pleasurably for hours on such verses as: "Blackbird sitting in a tree observing what's below/Acorns falling to the ground/He'll stay and watch them grow," at the end emerging from my meditation a more enlightened, happier human being, one better equipped to confront an often confusing universe.
I am confident that if you give it a chance you, as I, will not in your record cabinet, but be moved to store this album rather within the cardboard shrine that houses your Nam myoho renge kyo scroll.
[Rcally, friends, doncha think is sad that this groupâwho, were they to quit regarding themselves as seers, hock their mellotrons, and let Justin Hayward do all the writing and singing, might make some damn fine straightforward rock and rollâthink themselves above making fine straightforward rock and roll?] (RS 70)
JOHN MENDELSOHN
(Posted: Nov 12, 1970)
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 20 May 2007 22:02 (seventeen years ago) link
So, after a few days of listening to ...Children's Children, Seventh Sojourn and various other songs--"Driftwood," "Question," and "Blue Guitars," let it be said that I believe the Moodies are--despite my own belief up to only a few days ago--hideously underrated as songwriters, performers and arrangers.
Yes, some of the material is dated. Yes, some of the lyrics are trite. And yes, some of their material is kind of ridiculous.
But if nothing else, these guys were MASTER craftsmen. Hayward wrote some truly brilliant pop songs, while Pinder had some weird genius for orchestral texture. As noted, "Question" is a classic--and ought to be an undisputed one--while "Beyond" is some crazy Tangerine Dream/Ash Ra Tempel amalgam. If the significance of their lyrics was exaggerated at the time, their sense of post-Beatles melody is underrated today.
Something else, for sure...
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 24 May 2007 01:12 (seventeen years ago) link
John Mendelsohn is the worst rock critic I've ever read ever.
― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 24 May 2007 01:22 (seventeen years ago) link
More like among the best. Pre-punk rock critics would never react negatively towards musical ambition and musical skills. And that was a good thing.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 24 May 2007 08:24 (seventeen years ago) link
Danny Laine would go on to be involved with some good albums in the 70s. But that was because of working with the greatest songwriter ever. Moody Blues had to get rid of him to get good.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 24 May 2007 10:44 (seventeen years ago) link
As my goal is now to keep this thread alive come hell or high water, I should add that Blue Jays' "Remember Me (My Friend)" is outstanding post-Beatles orchestral pop. Great, great chorus...
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 26 May 2007 04:43 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah actually some of these records are better than I remember them being. certainly most of the early 70's ones are better than "days of future passed". I don't know that any of them are better than the bee gees albums of the same time period and they kind of tread the same waters.
― akm, Saturday, 26 May 2007 04:54 (seventeen years ago) link
i'm curious about the live at the bbc comp.
also, I now remember that I had a tape of "long distance voyager" when I was young and I loved that album. but it doesn't wear well. I also had "the other side of life" but even at that young age I knew better than to think it was any good
― akm, Saturday, 26 May 2007 05:09 (seventeen years ago) link
<i>"Beyond" is some crazy Tangerine Dream/Ash Ra Tempel amalgam.</i>
OTM. Shit is deep.
― inhibitionist, Saturday, 26 May 2007 05:40 (seventeen years ago) link
This thread forced me to dig out that first run of albums and they are all pretty worthwhile. Lyrically questionable I suppose, but so is Zeppelin, Rush, Yes, and almost everyone else namechecked on this thread so far.
This thread also needs some YouTube clips:
"Tuesday Afternoon" live sometime in the late 60s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjBvPHqO9KU
Fave part: Pinder running his Mellotron through a Marshall stack!
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 26 May 2007 05:53 (seventeen years ago) link
If the Moody Blues were an Elephant Six band in 1998, everyone would be gushing about them.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 26 May 2007 05:54 (seventeen years ago) link
"Watch Out! The waiter is on acid!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_0yM7LSkdE
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 26 May 2007 06:08 (seventeen years ago) link
Ride My See Saw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAtFbQHdhOg
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 26 May 2007 06:20 (seventeen years ago) link
That's funny; I had a notion about the Moodys a year ago, that upon reexamination they might turn up relevant. But as I listened to my old records I realized they were kind of bad. They've got a quality, a sound, but it's kind of juvenile -- sort of like dungeons and dragons and romance novels. That's how they strike me in 2007, anyway.
― Rich Smörgasbord, Saturday, 26 May 2007 12:41 (seventeen years ago) link
Ok, still digging thru these first 7 records. Shamelessly love the chorus to "The Balance" -- and the poetry in the verses is kind of hilarious ("He saw an orange...he tasted it"). "Emily's Song" from Every Good Boy... is quite nice as well...
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 2 June 2007 01:19 (seventeen years ago) link
"Emily's Song" is wonderful, like Lennon meets Simon & Garfunkel...the Glockenspiel middle is simple and perfect.
― Joe, Saturday, 2 June 2007 02:26 (seventeen years ago) link
Ok, now loving me some "Never Comes the Day" -- each of the three sections are aces, 1) the soft acoustic ballad verse, 2) the "If only you knew what's inside of me..." Scott Walker-esque section, and 3) the honking, rousing chorus w/ the harmonica.
Pretty great YouTube of it from 1970 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dzRdyC0abA
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 4 June 2007 19:51 (seventeen years ago) link
I got around to listening to this and I stand by my comment above. If some band was writing/playing/sounding like this now, they would be total indiepop darlings.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 5 July 2007 04:00 (sixteen years ago) link
"Peak Hour" from the BBC comp just showed up on random play and Great Cthulhu it sounds like the Small Faces at 200mph.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 13 August 2007 20:45 (sixteen years ago) link
If some band was writing/playing/sounding like this now, they would be total indiepop darlings.
Maybe, but would they be any good?
― Rich Smörgasbord, Monday, 13 August 2007 23:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Better than...every other indiepop darling anyway...
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 02:41 (sixteen years ago) link
After many a moon (or several dozens of, more like) I'm listening to these guys again tonite and - To Our Children's Children's Children,o wot a very fine record indeed. Well, most of it.
Was a time (sometime last century) when a pal of mine used to have a coupla of the early vinyls. Every Good Boy and On The Threshold Of A Dream, iirc. Found them kinda 'mh, nice' back then... Then I had myself the Octave LP when it came out - the openinig track was sorta good, I vaguely recall, but otherwise...
And now I consider getting a few more of those early albums - soonish :)
― t**t, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 18:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Desola ... tion!
Crea ... tion!
Comunicaaation!
― dad a, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 19:16 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― frogbs, Thursday, 27 July 2023 19:56 (ten months ago) link
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.
― moribund new dance craze (Matt #2), Friday, 28 July 2023 01:15 (ten months ago) link
Bias Boshell is a heck of a rock and roll name
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 28 July 2023 06:54 (ten months ago) link
The long ass documentary is worth a watch. No great revelations but fun and I think it got me to buy their albums
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 28 July 2023 18:01 (ten months ago) link
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.
― My God's got no nose... (Tom D.), Friday, 12 April 2024 12:29 (one month ago) link
I'm not seeing this look as a problem myself
https://artist1.cdn107.com/08f/08fe9d2f776ad8199fc4ed945320db97_xl.jpg
― the scouse that roared (Matt #2), Friday, 12 April 2024 13:26 (one month ago) link
I still hear Your Wildest Dreams while out and about at least twice a year.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 12 April 2024 13:43 (one month ago) link
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.
― Vast Halo, Friday, 12 April 2024 15:24 (one month ago) link
xpost - That's because it's a jam. It came on my all-time faves playlist this morning on my way into work.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, 12 April 2024 15:29 (one month ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:20 (one month ago) link
No, it was a newer documentary, but amazing that there's more than one of them so long
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 14 April 2024 00:58 (one month ago) link
Shit, Mike Pinder died:https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mike-pinder-the-moody-blues-keyboardist-founding-member-dead-obit-1235010490/
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 26 April 2024 13:47 (one month ago) link
RIP
― Billion Year Polyphonic Spree (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 26 April 2024 13:59 (one month ago) link
Also I somehow never knew that Patrick Moraz was in The Moody Blues as well.
― Billion Year Polyphonic Spree (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 26 April 2024 14:00 (one month ago) link
gotta be the guy who did the most to popularize the mellotron, for that alone he is a legend
his stuff was definitely the trippiest, always loved "The Sun is Still Shining"
― frogbs, Friday, 26 April 2024 14:01 (one month ago) link
His suite on side 2 of On the Threshold of a Dream is my pick for "most prog before prog" recording (even if it only predated King Crimson by six months).
It resulted in The Music Trial of the Century!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0DoBkUTXHU
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 26 April 2024 14:15 (one month ago) link
yeah the word "in" is doing a lot of work there
― frogbs, Friday, 26 April 2024 14:16 (one month ago) link
That is weird. On a song like "The Voice," Moraz is supplying like 80% of the instrumentation.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 26 April 2024 19:31 (one month ago) link
i have all of their classic era albums on cd.however, this is the best option to listen to them imho ..
https://www.discogs.com/release/6173718-The-Moody-Blues-This-Is-The-Moody-Blues
― mark e, Friday, 26 April 2024 19:51 (one month ago) link
hard to argue, as good as those albums are they make for a hell of a greatest hits comp which is how I got into them from the start. can't remember which one I had (it was a single CD and it started with "Go Now") but it was really good start to finish. they do have some really great deep cuts though.
― frogbs, Friday, 26 April 2024 20:04 (one month ago) link