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
Which is to say, classic.
Pre-1967: Dud 1967-1972: Classic 1975 onwards: Neither
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 21:55 (sixteen years ago) link
I heard "Ride My See-Saw" on Youtube and really liked it.
I think they're the classic example of a band that has benefitted from the (deliberate) neglect from subsequent generations.
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.
A tentative classic methinks.
― PhilK, Monday, 31 December 2007 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Dodo Lurker (Slim and Slam), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 12:16 (thirteen years ago) link
I read last night that these guys are Urantian. Is that true?
― Mormons come out of the sky and they stand there (Abbbottt), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 14:59 (thirteen years ago) link
tbh this was on a list that stated Neil Peart's religion is Objectivism.
― Mormons come out of the sky and they stand there (Abbbottt), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 15:00 (thirteen years ago) link
If they'd cut down on their production budgets/studio time and play/sing a bit out of time/tune on purpose, then maybe.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 15:16 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― bendy, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 16:39 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 7 October 2010 01:44 (thirteen years ago) link
When I think about The Moody Blues, "The Actor" always pops in my mind. It has to be my favorite song by themhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VDGwPiyLS8
― popular music is destroying our youth (CaptainLorax), Thursday, 7 October 2010 03:28 (thirteen years ago) link
do they really sound that much like far east family band?
― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Sunday, 28 August 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
anybody going?
http://www.moodiescruise.com/email/2013/10052012.html
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 8 October 2012 21:12 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 8 October 2012 21:53 (eleven years ago) link
fuck i love this band ..
i mean seriously ..
60s psych vs 70s excess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CqwECqxGf4
― mark e, Saturday, 24 August 2013 23:55 (ten years ago) link
how true this is ...
― mark e, Sunday, 25 August 2013 00:05 (ten years ago) link
"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.
― mark e, Saturday, 27 December 2014 22:55 (nine years ago) link
ilm hates the moody blues.
― mark e, Sunday, 5 April 2015 20:56 (nine years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Sunday, 5 April 2015 21:08 (nine years ago) link
"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
― brimstead, Monday, 6 April 2015 01:53 (nine years ago) link
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
― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Monday, 6 April 2015 02:00 (nine years ago) link
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.
― brimstead, Monday, 6 April 2015 02:44 (nine years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=21&v=REwMm3tiN10
― salthigh, Monday, 6 April 2015 03:24 (nine years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Monday, 6 April 2015 12:15 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 April 2015 12:23 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 April 2015 12:26 (nine years ago) link
I don't see evidence that the forum hates them
true .. i was drunk.
― mark e, Monday, 6 April 2015 12:37 (nine years ago) link
why late at night in the usa does ilm get all moody bluesy?
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 6 April 2015 13:11 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 April 2015 13:22 (nine years ago) link
Subtract the second "I think" at the end, I think.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 April 2015 13:23 (nine years ago) link
I rarely want to hear one of these albums all the way through but the rare song is always great.
― akm, Monday, 6 April 2015 18:07 (nine years ago) link
also Long Distance Voyager is probably their most underrated album.
― akm, Monday, 6 April 2015 18:13 (nine years ago) link
Why such a long gap between Seventh Sojourn and Octave?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 April 2015 18:52 (nine years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moody_Blues
this seems to imply general band exhaustion
― mark e, Monday, 6 April 2015 19:03 (nine years ago) link