The Magnificent Moodies – Days of Future Passed to Octave.

The Moody Blues are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge, and bassist Clint Warwick. The group came to prominence playing rhythm and blues music and their first album, The Magnificent Moodies, was in this style. It gave them their first number one single with the song Go Now which they recorded in a small studio in the back of the famous Marquee Club in Soho, London. They made some changes in musicians but eventually settled on a line-up of Pinder, Thomas, Edge, guitarist Justin Hayward, and bassist John Lodge. This line-up stayed together for most of the band’s “classic era” which lasted right up to their ninth album Octave in 1977. The selection I have here is from albums from that period. I haven’t included the first album.

Their second album, Days of Future Passed, which was released in 1967, was a fusion of rock with classical music and established the band as pioneers in the development of art rock and progressive rock. It has been described as a “landmark” and “one of the first successful concept albums”. The group toured extensively through the early 1970s, then took an extended hiatus from 1974 until 1977. Founder Mike Pinder left the group a year after they re-formed and was replaced by Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz in 1978. In the following decade they took on a more synth-pop sound and produced The Other Side of Life in 1986, which made them the first act to earn each of its first three top 10 singles in the United States in a different decade. Health troubles led to a diminished role for founder Ray Thomas throughout the 1980s, though his musical contributions rebounded after Moraz departed in 1991. Thomas retired from the band in 2002. The band’s most recent album was December (2003), a collection of Christmas music. They continued to tour throughout the first decade of the 2000s, and they still regroup for periodic events, one-off concerts, short tours, and cruises.

The Moody Blues’ most successful singles include the aforementioned “Go Now”, “Nights in White Satin”, “Tuesday Afternoon”, Question”, and “Your Wildest Dreams”. The band has sold 70 million albums worldwide.

“Tuesday Afternoon” (sometimes referred to as “Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)”, or simply “Forever Afternoon”) was a single released in 1967 taken from the Days of Future Past album. It is still a concert favourite and is also played by Justin Hayward in his solo sets. This clip is taken from a live recording of a gig in 1969.

“Voices in the Sky” is a hit 1968 single by the Moody Blues, and was written by their lead guitarist Justin Hayward. It was released as a single in June 1968, with “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume” on the B-side. It was later released on their 1968 album In Search of the Lost Chord, and was the first of two singles from that album, the other being “Ride My See-Saw”. It has a particularly beautiful lyric and is very “of it’s time” being a little trippy. It is one of my personal favourites from this album.

“Are You Sitting Comfortably?” is a 1969 song. It was written jointly by band members Justin Hayward and Ray Thomas and was recorded and released in 1969 on the Moody Blues Album On the Threshold of a Dream. The lyrics seem to tell a story and, like many songs by the Moody blues at the time, it references the use of psychedelic drugs…….maaaaaaan.

“Out and In” is a 1969 song from the album To Our Children’s Children’s Children, a concept album about space travel. Prior to its release on To Our Children’s Children’s Children, “Out and In” was released on the B-side of the single “Watching and Waiting,” the album’s only single. “Out and In” was written jointly by band members Mike Pinder and John Lodge, and it is the only Moody Blues collaboration between the two. However, on the album’s subsequent release on CD in 1997, John Lodge’s songwriting credit was removed, and the cover showed Pinder as sole songwriter. In his 2017 book “Renewing the Balance”, Dirk Dunbar says of the song: “‘Out and In’ looks beyond the planets as part of the journey toward the total view where inside and outside become one”. The album was one of those listened to, on cassette tape, by the crew of Apollo 15 in 1971. It’s a great track.

“Question” is a 1970 single written by guitarist Justin Hayward, who provides lead vocals. “Question” was first released as a single in April 1970 and remains their second highest charting song, reaching number two and staying on the chart for 12 weeks. It was later featured as the lead track on the 1970 album A Question of Balance. it is actually two songs melded together and the middle section “I’m looking for…..” is particularly beautiful and Justin Hayward’s voice is exactly right for it. Superb!

“The Story in Your Eyes” is a 1971 hit single written by the band’s guitarist Justin Hayward. It is another concert favourite and is often played as the first song in their set to this day. It has a lyric that is rather difficult to sing in places……a bit like the patter songs of Gilbert and Sullivan.

“New Horizons” is a track from the band’s eighth album Seventh Sojourn. It is written and sung by Justin Hayward and, again, showcases his soaring, wide ranging, voice. There is a particularly gorgeous guitar solo in this track.

“Driftwood” is a 1978 single and was the second single released from the album Octave, after “Steppin’ in a Slide Zone”. Written by Justin Hayward, “Driftwood” is a slow love ballad, in a similar manner to “Nights in White Satin” and “Never Comes the Day.” “Driftwood” was also the final single to feature keyboardist Mike Pinder, who left the band shortly before the completion of Octave for personal reasons. He would later be replaced by former Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz. Shortly after release, a promotional video was recorded for “Driftwood.” The video features Patrick Moraz on the keyboards, although Mike Pinder is playing the keyboards in the actual recording. The song also includes an alto saxophone which is played by session musician R.A. Martin, although Ray Thomas is depicted playing the alto saxophone in the video. What larks, eh?

From this moment on the Moody Blues moved into the next phase of their career and there is enough great material for another delve into their back catalogue and the songs on those releases……….we may take a look at that in the future.

I hope you enjoy this selection.

Keith.

Days Of Future Passed – Tuesday Afternoon