The Moody Blues

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For a very long time, my Moody Blues collection was downright pathetic, consisting of only Days of Future Passed, Long Distance Voyager and the Red Rocks concert. (The curse of any popular band with a high turnover of used CDs and me having all their essential albums on cassette tape already.) Things are looking better now, after my brother's birthday present of all their classic 60s/70s albums, remastered no less! (Well...it was more like, I found them all new & sealed and priced at $9.99, and said, "Hey, you wanna get me a present or do you wanna watch me destroy my budget?" He questioned me a long time to see how serious I was...and yes, I would have bought them anyway. :)

"Days of Future Passed"

1. "The Day Begins" (5:50)
2. "Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling" (3:49)
3. "The Morning: Another Morning" (3:55)
4. "Lunch Break: Peak Hour" (5:28)
5. "The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)/Time to Get Away" (8:23)
6. "Evening: The Sun Set/Twilight Time" (6:40)
7. "The Night: Knights in White Satin" (7:25)

These songs were recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Pretentious, perhaps? Naaaah...

"In Search of the Lost Chord"

1. "Departure" (0:44)
2. "Ride My See-Saw" (3:39)
3. "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume" (2:58)
4. "House of Four Doors" (4:12)
5. "Legend of a Mind" (6:36)
6. "House of Four Doors (Part 2)" (1:50)
7. "Voices in the Sky" (3:28)
8. "The Best Way to Travel" (3:14)
9. "Visions of Paradise" (4:15)
10. "The Actor" (4:39)
11. "The Word"--spoken word (0:48)
12. "Om" (5:45)

The thing I like most about this album is how it's clearly inspired by tripping on LSD!! I mean, c'mon -- "Voices in the Sky", "(Thinking is) The Best Way to Travel", etc...and, of course, "Legend of a Mind" which is all about Timothy Leary. (I've never tripped about riding a see-saw, though.) "OM" is kinda stupid and pretentious, but hey, back in '68 that was par for the course.

"On the Threshold of a Dream"

1. "In the Beginning" (2:08)
2. "Lovely to See You" (2:34)
3. "Dear Diary" (3:56)
4. "Send Me No Wine" (2:21)
5. "To Share Our Love" (2:53)
6. "So Deep Within You" (3:10)
7. "Never Comes the Day" (4:43)
8. "Lazy Day" (2:43)
9. "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" (3:30)
10. "The Dream"--spoken word (0:57)
11. "Have You Heard (Part I)" (1:28)
12. "The Voyage"--instrumental (4:10)
13. "Have You Heard (Part II)" (2:26)

This is one of my favorites by the Moodies; not as drug-induced, but still containing lots of mellow, psychedelic pop songs about this and that. Hmm, maybe it's all about coming down the morning after...many times, I've said "Lovely to see you again!" to reality...

"To Our Children's Children's Children"

1. "Higher and Higher" (4:06)
2. "Eyes of a Child I" (3:23)
3. "Floating" (3:01)
4. "Eyes of a Child II" (1:21)
5. "I Never Thought I'd Live to Be a Hundred" (1:05)
6. "Beyond"--instrumental (2:58)
7. "Out and In" (3:48)
8. "Gypsy" (3:33)
9. "Eternity Road" (4:18)
10. "Candle of Life" (4:17)
11. "Sun Is Still Shining" (3:37)
12. "I Never Thought I'd Live to Be a Million" (0:33)
13. "Watching and Waiting" (4:15)

Kind of an oddity, as none of these songs ever get played on the classic rock stations, and there's not enough "hooks" for the music to sink in after just a couple spins. But overall, it's more of the psilocibin-influenced stoneage from the previous two albums, particularly with tracks like "Higher and Higher", "Floating", and "Beyond" -- well, you get the point. :)

"A Question of Balance"

1. "Question" (5:43)
2. "How Is It (We Are Here)" (2:44)
3. "And the Tide Rushes In" (2:57)
4. "Don't You Feel Small" (2:37)
5. "Tortoise and the Hare" (3:22)
6. "It's Up to You" (3:11)
7. "Minstrel's Song" (4:27)
8. "Dawning is the Day" (4:21)
9. "Melancholy Man" (5:45)
10. "The Balance" (3:28)

Ehh...kind of a crappy album. "Question", of course, is one of their most brilliant and definitive songs, but the rest are a mishmash of boring, Beatles-like pop tunes. "Melancholy Man" is particularly excrutiating.

"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour"

1. "Procession" (4:40)
2. "The Story in Your Eyes" (2:56)
3. "Our Guessing Game" (3:34)
4. "Emily's Song" (3:42)
5. "After You Came" (4:39)
6. "One More Time to Live" (5:41)
7. "Nice to Be Here" (4:23)
8. "You Can Never Go Home" (4:14)
9. "My Song" (6:19)

This one's widely considered to be the Moodies' best album, and while I prefer their early drugged-out shit, they do have a point. Lots of carefree, well-constructed pop songs with a touch of country here and there (esp. "Nice to Be Here"), and "Story in Your Eyes" ranks as one of my favorite songs as well. Kind of a short album, though -- especially when you have to skip the stupid, over-long "Procession" every time.

"Seventh Sojourn"

1. "Lost in a Lost World" (4:41)
2. "New Horizons" (5:10)
3. "For My Lady" (3:57)
4. "Isn't Life Strange" (6:10)
5. "You and Me" (4:19)
6. "The Land of Make-Believe" (4:50)
7. "When You're a Free Man" (6:05)
8. "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" (4:17)

Basically a two-song album, featuring "Isn't Life Strange?" and the perennial concert-closer "I'm Just a Singer" (which is far and away the heaviest songs by the Moodies!) Everything else is filler. This album ended the band's "classic" period, as they broke up for several years afterwards.

"Long Distance Voyager"

1. "The Voice" (5:11)
2. "Talking Out of Turn" (7:17)
3. "Gemini Dream" (4:05)
4. "In My World" (7:17)
5. "Meanwhile" (4:07)
6. "22,000 Days" (5:24)
7. "Nervous" (5:40)
8. "Painted Smile" (3:22)
9. "Reflective Smile"--spoken word (0:36)
10. "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" (3:09)

One of my favorites from my early crappy-vinyl-buying days, with the soft-rockers "Meanwhile" and "The Voice" topping the list of my all-time favorite songs. I played the record so often, I literally wore it out! Other songs of primary interest are "Gemini Dream" and "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" -- the rest are a bit slow and boring for my taste. Still, it's about FUCKING time I bought this on CD!!!

This album features Patrick Moraz on keyboards, who previously did an album with Yes.

"A Night at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra: Deluxe Edition"

The Blues took a frighteningly pop diversion in the late 80's, but this live w/ orchestra album proves they still got it -- or at least they did on September 9th, 1992. :) This "deluxe" edition expands the setlist to a 2-disc set, adding such classics as "Legend of a Mind", "The Story in Your Eyes", "Emily's Song", "Gemini Dream" (yay!) and a few crappy new songs. A few of the original tracks also gained extensions, mostly from spoken introductions, but there's also a brief, dorky drum solo at the start of "I'm Just a Singer", and the opening "Overture" is five minutes longer.

Oh yeah, Red Rocks is the same place where U2's Under a Blood Red Sky was recorded...except U2 didn't use an orchestra, of course, just pulled girls out of the crowd and danced with 'em.

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