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Showing posts with the label The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues With The London Festival Orchestra – Days Of Future Passed

While this was not the first album by The Moody Blues, it was the first album to feature Justin Hayward, and John Lodge, and it was the one that put them on the map. It was also an album that was more or less commissioned by the band's label to showcase the Deram Sound System and it's ability to record in stereo. Yeah, that was a thing once upon a time. Released in 1967 this was a heady time for musicians and new and emerging technology. Earlier in the year The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper and suddenly there was a new way to craft an album under the guise of threading the songs into a cohesive ... concept. Thus, the concept album was conceived. Working in this newly discovered vein, The Moody Blues went big with their second release. Collaborating with The London Festival Orchestra the band was able to craft pop songs that were intricate and lush and still contemporary, at least contemporary as it was in 1967. Truth be told, some of the arrangements sounded like they were arra...

Stylus over Substance (Volume 11) - Rock and Hyde, Three Dog Night, The Moody Blues, Carl Perkins and NRBQ, The Kinks

Here we go kids. Hope you're ready as well start the slide into the summer months. Junary can be a weird month where it's either too hot, too cold, or too boring. I'm still working my way through the records I bought last December, and while I'm still adding to the pile I'm trying to slow down. Having my favourite record store go tits up was really bad for them, but good for me. Although they do have an auction, and at times that's been a problem but that's my cross to bear. This time out is another mixed bag of nuts. Some of the albums I had back in the day, and others are new to me. It's always fun to sit down, turn on and turn it up. Rock and Hyde - Under the Volcano (1987) Three Dog Night - Naturally (1970) The Moody Blues - This is The Moody Blues (1974) Carl Perkins and NRBQ - Boppin' the Blues (1970) The Kinks - Give the People What They Want (1981) Rock and Hyde - Under the Volcano (1987) A couple years after Payolas tried and failed to gr...

Stylus over Substance (Volume 7) Spilt Enz, A Flock of Seagulls, Red Rider, The Moody Blues, Gordon Lightfoot

Digging through the pile and sorting the odds and ends up for grabs turned out to be a mixed bags of nuts. There were some here I'd not had a chance to sit with all the way through, and a others that were old friends I hadn't spent time with and it was time to catch up. Split Enz - Waiata (1981) A Flock of Seagulls - The Story of a Young Heart (1984)  Red Rider - Neruda (1983) The Moody Blues - The Other Side of Life (1986) Gordon Lightfoot - Don Quixote (1972) Split Enz - Waiata (1981) Right off the bat let's give credit where credit is due here. "One Step Ahead" is an absolutely killer track. I'd go so far as to say it's the centrepiece of the album. A close second is "History Never Repeats" another composition by Neil. Now I am fully aware that I never had this back in the day so sitting here listening four decades later is hardly fair. The lens I'm looking through is not the same as the one I had when I was a teenager. The songs on Wai...