Mostrando postagens com marcador Moody Blues. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Moody Blues. Mostrar todas as postagens
Well, it's not progressive at all, but in 1965 there wasn't progressive rock. This is just another album of a top British Invasion band. It is a very good album is the genre. Denny Laine vocals are not great like any of the other moodies of the classic formation. There are some catchy beat songs, like the hit Go Now, Bye Bye Byrd and many others. The main differences maybe are the extensevely use of piano, which makes much difference in songs like It Ain´t Necessarily So and some flute, though Thomas play most of the time harmonica (and fortunately sings some songs). A good album, not just a Beatles wannabe, showing something different, but not much. - Review by akin (Fernando Raffani)Track Listings
1. I'll Go Crazy
2. Something You Got
3. Go Now
4. Can't Nobody Love You
5. I Don't Mind
6. I've Got a Dream
7. Let Me Go
8. Stop!
9. Thank You Baby
10. It Ain't Necessarily So
11. True Story
12. Bye Bye Bird
Line-up/Musicians
- Michael Pinder / keyboards and vocals
- Ray Thomas / bass, flute, vocals
- Graeme Edge / drums
- Denny Laine / guitar, vocals
- Elaine Caswell / percussion
- Clint Warwick / bass
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While "The Lost Chord" established the MOODY BLUES sound fundamentals with more than a nod to current psychedelic trends, this was the album that solidified their individual, classic sound. Discarding the sitars and pop celebrity references, they hone their songwriting skills and conceptual focus to create a characteristic blend of lysergic love songs and lush, enveloping textures.Even the spoken intro element works better here, pitting a bureaucratic machine against a hipster for man's search for identity on "In the Beginning". Oddly, Ray and Justin seem to have traded roles slightly on the album; Hayward's "Lovely to see You" is the simple, bouncy tune whereas Thomas' "Dear Diary" is a melancholy "Day in the Life"- themed offering- the Fab Four influence is inescapable here, with Leslie-flitered vocals and a slightly bluesy piano touch. We then get variously effective love songs: "Send Me No Wine" is almost madrigal in theme but folk-rock in flavor; the pleasant but forgettable "To Share Our Love" has a more driving 60s rock style; "So Deep Within You" is more groovy and also slightly creepy with its fumbling double-entendre lyrics; "Never Comes the Day" is the best of the four, with pretty verses and a rousing, anthemic chorus. "Lazy Day" is the other half of the "Dear Diary" bookend, its homey Ray Thomas vibe masking a bourgeois lament.
Though the preceding songs stayed comfortably in Moody Pop territory, they saved the best for last: the mighty journey of the rest of the album. "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" strikes a pastoral, Arthurian pose, and "The Dream" is full of seasonal rebirth imagery, but "The Voyage" is the intended opus of the album; a brave effort in musical exploration that pushes Pinder's Mellotron expertise to amazing levels of symphonic emulation, bookended sweetly by "Have You Heard", a lovely affirmation and conclusion to the loose tale.
In my opinion, this is the first uniquely MOODY BLUES album- "Days" is essential, of course, but is also very much a collaboration. While they would have bigger hits and explore deeper realms, "On the Threshold of a Dream" is an excellent representation of the band and a pleasant voyage to drift away on. Don't bother preparing yourself for a life-changing experience; it's neither challenging to listen to nor 'ahead of its time'. What the MOODY BLUES give us is warm, smooth soundscapes and 60s pop-rock song forms, comfortable exploration, layered simplicity and naive pretentiousness. Oh, and the first in a series of lovely gatefoldk album covers- best seen on the original vinyl, of course. - Review by James Lee
Track Listings
1. In the beginning (2:07)
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 (3:07)
7. Never comes the day (4:43)
8. Lazy day (2:43)
9. Are you sitting comfortably? (3:30)
10. The dream (0:57)
11. Have you heard? pt. 1 (1:28)
12. The voyage (4:10)
13. Have you heard? pt. 2 (2:26)
Total Time: 36:55
Line-up/Musicians
- Justin Hayward / guitars, vocals
- John Lodge / bass guitar, vocals
- Michael Pinder / keyboards, vocals
- Ray Thomas / harmonica, flute, vocals
- Graeme Edge / drums, percussion
Releases information
Deram DES-18025
Polydor (Remastered '97)
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For me, “Seventh Sojourn” was one of the best Moody Blues albums. This is in no small part because it includes “Isn’t life strange”, a beautiful 3 verse 3 chorus ballad with lush orchestration. It may seem like sacrilege to say so, but there a Bee Gees feel to the song in terms of structure and sound. It was a huge hit single, which consolidated the success the band enjoyed with their previous single “Question”. By the way, the “Live at Red Rocks” version includes a magnificent extended orchestral break.“I’m just a singer (in a rock and roll band”) was the other hit single taken from the album, and finds the band in full heads down Status Quo mood. The song starts like an old steam train, with Graham Edge on drums winding up the pace gradually from a standing start to a frantic runaway train. Edge then maintains that driving pace over a wall of sound, with brief all encompassing stops only serving to emphasise the sheer power and volume of the piece. If your toes don’t tap along with this one, check if your legs have fallen off!
Ray Thomas contribution “For my lady” is a lovely sea shanty influenced song, while “New Horizons” is a softer “Watching and waiting” type song with more traditional Moodies sound.
These then are the highlights, but the album as a whole is coherent, and melodic from start to finish. This apparently belies the rather difficult atmosphere within the band during the recordings. Much of the album can be found on the excellent “Time traveller” compilation. - Review by Easy Livin (Bob McBeath)
Track Listings
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 (4:20)
6. The land of make-believe (4:50)
7. When you're a free man (6:35)
8. I'm just a singer (in a rock and roll band) (4:17)
Total Time: 39:27
Line-up/Musicians
- Justin Hayward / guitars, vocals
- John Lodge / bass guitar, vocals
- Michael Pinder / keyboards, vocals
- Ray Thomas / harmonica, flute, vocals
- Graeme Edge / drums, percussion
Releases information
Threshold THS-7
Polygram (Remastered '97)
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I love all MB albums from Days to Seventh Sojourn, but perhaps this one is the easiest to give 5*. Full of ideas, extremely rich soundscape, great songs (with the exception of 'Best Way to Travel' which is one of the worst Pinder songs) and the 'wholeness' - in that sense it can be compared to Sgt Pepper, and The Moodies at that time honoured as one of the most important bands to explore rock's new artful territories. This album has the happiest feel of all the seven, a certain kind of happiness that comes from riding on the crest of creativity, of finding group's own identity. They really needed no help of an orchestra anymore. Producer Tony Clarke called them "the smallest symphony orchestra of the world". Justin Hayward's 'Actor' is one of my favourite MB songs. Ray Thomas's 'Legend of Mind' ("Timothy Leary's dead? No nonono, he's outside, looking in...") is a highlight too. 'Om' is a perfect ending with its Eastern mysticism. As individual songs there are some lesser things, but as a whole: A Definitive Art Rock Masterpiece of its time. - Review by Matti (Matti P.)Track Listings
1. Departure (0:44)
2. Ride my see-saw (3:38)
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, pt.2 (1:47)
7. Voices in the sky (3:25)
8. The best way to travel (3:14)
9. Visions of paradise (4:15)
10. The actor (4:39)
11. The word (0:48)
12. Om (5:44)
Total Time: 42:03
Line-up/Musicians
- Graeme Edge / drums
- Justin Hayward / guitars, vocals
- John Lodge / bass, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Michael Pinder / keyboards, vocals, mellotron
- Ray Thomas / flute, vocals
Additional instrumentation: The Moody Blues
Releases information
Deram DES-18017 ('86), Polydor (Remastered '97)
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