In my teens, my favourite band was The Moody Blues. I really liked all 7 of their albums before they started doing solo albums. They reformed for their 8th album ‘Octave”, but then keyboard player Mike Pinder left, and they were (in my opinion) never quite as good. Still some very good tracks on both solo and band albums, but the early albums were all very good from beginning to end!
The Moody Blues were actually based very local to home; they were one of the first to form their own record label Threshold Records with their headquarters in Cobham Surrey.
One of their best known songs ‘Nights In White Satin’ comes from their first album “Days Of Future Passed” which was an album recorded with an Orchestra , commissioned in the early days of stereo to demonstrate Decca’s latest recording techniques, which were named “Deramic Sound”.
The album came out in 1967 so the band are now doing a tour in the USA with orchestra to mark the 50th Anniversary.
Fans of The Moody Blues may wish to see singer and lead guitarist Justin Hayward who is doing a concert locally in Guildford. He is on at GLive on Friday 10th July 2017.
The link to Youtube Video below shows some interesting visuals to accompany the entire album.
Track titles include:
“The Day Begins,” “
Dawn: Dawn Is a Feeling,”
“The Morning: Another Morning,”
“Lunch Break: Peak Hour,”
“Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon),”
“Evening Time to Get Away”;
“Twilight Time”
“The Night: Nights In White Satin.”
Breath deep
The gathering gloom
Watch lights fade
From every room
Bedsitter people
Look back and lament
Another day’s useless
energy spent
Impassioned lovers
Wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love
And has none
New mother picks up
And suckles her son
Senior citizens
Wish they were young
Cold hearted orb
That rules the night
Removes the colours
From our sight
Red is gray and
Yellow white
But we decide
Which is right
And
Which is an Illusion
This unusual inclusion of a poem on a rock album was replicated on all of the band’s first 7 albums.
Ed, who was friends with the band members, sadly died in 2016, so I will be asking Brooklands Radio to play “Tuesday Afternoon” as a dedication to remember him.
Chris Grace, All About Weybridge Editor
