Poll : "To Our Children's Children's Children" by The Moody Blues in your collection?

I have to admit I never play ISOTLC much, and I just revisited it to see why - I only really like 2 songs on it. Come to think of it, the only 2 of the "core 7" that I like every song on it is TOCCC and OTTOAD. I've always thought the others were patchy as well. Back in the vinyl days I'd be jumping up and moving that stylus all the time playing them!

 

Besides the 2 you named, I like Seventh Sojourn a lot, too.

 

How so?

 

I do have this along with the other core seven albums, all on original Deram CD's. I also own the core seven albums, Octave, Long Distance Voyager and The Present on LP. I also have The Present, Sur la mer and Strange Times on CD. To Our Children's Children's Children was the last of the core seven albums I warmed to, though now it's one of my favorites. Very, very spacey and psychedelic and transcendent and philosophic; a real soothing listening experience, even if it warps your mind. Watching and Waiting is one of my favorite songs of all time. I have to listen to that one every now and again when the feeling is right. Likewise Sun Is Still Shining is a nice breath of fresh and reassuring air, Higher and Higher is a terrific freakout and Candle of Life is a beautiful chill-out piece of music.

 

45 RPM 2 LP of this title in the future?

 

I have them all and like them all - including 'The Magnificent Moodies' from 1965 !

for me TOCCC really takes off song wise from 'Out and In' and then over 'side two' where I feel the main substance songs are

'side one' is great but it's a bit 'collage' like (think 'Abbey Road' side two) with the opening poem set to music, then 'Eyes of A Child' split in two differing parts...Ray's chirpy moon song in between, Justin's snippet about living to be really old...then an instrumental (great but not a major song etc) - for me it's Mike's 'Out and In' that is the first really major song....and thereafter the opposite applies as 'side two' is major songs plus just the snippet of Justin's getting really old song (originally there was one song idea I believe that they divided)

'Gypsy', 'Eternity Road' ,' Candle of Life', 'Sun is Still Shining' and 'Watching and Waiting' are all magnificent second side songs that 'belong' together

overall it's a superb album impeccably played and sung...with a memorable gatefold painting (they were crazy to later drop Phil Travers highly distinctive very 'Moodies' artwork or turn down his offer to do 'Keys of The Kingdom' sleeve for them - presumably they saw themselves 'having moved on way beyond arty seventies sleeves' by then, but they should have let Phil do it I think)

TOCCC gets the moon landing label etc due to it's timing and influence...but it's actually far deeper than just celebrating the first moon landing

Mike Pinder's mellotron playing in subliminal 'waves' of sound is so crucial (due to Pinder's lightness of touch in his playing with a classical stance carefully overlaying the sound to get the continual orchestral effect plus recording engineer Derek Varnals - who earlier had worked for Mantovani at Decca - knowing how to record the mellotron in layers of sound to properly capture Pinder's lush 'sweeping' / 'surging' effect like Mantovani's strings orchestration had) - 'Beyond' sounds as if it's out of Kubrick's film '2001; A Space Odessy'

Ray's flute is haunting too - look at how it intertwines with Pinder's keyboards on the intro of 'Gypsy' and thereafter

while their use of the four male vocalists both as alternating lead singers and in their combined choral harmonies is paramount too (something sadly largely lacking on later mid 80's albums onwards when it became all Hayward and Lodge - and in the touring group today !!)

- I love how John's 'Candle of Life' features first Justin, then both Justin/John...with Mike added only for the line; 'Burn slowly the Candle of Life...'

 

I first came to this album the same as I did all of the Moodies L.P.s from '67 to '72....on cassette tape. Some of the sequencing was different (as it was on 8-tracks, etc.). For "To Our Children's...," side one and two were reversed! It was the same for Led Zeppelin's first album on cassette.

 

I used to really like the Moody's back in the day and I still like some of their stuff, funny you should mention this particular album. This was my favorite album and I still have my original pressing in NM shape. I have the first 7 albums on CD and this one on vinyl. I did have them all on vinyl but traded them away and bought the cds. This one rocks harder then most of the other albums.

 

Wishful thinking or do you know something we don't?

 

Seeing this thread pop up again reminds me that I haven't listened to any Moody Blues in a couple of months so I will rectify that situation tonight .

 

Everything from '65-'71 is enough for me.

 

My favorite Moody Blues album. Play it frequently & do like the thought of it coming out on 45... although it will never happen.
That 30% that don't have this need to get it asap!

 

The Justin songs about getting old were in reference to celestial objects (stars, planets, etc.) not human aging.

 

I have the UK copies of the core seven (some multiples), the Decca debut with Denny Laine on a ca. 1970 boxed Decca mono, and mid-'60s UK Decca EP, This Is The Moody Blues, Long Distance Voyager, and both UK and US copies of the 1989 comp Greatest Hits. I don't know if that's all the "essential" music or not...

 

Add "Prelude" and you will have the essential recordings. This collection has early Hayward/Lodge lineup A and B sides.
Some of the tracks on "Prelude" appear on "Caught Live" a 1969 concert.
Personally I think "Caught Luve" is also worth getting as is "Isle of Wight 1970."
The out of print deluxe editions of the seven albums had a lot of rare bonus tracks also.

 

Was Prelude ever released on vinyl LP?

 

Er, i think the question mark states my query.

 

Never released on vinyl, only CD.

 

All essential...

Studio albums (yes, even Magnificent Moodies!!) up to Keys To The Kingdom, This Is The MB + Prelude compilations, Caught Live + 5 and Live At The Royal Albert Hall.

TOCCC is prime Moody Blues, like any of The Seven, although I also love #'s 8 & 9 after that a lot. Classic stuff, no doubt!

 

Love this record. This and In Search of the Lost Chord are 1a and 1b for me. regarding the Moodies.

 

I love the album. I own the 1986 Decca CD and the 2006 2CD Deluxe edition. I originally purchased the original LP circa 1970.

My favorite songs from it are Watching and waiting a d the 2 short Hayward pieces.

 

West Germany CDs are a must.

 

yes I DID actually realise what Justin's songs 'Never Though I'd Live To Be A Hundred / Million' were about...back in 1969 !

although Humans too are also celestial objects as we are part of the same universe as well....but it's really about the very nature of life itself how ALL things age and evolve through the course of life and the passage of Time

 

Me also.... I think.

I like all of the core 7 but the two you mention are probably the first two I'd grab... if there was some need to only grab two.

I think To Our Children's Children's Children stands out as a complete work or cohesive statement, but there a several songs on In Search of a Lost Chord that are some of my absolute favorites from their catalog.

 

Ag

Reed. It is quite extraordinary that (at least) 4 members cintribute songwriting with such success and cohesiveness.
Their peak is Chord with which includes Pinder's, Thomas's and Lodge's best tunes ever.