Are the Moody Blues the closest thing to Pink Floyd?

My favourite band is Pink Floyd. Since i was 16. All my life i've been searching for a band to match that.
I love led zeppelin they are my 2nd favourite. The live stuff, the studio stuff, jimmys guitar playing, bonzo.
Also love the doors in 3rd. with that "druggy" send you to space music. I feel thats something pink floyd and the doors have in common.

But while listening to the moody blues discography today i realized they are as close to pink floyd as i have gotten. 7 album run of greatness without a dud. days of future->seventh soujourn. Pink floyd atom heart mother->the wall

Also, with pink floyd you can take any of those 7 albums and claim it to be the best. You can argue for each album's greatness. You can do the exact same for the moody blues 7 album run.

Moody Blues have the "druggy" type sound that people like to get high to. likewise pink floyd.

as for prog/art rock....Moody blues dont have long epics but you can claim that each of their albums is like a concept album. So basically they did dark side of the moon over and over.

I think the place where the moody blues falls short is they dont have a guitar master like david gilmour. Otherwise i believe the Moody Blues might have been as big as pink floyd.

 

Nah. Althought they both hailed from Swinging London's underground scene, Pink Floyd were Psychedelic rock while Moody Blues were Symphonic rock / Art Rock band.

 

It’s the mellotron - watch out

Not anything really like PF
Less is more

The leaving space, the song versus the virtuouso - this slow burn was their secret element.

If you like the Moody’s there are a lot of nice tangents in the relm of prog/art rock

 

Never checked out much Moody Blues, but IMO (musically) I'd go with Camel for a more proggier Floyd, and Alan Parsons Project for a poppy-er Floyd sound.

 

Yea for a time i felt the same about the alan parsons project. But in the end i only love their 3 70's albums and after that their 80s albums took a dive...for me imo...

As for camel well i knew my view point would differ from everybody elses

 

Yeah, their 80's output heads straight for a cliff and gives not a thought to physics. Still, up through Ammonia Ave. is pretty (mostly) fantastic. Excepting "Eve". Never got that one.

Do you know Camel? I only found out about them a few years ago, thanks to this forum. If not, I suggest beginning with The Snow Goose. You'll mosdef hear the Gilmouresque guitar and spacey sounds to boot!

I only have the Moody's Every Good Boy...where should I go next for some Floyd-like leanings?

 

Some modern bands allah las, tame impala, lumerians have Floydian psychedelic elements

 

In reality Pink Floyd was only truly psychedelic on the s/t record, after Barrett was gone they became a completely different band with totally different sound & that sound was the group that recorded all those neo-psychedelia prog records

Moody Blues were only truly symphonic on the sophomore record & by To Our Children's Children's Children the band were pulling away from all that complex stuff because it was too hard create live, although Pinter mellotron continued to creat a more string laden sound

During the late 60s & early 70s we didn't label either band psychedelic excluding the Syd era PF

YMMV

 

Hey yea ive tried to get into camel many times without success. The guitarist has a beautiful sound but he usually takes the back seat in a song. He needed to shine up front a bit more i think.

well like i said every moody blues album is like the same album over and over but with a different theme in each one. So everyone has their favourite.
For me i recommend days of future passed and then after that either search of the lost chord or seventh soujourn.

 

I tried out tame impala but not close to pink floyd is what i felt. I think they are closer to the zombies or love. Like in the vein of pysch rock instead of art rock. I dont think i heard tame impalas new album. Is it more floydy?

I'll check out lumerians and allah las.

edit: just checked out some lumerians. i heard black tusk and really liked the drummer. heard a few others and was a bit like king gizzard wizard lizard. but black tusk was great and i saw it was from their first album. so i checked out another track from it xulux and also liked it. Might pick up their first album. But even though its great it doesnt move me as close as the floyd does.

let me see alah las
edit: ok allah las didnt do much for me.

 

Seek out the bands ode/ concept to the 1969 Apollo flight "To Our Children's Children's Children (1969)

 

The Moody Blues doesn't have much of "prog" really, as most of their stuff is Art Rock, but with their Nights in the White Satin the song that was released as a single as well, they actually were set-up the rule for those Symphonic rock ("Prog Rock") ballad-like songs that will be recorded later, like King Crimson's ItCotCK the title track, Epitaph and such.



In those early days of Progressive rock, some singles were nothing less important than LPs. For example, Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles was also very influential to the genre.

 

“Pinter Mellotron”: Lots of long uncomfortable pauses between notes?

 

Correct in real time the title Art-Rock was preferable to the Prog label when it came down bands of that ilk...

But again the band only used strings predominantly on the sophomore record, Pinters mellotron replaced that sound early on during 1968

 

I was never a big fan of the mellotron, excluding the record To Our Children's Children's Children (1969) the hits & a few odds & ends has always served me well for Moodies mood music

 

Might I suggest a few non-Moodies records that you might like that flow organically as well...

1.Jefferson Starship / Blows Against The Empire (1971)...a science fiction tale about space travel to another planet with a soundtrack crafted by San Francisco's elite ie., Paul Kantner, Gracie Slick, Jerry Garcia etc

2.Miles Davis, side 2 of In A Silent Way (1969)...side 2 is the title & Its About The Time, fusion music perfect for intergalactic space travel & walks

 

You might dig some
early Krautrock:

Ashra Tempel - s-t
Amon Düül II - Phallus Dei/
/Tanz der Lemminge/Wolf City
Dom - Edge of Time
Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation
Can - Tago Mago /Ege Bamyasi/
/Soon Over Babaluma/Future Days/
/Unlimited Edition
Neu! - Neu!
Faust - s-t / So Far / Faust IV
Cluster - Sowiesoso / Zuckerzeit/
/Cluster 71
The Monks - Black Monk Time
Harmonia - Deluxe/ Musik von Harmonia
Association - Earwax
Embryo - Rocksession
Gomorrha - Trauma
Cosmic Jokers - Galatic Supermarket

 

In reality the predominant strings in rock that initiated what came to be labeled Prog, Art & even at times Space rock has its roots in the Brill Building & Spector "Wall Of Sound" without those 2 & few others the genre would not have flourished as quickly as it did & both predate the Beatles

 

No. Nothing alike.

They were both bands, and were both somewhat progressive. That's about where the similarity ends.

 

You may find later period Camel to your taste, I love this album and the title track typifies the style. Listen to the end of this in particular, it is beautiful.

 

No. but you can find specific albums that are similar to Floyd albums.

• Piper At The Gates is quite similar to Their Satanic Majesties Request by The Rolling Stones
• The Wall is similar to Quadrophenia By The Who

etc

 

The mellotron featured in the band's songs on Days of Future Passed, too. The orchestra was limited to the introduction and interludes between songs stitching the whole thing together. As far I can remember, the band and orchestra don't play together.

 

Interesting, I'll buy that

 

Floyd was a lot darker sounding than the Moody Blues. And their music holds up better to repeated listening over the years. The Moody's wear thin rather quickly. How many times can you listen to Days Of Future Passed in a year? Once every ten years is enough for me.

 

Piper musically is vaguely simular to Majesties but lyrically they were as far apart as Nowhere Man was from IATW, nobody in rock has ever journeyed that intensely deep into Crowley & the occult anywhere close to Syd Barrett on PATGOD except Lennon & even he only did it periodically

As for Quadrophenia it is obviously more operatic than the Broadway-ish The Wall & in a live setting Quadrophenia crushed The Wall like a cockroach

All subjective