that was an absolutely brilliant analysis overall! huge thanks! let me just add a short footnote to the section I extracted: very many people highlight John Lodge's falsetto as one of the defining trademarks of the Moody Blues sound (and a very divisive one, too - seems to be a love-hate thing), but I've never seen anybody giving credit to Clint Warwick, who started it all. much has been said here about the Bottom of My Heart coda , which Denny's "wailings" make, but there is this falsetto throughout the song, and many more (too many too list, but eg. Thank You Baby stands as a very prominent - some would surely say 'obnoxious' - instance of a falsetto use) and this definitely wasn't a chance arrangement find, but rather a deliberate sylistic device - this can be proved 1) by the fact that it wasn't only Clint providing the falsetto parts, but also Denny Laine (I Don't Mind - this track foreshadows the early Mrk II tracks incorporating two falsettos from John and Ray) and 2) by the fact that the band sometimes opted for a less extravagant, more Beatlesque close harmony, like in Everyday (there is also a falsetto there, but not in all the key moments of the track and deep baritones from Ray and Mike gain more prominence) Rod Clark - Clint Warwick's pre-Lodge replacement - also provided some falsettos, but rather of a different, sharper colour (We're Broken shows a very interesting interplay between Denny's and Rod's falsettos, and Rod's falsetto sound very different from John's on the early version of I Really Haven't Got the Time, especially his piercing cries on the last verse)
you can always find something new in the cover paitings on most Moodies albums DOFP - note the little UFO, the Astronaught in space, knights on horseback, Madonna and child, phases of the moon, etc later 'The Present' (a rather sadly dismissed album I enjoy) has a very Atlantis / sci fi flavoured cover pic....but note the older themed aspects of the flying bird like creature and jagged ruins shown in the spacecraft's light beams...with voyager above as in the sky on LDV Phil Travers cover paintings are fantastic, and for me OTTOAD with 'Merlin', a skull, the 'white eagle of the north' etc and TOCCC with it's caveman and modern hands depicting artwork (note the blocking out of the sun etc)....are two of his finest works for them AQOB has a fascinating sleeve too - both 'Blashford-Snell' cover and the revised one ! while EGBDF innercover 'procession' is fascinating, with the five Moodies and Tony Clarke included and the cover itself so striking re LDV later, we spot Voyager in the sky...but the child with a 'negative face' on the back of the cover fascinates me...(directly to the right of the man's hat in the enclosure)
I never noticed it myself. But I also never noticed the picture on Charlie Watts t-shirt on the cover of "Get Your Ya-Yas Out".
Billo and Lostchord are spot on - fantastic posts! Check out the Esoteric "Magnificent Moodies" - the mid-period stuff is almost progressive at times!
The Esoteric box is exemplary but for a few shortcomings: It's lacking the U.S. version of "I'll Go Crazy" (perhaps because it already has three other versions of the tune), the author credits for "Red Wine" and "Jago & Jilly" are incorrect (apparently both Denny Laine-Rod Clark collaborations), and the sound quality of "Go Now" still sucks (although the two alternate studio versions they dug up sound fine). Personally, I find the first album quite spotty and of mainly historical interest, but those mid-1966 tracks are something else. Here's a pretty good writeup on the set, tantalizingly called In search of the Lost Moody Blues Album: The Lost Moody Blues Album
IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD Released 26 July 1968 Recorded January–June 1968 Studio Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London Genre Progressive rock, psychedelic rock Length 42:07 Label Deram Producer Tony Clarke Track listing Side A 1. "Departure" 0:44 2. "Ride My See-Saw" 3:38 3. "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume" 2:58 4. "House of Four Doors" 4:13 5. "Legend of a Mind" 6:37 6. "House of Four Doors (Part 2)" 1:42 Side 1. "Voices in the Sky" 3:30 2. "The Best Way to Travel" 3:12 3. "Visions of Paradise" 4:15 4. "The Actor" 4:39 5. "The Word" 0:49 6. "Om" 5:47 2008 CD Remaster bonus tracks 13. "A Simple Game" (Justin Hayward vocal mix)3:26 14. "The Best Way to Travel" (Additional vocal mix) 4:03 15. "Visions of Paradise" (Instrumental version) 4:30 16. "What Am I Doing Here?" (Original version) 3:53 17. "The Word" (Mellotron mix) 1:01 18. "Om" (Extended Version) 6:07 19. "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume" (BBC Top Gear Session 16 July 1968) 2:57 20. "Thinking is the Best Way to Travel" (BBC Top Gear Session 16 July 1968) 3:38 21. "A Simple Game" (1968 single 'B' side)
This is the album that absolutely amazed me when I bought it upon release, and hooked me on the band. I've mentioned it before I believe, but I bought the "Tuesday Afternoon" 45 after hearing it on the radio here in Chicago, but I bought the In Search of the Lost Chord album first because the "Tuesday Afternoon" single wasn't released here in the US until around the same time as the Lost Chord album release, which is sort of odd because it was released many months earlier in the UK. Anyway, I went and bought Days Of Future Passed AFTER In Search of the Lost Chord. I became a lifelong fan. Anyway, In Search of the Lost Chord was an eye (or ear) opener for me. "Legend Of a Mind" was the track I just couldn't get enough of and it still thrills me all these years later. Ditto "Ride My See Saw", "Voices In the Sky", "Visions of Paradise", and "Om". It's interesting to me that I generally much prefer songs written by Justin Hayward or Mike Pinder, yet one of my very favorite tracks "Legend of a Mind" was written by Ray and "Ride My See Saw" was written by John, so they could all bring something special. The one -two punch of buying In Search of the Lost Chord and then Days of Future Passed quickly after I was hooked by them with In Search of the Lost Chord was quite wonderful. And, as I never tire of posting, I saw the Moodies in a club in October 1968 from literally a couple of feet away and they were beyond amazing live. Really. First time hearing a Mellotron live,etc. Pinch me, they couldn't be this great, could they ?
Sorry! I feel bad that I started the thread and then disappeared but sometimes real life intrudes. I've been really busy with real life things, but thanks to the various people posting here for picking up the ball and running with it! I'll try to play catch up in the thread and post more thoughts later, because I need to inflict my opinions on you and the other innocent visitors to the thread.
Like the Beatles as opposed to say..The Who or Jimi Hendrix, the Moody Blues were pretty tidy and didn't leave all that many unreleased songs in the tape vault. So, I was very pleased when I picked up the Prelude CD when it was released and heard so many fresh songs from their key era (for me).
In Search of the Lost Chord is a really strong album. I was sort of a second generation fan as I was only 6 when this album was released. I bought it when I was getting into the Moody Blues in the late 1970s. I mentioned this earlier in this thread but this album always felt shy of Hayward songs. I guess it really isn't, since there are three of them. Maybe it's because there isn't a Hayward song on side one or maybe it's because they weren't hit material (imho). Not sure. Regardless though, I love this album. I've always liked Departure and it's transition into Ride My See-Saw. I asked this too but never saw an answer - Is that Graeme doing Departure? And that laugh? I've always assumed it was him and it sure doesn't sound like Pinder (who did a lot of Graeme's spoken bits). There are a few sound effect bits on this album which stand out to me, especially on CD & SACD. The chains in House of Four Doors (I assume they're chains) really come alive, esp. on the MFSL CD version. On Thinking if the Best Way To Travel, it's nearly 3D with the "spinning coin" effect travelling around my head. It's very effective. It's too bad this album was never released in quad, or the tapes were lost. And it's too bad they didn't create a new surround mix when the SACD was released - it's the oddball, stereo-only release out of the original 7 albums. Hayward's version of Simple Game, to me, is just alright. I know a lot of people love it, because it's Hayward, but it definitely sounds like a guide vocal to me. It's devoid of much emotion or commitment to the song. Pinder's vocal is much better (imho). It's been a while since I listened to this - I really need to spin it again.
Yes Graeme narrates...before cracking up in mad laughter...his poem 'Departure' (compare his Birmingham England 'Brummie' accented voice - hence he says; 'somefink' ! - to his narration of the spoken part of his poem/song 'Nothing Changes' on 'Strange Times' much later on in 1999 - 'The Dawk Cloak...' etc sounds like he has dentures now !! lol) Mike narrates 'The Word' in dramatic deep tones of crystal clarity Note how on ISOTLC the songs and the featured lead vocals are split into Lodge and Thomas on 'side one' (tho' all four sing 'Ride My See Saw' of course and a portion of John's 'House of Four Doors' too) ....then Hayward and Pinder on 'side two' (with one joint Hayward-Thomas song sung by Justin) and Ray duetting with Mike on his song 'Om' while Graeme's two poems feature one on each side funny to think of a Moodies album NOT featuring either a Hayward or Pinder song on the first side (tho' 'Octave' later of course only had a Mike song late on) ...but especially a Hayward song (which 'post Pinder' era 80's onwards kicked off EVERY later Moodies album !) A sign of how er 'Balanced' the four major lead singer/songwriters were for the band - which always for some strange reason reminds me of the four leading stars in the long running TV Western show 'Bonanza' ! lol - curiously that too while very successful later was never quite the same show somehow after Pernell Roberts left...a weird co-incidental thing...
It's Graeme doing his own speaking part in "Departure", laugh and all. Mike is the speaker in "The Word"
"Dear Diary" is the one, low point of OTTOAD that's jokingly embarrassing to sit through. I don't mind, though, the folksy-ness of "Lazy Day" (has a When I'm 64-cutesy-irony and sort of Floyd-esque-Grimble Grumble-lilt about it)...and, of course, "Lovely to See You Again" and "Never Come the Day" are both brilliant.
Observations in a few opening tracks. One thing to note is that a Moog is not used on the neat, weird rising sound on "Departure". (It seems a safe assumption, as it sure sounds like one.) It is actually a cello, studio tricked. The opening instrument in "Dr. Livingstone" also sounds like a Moog. It repeats between verses. My best guess is that it's an electric guitar with fuzz or perhaps a studio treated harpsichord ?? It's certainly a, unique and different and the sound doesn't appear to be used again by the group or by anyone else. Ever. There's also a tabla in "Livingstone" at the end.
Umm, you sure about Departure ...? Very much sounds like a VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator) being run from low to highest tone using a potentiometer. It would take a cellist with exceptional technique to do a rise in pitch that smooth! I ain't betting my lunch money on it, though. Haven't had lunch ... However, you are 99.44% correct re: "Dr. Livingstone"; I stumbled into pretty much that exact sound running a Telecaster through a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face with the fuzz knob turned way down. Gives kind of a sparkly breakup.
In Search is an album with similar resonance, for me, as Sgt. Pepper; really brings back a specific time and place(s). Not long after the album's release (late '68? Not sure) my family took a winter vacation in northern India -- Delhi, Agra, Simla, some other places. I had a then-newfangled Philips battery-powered cassette recorder, and the first pre-recorded cassette I ever bought: In Search Of The Lost Chord. (I also had Pepper, some Hendrix, Traffic too if I recall a'right.) So all that cod-Indian music -- Justin's sitar, Ray's bansuri-emulating flute -- really fit in with the scenery. "Visions Of Paradise" in particular brings back Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's palatial abandoned city outside Agra; "Om", crossing the Ganges somewhere east of Delhi. All under a big blue sky, with puffy post-monsoon clouds floating past ... Anyway, a great album; great songs; and the first where the Mellotron-powered team of Moodies (and Tony Clarke/Derek Varnals) really spread their wings. Still a favourite, and certainly a big influence on my 15-year-old self.
