Dear Diary is my least favorite track but after all these years I can reluctantly deal with it.Back in the day it was always a skip track.
Despite the lavish sleeve art and book, 'Threshold', IMHO, is the weakest of the early records. Side one, in particular, apart from 'Lovely To See You', which has one of Justin Hayward's superb trademark middle eights, is fairly nondescript. Again Mike Pinder is the star on with 'Have You Heard' on side two, which just about redeems the record.
Wow, so far from my opinion. I find almost every song to be outstanding — on Side 1 and 2. And I love "Dear Diary": the acoustic bass, the multiple flutes (the low one is actually an alto flute, I believe), the laconic delivery, the droll lyrics — it captures a mood, don't you think? It's such a varied collection of songs, yet it all works so well together. For me, a near-perfect work and the Moodies' first masterpiece.
It will be worth it! "Blue" was my first CD ever. I bought it when I didn't even have a CD player and was only listening to music from cassettes. I used to listen to it at my best friend's from his CD player through headphones... And years later, when I had compiled the whole Moody Blues discography on CDs, I gave "Blue" away I thought I could do without the clean beginning of Out and In... More fool me.
Not only does it have clean opening, also has better, cleaner sound than the TOCC version. Listen to that tambourine.
Sorry about that! It was an enormously popular record here in the UK, it's just never really got to me - 'Dear Diary' is OK, but not really my sort of song.
I like On the Threshold of a Dream, but I think it's a step down from the the previous two. This is one of the few Moody Blues albums I've been able to get on vinyl, so I've repeatedly tried to make myself like it more, but I've never quite been able to get into it.
No kidding... these absolutely should have been released at some point. I've never heard these... had no idea they existed.
I think I've always liked Threshold more just because of the company it keeps in the 'core 7'. However after reading through this excellent thread I'm rediscovering it after a not-particularly-bothered-by-it 33-years. It's really quite excellent. I'm loving 'Dear Diary' which I've always hated. Well hey! The powers of this forum eh!
Tony Clarke once commented that the vinyl mix of Threshold differs from the CD, especially in the song segues. I haven't listened to my vinyl in decades. Has anyone noticed any differences?
On the Threshold of a Dream On the whole, I'd say this one is not quite as good as its two predecessors, but it is still a fine album worth owning, if only for the excellent "Lovely To See You" (this would be a great concert opener particularly if the original band re-formed for a one-off show like Led Zeppelin did in '07), "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" (one of the few songs credited to Hayward/Thomas), and "The Voyage" (makes another majestic case for the Moodies as prog-rock artistes though I agree with another post that they cannot be easily categorized). Not sure whether to call their Days to Sojourn album run the "classic seven" or the "core seven" but Threshold is certainly one of those essentials, and stands right there with the rest (or perhaps "sits comfortably" with them ). Recommended!
I'm a big fan of this album as well. It's probably my third fave after ISOLC and SS. Here's some of my thoughts/observations: Shortest of the classic 7 The artwork and group photo are definitive for me and they both do an outstanding job of capturing the mood of the album. While ISOLC was a vibrant and colourful summer album, OTTOAD is warm, muted, and autumnal This is their most British album to me. "Dear Diary" are "Lazy Day" proto-Britpop and could easily have been covered by Blur. While I really enjoy the cross-fading, I think it ruined "So Deep Within You" by cutting off the excellent intro not heard until the deluxe editions were released I love "Never Comes The Day", but repeating the first verse for the second is annoying. Same goes for "The Land Of Make-Believe Mike contributed the most prog sounding stuff they released and "The Voyage" is probably the best representation of that, along with "My Song" I wish there was a better live document of their output. Thank goodness for YouTube!
Back in 1972 or 73, I joined one of those record clubs where you got 10 or 12 lps for a nominal fee (or even free.) I got 5 of the classic 7, all that were available through the introductory offer. I loved each of them. The only ones not available were On The Threshold of a Dream and A Question of Balance. Those two are coincidentally my least favorite of those classic 7 records. I like them just fine, and listen to them frequently, but in my mind they don't reach the heights that the others did. I've found Justin Hayward's songs to be the easily accessible "gateway" to each album, with Mike Pinder's songs to require a little more time, but wth a great reward once I "get" them. And it's no different with OTTOAD. The difference with this album is that I've never been able to eventually appreciate John's, Ray's or Graeme's songs like I do on the other records. I'm not saying their contributions are bad, they simply haven't moved me like Mike's and Justin's, or how their (John, Ray and Graeme) songs from the others of the classic 7 move me. I don't know if it's because I got OTTOAD a few months later or if it's that I didn't get it for free initially that I find it to be the weakest of the 7.
One of Elvis Presley's big albums was titled Moody Blue; I always thought the Moodies shoulda returned the compliment with Elvi.
I don't want to get too far off topic, but since all this Moodies love is being thrown about (and well deserved) I'd love to see a thread of best sounding vinyl pressings, since there seems to a dearth of info compared to other bands. There is DOFP page; but that's all over the place. I recently picked up a Dutch Seventh Sojourn which sounds fantastic, most detailed I've heard. A topic for another time and place. Great thread so far though; loving it. And we're coming up on my favorite album...
Just got one for £3.30. Took a bit of a gamble on that, but I too need 'Out And In' with a clean intro Pickwick also released a really good rarity-addled Dusty Springfield CD at the same point ('Songbook'), which featured first time releases of some stereo mixes. Whoever was working for them then was doing a good job.
Some notes and comments re: musical content side 2 of the album discussed. "Lazy Day" is reminiscent of the Kinks, another great English group. Very English. Reminds me particularly of the Kinks "Autumn Almanac" Same vibe. Now to the monumental end suite. Notice that "Comfortably" features three acoustic guitars across the stereo spectrum. Adds depth, and sounds like an acoustic 12 string is in there. Flutes pan from left to right speaker, and a nice French Horn motif repeats after each verse. (Assume this was simulated by the Tron.) After the poem, "Have You Heard" features real cellos, as does "The Voyage". Oboe appears also in "Voyage" as do multi tracked pianos at the finale. The song "have you heard" was featured on a Marvel TV show series this past year, btw.
I don't want to get ahead but In Search... is to me the best Moody Bues lp ever.The ones after were always a notch below.as they went on.
