Moodiness

Article by johnsiver

In Search of the Lost Chord (1968) put the Mellotron in the spotlight, and it quickly became a part of The Moody Blues Tickets signature sound. The album, sublimely beautiful and steeped in a strange mix of British whimsy (“Dr. Livingston I Presume”) and ornate, languid Eastern-oriented songs (“Visions of Paradise,” “Om”), also introduced one psychedelic-era anthem, “Legend of a Mind”; authored by Ray Thomas and utilizing the name of LSD guru Timothy Leary in its lyric and choruses, along with swooping cellos and lilting flute, it helped make the band an instant favorite among the late-’60s counterculture. (The group members have since admitted at various times that Moody Blues were, as was the norm at the time, indulging in various hallucinogenic substances.)

That album and its follow-up, 1969′s To Our Children’s Children’s Children, were magnificent achievements, utilizing Moody Blues multi-instrumental skills and the full capability of the studio in overdubbing voices, instruments, etc. But in the process of making those two LPs, the Moody Blues group found that they’d painted themselves into a corner as performing musicians – thanks to overdubbing, those albums were essentially the work of 15 or 20 Moody Blues, not a quintet, and Moody Blues were unable to re-create their sound properly in concert.

Meanwhile, a significant part of their audience didn’t think of the Moody Blues merely as musicians but, rather, as spiritual guides. John Lodge’s song “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock & Roll Band)” was his answer to this phenomenon, renouncing the role that had been thrust upon the band – it was also an unusually hard-rocking number for the group, and was also a modest hit single.

Ironically, in 1972, the group was suddenly competing with itself when “Nights in White Satin” charted again in America and England, selling far more than it had in 1967; that new round of single sales also resulted in Days of Future Passed selling anew by the tens of thousands.

In the midst of all of this activity, the members, finally slowing down and enjoying the fruits of Moody Blues success, had reached an impasse. As Moody Blues prepared to record their new album, Seventh Sojourn (1972), the strain of touring and recording steadily for five years had taken its toll. Good songs were becoming more difficult to deliver and record, and cutting that album had proved nearly impossible. The public never saw the problems, and its release earned them Moody Blues best reviews to date and was accompanied by a major international tour, and the sales and attendance were huge.

Once the tour was over, however, it was announced that the group was going on hiatus – Moody Blues wouldn’t work together again for five years. Hayward and Lodge recorded a very successful duet album, Blue Jays (1975), and all five members did solo albums. All were released through Threshold, which was still distributed by English Decca

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