How interesting. The Moody Blues causes Doug to wax philosophical. In my opinion that is a lot of what the music of my generation was all about. It was musical and creative but looked into the depths of the human spirit. I am 67 years old.
Hey Dave, I'm a bit younger than you and I would like to recommend a little know song that affected me as a 15 year old trained musician on multiple instruments. This song profoundly changed my path in life to where I co-founded a Progrock band. It's by Argent, called Music of the Spheres. Reactors won't give it a go, (doesn't fall into the commercial, monetized, popular music machine), but it's pretty Epic and Proggy.
@@dvincentblack so sorry, sounds like a great person, sad I never knew him! Im sure he knew some major players, melotrons were very high maintenance, I’m sure he was very busy. By Brother in law owns Control in NYC (synth shop), and has met many famous Rock stars looking for a new sound.
@@Jimbowlcoach Thanks! Frank was also famous for modifying Marshall amps. Slash recorded appetite for destruction with guns and roses with one of Frank's modified amps. Pretty well known for that too. I knew him since I was 16. Great loss to the music world. Peace.
Dude, the answer to "Question" is the last song on the album - "The Balance" Some of us, even 50 years ago, appreciated this band for largely introducing serious philosophy, as in so many of their albums, into rock music. for numerous reasons, they stood alone. They were their own genre, and we knew it.
1965 to 1975 is the greatest 10 year period in the history of music .... and yes ... i lived my teen years through this time ... thank you for doing this Doug ..
The line you mentioned, "And if you could see what it's done to me, To lose the the love I knew could safely lead me through" is a reference to the loss of his dad not too long before. He was very close to both of his parents.
Justin Hayward's gorgeous voice singing that great melody in the center section........with that perfectly-written Mellotron orchestration playing behind him......haunting, soaring, bittersweet. Some of the most beautiful music this generation and this genre has ever produced.
I feel so lucky to have been 11 years old in 1970 because my youth was exposed to such brilliant rock bands such as The Moody Blues. And their music is so timely to the current issues.
Justin was under pressure to come in with a new song for a booked Decca recording session but only had two part finished songs. It was 2 am that very morning and Justin decided, (although they were in very different tempos, they were both in the same key) the solution was to combine the two contrasting songs together. The band took to the song very quickly in just a few takes, with no overdubs needed.
The Four Seasons track Silver Star has a similar structure - a slow middle with musings on life, bracketed by faster-tempo opener and closer. Wonder if they pinched the idea from the Moodies?
One of my favorite Moodies songs. Hearing thousands of people sing this with them in concert is almost a religious experience. Very moving. Lyrics still apply today.
my mum was a classically trained musician and I was 16 when this album came out ... I was exploring prog, led zep etc. at the time most of which she couldn't abide but on the Moodies we were unanimous .. she knew good music when she heard it!!
The Moody Blues? Pure musical brilliance! Will love their songs for the rest of my life! Their live performance I saw on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) was nothing short of breathtaking. All you had to do was look at the audience to see how loved they are.
You could do a whole video on John Lodge's melodic bass lines. He's so underrated & never comes up in discussions of great rock or prog bassists. But in most Moody Blues songs (and his own solo songs) he's playing countermelodies to everything else going in in the song. I find him a very unique & creative player.
The Moodys were my Zen place in high school. Threshold of a Dream was my first album, I had my parents buy me the ones before for Christmas. I went to their concerts once a year, no matter what state I lived in, or what I was doing.
Thanks for the breakdown of this marvelous song. 1970 was a hallmark year for pop/rock music and I consider Question a hallmark song from 1970 and the best of the Moody Blues. As a big prog rock/heavy metal fan I can't thank them enough for laying the foundation (among a few others) for symphonic/prog rock. Question still can give me chills and when I'm alone , even bring me to tears...
The Moody Blues started in 1965. They morphed into a sort of Group that every Hippie and Flower child I ever knew, simply adored. They were cosmic, Earthy, all the stuff of the late 1960s culture. I was never into the Hippie scene during that time, but I was in the midst of that whole era. Lots of fun, and great music came out of the 60s and 70s. Thanks
It's nice to see someone discover or rediscover the Moody Blues. Once I discovered them, I never departed. Their compositions are most likely, the best ever in any genre of rock and roll. By the way, Doug, it's not that the questions aren't being asked any more, as you alluded to at 11:22. Those who ask, are being censored or shouted down or de-platformed from social media. They all should take a listen to the Moodies and chill.....and start communicating again!
These guys invented the concept album. Days of Future Past was about a day in the life of Everyman. In Search of the Lost Chord was about inner awareness, through hallucinogens, meditation, Eastern philosophy, etc. To Our Children's Children Children was about the wonder of childhood and the endless possibilities that the future held, eg through the exploration of space. A Question of Balance is a philosophical discussion about our place in universe, on a personal and a cosmic scale. On the Threshhold of a Dream was about dreams. D'uh. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was a more personal album about individual development, loves won and lost, and music (the mnemonic). Most of these songs blend from one to the next without a pause, so the albums are meant to be heard in one go. Seventh Sojourn has themes from the 6 previous albums all wrapped up together as a sort of lyrical summary of the preceding works, but ends with their rocking-est song - I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band. Enjoy the trip!
It is my fervent hope that Dr. Doug is convinced at some point to listen to the Magnificent Seven in their entirety in chronological order. ...please???
MarcBrenner, I'd agree that the Moodies were -- and remain -- The Masters of the Concept Album. FYI, the first Moodies' album I listened to was To Our Children's Children's Children (TOCCC). I didn't realize it at the time, but I started with Side 2 and heard the tones of "Gypsy" flowing out of the speakers -- and it blew my mind! I am SOOOO grateful that my oldest brother brought this album home with him after he finished his hitch in the US Army and a tour in Vietnam. I don't remember for sure -- this was when Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was the new album on the streets -- but I think A Question of Balance (AQOB) was the next Moodies album I dared play. I say "dared" because this was so wholly different from any other music I was listening to at the time, that I found myself in intellectually and emotionally uncharted territory every time I set needle to vinyl. It was, frankly, both exciting and a bit scary. But one thing is certain: Moodies music was a product of its time, and to understand it properly, we have to look at it in context. For me, born in 1957, it was both a historical and a current context in which we were engaged in a Cold War, not just of the United States against the Soviet Union, but of NATO against the Warsaw Pact. Here in America, you could practically walk across the Hudson River and the Cuyahoga River caught fire. In the UK, the Thames River was practically lifeless and a health hazard to anyone who accidentally strayed into its waters. This is part of the historical context for AQOB. On the other hand, TOCCC was written and recorded shortly after humans walked on the Moon for the first time. The possibilities of humans in space seemed to open endless worlds to us. Even though some of the possibilities seemed frightening ("frightening him with visions that can never be"), the overall tone of the album was hopeful. That brings me back to looking at the two albums together. Since then, I've gone on to a Master of Science degree in Studies of the Future, and I've looked at these two albums through new eyes -- not the Eyes of A Child, but the Eyes of a Futurist. And what I see is that these two albums are sort of a mirror image of each other: one, mostly hope; the other more despair, but both pointing to our collective futures and asking which we will choose. In either case, any song on either album must be viewed -- and reviewed -- in the context of the entire album. On AQOB, there's "How Is It (We Are Here)", "Don't You Feel Small", and "Melancholy Man" to continue the theme of undesirable futures looming before us. But there's also "The Tortoise and the Hare", "The Minstrel's Song" and "The Balance" reminding us that it's the choices we make in the present that create the futures we bequeath to our descendants. On TOCCC, "Higher and Higher", "The Eyes of a Child" (Parts 1 and 2), "Floating" "Out and In" and "Candle of Life" demonstrate what human futures including other worlds might be desirable, but there's also "I Never Thought I'd Live to Be A Hundred", "Gypsy", "Eternity Road", "I Never Thought I'd Live to Be A Million" and "Watching and Waiting" suggesting that there are other futures out there, waiting to be realized, that we might find undesirable. So, in context of the rest of the album, "Question" both challenges us and charges us: it challenges us to explore our futures for ways to avoid disaster, and it gives us permission to make those choices that will leave desirable futures to those who will live in the futures we leave them. Now, of course, I'd love to hear more about how the Moodies accomplished their goals musically. What is it about the music that moves us? How do the structures and the instrumentation create the moods of the individual songs, and how do the production techniques move us through the pieces to create what seems a seamless whole? Quite a challenge, that, eh?
It is widely accepted the initial inspiration for TOCCC album was the moon landing. I also suspect some of the band may have been inspired by reading Sci Fi. I have always thought that what it is really about is the concept of multi generational space travel. Quite a conceptional undertaking to imagine starting a journey that take several lifetimes and that your descendants eventually complete the journey not to mention that at light speed travel based on Einstein's theory one generation might live centuries or longer hence the songs I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Hundred or A Million. Gypsy was always a favorite and seems to be about someone who is a sole survivor hurtling though space who is now disconnected from all that has preceded him. The overall album concept is perhaps a little murky due to the presence of multiple writers contributing but that diversity is also one of the albums enduring musical strengths. Like most songs/albums it is what it means to you in the long run that is important. After all they are just singers in a rock and roll band.
@@CaryOn11, you wrote, "Gypsy was always a favorite and seems to be about someone who is a sole survivor hurtling though space who is now disconnected from all that has preceded him." Have you ever read Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War"? Haldeman's characters are all Gypsies. However, TOCCC came out in 1969, while "The Forever War" came out in 1974. I guess what Tom Lehrer's friend Hen3ry said about life is true . . . .
speaking of songs that flow from one to the next...."This is the Moody Blues" (kind of a greatest hits double album) was a masterpiece of song construction as they blended from one to the next!
One of the songs, there are several, the audience sings at full volume. A number of times during shows Justin and John would look at each another and smile at the volume of sound coming back at them. The Moodies have always supplied goosebump music the sound would lift your spirits. Witnessing the band with full orchestral backup is something I will always cherish.
Doug- The morning of the recording session Justin Hayward had the main part of the song down but didn’t have a middle. The middle section was something he had written before and he just fit it in- it is really TWO songs melded together- that from Justin himself.
That's right, not actually prog, but precursors of it. Without Mike Pinder demonstrating to the world the sounds a dedicated musician could get out of a mellotron, where would King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and rest be without him? Yet he's in receipt of almost no credit. There's a rumour Mike's not well, I wish him the best........
My older brother brought To Our Children's Children's Children and I was blown away by the new sound world. He then brought Fragile and Foxtrot I'm so grateful for this early musical experience 50 years on!
Justin wrote a beautiful song from two points of view: the soldier, and those at home. The song closes with the two subjects feeling the same for very different reasons.
Justin Hayward told the story of this song as two different song/motifs he was developing and merged them into one song. Clearly two musical moments that just work as one extended piece. Moodies never get props. So glad you have revisited them. It was a time of turmoil. I remember being on Haight St in San Francisco in 1969 and walking over to Golden Gate park and they were playing In Search of the Lost Chord, OM/Heaven with incense and beneficial herb in the air and it made for a great trip. Moodies were seminal to progressive/art rock, concept albums and eventually Mike Pinder's explorations that led to many new age and psychedelic adventures.
That's still my favorite Moodies album. I always related to that longing for answers, the spiritual search to better ourselves and our world. Now it seems the world really is burning in its greed.
@@1nelsondj after enforcing us business interests in central America (e.g. banana republics) General Butler complained "War is a Racket", Moodies saw it too, most wars are profit making enterprises. (War Is a Racket is a speech and a 1935 short book, by Smedley D. Butler, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient. ... After Butler retired from the US Marine Corps in October 1931, he made a nationwide tour in the early 1930s giving his speech "War is a Racket".)
Justin was working on two different, separate songs. The album had to be finished, so he decided to integrate them. On another scale, it reminds me of A Day In The Life, where John and Paul had their own individual, uncompleted songs, and combined them to create a master piece, with the more dynamic part in the middle, whilst Question reverses this.
My first couple rock concerts were The Moody Blues. My dad took us to see them many times, starting when I was, I think, 7 or 8 ☺️. The last time I saw them was about 10 years ago maybe? I’d see them if they came here again for sure! So many good memories of listening to these albums when I was a kid, putting together jigsaw puzzles in the tv room in our basement. I grew up on these guys. I still love them. Probably seen them live 10 times throughout my life. My dad and mom with me every time. A couple years ago, I bought my own turntable and the following Christmas, my dad gifted me with 6 or 7 Moody Blues albums (I had a couple already). I have almost all of them now. The memories live on. ❤ And I still enjoy listening to them with my dad.
While I'm only 53, my parents were *huge* fans of the Moody's. I "let them" drag me to about 2 dozen concerts before I was 18, and had to start buying my own tickets. Saw them another dozen times after that. They're the band I've seen live the most often, by a wide margin. Pink Floyd is second, with 9 live shows.
Ah, The Moodies. The gateway to prog in my teens and my "therapy band" in the present day. This album is a stone cold classic and I'm almost embarrassed to say how many times I listened to it during 2020, it got me through some dark stuff. I wish the world would sit down, tighten up their headbands, turn off the lights and put this on.
It sounds like two separate songs because it was. Justin put two songs together late one night before he had an early recording session the next day and needed something to record!! 😌 fabulous.
The slow section of the song has for many years been an audience sing-along in live performances, by tradition. In recent years, both with the full band (which stopped touring in 2018) and Justin's solo shows, the last time through the slow section, Justin will say, "Help me out on this next line," he'll drop out and the audience will get louder as we sing "I'm looking for a miracle in my life." The other fun thing with this song is coming out of the slow section, Justin will brace his feet before he starts the fast and furious strumming for the final section.
Ahhh the Moodies! I have so many great memories of discovering their music back when I was in high school, then later being lucky enough to be able to attend countless casino shows when they used to perform in Lake Tahoe. They ended every show with this song. They would play there a couple of times per year and performed multiple shows over the course of a weekend and my friends and I used to attend every single show! We’d always sit at the tables directly in front of the stage. I always brought my 35mm camera and would take several rolls of film. I got some fantastic shots and often Justin and John would smile and pose for me. Sadly, I don’t have any of those photos anymore because I lost everything a few years ago in a fire. I did often make duplicates of some of the best shots for some friends, so maybe I’ll try to get some copies. Another fun thing about those casino shows: the band stayed there in the hotel so every now and then we’d see them around. I rode the elevator with Justin Hayward one time, and by the time he got off, we were the only two left onboard so exchanged a few words. He’s such a gentleman and very soft spoken. He’s also very tall, a fact you don’t realize when you see him onstage or on a TV screen.
As a guitar player who had wanted to learn this song for a long time, I finally discovered tha Justin tunes his 12-string guitar for this song to an open C Major chord which is why you get such a unique combination of harmonies. It also requires that the guitar player learn a whole new set of finger positions to play the chords the way Justin plays them. but it all results in such a beautiful and different sound and I love playing it on my own 12-string. It's a magical song..
Hi Doug, just now heard of you. I like what you do and hope to learn a lot from you. You know and explain much more about the music of my life, that is Moody Blues' music, than I ever did. It's remarkable to me to hear someone explain the mechanics of music -- it's always been a magical mystery to me. Back in the day when we sat around listening to the Moodies we had the LP album covers to look at and try to understand those wonderful graphics. We also had the lyrics printed on the album covers to try to understand what the song had to say, "the message in the music." Some nutters went to extremes thinking the Moodies had the answers to those questions we all had about the world. (By the way, "I'm just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band" was a response to those fanatics.) But most of us were satisfied with perhaps being stoned and or tripping and could feel simpatico with the Moodies' songs. Those first several albums of this configuration of the Moodies, referred to as the Core 7, had good songs that we loved listening to, but were better listened to as full albums. (I think this 'album theme' was a mark of phychedelic-to-progressive rock at that stage.) For a youngster you're pretty good at understanding the feeling of 1970. We wondered what to do about the war in Vietnam -- big question. We also had questions about our place in the world as most young adults have always done, and still do. We also were looking for individuals to love and we were looking at the many meanings of love. I thought, and still think, Question brings all of those aspects of our lives in that era to the fore. That's how I explained the change between the hard, heavy parts of the song and the softer, lovelier parts. (That phrasing demonstrates my ignorance of how music works.:-) There were sharp differences in how we saw the world and how we felt about it -- the song reflects that. Hope you can understand my take on "Question". Thanks for sharing your thoughts, knowledge and talents here.
The message that was in their music made a major impression on their fans, to the point that some fans would ask for the band members to touch their children. This bugged them out a bit and contributed to their desire for a hiatus after Seventh Sojourn.
I am nostalgic for the days when musicians could sing or play an instrument or something. The Moodys are brilliant! And Justin Hayward is a terrific vocalist, also on Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds. Remember when songs were settings of poetry? This is a chorlied in all but name.
Very insightful interpretation of the lyrics Doug--thank you for doing that as well as discussing the music. The MB were probably the best band at articulating the many facets of society and the wonders of life in general during the late 60s well through the 1970s.They are a greatly underrated band. Those who have listened/studied the Moody Blues for many decades (such as myself) can only marvel at their insights, the love and fantastic music they produced. There are many thousands (thousands of millions?:)?) of people who LOVE the Moody Blues, and I am certainly one of those people. Speak to your wife again and have her suggest more Moody Blues pieces to you. She may want you to go with Nights in White Satin--there are literally dozens and dozens to choose from.
The two BEST Moody Blues compositions, in my opinion, are *The Land Of Make Believe* and *You And Me.* Soaring climaxes that give me chills. They're both on the same album, *Seventh Sojourn.* Hope you review them...
Seventh Sojourn was the first album I bought with my own money from a part-time job. Love both those songs, along with New Horizons. Radio ruined I'm Just a Singer for me, with overplay.
You And Me caught me off guard one day and I haven't stopped listening to it since. It's Up To You took me awhile, too. Lost In A Lost World (and the whole rest of the PERFECT Seventh Sojourn album) gives me chills, though. Peace.
You nailed it: Seventh Sojourn is the perfect album. Every song is stunning. It’s also the perfect conclusion to their core 7 - it’s a serious album, with serious issues, with a sense of profound maturity. Tight. Perfect.
So glad you did this one. I gotta say- I'm shocked you haven't done more Jethro Tull, given the stuff that you like. Your thick as a brick episode was one of your best. Please do more!!! Preferably studio stuff rather than live.
I agree about sticking to studio albums. Anderson is a fun an dynamic performer, but his voice isn't very consistent, and I feel JT's production and quality is vastly superior in the studio output. I recommend Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses, Stand Up, or Minstrel In the Gallery. All great albums with some really interesting songs with some unusual styles: -Living in the Past -Sweet Dream -Bouree (must listen for classical aficionado) -One White Duck/0"=Nothing At All -Baker St. Muse -March, the Mad Scientist -Songs from the Wood -Hunting Girl - ...And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps... -Moths Tons of great stuff.
The pseudo precursor to Yes’ Close to the Edge in structure is Ray Thomas’ Legend of a Mind. It is a 6.5 minute song that has a spacey flutey middle part, several tempo changes and bounces back and forth between between A Mixolydian and A minor in the chorus.
"The Love you've been giving has all been meant for you". We love in hopes of being loved, the balance is in giving as it runs equal to receiving. All relationships through all species, the Bond of life... Thank you for both musical and thought dissection of these musicians. A welcomed relief from the D,C,G, base rock of the day although I did enjoy some of that as well. Was pulled in to real music after hearing late 60's rendition of Beethoven's 9th underscoring Peace and Understanding... I look forward to more of your analysis videos. Please dig deeper into the 'Moody Blues', you'll be rewarded...
As I also wrote previously, the "Days" Album with the excellent orchestration and conducting by the late Peter Knight, reminds me of their 50th Anniversary Concert about ten years ago presented at Royal Albert Hall, again with a full orchestra, conducted by Larry Baird. Mr. Baird traveled with the band, and conducted the orchestra at Red Rocks, and maybe also here in Nashville, and if so, then he probably led each orchestra in each city where their summer tour presented concerts. Baird was very faithful to follow what Mr. Knight had done on the "Days" Album, on each of the several cuts from that L P that the band presented at Royal Albert Hall. As you probably know Doug, Mike Pinder, had left the Band after being with them for about ten years to be remarried to a lady and raise a family with her at his ranch in California. Both Ray Thomas and Grame Edge were still alive to play the Anniversary Concert. You may enjoy viewing and listening to their appearance in the summer of 1970, when Pinder was still with them, and they played at The Isle of Wight Festival, off the west coast of England. Ted S.
My favorite song on this album is Melancholy Man. It took my mind away from my world at the time. The Moody Blues kept me somewhat sane when I was around 20.
Great analysis and insight Doug. The song was originally two songs by Hayward . The strings were as always Melotron strings arranged by Mike Pinder who was in many ways the soul of the Moodies. Other Moodies tracks you could try ... Visions of Paradise, Eternity Road and The Voyage.
This song came out when I was a teenager. And in the late 1960's, we had the vietnam war, which no one supported. And we were asking questions about war, hate, and death. That no one stepped up to to answer. This song was important in it's time. And the Moody Blues are a very under rated group. As well as Justin, he was such an under rated songwriter, and musician as well.
The Moodies were great at playing with songs and blending rock, folk and whatever styles fit the feelings they want to impart. The beauty of Progressive Rock.
Who doesn't love The Moodies? They are so classy and timeless. I saw them maybe ten years ago in Knoxville, TN and they still had it. Their voices were still strong.
Justin Hayward had two partly written songs in the same key, and he blended them for the first track of the concept album 'Question'. It's resolved in the final track, 'The Balance'. All instruments were played by the Moodies themselves, but using a Mellotron for the orchestral sounds.
All the Moody Blues concerts I went to in the 70s and 80s were almost always sing-a-longs. We all knew the lyrics by heart! And if the concert was in an enclosed arena, like the Spectrum in Phildelphia, PA, you didn't have to bring your own "herbal supplements", somebody always seemed to be passing a joint around. And even if you take a hit the pass-arounds, you were certain to get a "contact" buzz from all the second hand smoke. sigh. Good memories.
Thank you! I've been asking Dr. Doug for that since prior to him starting his Patreon. I'm particularly interested in his analysis of Peter Knight's orchestral interludes between the band's tracks.
Hello Doug, I saw the Moody Blues at the Royal Albert Hall sometime in the 60's. They were very well known for using an instrument called a mellotron en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellotron which could play a series of tapes and give a range of sounds
Thanks for doing this song Doug. You hit the nail on the head with your comments and words about modern times my musical brother. I am 31, I went to two moody concerts as a child with my parents, and family. It is amazing how much truth this song still holds even today. Keep knocking at the door everybody, they will answer eventually, or it will simply fall.
When the Moodies played at Red Rocks, Justin Hayward made my list of the top 10 hottest rock stars in history. The ladies have Pinterest pages of Justin in his classic white poet's shirts. (I'm sure some men are enjoying him too!) Sorry ladies - Justin has been married for over 50 years. He and his wife, who is a professional golfer, have a daughter named Doremi.
Your comparison to now is pretty spot on for this. Consider when this was released in 1970 - during the vietnam war, civil rights issues, nixon. Somewhat parallel times. Unlike today, however, people at that time became more philosophical and introspective, searching for answers to bigger questions instead of digging in on one side or the other and lobbing spitballs day and night at each other. The Moodys and several other prog rock bands got a lot of us through that nightmare. We were lucky to have them.
Great stuff, Doug. Thanks for another enjoyable lesson. 🙂 The Moody Blues album " To Our Children's Children's Children" lends for an interesting full album review. Keep up the awesome work, Maestro. 👍😉
"I'm just a singer in a rock and roll band" from "Seventh Sojourn" is as good as it gets for the Moody Blues". An artists take on the responsibilities of knowing the truth, and what to do with it. A very real extension of this song years later, and their last song before the went totally commercial.
At 8:35 you stated about singing along with this. Back in 2001 I went to a Moody Blues concert at a small venue winery, Paul Masson in Saratoga, Ca.. Maybe 2000 attendance. From the very start, We all sang every word to every song they played. Many with their eyes closed in bliss. I had an 80 year old to my left and a young teenager to my right. We sang, we sang our hearts out. Proving their music crosses Generations. The Ushers were dancing in the Isles. To this day, That is my Number 1 concert I have ever been to of nearly a hundred from various other bands. They say that Magic is not real. I beg to differ........I was there ! Now at 67 the memory is still sharp about this event.
The juxtaposition of the fast and slow pieces are deliberate. The fast part is the questions posed to the void, basically. The slow part is actually how the singer is personally feeling by NOT getting an answer and, more importantly, feeling ignored and even dismissed. The best part of the Moody Blues is that ALL THEY EVER DID WAS THEME ALBUMS. The answers are developed through the rest of the songs on the album and, finally, the closing song Answer tells you how THEY came to the answer that works for them.
My favorite Moody song and so glad to see someone do a reaction to it and do a great analysis to it as well. This song will be relevant to today as it will be 50 years from now.
I recall Justin saying something about Question coming from two different pieces that he was working on which he couldn't quite get how he wanted them, until he got inspired to put them together.
The gray in sleeping is also dream time when you're out of body and in connection with your higher self. This song is also very spiritual in its lyrics. All of this is also very relevant to what is going on today with the great awakening and the veil being lifted from humanity's eyes.
Love your videos Doug! That orchestration is Mike Pinder on that fabulous instrument, the Mellotron. You probably know the instrument? Man, and there were a few times he ran it through Marshall amps live. What a powerful sound he got out of that! It was kind of difficult to control live at times because the tapes and would be slightly out of tune, but it sounded great! Check out the old live recordings, Isle of Wight in 1970 for one. It was the tour for the QOB album, or if its still out there, Live +5. Keep the Faith Y'all...
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How interesting. The Moody Blues causes Doug to wax philosophical. In my opinion that is a lot of what the music of my generation was all about. It was musical and creative but looked into the depths of the human spirit. I am 67 years old.
same here (age too!)
Right on!
Spot on David, from another 67 year old! The late 1960’s and early 70’s were all about getting philosophical while listening to great music.
Hey Dave, I'm a bit younger than you and I would like to recommend a little know song that affected me as a 15 year old trained musician on multiple instruments. This song profoundly changed my path in life to where I co-founded a Progrock band.
It's by Argent, called Music of the Spheres.
Reactors won't give it a go, (doesn't fall into the commercial, monetized, popular music machine), but it's pretty Epic and Proggy.
@@mrnobody3161 I'll check it out. I like what I've heard of Argent thus far.
Thank you for helping us understand that the Moodies are even better than we thought they were.
No strings at all!...Mellotron...played by its maestro, Mike Pinder.
And their mellotrons repaired by Frank Levi! My old dear departed friend!
And no orchestra hits - brass mellotron
@@dvincentblack so sorry, sounds like a great person, sad I never knew him! Im sure he knew some major players, melotrons were very high maintenance, I’m sure he was very busy. By Brother in law owns Control in NYC (synth shop), and has met many famous Rock stars looking for a new sound.
@@Jimbowlcoach Thanks! Frank was also famous for modifying Marshall amps. Slash recorded appetite for destruction with guns and roses with one of Frank's modified amps. Pretty well known for that too. I knew him since I was 16. Great loss to the music world. Peace.
Love how Pinder could fool even the best experts. Lol 😝
Dude, the answer to "Question" is the last song on the album - "The Balance"
Some of us, even 50 years ago, appreciated this band for largely introducing serious philosophy, as in so many of their albums, into rock music. for numerous reasons, they stood alone. They were their own genre, and we knew it.
I don't remember the number 42 being mentioned anywhere in the lyrics of "The Balance"...
Peace.😇👍
Simply "Yes."..
‘Yes’ is a completely different band altogether ;-)
Still special after all these years.
drop the stylus and hang on
1965 to 1975 is the greatest 10 year period in the history of music .... and yes ... i lived my teen years through this time ... thank you for doing this Doug ..
Long live the Stones, Strawbs, and the Moodies.
Well that’s subjective but I get why it’s important to you and why that is said. Definitely some great artists and songs came out of that time period
My era too. I like later stuff also, but those years are my favorites.
It was a time they let the inmates run the music studio asylum
I believe "The Sixties" were actually 1965 to 1975. The culture was different before '65 and then disco killed the sixties around or about '75.
The line you mentioned, "And if you could see what it's done to me, To lose the the love I knew could safely lead me through" is a reference to the loss of his dad not too long before. He was very close to both of his parents.
Question is a masterpiece. Crank up the volume and it really packs a punch too. Love from Norway
Exactly my thoughts and what I do. Love from Australia.
Justin Hayward's gorgeous voice singing that great melody in the center section........with that perfectly-written Mellotron orchestration playing behind him......haunting, soaring, bittersweet. Some of the most beautiful music this generation and this genre has ever produced.
I feel so lucky to have been 11 years old in 1970 because my youth was exposed to such brilliant rock bands such as The Moody Blues. And their music is so timely to the current issues.
Justin was under pressure to come in with a new song for a booked Decca recording session but only had two part finished songs. It was 2 am that very morning and Justin decided, (although they were in very different tempos, they were both in the same key) the solution was to combine the two contrasting songs together. The band took to the song very quickly in just a few takes, with no overdubs needed.
The Four Seasons track Silver Star has a similar structure - a slow middle with musings on life, bracketed by faster-tempo opener and closer. Wonder if they pinched the idea from the Moodies?
Correct. He discusses this in one of his interviews that is on YT. IMHO, Justin Hayward is far above Lennon & McCartney on the musical genius scale.
One of my favorite Moodies songs. Hearing thousands of people sing this with them in concert is almost a religious experience. Very moving. Lyrics still apply today.
RIP Moody Blues founding member and drummer Graeme Edge.
Fun fact: Nancy Wilson of Heart based the acoustic intro to "Crazy on You" on "Question."
So obvious now that you say that.
I never knew this, but it certainly makes sense now.
Yeah, wouldn’t surprise me. It was a big song.
Yes, I can definitely hear that...
Moody Blues mixed Music and Poetry so well. They were my first Musical Love
Me too. Graham Edge( R.I.P. )= Incredible Poet.
Absolutely
my mum was a classically trained musician and I was 16 when this album came out ... I was exploring prog, led zep etc. at the time most of which she couldn't abide but on the Moodies we were unanimous .. she knew good music when she heard it!!
very similar to myself.
The Moody Blues? Pure musical brilliance! Will love their songs for the rest of my life! Their live performance I saw on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) was nothing short of breathtaking. All you had to do was look at the audience to see how loved they are.
You could do a whole video on John Lodge's melodic bass lines. He's so underrated & never comes up in discussions of great rock or prog bassists. But in most Moody Blues songs (and his own solo songs) he's playing countermelodies to everything else going in in the song. I find him a very unique & creative player.
The Moodys were my Zen place in high school. Threshold of a Dream was my first album, I had my parents buy me the ones before for Christmas. I went to their concerts once a year, no matter what state I lived in, or what I was doing.
Threshold of a Dream is one I used to play frequently back in the mid 70s.
Amen. Me too
Thanks for the breakdown of this marvelous song. 1970 was a hallmark year for pop/rock music and I consider Question a hallmark song from 1970 and the best of the Moody Blues. As a big prog rock/heavy metal fan I can't thank them enough for laying the foundation (among a few others) for symphonic/prog rock. Question still can give me chills and when I'm alone , even bring me to tears...
Hayworth is a musical genius, he can write melodic pieces of music and can sing
It’s Hayward. But yes, I agree! 🎼🎶🎸
One of my favorites, rediscovered when I bought my first cd. Surprised to find my brother had the album. It was one the ones he keeps til today.
The Moody Blues started in 1965. They morphed into a sort of Group that every Hippie and Flower child I ever knew, simply adored. They were cosmic, Earthy, all the stuff of the late 1960s culture. I was never into the Hippie scene during that time, but I was in the midst of that whole era. Lots of fun, and great music came out of the 60s and 70s.
Thanks
It's nice to see someone discover or rediscover the Moody Blues. Once I discovered them, I never departed. Their compositions are most likely, the best ever in any genre of rock and roll.
By the way, Doug, it's not that the questions aren't being asked any more, as you alluded to at 11:22.
Those who ask, are being censored or shouted down or de-platformed from social media.
They all should take a listen to the Moodies and chill.....and start communicating again!
Very well said Mike.
These guys invented the concept album. Days of Future Past was about a day in the life of Everyman. In Search of the Lost Chord was about inner awareness, through hallucinogens, meditation, Eastern philosophy, etc. To Our Children's Children Children was about the wonder of childhood and the endless possibilities that the future held, eg through the exploration of space. A Question of Balance is a philosophical discussion about our place in universe, on a personal and a cosmic scale. On the Threshhold of a Dream was about dreams. D'uh. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was a more personal album about individual development, loves won and lost, and music (the mnemonic). Most of these songs blend from one to the next without a pause, so the albums are meant to be heard in one go. Seventh Sojourn has themes from the 6 previous albums all wrapped up together as a sort of lyrical summary of the preceding works, but ends with their rocking-est song - I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band. Enjoy the trip!
It is my fervent hope that Dr. Doug is convinced at some point to listen to the Magnificent Seven in their entirety in chronological order.
...please???
MarcBrenner, I'd agree that the Moodies were -- and remain -- The Masters of the Concept Album. FYI, the first Moodies' album I listened to was To Our Children's Children's Children (TOCCC). I didn't realize it at the time, but I started with Side 2 and heard the tones of "Gypsy" flowing out of the speakers -- and it blew my mind! I am SOOOO grateful that my oldest brother brought this album home with him after he finished his hitch in the US Army and a tour in Vietnam.
I don't remember for sure -- this was when Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was the new album on the streets -- but I think A Question of Balance (AQOB) was the next Moodies album I dared play. I say "dared" because this was so wholly different from any other music I was listening to at the time, that I found myself in intellectually and emotionally uncharted territory every time I set needle to vinyl. It was, frankly, both exciting and a bit scary.
But one thing is certain: Moodies music was a product of its time, and to understand it properly, we have to look at it in context. For me, born in 1957, it was both a historical and a current context in which we were engaged in a Cold War, not just of the United States against the Soviet Union, but of NATO against the Warsaw Pact. Here in America, you could practically walk across the Hudson River and the Cuyahoga River caught fire. In the UK, the Thames River was practically lifeless and a health hazard to anyone who accidentally strayed into its waters. This is part of the historical context for AQOB.
On the other hand, TOCCC was written and recorded shortly after humans walked on the Moon for the first time. The possibilities of humans in space seemed to open endless worlds to us. Even though some of the possibilities seemed frightening ("frightening him with visions that can never be"), the overall tone of the album was hopeful.
That brings me back to looking at the two albums together. Since then, I've gone on to a Master of Science degree in Studies of the Future, and I've looked at these two albums through new eyes -- not the Eyes of A Child, but the Eyes of a Futurist. And what I see is that these two albums are sort of a mirror image of each other: one, mostly hope; the other more despair, but both pointing to our collective futures and asking which we will choose.
In either case, any song on either album must be viewed -- and reviewed -- in the context of the entire album. On AQOB, there's "How Is It (We Are Here)", "Don't You Feel Small", and "Melancholy Man" to continue the theme of undesirable futures looming before us. But there's also "The Tortoise and the Hare", "The Minstrel's Song" and "The Balance" reminding us that it's the choices we make in the present that create the futures we bequeath to our descendants. On TOCCC, "Higher and Higher", "The Eyes of a Child" (Parts 1 and 2), "Floating" "Out and In" and "Candle of Life" demonstrate what human futures including other worlds might be desirable, but there's also "I Never Thought I'd Live to Be A Hundred", "Gypsy", "Eternity Road", "I Never Thought I'd Live to Be A Million" and "Watching and Waiting" suggesting that there are other futures out there, waiting to be realized, that we might find undesirable.
So, in context of the rest of the album, "Question" both challenges us and charges us: it challenges us to explore our futures for ways to avoid disaster, and it gives us permission to make those choices that will leave desirable futures to those who will live in the futures we leave them.
Now, of course, I'd love to hear more about how the Moodies accomplished their goals musically. What is it about the music that moves us? How do the structures and the instrumentation create the moods of the individual songs, and how do the production techniques move us through the pieces to create what seems a seamless whole?
Quite a challenge, that, eh?
It is widely accepted the initial inspiration for TOCCC album was the moon landing. I also suspect some of the band may have been inspired by reading Sci Fi. I have always thought that what it is really about is the concept of multi generational space travel. Quite a conceptional undertaking to imagine starting a journey that take several lifetimes and that your descendants eventually complete the journey not to mention that at light speed travel based on Einstein's theory one generation might live centuries or longer hence the songs I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Hundred or A Million. Gypsy was always a favorite and seems to be about someone who is a sole survivor hurtling though space who is now disconnected from all that has preceded him. The overall album concept is perhaps a little murky due to the presence of multiple writers contributing but that diversity is also one of the albums enduring musical strengths. Like most songs/albums it is what it means to you in the long run that is important. After all they are just singers in a rock and roll band.
@@CaryOn11, you wrote, "Gypsy was always a favorite and seems to be about someone who is a sole survivor hurtling though space who is now disconnected from all that has preceded him." Have you ever read Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War"? Haldeman's characters are all Gypsies. However, TOCCC came out in 1969, while "The Forever War" came out in 1974.
I guess what Tom Lehrer's friend Hen3ry said about life is true . . . .
speaking of songs that flow from one to the next...."This is the Moody Blues" (kind of a greatest hits double album) was a masterpiece of song construction as they blended from one to the next!
One of the songs, there are several, the audience sings at full volume. A number of times during shows Justin and John would look at each another and smile at the volume of sound coming back at them. The Moodies have always supplied goosebump music the sound would lift your spirits. Witnessing the band with full orchestral backup is something I will always cherish.
Doug- The morning of the recording session Justin Hayward had the main part of the song down but didn’t have a middle. The middle section was something he had written before and he just fit it in- it is really TWO songs melded together- that from Justin himself.
The Moodys were my gateway into Yes, Genesis, etc. back in the 70s. To Our Children's... is my very favorite album by them. DoFP blew my mind.
My favorite as well.
That's right, not actually prog, but precursors of it. Without Mike Pinder demonstrating to the world the sounds a dedicated musician could get out of a mellotron, where would King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and rest be without him? Yet he's in receipt of almost no credit. There's a rumour Mike's not well, I wish him the best........
The Moodies got me into Yes, Focus and E.L.P.
My older brother brought To Our Children's Children's Children and I was blown away by the new sound world.
He then brought Fragile and Foxtrot
I'm so grateful for this early musical experience 50 years on!
First Prog Rock band or Gateway to Prog Rock.
Justin wrote a beautiful song from two points of view: the soldier, and those at home. The song closes with the two subjects feeling the same for very different reasons.
Justin Hayward told the story of this song as two different song/motifs he was developing and merged them into one song. Clearly two musical moments that just work as one extended piece. Moodies never get props. So glad you have revisited them. It was a time of turmoil. I remember being on Haight St in San Francisco in 1969 and walking over to Golden Gate park and they were playing In Search of the Lost Chord, OM/Heaven with incense and beneficial herb in the air and it made for a great trip. Moodies were seminal to progressive/art rock, concept albums and eventually Mike Pinder's explorations that led to many new age and psychedelic adventures.
That saved me some typing! :-)
That's still my favorite Moodies album. I always related to that longing for answers, the spiritual search to better ourselves and our world. Now it seems the world really is burning in its greed.
@@1nelsondj after enforcing us business interests in central America (e.g. banana republics) General Butler complained "War is a Racket", Moodies saw it too, most wars are profit making enterprises.
(War Is a Racket is a speech and a 1935 short book, by Smedley D. Butler, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient. ... After Butler retired from the US Marine Corps in October 1931, he made a nationwide tour in the early 1930s giving his speech "War is a Racket".)
And Justin Hayward is a Libra...the balance.
@@Sam_Utah and he exposed a planned coup d'etat
Justin was working on two different, separate songs. The album had to be finished, so he decided to integrate them.
On another scale, it reminds me of A Day In The Life, where John and Paul had their own individual, uncompleted songs, and combined them to create a master piece, with the more dynamic part in the middle, whilst Question reverses this.
Love your analysis of the Moodies. Shows how well constructed great music is.
My first couple rock concerts were The Moody Blues. My dad took us to see them many times, starting when I was, I think, 7 or 8 ☺️. The last time I saw them was about 10 years ago maybe? I’d see them if they came here again for sure!
So many good memories of listening to these albums when I was a kid, putting together jigsaw puzzles in the tv room in our basement. I grew up on these guys. I still love them. Probably seen them live 10 times throughout my life. My dad and mom with me every time.
A couple years ago, I bought my own turntable and the following Christmas, my dad gifted me with 6 or 7 Moody Blues albums (I had a couple already). I have almost all of them now. The memories live on. ❤ And I still enjoy listening to them with my dad.
This is their classic lineup and one of their all time best tunes.
This song always gets me. So moving and masterful from one of the best bands of all time.
The fathers of prog rock, well worth a deep dive. No one used a mellotron better than Mike Pinder.
While I'm only 53, my parents were *huge* fans of the Moody's. I "let them" drag me to about 2 dozen concerts before I was 18, and had to start buying my own tickets. Saw them another dozen times after that. They're the band I've seen live the most often, by a wide margin. Pink Floyd is second, with 9 live shows.
Ah, The Moodies. The gateway to prog in my teens and my "therapy band" in the present day. This album is a stone cold classic and I'm almost embarrassed to say how many times I listened to it during 2020, it got me through some dark stuff. I wish the world would sit down, tighten up their headbands, turn off the lights and put this on.
It sounds like two separate songs because it was. Justin put two songs together late one night before he had an early recording session the next day and needed something to record!! 😌 fabulous.
I discovered the Moody Blues in college, 35 years ago and have listened to them ever since.
The arc of this album is just wonderful, with some really interesting songs stylistically on the journey start to finish.
Doug, Doug:
I implore you to do a segment with the Strawbs. Preferably from Hero and Heroine.
You won't regret it. Thanks
Autumn. Perfect time for it. Classic.
Or Ghosts.
Or something from "From the Witchwood"...
Basically anything from the Strawbs, brilliant group.
Oh yesssss....... I've been a fan of theirs for 50 years now. Autumn would be perfect.
And if you didn't know, Doug, Question was 2 songs put together at day before recording. But yet, they work together wonderfully.
"Isn't Life Strange" is another beautiful Moody Blues piece you should react to soon.
Yes, is a hard song from Moody Blues!
The slow section of the song has for many years been an audience sing-along in live performances, by tradition. In recent years, both with the full band (which stopped touring in 2018) and Justin's solo shows, the last time through the slow section, Justin will say, "Help me out on this next line," he'll drop out and the audience will get louder as we sing "I'm looking for a miracle in my life." The other fun thing with this song is coming out of the slow section, Justin will brace his feet before he starts the fast and furious strumming for the final section.
Ahhh the Moodies! I have so many great memories of discovering their music back when I was in high school, then later being lucky enough to be able to attend countless casino shows when they used to perform in Lake Tahoe. They ended every show with this song. They would play there a couple of times per year and performed multiple shows over the course of a weekend and my friends and I used to attend every single show! We’d always sit at the tables directly in front of the stage. I always brought my 35mm camera and would take several rolls of film. I got some fantastic shots and often Justin and John would smile and pose for me. Sadly, I don’t have any of those photos anymore because I lost everything a few years ago in a fire. I did often make duplicates of some of the best shots for some friends, so maybe I’ll try to get some copies. Another fun thing about those casino shows: the band stayed there in the hotel so every now and then we’d see them around. I rode the elevator with Justin Hayward one time, and by the time he got off, we were the only two left onboard so exchanged a few words. He’s such a gentleman and very soft spoken. He’s also very tall, a fact you don’t realize when you see him onstage or on a TV screen.
As a guitar player who had wanted to learn this song for a long time, I finally discovered tha Justin tunes his 12-string guitar for this song to an open C Major chord which is why you get such a unique combination of harmonies. It also requires that the guitar player learn a whole new set of finger positions to play the chords the way Justin plays them. but it all results in such a beautiful and different sound and I love playing it on my own 12-string. It's a magical song..
I bought this on cassette when I was about 16. I ended up enjoying the whole thing, this being one of my favorites.
Hi Doug, just now heard of you. I like what you do and hope to learn a lot from you. You know and explain much more about the music of my life, that is Moody Blues' music, than I ever did. It's remarkable to me to hear someone explain the mechanics of music -- it's always been a magical mystery to me.
Back in the day when we sat around listening to the Moodies we had the LP album covers to look at and try to understand those wonderful graphics. We also had the lyrics printed on the album covers to try to understand what the song had to say, "the message in the music." Some nutters went to extremes thinking the Moodies had the answers to those questions we all had about the world. (By the way, "I'm just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band" was a response to those fanatics.) But most of us were satisfied with perhaps being stoned and or tripping and could feel simpatico with the Moodies' songs. Those first several albums of this configuration of the Moodies, referred to as the Core 7, had good songs that we loved listening to, but were better listened to as full albums. (I think this 'album theme' was a mark of phychedelic-to-progressive rock at that stage.) For a youngster you're pretty good at understanding the feeling of 1970. We wondered what to do about the war in Vietnam -- big question. We also had questions about our place in the world as most young adults have always done, and still do. We also were looking for individuals to love and we were looking at the many meanings of love. I thought, and still think, Question brings all of those aspects of our lives in that era to the fore. That's how I explained the change between the hard, heavy parts of the song and the softer, lovelier parts. (That phrasing demonstrates my ignorance of how music works.:-) There were sharp differences in how we saw the world and how we felt about it -- the song reflects that. Hope you can understand my take on "Question". Thanks for sharing your thoughts, knowledge and talents here.
"In Search of the Lost Chord" is my favorite from them, but love all of the classic seven.
To grow up in the 60's and 70's still holds tremendous memories. I saw the Moodies perhaps 4-5x. And YES and ELP and so many others
The message that was in their music made a major impression on their fans, to the point that some fans would ask for the band members to touch their children. This bugged them out a bit and contributed to their desire for a hiatus after Seventh Sojourn.
I am nostalgic for the days when musicians could sing or play an instrument or something. The Moodys are brilliant! And Justin Hayward is a terrific vocalist, also on Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds.
Remember when songs were settings of poetry? This is a chorlied in all but name.
Very insightful interpretation of the lyrics Doug--thank you for doing that as well as discussing the music. The MB were probably the best band at articulating the many facets of society and the wonders of life in general during the late 60s well through the 1970s.They are a greatly underrated band. Those who have listened/studied the Moody Blues for many decades (such as myself) can only marvel at their insights, the love and fantastic music they produced. There are many thousands (thousands of millions?:)?) of people who LOVE the Moody Blues, and I am certainly one of those people. Speak to your wife again and have her suggest more Moody Blues pieces to you. She may want you to go with Nights in White Satin--there are literally dozens and dozens to choose from.
The two BEST Moody Blues compositions, in my opinion, are *The Land Of Make Believe* and *You And Me.* Soaring climaxes that give me chills. They're both on the same album, *Seventh Sojourn.* Hope you review them...
Seventh Sojourn was the first album I bought with my own money from a part-time job. Love both those songs, along with New Horizons. Radio ruined I'm Just a Singer for me, with overplay.
Agree!
You And Me caught me off guard one day and I haven't stopped listening to it since. It's Up To You took me awhile, too. Lost In A Lost World (and the whole rest of the PERFECT Seventh Sojourn album) gives me chills, though. Peace.
You and Me was co- written by Graeme Edge and Justin Hayward. One of favorite songs that they did.
You nailed it: Seventh Sojourn is the perfect album. Every song is stunning. It’s also the perfect conclusion to their core 7 - it’s a serious album, with serious issues, with a sense of profound maturity. Tight. Perfect.
The Story in Your eyes is worth a look, Doug!
So glad you did this one. I gotta say- I'm shocked you haven't done more Jethro Tull, given the stuff that you like. Your thick as a brick episode was one of your best. Please do more!!! Preferably studio stuff rather than live.
I agree about sticking to studio albums. Anderson is a fun an dynamic performer, but his voice isn't very consistent, and I feel JT's production and quality is vastly superior in the studio output. I recommend Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses, Stand Up, or Minstrel In the Gallery. All great albums with some really interesting songs with some unusual styles:
-Living in the Past
-Sweet Dream
-Bouree (must listen for classical aficionado)
-One White Duck/0"=Nothing At All
-Baker St. Muse
-March, the Mad Scientist
-Songs from the Wood
-Hunting Girl
- ...And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps...
-Moths
Tons of great stuff.
When you stop and think about it you won't believe it's true; all the love you've been giving has all been meant for you.... lyrical genius!
The strungs and other orchestral sounds are all the Mellatron…their signature instrument, played by Mike Pinder.
The pseudo precursor to Yes’ Close to the Edge in structure is Ray Thomas’ Legend of a Mind. It is a 6.5 minute song that has a spacey flutey middle part, several tempo changes and bounces back and forth between between A Mixolydian and A minor in the chorus.
"The Love you've been giving has all been meant for you". We love in hopes of being loved, the balance is in giving as it runs equal to receiving. All relationships through all species, the Bond of life... Thank you for both musical and thought dissection of these musicians. A welcomed relief from the D,C,G, base rock of the day although I did enjoy some of that as well. Was pulled in to real music after hearing late 60's rendition of Beethoven's 9th underscoring Peace and Understanding... I look forward to more of your analysis videos. Please dig deeper into the 'Moody Blues', you'll be rewarded...
Play more Moody Blues. They are the best
Well done, Doug. For your next foray into Moody Blues please check out The Dream/Have You Heard/The Voyage suite on the Threshold of a Dream album.
YES! YES! YES!
My fav band. How they combine all different things together is amazing.
As a father and the son of a Vietnam Veteran, this song strikes my heart so hard.
Can't wait! This is in my top 5 albums of all time and hands down the best album art ever in my opinion.
Melancholy Man
As I also wrote previously, the "Days" Album with the excellent orchestration and conducting by the late Peter Knight, reminds me of their 50th Anniversary Concert about ten years ago presented at Royal Albert Hall, again with a full orchestra, conducted by Larry Baird. Mr. Baird traveled with the band, and conducted the orchestra at Red Rocks, and maybe also here in Nashville, and if so, then he probably led each orchestra in each city where their summer tour presented concerts. Baird was very faithful to follow what Mr. Knight had done on the "Days" Album, on each of the several cuts from that L P that the band presented at Royal Albert Hall. As you probably know Doug, Mike Pinder, had left the Band after being with them for about ten years to be remarried to a lady and raise a family with her at his ranch in California. Both Ray Thomas and Grame Edge were still alive to play the Anniversary Concert. You may enjoy viewing and listening to their appearance in the summer of 1970, when Pinder was still with them, and they played at The Isle of Wight Festival, off the west coast of England. Ted S.
My favorite song on this album is Melancholy Man. It took my mind away from my world at the time. The Moody Blues kept me somewhat sane when I was around 20.
What Danny said. Mike Pinder was a master on the Mellotron
Great analysis and insight Doug. The song was originally two songs by Hayward . The strings were as always Melotron strings arranged by Mike Pinder who was in many ways the soul of the Moodies. Other Moodies tracks you could try ... Visions of Paradise, Eternity Road and The Voyage.
melancholy man too
I remember back in the 70's tripping while listening to the music and pouring over the album art.
Doug instructed The Moody Blues on the fact that the question has many different answers.
This song came out when I was a teenager. And in the late 1960's, we had the vietnam war, which no one supported. And we were asking questions about war, hate, and death. That no one stepped up to to answer. This song was important in it's time. And the Moody Blues are a very under rated group. As well as Justin, he was such an under rated songwriter, and musician as well.
The Moodies were great at playing with songs and blending rock, folk and whatever styles fit the feelings they want to impart. The beauty of Progressive Rock.
Missed this when you originally released the video. This song still gives me goosebumps on the chorus.
Who doesn't love The Moodies? They are so classy and timeless. I saw them maybe ten years ago in Knoxville, TN and they still had it. Their voices were still strong.
How about "Pictures at an Exhibition" by ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and MEKONG DELTA ?
Tarcus and the Principle of Doubt ☺️
Justin Hayward had two partly written songs in the same key, and he blended them for the first track of the concept album 'Question'. It's resolved in the final track, 'The Balance'. All instruments were played by the Moodies themselves, but using a Mellotron for the orchestral sounds.
All the Moody Blues concerts I went to in the 70s and 80s were almost always sing-a-longs. We all knew the lyrics by heart! And if the concert was in an enclosed arena, like the Spectrum in Phildelphia, PA, you didn't have to bring your own "herbal supplements", somebody always seemed to be passing a joint around. And even if you take a hit the pass-arounds, you were certain to get a "contact" buzz from all the second hand smoke. sigh. Good memories.
You should check out Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. "Eve of the War" is a good place to start. Justin Hayward sings all over the album.
Yes, please do this album!
That would be awesome. My stepdad had that album; I played it to death as a kid
War of the Worlds is one of may all-time faves - Phil Lynott is on there, too (Thin Lizzy). No, Nathaniel, no…Peace from Toronto
John Lodge also cut a vocal for Thunderchild but they didn't use his version on the finished album.
But little to do with the Moody Blues, except Justin Hayward had a part.
I’d absolutely love to hear an analysis of Days if Future Passed in it’s entirety.
Thank you!
I've been asking Dr. Doug for that since prior to him starting his Patreon. I'm particularly interested in his analysis of Peter Knight's orchestral interludes between the band's tracks.
in my opinion, the first prog album.
I as well have asked for this album as well. I really would love to hear his analysis on it as a whole.
Oh yeah. "Cold hearted orb that rules the night " needs the recitation part.
@@IllumeEltanin Doug is probably working up to that tune. A lot going on in that one from a classical angle.
Hello Doug, I saw the Moody Blues at the Royal Albert Hall sometime in the 60's. They were very well known for using an instrument called a mellotron
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellotron which could play a series of tapes and give a range of sounds
Thanks for doing this song Doug. You hit the nail on the head with your comments and words about modern times my musical brother. I am 31, I went to two moody concerts as a child with my parents, and family. It is amazing how much truth this song still holds even today. Keep knocking at the door everybody, they will answer eventually, or it will simply fall.
They don't write popular music like this any more. Justin Hayward wrote some of the best songs of that era.
The Lemon Twigs write and perform songs as great as this, NOW!
When the Moodies played at Red Rocks, Justin Hayward made my list of the top 10 hottest rock stars in history.
The ladies have Pinterest pages of Justin in his classic white poet's shirts. (I'm sure some men are enjoying him too!)
Sorry ladies - Justin has been married for over 50 years. He and his wife, who is a professional golfer, have a daughter named Doremi.
Your comparison to now is pretty spot on for this. Consider when this was released in 1970 - during the vietnam war, civil rights issues, nixon. Somewhat parallel times.
Unlike today, however, people at that time became more philosophical and introspective, searching for answers to bigger questions instead of digging in on one side or the other and lobbing spitballs day and night at each other.
The Moodys and several other prog rock bands got a lot of us through that nightmare. We were lucky to have them.
Their music is so nourishing for the soul
Great stuff, Doug. Thanks for another enjoyable lesson. 🙂
The Moody Blues album " To Our Children's Children's Children" lends for an interesting full album review.
Keep up the awesome work, Maestro. 👍😉
Children’s children is an awesome album!
"Gypsy" is OUTSTANDING!
"I'm just a singer in a rock and roll band" from "Seventh Sojourn" is as good as it gets for the Moody Blues". An artists take on the responsibilities of knowing the truth, and what to do with it. A very real extension of this song years later, and their last song before the went totally commercial.
At 8:35 you stated about singing along with this. Back in 2001 I went to a Moody Blues concert at a small venue winery, Paul Masson in Saratoga, Ca.. Maybe 2000 attendance. From the very start, We all sang every word to every song they played. Many with their eyes closed in bliss. I had an 80 year old to my left and a young teenager to my right. We sang, we sang our hearts out. Proving their music crosses Generations. The Ushers were dancing in the Isles. To this day, That is my Number 1 concert I have ever been to of nearly a hundred from various other bands. They say that Magic is not real. I beg to differ........I was there ! Now at 67 the memory is still sharp about this event.
The art work of the album was just so good.
The juxtaposition of the fast and slow pieces are deliberate. The fast part is the questions posed to the void, basically. The slow part is actually how the singer is personally feeling by NOT getting an answer and, more importantly, feeling ignored and even dismissed. The best part of the Moody Blues is that ALL THEY EVER DID WAS THEME ALBUMS. The answers are developed through the rest of the songs on the album and, finally, the closing song Answer tells you how THEY came to the answer that works for them.
You need to do “Procession- The Story in Your Eyes” for a real treat…
My favorite Moody song and so glad to see someone do a reaction to it and do a great
analysis to it as well. This song will be relevant to today as it will be 50 years from now.
I recall Justin saying something about Question coming from two different pieces that he was working on which he couldn't quite get how he wanted them, until he got inspired to put them together.
I bought this when it first come out. Timeless.
I was lucky to see them in 1970 - they were just marvelous.
Nice! I saw them for the Long Distance Voyager tour, so I didn't get to see Pinder.
Oh, so many great Moody Blues songs to suggest. For My Lady is such a lovely song from Seventh Sojourn.
The gray in sleeping is also dream time when you're out of body and in connection with your higher self. This song is also very spiritual in its lyrics. All of this is also very relevant to what is going on today with the great awakening and the veil being lifted from humanity's eyes.
Love your videos Doug!
That orchestration is Mike Pinder on that fabulous instrument, the Mellotron. You probably know the instrument?
Man, and there were a few times he ran it through Marshall amps live. What a powerful sound he got out of that! It was kind of difficult to control live at times because the tapes and would be slightly out of tune, but it sounded great!
Check out the old live recordings, Isle of Wight in 1970 for one. It was the tour for the QOB album, or if its still out there, Live +5.
Keep the Faith Y'all...
Thank you for your reviews. BTW those violins you mentioned, is Mike Pinder's Mellotron :)
Gray=a path less travelled=the unknown...for the brave...Ty Doug