Days of Future Passed: The Moody Blues - Extended Play Lounge (Ep. 22)
Added 2022-06-14 17:27:45 +0000 UTCOur 22nd installment of the Extended Play Lounge has us visiting the music of the Moody Blues for the first time in this series. This was my first time hearing this album in its entirety, and some of the songs were first time listens. It's a beautiful and historic album, and I had a wonderful time reacting to it. I hope you enjoy!
Unlisted Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/720319407/80382aa445
Comments
First time listen, along with Doug… This is not Prog. IMO, this is 60s BritPop with some psychedelia… Cool concept, interesting orchestra interludes… Not my cup of tea. If this is the high point of The Moody Blues, I’ll take a pass on the rest…
Steve Hartke
2023-09-01 03:49:09 +0000 UTCListening to this album again makes me reflect on the progression of popular music at this point in time. IMO, it's not full on prog, more like proto prog. Later other bands like Yes, ELP, Genesis, Renaissance, etc., will more fully integrate classical music with rock and also with a higher degree of musical complexity and musicianship. That in no way diminishes this album, again, IMO. It is an exquisitely crafted album and a great accomplishment by the Moodies.
Gerard Dion
2022-09-07 03:03:55 +0000 UTCI'm new to this stuff, I was born 5 years after this album appeared. But I really enjoyed it. Of course I know nights in white satin and I love it. About 1 year after recording this album Genesis started their carreer and their first album had also orchestral pieces in it, or at least strings because the producer insisted to use them. It seems that was a common thing in the late 60ies. The Moody Blues show how to combine orchester and band just wonderfully.
Jan Michael
2022-07-01 22:25:18 +0000 UTCIf anyone is interested, Jim Newstead reacted to side 1 of his vinyl copy of Days of Future Passed yesterday, and side 2 today. Jim is more of an entertainment reactor, so his reaction isn't as detailed as Dr. Doug's, but it's kind of nice to see an honest non-classically trained musician's reaction to the orchestral interludes and separation of the interludes from the band's tracks. He says his vinyl copy is not an original, but rather a repressing from '67 or '68. However, I'm pretty sure the original mix is retained on this copy, as the falsetto and other harmonies on Twilight Time about 10 minutes into the second video are definitely better than in the mix Dr. Doug listened to. Hopefully Jim will continue the journey through the Magnificent Seven as well.
Illume Eltanin
2022-06-28 14:24:55 +0000 UTCI think this album is important (regardless of its status as "progressive" in a technical sense---by the way, you'd probably enjoy Edward Macan's scholarly book on progressive rock). This is even more conceptually tight than the usual suspect ("Sgt. Pepper").
Allen
2022-06-26 10:21:24 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed this one Doug. I liked how you emphasized the allegorical nature of their "Days" as "ages" in our life; I didn't pick up on that while I've been listening to this over the years.
Allen
2022-06-26 10:19:44 +0000 UTCThank you for this. While I miss the finishing orchestral interlude, it is wonderful to hear the proper harmonies again.
Illume Eltanin
2022-06-19 18:03:27 +0000 UTCGreat stuff! Ageless, timeless music from arguably the greatest era of creativity
Christopher Minarich
2022-06-19 10:44:42 +0000 UTCHello Doug. Thanks again for a fine and enjoyable review! I, however, don’t consider this album as progressive. Perhaps proto-progressive at best. It’s pretty basic rock with lovely orchestral music folded in. There are two undeniable and timeless classic songs- Tuesday Afternoon and Nights in White Satin. For me, progressive rock started mainly with The Nice and King Crimson.
Gerard Dion
2022-06-18 23:43:07 +0000 UTC"In the context of the narrative, it definitely connects." Welcome to album rock.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-18 03:43:46 +0000 UTCHow can you not feel a sense of bliss after listening to the Moodies, lovely experience, thanks for the journey
Itsfun2listen
2022-06-16 19:37:12 +0000 UTCHmm. I think the somber feel of "Dawn Is a Feeling" suggests that the adult is the one preparing to think about that journey back to childhood...with the full knowledge of the night. After all: the second before dawn, it IS still nighttime. And: that reversed gong beginning the instrumental overture suggests something similar: the beginning recapitulates the end, so too the man contemplates his life, and it's only with "Another Morning" that we fully inhabit the "child's world"...
Jeff Norman
2022-06-16 03:29:19 +0000 UTCTransatlantic did an excellent cover of Nights in White Satin. Hearing Neal Morse sing it was very special. Definitely worth a look
Zachary Bell
2022-06-16 02:29:13 +0000 UTCPinder reads Graeme's poetry
Frankie Cerniglia
2022-06-16 00:07:22 +0000 UTCI love Ray and Mike's tunes on Side 2 as much the more well known songs
Frankie Cerniglia
2022-06-15 23:54:56 +0000 UTChttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQCmqLE52Q0 has the vocal harmonies I refer to above, for comparison
Jeff Norman
2022-06-15 16:36:56 +0000 UTCMellotron as 'lo-fi orchestra". Exactly. And in the right hands (and a little touch of reverb), that little keyboard could summon the full glory and power of the real thing.
Peter Tutak
2022-06-15 15:15:43 +0000 UTCDoug, we've seen you excited, interested, challenged, enthused, flummoxed, puzzled, but for the first time, with this album, Days of Future Passed, we've seen you delighted. This is exactly how I felt upon my first listen in 1967. And of note, in classic '60's speak, its "Passed" not "Past" - double entendre, I guess. Thank you. Well Done.
Dan Noyes
2022-06-15 05:44:24 +0000 UTCAlso: I love your generous attitude. I've long liked the song-songs here, but felt a bit indifferent to the orchestral sections. While a few moments still strike me as a bit Muzak-y (the opening to "Lunch Hour"), I can definitely better appreciate Knight's orchestrational skill, thanks to your comments.
Jeff Norman
2022-06-15 04:30:36 +0000 UTCSo...you should know that what you listened to is NOT the originally released recording. Apparently, at some point, tapes for several parts were lost and not recovered for years. Most notably: if you thought some of Lodge's melodic leaps in the chorus to "Evening Time to Get Away" seemed a bit odd...there's multipart harmony vocal backing that was on the original recording but not in this version. That's the main difference I know of—there are a few others as well. While Lodge has a wonderful falsetto, it does feel a bit exposed to me as heard here...perhaps because it was never meant to be heard without the surrounding (but absent) harmonies.
Jeff Norman
2022-06-15 04:29:23 +0000 UTCIf anyone wants Dr. Doug to continue his journey of the Moody Blues Magnificent Seven albums, On Search of The Lost Chord has been submitted to be upvoted in the #recommend-vote channel of Dr. Doug's Discord. Let's get it on the Master List.
Illume Eltanin
2022-06-15 03:36:34 +0000 UTCOh. My. Stars... Dr. Doug, thank you. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!! I am in tears, this was so wonderful. Seeing your smile as Peter Knight's orchestration plays, and hearing someone say this album wouldn't be what it is without his orchestration is exactly what I was hoping for someone with a classical background to say. I don't know how much, if any, recognition and acknowledgement of his contribution Knight got for his contribution over the years, but hearing such from you has brought me comfort that he has been acknowledged, even though I have no connection to him whatsoever, other than a fan of this album. I am so glad you picked up on the forward and backwards gong and the looping of Morning Glory/Late Lament. I seriously feel those things, and the fact that Morning Glory follows the Night's In White Satin motif in The Day Begins overture, and Late Lament follows Nights In White Satin itself helps drive the point of a day cycling over and over home. But, this brings up my own personal interpretation of the album's concept. It bloody took me a decade to catch on to the cycle of the album and two decades to jump from the concept of a single day to the depiction of a lifetime. Yes, as others say, at face value it depicts a single day in the life of every man. And yes, each segment of the day corresponds to a time of life, so it also depicts the lifetime of every man. But... As you progress further into the Moody Blues Magnificent Seven albums (and yes, I'll be requesting In Search of the Lost Chord in recommend-submit, if someone hasn't beaten me to it), you'll discover several, if not all of the members of the band were into Eastern Mysticism. So, while the cycling of a single day makes sense, how does the cycling fit into a lifetime? "This day will last A thousand years If you want it to" My personal interpretation beyond the concepts of a single day and a single lifetime is that Days Of Future Passed is about reincarnation/samsara. Many Eastern Mysticism paths teach that reincarnation is a learning process, and the end goal is attaining the true insight of impermanence and non-self reality, i.e. moksha/nirvana. One has to want to attain nirvana, hence the above line. Once again, thank you. This was truly worth the wait.
Illume Eltanin
2022-06-15 00:46:05 +0000 UTCDon't overlook the parody "Nights at White Castle"! https://youtu.be/6cYHnpFuEG0
Woofy
2022-06-14 23:36:43 +0000 UTCI can hear echoes of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe in the first track, especially after the poem's invocation of Helios. I wouldn't have recognized that as a young man in his 20s hearing this for the first time.
Monty Ernst
2022-06-14 23:15:09 +0000 UTCOf course! Thanks for this.
R. Douglas Helvering
2022-06-14 21:25:31 +0000 UTCThank you, Doug, for an insightful reaction. I've been waiting for this one a long time. I agree that the album uses a single day as a metaphor for a person's life, but it also works if we take it at face value, representing just a single day in a life. Then the line, "This day will last a thousand years if you want it to", can be read as advising us to make each day matter, because the value in any day depends on how we live it. So whether it's children playing, the hustle and bustle of the peak hour, the idealism of chasing the clouds away, or the quiet reflection of evening, pay attention to all of it. A nice reminder (carpe diem) -- and a nice start to my Tuesday afternoon!
Richard Moore
2022-06-14 20:24:09 +0000 UTCThe album ends with a gong -- they took that sound and reversed it to be the opening sound -- so Yes, Doug, you got it! Peak Hour Orch opening -- very reminiscent of "travelling music" you might find in certain old movies or broadway musicals. And then the band's portion has a section that sounded a lot like "Ride My SeeSaw" intro. Definitely Tuesday Afternoon and Nights in White Satin had been released on other albums (without the orchestra) but didn't get much impact -- when they were melded with the orchestra in this album they had a renaissance and came back into popular play so much stronger. The other band songs may have also been on other albums, but collectively they became this theme album.
Great Scott
2022-06-14 20:09:10 +0000 UTCThank you for this Doug. It is the same sort of thing as going back to a First Folio Shakespeare, if you're talking about hi-fi, recording techniques and such. I can forgive the muddiness, the lack of clarity in some sections, because believe me at the time this was the future. I well remember when this came out and I fell in love with both Nights and Justin Hayward, I was aged 8 years old and listening to "Saturday Club" on the radio and playing with my dollies. David Symonds the DJ played it, and the said how beautiful it was, and then played it again! I put my dollies down, stared at the radio and felt this track in my guts. It was amazing. Both Hayward and Lodge play their tracks from this album in concerts even now.
Chris Ramsbottom
2022-06-14 20:00:42 +0000 UTCThis great album was made as a demonstration of new stereo sounds. Most interesting is that if you continue to listen to the Moody's catalog, all of each member's song writing and sound style is defined here.
Stop Propaganda
2022-06-14 19:00:40 +0000 UTCYay! Take the whole journey. Looking forward to this journey. My favorite section is that spacy section in the evening. "And the world still goes on through the night......." I know all the first major seven albums by heart. Plus Blue Jays. They are like more mature Beatles. Back after! [time elapses] I thought you might like that! :) And I think you may be on something, I mean onto something, when you suspected a reverse gong at the beginning. Never in my life have I thought that, but I do now. It's those hypnotic eyes. Plus it kinda sounds like a reverse gong. The next six albums are the same kind of thematic conceptuality.
MrWondrous David Beckwith
2022-06-14 17:55:12 +0000 UTCIf you notice, it was on the Deram label, which was a speciality label for Decca, experimenting with stereo sound.
Dave Cohen
2022-06-14 17:52:34 +0000 UTC
