I've noticed that my reviews, much to my internal disappointment, have drifted in a kind of pendulum fashion: I'm either ponderously thrashing a thoroughly shoddy album from start to finish, or I'm sheepishly mewing the praises of the glorious greats. Problem is, I'm eventually going to run out of albums to review. More importantly, I'm cutting out the middle class. Sad as it is to admit, most albums are middling affairs, and I wish it were otherwise. Ergo, I've decided to put up the Magnificent Moodies on the chopping block. Besides Days Of Future Passed (which I love unconditionally), the Moody Blues have never really put out a terrible album, but have revealed that there's not much to their musical coffers, either. They were, more or less, a great singles band but who used that great single or so and surrounded it with fubbly filler. (Sorry for the patois; it's de rigueur in my mad little world and I always prefer sound to sense.)
While every good boy may deserve favour, the Moodies certainly don't deserve it for their efforts here. A good portion of the album is a recycled orchestral wash. I never listen to the drug-addled mysticism of "Procession," the lullaby pomp of "Emily's Song" or the torpidly lush "My Song." Instead, I prefer tracks like "Nice To Be Here" and "The Guessing Game." Sure, I'm not bobbing up and down with delight, but they're still good. The real meat, I think, is in "After You Came" and the gorgeously melancholy "The Story Of Your Eyes" -- which features quite possibly their best guitar work (with solo!) and most maddeningly depressing lyrics; it's one of my favorite songs of theirs, if that's worth a mention. Otherwise, this is one of those albums where every other song is skip-worthy. C
1 comment:
I have to agree with you about the Moodies. Days of Future Passed, considered in the context of its time, is awfully good, even if it is lyrically a little over the top. After that, they had some very good songs, but no truly great records.
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