The Smiley Smile Message Board

Alright, let's have at it for my "other" favorite band. I imagine this thread will get a very mixed reception, a lot of people seem to hate the Moodies, especially the prog heads. By The Moody Blues, I also mean the Denny Laine/Clint Warwick/Mike Pinder/Ray Thomas/Graeme Edge incarnation of "Go Now!" and "From The Bottom Of My Heart". There was a band before there were Justin Hayward and John Lodge.

I was addicted for a time to Threshold and Childrens Children.  That combination of acid and melotron very nearly left me in orbit a number of times.  But the Moodies always left me with a soft pillow of music to crash on.

nuff said

You should hear the Caught Live + 5 album. The mellotron sounds positively demonic on there.

Are we allowed to talk about the Justin Hayward era of the band? Cause 'In Search of the Lost Chord" is one of the best albums of the psych era bar none -- certainly one of the top ten most listenable and accessible! A solid, solid album.

We're talking all eras of the Moodies here, Jon.

I should love them, maybe I will someday.

That verse is the exact reason I can't stand The Moody Blues.

ROFL. I love that song. I tried to listen to the rest of "Days of Future Passed", and just couldn't get into it. That song, though, is beautiful to me alone.

.. and the first album I ever bought! That album got me hooked on music totally .. 'Legend Of A Mind' .. 'House Of 4 Doors' .. 'The Best Way To Travel' ..

It certainly opened my 14 year old mind at the time 8)

Ahhh, its pretentious and fogey but its really quite lovely, all told! You must embrace it! Emmmbraaaaace it!

As a kid, "Days" was one of my first entrants into psych music in general.

I liked the original Denny Laine era band, but after he left they seemed to me to take a head-first leap into overblown pomposity. As a bunch of white English guys trying to be a soul band they seemed more real to me than as "hey-look-us-be-fancy" proggers.

I was playing Days of Future Passed on my little Fisher-Price record player when I was 6 years old. My mother had all of the 1967-72 albums, all of which I wore out by the time I was 10.

There you go! They're psych for kiddies!

They're very light as far as the psychedelia was concerned, I thought they had more in common with bands like Procol Harum as far as the psychedelia was concerned. They're not as bad as most of the progressive bands are (I'm thinking of ELP, Yes, and Rush as some examples of true suckage).

You're a man after my own heart, Jason.

I love "Magnificent Moodies"...

Must get "Days of Future Past", "Nights in White Satin" is one of me favourite songs...

So haunting.

Ian, I always thought the prog movement was incredibly overrated. There are only two so-called prog bands that I like, Pink Floyd and the Moodies. If I wanted 25 minute solos, I'd listen to Coltrane, not Keith Emerson. Emerson's soloing has no SOUL, man!

Genesis!  King Crimson!  SPLIT ENZ!

You need to check out King Crimson and Genesis with Gabriel on vox.
Otherwise, Prog ain't nothing but a city in Czechoslovakia.

Haha, you beat me to it, Idyll!

I've listened to both Crimson and Genesis. I like them, but they're nowhere near being favorites of mine. They're just THERE to me. Not denying the talent of either band.

Does Kraftwerk count as a prog band? I think they do, since the Krautrock movement was all formed on the basis of the American and British prog movements.

Jethro Tull!

Boooooooooo! Booooooooooo!

My God!

...Go listen to that ;)

I kinda dislike Tull, too. At least the prof version. When they were a blooze/folk band, This Was-Benefit-era, they were all right.

I guess Can counts too, if so, they're probably the best Prog band.

Well, being an aspiring flautist, I find the incredible virtuosity of Ians playing something to behold.

Ian Anderson is a fine flautist. He's a very talented musician. I just don't dig his band.

Ummm, I'm trying not to giggle.

 :D

Haha, you bastards :)

 ;)

Yes are freaking great, and "Close To The Edge" is one of the best, tightest, most focused prog records ever made. There's no "soloing" to speak of, the arrangements go intriguing places, the songs are terrific and the vocal harmonies are transcendent.

Tull. Benefit.  I think this was their peak.  Go back and have a listen.  Not a dull moment. 

Someone mentioned Emerson solos....as having no soul.  I agree.  I once went to a midnight movie featuring ELP.  The keyboard turned upside down and it was STILL boring.  And I felt the same way about the Wakeman stuff.  Pretentious, self indulgent noodling.

OK.  Now the Yes fans can feel free to rip my ass.  Its ok.  I understand. ;D

Nah, I don't like Wakeman much either. Luckily, on the albums, there isn't much "wanky soloing" from him.

"wanky soloing"   lol lol lol!!!!

This could be a thread in itself...the greatest wanking solo of all time..

Well I'm late to the conversation and will now bring it back to the Moodies.

I LOVE,  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Moody Blues. In fact I'm listening to 'To Our Children's Children's Children' right now.

There's not another band out there puts my soul at ease like the Moody Blues. From the moment when that c minor chord strikes on Dawn is a Feeling, to that final sweeping string section of Nights In White Satin, I am in a state of complete bliss. 'Days of Future Passed' has quickly worked it's way into my all time top five records. I really can't say enough about the damn record. And Twilght Time! TWILIGHT TIME fodaING KICKS THE ASS OF MOST EVERYTHING. Alright, that might be a bit much, but it's just such a groovy track.

And I agree with Jon on 'In Search of the Lost Chord.' I remember a thread about the greatest opening tracks a while back, and 'Ride My See-Saw' should've been mentioned somewhere in that thread (I don't think I read much of it). Few records deliver such an exhilarting start to a journey. One of those being SMiLE with Heroes & Villians.

Aren't See-Saw and Heroes the second tracks on their respective albums?  ;)

I was wondering when you were going to show up on this thread.

I've gotta try this band again.

lol! I knew someone was going to point that out.

I really don't see what's so pretentious about the Moodies. They're all about evoking imagery and peacefulness. I think that opening to 'Days' is a perfect tablesetter for the album ahead.

If your talking pretentious, you must be talking about Yes  :D

So is Mannheim Steamroller.

I will definitely break out my Moodies collection. I feel a change of heart coming on.


 ;D

Sweet Jesus, I can't believe you just made that comparison. lol

Hey man, I wasn't comparing the two bands, just saying they have a similar aim according to your classification!

ENUFF with the Yes dissing. Yes, I *get* it, they're not as hip as your GENESIS WITH PETER GABRIEL or whatever, but lord god, "Close To The Edge," people!! Just the first two minutes of Siberian Khatru ALONE!


It kinda does. Yeah. Days of Future Passed -- underrated album in every way. Fallen out of favor, unfairly.

That's hilarious, because every time I see a Yes dis, I can picture your eyes bugging out of your head!  ;D

Justin Hayward, I consider, as one of the best music writers the pop world has ever seen.  His songs just grab me and keep me interested because of how they flow and build up, come back down, build back up, etc.  I've seen people who don't even know who the Moodies are hear a Hayward song and say, "Hey, play that back - that was a pretty good song".  Hayward's songs have such a warm and inviting feel to them and I'm sure there are many who feel the same way, but can't describe it as such, let alone know who Hayward is.

Days is a very great album.  Chord/Childrens/Threshold...yeah, they have their moments (Intro to Seesaw, Its Up To You, Have You Heard I & II, Gypsy, etc) are very good songs.  But those three albums, to me, are mediocre.  They don't have the feel of Days or Sojourn.   Sojourn, I really like a lot.  It seems as if it was a rather "Abbey Road" kind of thing because from what's been written from the band member's mouths today, they do admit they thought that album was going to be their last and they seemed to, as George Harrison stated when referring to Abbey Road is, "Make it neat, leave it good and tidy". 

The stuff after that has some nice moments, but the rest is almost of a velveeta type of consistency. 

EGBDF is a sheer bore to listen to.  "Story" and the intro section of Moog work from Pinder are the only things on that one worth a crap.



As far as Yes goes, they're pretty good.  Sure Jon Anderson's an egomaniac, so is Wakeman...and yes, I do like Topographic Oceans!   Yessongs is one of the best live albums I've ever heard, even though the sound could use a good mix, polishing and be immersed to sit in Windex for about a week because it is almost in mono.  Yes is not a group for mono...save that for Spector and Wilson.

ELP...great inspiration if you want to be a drummer.  Yeah, Emerson's a tool, but I really like Moogs - so who else is their to listen to for a barrage of Moogatry? 

As for Genesis...I'm SLOWLY getting into the Supper's Ready era after being raised on Genesis Cheese-Album all the way up to "Dance".  Collins is a kick ass drummer and I like Bank's keyboard work.  Sure a lot of the lyrics from their later period is pure schmutz, but their musicianship still remains to be top notch and intact.  "Blood On The Rooftops" is probalby my fav of theirs right now and has been for the past few years. 

I do feel if it weren't for things like Pet Sounds, Pepper, the drive for Smile, The Beatles and poppy British psychedelia, groups like Yes, Genesis and ELP wouldn't have had musicians push their limits past what at the time seem to be country-rock and dong-swinging-bang-all-the-chicks rock which was and is purely predictable, thus boring in a sense.


By the way, Mr. Hunt...DRAMA S-S-S-S-S-SUUUUUUUUCKS!!! :)

I love Drama.

There! I said it! I LOVE DRAMA!!

You ain't alone, Lester Byrd.


It's my pet project, getting people to stop automatically dismissing them anytime prog rock gets mentioned!

But then, I'm a prog junkie!

Poor, poor soul.  ;)