We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
Prog rock had many different variations in the early 70’s. From the bombast of ELP to the keyboard & guitar pyrotechnics of Yes…to the folkie earnestness of Fairport Convention and rock based tales of Jethro Tull. Of all the bands working at the time, the Moody Blues might have been the prettiest. Not in their looks but in the ways they melded melodies from their rock instruments to the classical orchestras that accompanied them.
“Every Good Boy Deserves Favour’, released in 1971, is the 7th LP and featured the core group of Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Ray Thomas, Graeme Edge and Mike Pinder.
After you get past the opening number called “Procession”, which is supposed to be a history of music in under five minutes or some other pretentious hogwash…The songs are filled with beautiful melodies and images. Pinder’s keyboards including mellotron and moog take the place of the orchestra on this one but it really doesn’t matter. With Lodge playing cello on the ode to his new daughter “Emily’s Song” and Thomas adding in oboe, flute and other woodwind instruments, you hardly notice the full orchestra’s absence.
My favorites are the Hayward tunes. “The Story in Your Eyes” is a cooker and ‘You Can Never Go Home” is also top notch, drenched with Hayward’s buzzy guitar which adds some edge throughout the LP.
Hayward did an excellent version of “The Story In Your Eyes” in 2015 with a string quartet.
The song “After You Came” written by Edge shows he’d been listening to The Who and Lodge contributes another lovely tune called ‘One More Time To Live”. And although you might laugh off the Thomas song “Nice To Be Here” as a song for children….it’s fun and hummable.
The album is capped off by one of the best things Pinder ever did simply called ‘My Song”. He creates a symphonic sound with all of his various keyboards.
As I have said for some of the other LPs I have reviewed here…this is not an album to put on in the background while you do something else. Pay attention and it has it’s rewards…and never really annoys you. There is something to be said for that.
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