10,000 Light Years Ago - Vintage Space Themed T-Shirt for Men & Women | Astronomy Lover Gift | Perfect for Cosplay, Sci-Fi Conventions & Space Enthusiasts

As much as I love my proto punk, post rock, detached electro, and metal prog the Moody Blues will always occupy a very special place in my heart. It could be said that these guys started progressive music, and while Court of the Crimson King is widely acknowledged as the beginning of the true progressive movement, Days of Future Past is undeniably the concept song cycle that incorporated orchestra and rock music in a completely new and unheard of way.Although I was still a little young for their first couple of albums, it was a friend’s sister that introduced me to more than their current AM staples. When I heard On the Threshold of a Dream I was never quite the same. I can actually remember where I was, see the room, and how I felt. There’s not a lot of things I can say that about, and perhaps a handful of albums that were truly conscious altering. The Moody Blues had more than one of those for me.What tends to get lost in history is that by the time these guys were calling it quits in 1973 was when groups like Genesis, Pink Floyd and Yes were just beginning to get traction. The Moody’s happened before there were super groups, before AOR, before “stadium bands”. In a way, they were the first of all of these, the terms just weren’t coined yet.Cutting edge in the studio, each of them were multi-talented musicians playing dozens of instruments. Of course, they were among the first to make keyboards an important part of their sound, making up for no longer having an orchestra. It’s said that Mike Pinder introduced the mellotron to the beatles, which was used in Strawberry Fields. I can certainly say that nobody handled the mellotron or chamberlin as well as he did. Of course, working at the Mellotron factory gave him unique insights to the finicky product and its inner workings (such as they were), which as the stories go saved them on more than one occasion. Needless to say, they provided the blueprint that would be followed by other bands throughout the coming 70’s.What’s unique if you want to coin them “prog” is that they all played within the framework of the song. You won’t find any 5 minute solos from any of these guys. One thing that set the Moody Blues apart was that each member contributed to an album, with each member having a singular vision and voice. Speaking of voice, how many bands can have nearly every member take lead vocals? Only Graeme had Mike read his poetry, which, after hearing Graeme’s accent, was a good move. These guys could harmonize like nobody’s business. While John’s abilities are more than serviceable, he was never as strong a vocalist as Justin, Mike or Ray, which is why he allowed Justin to take the lead on many of his songs. Not surprisingly, they all took each other’s contributions seriously, and worked hard to make sure every single song by each member was as good as it could be. As different as each Moodie’s songs were, the whole was truly greater than the sum of its parts making each album a journey.John Lodge of course made his own distinctive offerings to the band as the bass player. He wrote the rockers, and if any unique time signatures were to be found, it was usually on his songs. It wasn’t until I saw them live in the 70’s that I grasped what an amazing rhythm section he created with Graeme Edge. You can tell how John and Graeme were of a mind when you listen to songs like “Peak Hour”. These two were the time-stamp for the other three to follow. And It only takes the first few chords of a song like “You and Me” to understand how all of them meshed into a whole. John also pushed them in different directions on each of the classic albums. Songs like “Ride My See-Saw”, “Send Me No Wine”, “Tortoise and the Hare”, “Emily’s Song” and “Isn’t Life Strange” are just a few examples of this man’s boundless invention.After the brilliant Core 7 Albums, and due to the pressures of touring and putting out an album every year (or less) the Moodies sadly took a “hiatus”. Or as we used to say, they broke up. During this time they were rather prolific and all made solo efforts, but Hayward & Lodge’s “Blue Jays” along with Justin’s “Songwriter” were among the strongest. I have to confess, I never warmed up to Natural Avenue, save for the Roger Dean artwork. By the time the Moodies reconvened to give it one heck of a shot on Octave, the chemistry was gone. Part of the problem here was timing. Exacerbating matters, we were in the midst of disco, punk was emerging and progressive rock was on life support. It seems things just happened so much faster back then. This is where Mike exits the story. They had one more truly inspired outing without Pinder in Long Distance Voyager.There’s no reason for me to go through the history any further (I know I’m preaching to the choir), because we all know in the end it finally boiled down to Hayward and Lodge. Justin was (and is) obviously the most prolific of all the Moodies, with John at an increasingly distant second. Justin has continued to sporadically put out albums, but John has been quiet since 1977. Perhaps this is a good thing, as all of his attention was directed to the Moody Blues, and they have certainly needed any creative input they could get.Then all of a sudden out of the blue comes “10,000 Light Years Ago”.Where do I start? Well, if you’re expecting another Natural Avenue, or even Blue Jays, you’re not going to find it here. Believe it or not, I think that’s a good thing. At this stage I really expected a bunch of trite driving rockers in the vein of “Rock N Roll Over You” or “Sitting At The Wheel”, trying to recapture “I’m Just A Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)”. We are miles away from that here. John has co-written many of the songs with touring keyboard player Alan Hewitt, and for those of us who are familiar, Norda Mullen (flute, vocals) and Gordon Marshall (drums) are also along for the ride. In a brilliant move, John has brought in Chris Spedding, who many Blues-o-philes may recognize from Jeff Wayne’s “War of the Worlds” (among others). A fantastic session guitarist with a gift for versatility and speed.The album kicks off with a song that wouldn’t be out of place on a Pink Floyd album. Chris rolls in with a spacey Gilmour-ish guitar intro to the wandering “In My Mind”. While not totally out of left field, it’s not quite anything I would have expected from a Moodies album save for the lyrics. As for John (as we’ll see), he’s more interested in textures and mood instead of the rhythm machine we’ve come to expect. For an introductory song it’s nearly a perfect mood setter.Next up is perhaps the closest to the Mersey beat as I’ve heard out of John in ages. It’s no surprise he’s singing of his past in “Those Days in Birmingham”. Of all the bands I can think of, the Moodies were one of the least crazy (maybe why they’re still looking so good at 70) – so it’s fun to hear John’s nostalgic look backward to the early times. If I close my eyes, I can almost see a very young Pete Townsend singing this from the earliest days of The Who. Very nice.“Simply Magic” is as close to a reunion as we’ve had in 35 years. Mike Pinder and Ray Thomas lend their talents to a song that’s more akin to something Ray would have written in his heyday. It’s a bouncy, folksy number with happy lyrics of love and togetherness. If I were to complain (and I do), it’s a bit apparent that Ray and Mike were added a little after the fact. Norda is already playing the flute here, so Ray takes on the bass and ‘C’ flutes making him hard to pick out. Mike’s mellotron parts are also a bit lost as Alan’s keyboards are already awash throughout the arrangement. Still, it’s a gorgeous song and again, Chris Spedding does a great job as the studio chameleon he is. I would really like to have Alan and Norda sit it out on just this number, but I’m sure that the slightest thought of hurt feelings on this song in particular was something John worked hard to avoid.“Get Me Out Of Here” is one of the two songs I could see fitting onto a Moody Blues album, yet again has some interesting Floyd like undercurrents – both lyrically and in Spedding’s somber guitar work. Again we have soaring guitars and vocal harmonies that are as close to an anthem as John’s written in a long time. But it’s over almost as soon as it begins. We shift gears abruptly as John seems to be telling us not to get too comfortable. And so we play musical chairs for “Love Passed Me By”, and we’re treated to some Gypsy Jazz? Believe it or not, yes. Stand-up bass, violin, and “Last night when I was sleeping, I thought you were creeping into my cold and lonely room… it’s the day love passed me by”. But don’t put that fiddle away just yet! As long as we’re in this part of America, we move onto a bit of rollicking delta blues influence for “(You Drive Me) Crazy”. In a way, these last two are similar to the way Justin has always worn his love of Nashville on his sleeve, coming to the forefront on his latest “Spirits of the Western Sky”. So now we finally hear what’s been floating John’s boat all these years.Wow. So far, color me surprised. Moving back to more standard rock fair, “Lose Your Love” is probably as close to a misstep as you’ll find on the entire album. A very personal song I’m sure, but I don’t think I’d call it a grower. This is probably as close to a typical John Lodge ballad as we’ve heard, and is really a toss-away in my opinion. Although he did scare me hitting that last note – you’ll see what I mean. It’s not surprising that this wasn’t one co-written with Alan. It also just happens to be the longest song on the album. It’s pleasant enough, but nothing more and on somebody else’s disc would get skipped. Finally, we have what could be undeniably the Moody Blues influence of the album, complete with Graeme type poetry. 10,000 Light Years Ago. This is one of the strongest songs, but thankfully, not the only one. I see audiences with their lighters during the chorus……And then it’s over.Clocking in at not even a half hour, this album is longer than an EP by not a lot. However, back in the good old days of LP’s, 15 minutes a side was not too far from unusual. I’d much, much rather have this than some of these people who feel they’ve got to fill a CD with 80 minutes of music. I think at 70 years old this 20 July 2015, I’m happy to get this out of him at all. I’m really hoping though he’s found new inspiration and perhaps a second wind. It certainly sounds like it. Bottom line, I’m delighted that he met none of my expectations. He’s pushed himself far out of his comfort zone, and most every song here sounds as if he were doing covers. Except it’s all him (and Alan). He took some risks here, and I hope he’s rewarded for his efforts.Thank you John. And thanks for the memories.And please? Talk with Justin and maybe, just maybe you could get with Ray and Mike and give us just one more for the ages?Recommended for those that know.Three point five to four stars, rounded up to 5 because it’s my review and I can do whatever the heck I want.―[5-9-15 update] ―Audio Quality 4 starsI’m almost past rating albums based on sound quality anymore, because such things almost don’t exist. I’ve gotten to spend some quality time with this album and am ready to comment. So the question is, how *bad* is the brick walling on this one? Answer, it’s not all bad actually. Yes, they’ve pushed this for every bit they’ve got, and yes, it goes into full clip on some numbers unfortunately. But at least some of the songs give reprieve.There’s actually some dynamic range taking place, so check out the waveform files I’ve taken snaps of. Simply Magic is one of the better examples. You’ll see that compared to Send Me No Wine, the 2 look nearly identical. Another example where it fairs more poorly is Those Days in Birmingham and One More Time to Live (where it goes into the loud chorus part “for I have riches more than these – Desolation, Creation…”). Still, it should give you the idea that there’s a slightly more relaxed approach to the engineering here in at least a few places. Compared to another recent recording: Kate Pierson Guitars and Microphones – here we’re at full clip and it looks like a solid blue sea with an occasional gulp for air in between songs.Verdict: About half of it is certainly worth vinyl.My humble playback gear: Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) VK-220 SS amp with bat pack (12 oil filled capacitors), BAT VK-3ix tube Pre amp using Sovtek 6922 (gain stage) and 6V6 tubes with Six-Pak power supply upgrade and solid state phono stage, Thiel 2.2 speakers and Oppo BDP-95 digital front end with PS Audio XStream Plus cabling.