Moody Blues
In Search Of The Lost Chord

THE REVIEW

Just born and already so promising. The brit-pop in '68 was still quite juvenile (like my cousin) but was already churning out ideas at a rapid pace: the Who, the Beatles, the very first Pink Floyd, etc...

The Moody Blues were contemporaries of these sacred monsters, but they didn't achieve such widespread and legendary success (at least outside of the United Kingdom). Born as an r'n'b group they had a troubled life but climbed the charts multiple times. The band underwent several line-up changes until the line-up composed of Hayward-Pinder-Lodge-Thomas-Edge, a fantastic line-up that towards the end of the sixties brought forth various masterpieces.
The first is surely 'Days Of Future Past', a fusion in unsuspecting times of psychedelia, vocal harmonies, and symphonic music, while the second (and perhaps more successful) is titled 'In Search Of The Lost Chord' in which the orchestral vein is set aside, preferring an almost pioneering use of the mellotron.

After the necessary intro for a concept album, Ride my see-saw starts, a majestic ride of guitars and choirs that broke into all possible charts of the era. It is followed by Dr. Livingstone, I presume which with its wavering start anticipates the more sarcastic and swing of the Smiths, only to be entirely imbued with the sound of the mellotron. House of four doors begins as progressive as ever, but leaving out any genius and convoluted flair, and gradually becomes more mystical and airy. The same atmosphere is present in the touching and rightly lysergic tribute to Timothy Leary.

Another piece that breathes much inspiration and emotion is Voices of the sky, thanks to its sweet advancement it was yet another hit for a group that flirted well with charts as open and spectacular as never again in the years. The rest of the album is less memorable but no less solid and intriguing, apart from in my opinion the disappointing closing track Om: the instrumental virtuosity and the overly bizarre and brassy infatuation with folklore and Indian music transform what should have been the pinnacle of the album into a brief odyssey of rare tedium.

It's just a shame that the Moody didn't close this small milestone of psychedelia sooner.