TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN

Years ago (1974) I went to live for a couple of years in the USA, (from Britain), as a then 19 year old. Obviously I was aware of the Beatles and Pink Floyd, and even some Roxy Music (albums), but was not really an album person, rather I was 'singles' oriented. Went out to Colorado from Chicago (my base), spent a night on a waterbed at a friend of a friends, listened to this album... pot probably helped, but... this was something special. I REALLY got into this big time, and like 'Dark Side of the Moon', this was rarely not played some day of the next 12 months. I ended up getting into all their classic 7 albums (Days of Future to Seventh Sojourn), and loved them all. However, this one for me is the essential one.

The album cover and title set the mood/intrigue. The whole is a journey, that takes you to another place. 'Blasting, billowing forth with the power of 10 billion butterfly sneeezes', (the God like beginning), then the beautiful harp strokes that signal "Eyes of a Child', and it's lovely harmonies, then the God like aah's segue into "Floating', you're weightless and bouncing around like an astronaut. Then a lot of instrumental mellotron which is tinged with urgency/angst takes you into the highly atmospheric opening to the very thought provoking/stoned/haunting 'Out and In". Mike Pinder was a genius of Mellotron riffs, and in this song and 'My Song' (on Every Good Boy Deserves Favour) he crafts beginnings and endings to the songs that have you playing that track over and over again as soon as it ends ... 'a song that never ends'..., I used to crank that right up, because the fade out was so addictive...the song so beautiful.

Then, you're into Gypsy, with it's ominous urgency/pyrotechnics ... Justin Hayward, apart from his plaintive wonderful voice, was no slouch with the guitar/memorable hooks. Again, a highly atmospheric song. Next you're into Ray Thomas singing 'Travelling Eternity Road', a fantastic song, that somehow tugs at your mortality... and the flute is just one part of what sets it off. One thing I loved about this album, all 5 guys contributed a song at least, and there wasn't a dud here. The transition from song to song is remarkable ... it just flows so smoothly from one highly memorable tune to another. Next we're into 'The Candle of Life' (please! please!, burn slowly! Doesn't time fly, now I'm 51! .... in some ways this album is very depressing/sad, and yet highly personal/illuminating. "So love, everybody, and make them your friends'.. if only it were that easy, lovely sentiments, and this is a highly ornamented song, with a lot of nobility, sense of our ultimate isolation from one another about it. Yes, this is another gem.

Then we're into more astral journeys with 'Sun is still shining', courtesy of the essential Mike Pinder (they were never quite the same after he left, even though 'Long Distance Voyager' was very good). The last track, 'Watching and Waiting', is a choker ... don't listen to this if you're feeling sad/depressed ... you might want to end it all ... it really tugs at your heartstrings, you can end up feeling very sorry for yourself.

Overall, Pinder's use of mellotron links the songs brilliantly. I have over 200 cds in my collection, but have probably never played any album half as much as this one, although I find it hard to listen to now, because it takes me back to a time that is gone forever, which now I find hard to bear. But this is one clever album. They don't make 'em like that anymore.