A QUESTION OF BALANCE

If "Nights in white satin" served to introduce the Moody Blues to a world-wide audience, "Question" showed that they did not need a full orchestra behind them to make top quality music. The song was released as a single, and soared high in the charts. It made a refreshing change to find a 5-6 minute piece of structured music (some years before "Bohemian Rhapsody") being recognised beyond the usual LP format. "Question" was undoubtedly a pioneering piece of music, with the two acoustic guitar driven bookends being separated by a beautiful, uplifting middle section. "A question of balance" is well worth getting hold of for this song alone.

The rest of the album however does contain some fine tracks. "Melancholy man" is a relatively rare outing on lead vocals for Mike Pinder. While the track has a basic simplicity, with two alternating lead and the backing themes, the performance belies this, making it appear far more complex. "And the tide rushes in" is a brief but superb lament, more in line with the many similar tracks which would follow on later albums.

There are some weaker tracks too, but nothing worthy of overt criticism. In all, it's an excellent early album from this perennial band.

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