SEVENTH SOJOURN

The Moody Blues

Crossover Prog

3.75 | 337 ratings

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Easy Livin
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Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

Just the singers in a rock and roll band?

For me, "Seventh Sojourn" was one of the best Moody Blues albums. This is in no small part because it includes "Isn't life strange", a beautiful 3 verse 3 chorus ballad with lush orchestration. It may seem like sacrilege to say so, but there a Bee Gees feel to the song in terms of structure and sound. It was a huge hit single, which consolidated the success the band enjoyed with their previous single "Question". By the way, the "Live at Red Rocks" version includes a magnificent extended orchestral break.

"I'm just a singer (in a rock and roll band") was the other hit single taken from the album, and finds the band in full heads down Status Quo mood. The song starts like an old steam train, with Graham Edge on drums winding up the pace gradually from a standing start to a frantic runaway train. Edge then maintains that driving pace over a wall of sound, with brief all encompassing stops only serving to emphasise the sheer power and volume of the piece. If your toes don't tap along with this one, check if your legs have fallen off!

Ray Thomas contribution "For my lady" is a lovely sea shanty influenced song, while "New Horizons" is a softer "Watching and waiting" type song with more traditional Moodies sound.

These then are the highlights, but the album as a whole is coherent, and melodic from start to finish. This apparently belies the rather difficult atmosphere within the band during the recordings. Much of the album can be found on the excellent "Time traveller" compilation.

Note, the extended remaster includes several bonus tracks, among them an 8 minute "original recording" of "Isn't life strange" with additional orchestration. The added orchestration is different to that on the "Red Rocks" set.

Easy Livin | 5/5 | 2004-3-6

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