EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR

I am not an expert in The Moody Blues music as I have some collection of their albums plus my familiarity with what was very popular at that time: "Night In White Satin". When I saw the CD this album couple of months ago at local music store, I was impressed with the cover artwork and that was my chief reason to buy this album. Musically, I expected something conceptual and progressive. At first spin of the CD I did not understand what the band was trying to achieve with this album as most of the music presented here lack melodies and some of them lack harmony. But I did try to spin couple of times to get familiar with the music. It grew on me.

It starts with ambient and unstructured "Procession" (4:40) which musically it's very little to offer even though there are some organ work and clavinet which do not form a cohesive whole. It then moves to the psychedelic "The story in your eyes" (2:56) with The Beatles style followed with "Our guessing game" (3:34) in similar vein. The next track "Emily's song" (3:42) sounds better musically as it has stronger harmony compared to previous tracks. "After you came" (4:39) brings the album into upbeat music. This track has an interesting interlude in the middle of the track. The guitar work (electric) sounds good in filling the gaps between segments. "One more time to live" (5:41) starts nice with nice acoustic guitar followed with mellow vocal line. It continues nicely to next track "Nice to be here" (4:23) in similar vein. The electric guitar work here sounds something that (I believe) inspired Brian May of Queen. This is a good ballad track. "You can never go home" (4:14) is probably the most melodic song of this album. The song moves nicely in mellow style. The album closes with "My song" (6:19) where at the opening part there is Eastern nuance followed with nice string section and good melody. The acoustic guitar solo is also good.

Overall, this is a good album. The music is not something that stimulates you at first spin but with couple of spins it might grow on you as what I had experienced it. If you expect something that is obviously prog, you can hardly find here. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW