TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN

"To Our Children's Children's Children" is the 5th full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act The Moody Blues. The album was released through Threshold Records in November 1969. It´s the successor to "On the Threshold of a Dream" which was released on the 25th of April 1969, so that´s two full-length studio album releases within a seven month period from the band. "To Our Children's Children's Children" was the first release on The Moody Blues own newly formed Threshold Records.

The music style on "To Our Children's Children's Children" is similar to the style on "On the Threshold of a Dream". I will go as far as to call them sibling albums. The melodic and song oriented pop/rock style with progressive features like flute and mellotron is still the order of the day. The vocals are pleasant, accessible, and the harmonies are smooth and well sounding. The album is consistent in quality in terms of songwriting, musicianship, and production values. It´s sometimes almost a little too polished and nice, and a few more rocking parts and just a little bit of grit would have made the material more interesting. Album opener "Higher and Higher" features some grit and harder rocking parts and it´s great to hear the band rock out (the instrumental "Beyond" has a little of it too). The second track "Eyes of a Child I" however immediately takes us into mellow and tranquill semi-progressive pop/rock territory again.

One of the great assets of the music is the parts where Mike Pinder´s mellotron is the focus, which provides the material with an epic symphonic quality. The instrumentation is generally well arranged and pleasant sounding. Upon conclusion "To Our Children's Children's Children" is a good quality song oriented melodic and slightly progressive pop/rock album. To my ears "Gypsy (Of a Strange and Distant Time)" with its hard rocking basis and slighly darker atmosphere is one of the highlights of the album, but it is generally an album without many standout tracks. Quite a few of the songs are very similar in their slow, melodic, and layered pop/rock style, and not much unconventional happens. I dare say some of the album is therefore a little dull. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.