EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR

"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" is the 7th full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act The Moody Blues. The album was released through Threshold Records in July 1971. It´s the successor to "A Question of Balance" from August 1970. The original vinyl version featured 9 tracks while the 2007 remaster features two additional bonus tracks ("The Story in Your Eyes" (original version)" and "The Dreamer").

The album sees the band return to their more familiar orchestrated/layered style after the short experimentation with a more stripped down instrumentation and sound on "A Question of Balance (1970)". This means an omnipresence of mellotron and vocal harmonies/choirs, in addition to the regulear rock instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums. The tracks are generally relatively simple vers/chorus structured, so the sophistication of the music is typically in the way the compositions are arranged.

The most experimental tracks on "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" are the two songs bookending the album. Album opener "Procession" is a sound collage type of track. Definitely a bold move to open an album with a track like that. The 6:20 minutes long album closer "My song" is a slow building and epic track featuring an exquisite orchestral arrangement and epic melancholic song melodies. It´s a dynamic and dramatic track and it´s definitely one of the more progressive oriented tracks on the album. I´m reminded a little of contemporary Procol Harum. Another highlight and one of the standout tracks on the album is "One More Time to Live". It´s another epic track featuring both flute and a clever and grand orchestral arrangement.

House producer Tony Clarke has crafted a well sounding, organic, and detailed production, which suits the material perfectly, and upon conclusion "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" is a good quality release by The Moody Blues. The most interesting tracks are the most progressive oriented tracks and unfortunately there aren´t that many of those, because when the band dable in more regular melodic and simple pop/rock territories they have a tendency to produce rather limb and forgettable material. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.