IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD

The third album by the Moodies is probably thought of as their second album by most people, being unaware of the pre-Hayward/Lodge debut album. This is almost as different to Days Of Future Passed as that album was to the debut. The orchestra is gone and now more emphasis is put on the Mellotron. The band members taught themselves how to play 33 different instruments during these sessions. Overall the result is a better, less dated and more proggy album than it's predecessor. However, this album is still dated and not extremely proggy.

The songwriting credits are spread out fairly evenly among the members. All the members sing with drummer Graeme Edge doing the narration during opener "Departure" and "The Word". These two are similar to the spoken word sections on Days. "Departure" is a great spacey opening with the voice slowly getting sped up. Some laughing and then it segues into "Ride My See-Saw". This is one of the Moodies more popular songs but I never really cared for it too much. I've always loved the part with the "ahhh"s though. All the albums the Moodies released during this era had most of the songs segueing together.

"Dr. Livingstone, I Presume" is one of singer/flautist Ray Thomas' best songs. Great chorus. "The House Of Four Doors" is in two parts, with the great "Legend Of A Mind" sandwiched in between. These three tracks in a row are some of the proggiest music that was released in 1968. The "House" songs alternate between a vocal song and the sound of doors being opened which lead to totally unrelated instrumental sections which make great use of the multiple instruments they used. "Legend" is a great prog song for 1968. One of the Moodies best songs. This song is sometimes known as "Timothy Leary" due to the lyrics, which doesn't mention the title. The song goes through different changes and it just flows so well. Some of the best Mellotron playing you will ever hear mixed with awesome vocal harmonies.

"The Best Way To Travel" is one of keyboardist Mike Pinder's better songs. Some nice Mellotron work here. Love the acoustic guitar playing at the end; almost Spanish sounding. "Visions Of Paradise" is one of the better songs here. Has a gorgeous melody on flute. Nice vocals and sitar. Just a beautiful song. "The Word" apparently, is "Om". This last song is very Indian sounding and probably one of the most dated things the Moodies ever did. Shows the band at their most 'hippie'.

A great classic album that, nonetheless, being a Moodies album can be embarassingly dated at times. It's quite an accomplishment that that they managed to learn, play and record all those instruments on this album. The sound is very full for a 1968 album, but like other albums of this period, the drums are way too low in the mix. I would give this 3.5 but will bump it up to to it's historical significance. 4 stars.