IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD

A marked improvement over Days of Future Passed, In Search of the Lost Chord proves that the prime-era Moodies didn't need an orchestra to produce lush, sweeping, dramatic music. A more engaging listen thanks to the loss of the classical interludes, the album explores nebulous concepts around the search for emotional and spiritual fulfilment, which is eventually in Eastern mysticism. As you can imagine from an album which includes tributes to Timothy Leary (Legend of a Mind), it's an album decidedly in tune with the hippy subculture of its era, though all the tracks have aged well bar the closing Om - a rather tedious bit of cultural appropriation that doesn't really go anywhere. Though perhaps that song (and The Word, the Graeme Edge poem that leads into it) suffers from following The Actor - anything would pale in comparison to the swooning vocal crescendos of one of Hayward's absolute best compositions.

Although every member of the band lends a hand to the songwriting, the first side leans heaily on John Lodge and Ray Thomas compositions - including the racing Ride My See-Saw and the classic Legend of a Mind - whilst side two tends towards Hayward and Pinder's compositions. Of the two sides, I think the first one is mildly stronger - to be honest, Mike Pinder isn't my favourite composer of the Moodies, both Om and The Best Way to Travel seeming to play off hippy culture without bringing much interesting to the table - but Hayward's fine compositions save the second side from being a complete letdown. Not an outright classic, but a big step in the right direction for the Moodies.