SEVENTH SOJOURN

I was very curious to listen to some Moody Blues' album, for many reasons: their fame, their albums' covers, which are usually very cool, their historic importance, also for their influence on other bands that came after them. Being me a great fan of Barclay James Harvest, I was so impressed and sad when I knew that they were stigmatized as the "poor man's moody blues". So I bought in my town "Pickuprecords" cd store this 1972 album in its remastered version. Soon it was on the cd player and saved as mp3 format in my pc's huge archive: after a month and many listenings I can tell what's is the result: mixed feelings, disappointment but a great sense of revenge! This last feeling became sure when I compared this album with the 1972 Barclay James Harvest's work titled Baby James Harvest. The same year, the same situation in which the two albums are respectively the last for some reasons: the Seventh Sojourn was the last of their "classic seven", before the band's break up until 1978; Baby James Harvest was the last album under the Emi label, before the band was dumped for never reaching the charts. It had to pass two years before Barclay James Harvest signed for Polydor, in 1974. Following the words of John Lodge this album was very loosely based on the idea of The Canterbury Tales, by Caucher, written in 1389 and deriving directly from the Boccaccio's Decameron, written between 1349-1351! In the album, in fact, everyone talks about what happened to them and tell stories. On one hand the Moodies make a more commercial sound (too commercial).I don't find any particular song with some "progressiveness". Isn't Life Strange, Lost In A Lost World (the best of the album, in my opinion) and The Land Of Make Believe are all good songs, I can confirm it! But seem to lack in something.; on the other hand you have the Baby James Harvest remastered cd, with true gems as bonus tracks (the Moodies' one has no extra track), with a great booklet with tons of information and photos and, above all, with a great selection of memorable songs: from the opener Crazy Over You to the over 10 mns long Summer Soldier; from the rocker Thank You to the classically Mahler-like 60 pieces-orchestra arranged opus Moonwater, penned by Wolstenholme.

.how some people (the press in particular) could (and can) stigmatize a band like this? Where are all those references? I recommend you also compare the two remastered cd versions and make yourself conscious of the real difference between a then (1972) commercial band and such a beautiful progressive/melodic one.

Do not misunderstand me! I cannot, and I won't say the Moody Blues' Seventh Sojourn is a bad album (in fact I like it, after all), but that it's not a good progressive effort!

Finally I got my satisfaction to see where the true differences lie, who are really BJH and, above all, what they are not! Maybe the previous Moody Blues albums are better, maybe could be miliar stones of the prog history! In fact there's no doubt on the fact that Days Of Future Passed is an important opus in music's history in general, in prog's history in particular. Also in Italy the song Nights In White Satin settles a prominent place, since it became famous for a cover version by the here memorable band I Nomadi (Ho Difeso Il Mio Amore). In Search Of The Lost Chord is great too. But for Seventh Sojourn, for now, my rating is only 2,5.

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