DECEMBER

December is The Moody Blues' last album, their sixteenth, and it was released, eleven years ago in the year 2003, pachaged in, this time, a fine painting of a winter landscape. This is a christmas album with both known and unknown christmas songs for the audience to delight. The length is just enough and the album has a fine smooth aura which characterizes every track and almost every moment here. The musicians who participates here are Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Graeme Edge and Norda Mullen(flutist).

Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood for these cheesy christmas songs. I found them uninspired and pale. If I wan't to hear the known ones of this album I would rather hear either more traditional ones or more experimental. A progressive christmas album would have been something. The Moody Blues were progressive in the late sixties and the early seventies + one record from the early eighties. Furthermore my interest has faded. The music is for certain still soft and warm and it would certainly please someone, but not me, and probably not most prog fans. Somebody would say The Moody Blues had never been a real prog band, I don't agree. They were one of thoose band how explored and defined the prog rock genre, even if their sound didn't became the normative prog. Between 1967 and 1972(+1981) they expanded the rock music with great ambition. The band problably won't become one of my favourites but I'll take with me "Days of Future Passed", "To our childrens childrens children", "Every good boy deserves favour", "Seventh sojourn" and "Long distance voyager" as very good albums which described a beautiful time period. Many of their more recent things have unfortunately been pale shadows of them, and it doesn't help to mention "Days of future passed" on every record. "December" wasn't enough for me, and quite an uniteresting end of "The Moody Blues'" carreer.