TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN

Every MOODIES fan has their favourite of the superb seven, and this is mine.

This album encompasses such a wide range of sensibilities. 'To Our Children's Children's Children' manages to rock out, such as on the opening track (with a frenzied guitar solo). It has the most maudlin and melancholy music (the closer, 'Watching and Waiting', for example, a HAYWARD tear jerker). The segues here between song fragments, a technique tried less than successfully on the previous album, work perfectly here. Part 2 of 'The Eyes of a Child' is marvelously up-tempo: pure genius. I'll even forgive JOHN LODGE his falsetto for once. They make us wait until most of the way through the first side before they wheel out JUSTIN HAYWARD, and good thing too: much as I marvel at his voice, the MOODIES are far more than a crooner's backing band. Superior compositional skills take the listener on the most intense journey, from 'Eyes of a Child' (its two parts separated by THOMAS' typically whimsical 'Floating') through the fabulous psychedelic 'Beyond', complete with stereo tricks, to PINDER'S lugubrious 'Out and In'. This is fitting, as the album ostensibly celebrates man's journey to the moon. On this album THE MOODY BLUES get the balance exactly right, a balance they never achieve again (despite the title of their next album).

Side two is a slightly more formulaic affair, but the songwriting continues to be top notch. There simply isn't a dud here; every song is a keeper, from the rocky 'Gypsy' through to the haunting 'Watching and Waiting'. This album is by far the most complex they made: so complex, in fact, it proved difficult to play live, as the overdubbery and other studio trickery could not be transposed to a live setting. This, along with the absence of a hit single, limited the popularity of the album, and encouraged the band to strip their sound back for their next endeavour. Such a pity.

Because of its complexity, the perfection of their sound, and the absence of the more overt commercial numbers, this to my mind is the outstanding MOODY BLUES record, and I believe one that everyone should own. You can listen to this one right through without reaching for the skip button. In fact, you'll probably press 'repeat' at the end.