IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD

To a large extent, this album picks up where the group's previous effort, Days of Future Passed, left off. Given the relative success of Days of Future Passed, this makes sense. In particular, 'Voices in the Sky,' 'The Actor,' and 'Ride My See-Saw' help In Search of the Lost Chord sound like a logical next step for the band.

Among the elements the Moodies kept from their prior album were the poetry recitations ('Departure' and 'The Word'), the use of multiple lead singers (no one sings lead on more than three of the twelve tracks), and, throughout the album, an odd mixing formula which often seems to crank up the solo vocals and overhead drum mics while drenching the choruses in reverb and placing them back in the mix. All of this, plus the liberal use of the Mellotron, make it impossible to confuse this for anything but late-1960s Moody Blues album.

There are some significant changes from Days of Future Passed, though; most notably, there's no orchestra this time. Compared to Days of Future Passed, the concept here (a 'search,' to quote the album title, or a journey of exploration) is vague and abstract, and I wonder whether, without the constraints of a more concrete theme, the Moodies wound up emulating the Beatles, subconsciously or not.

For example, 'Dr. Livingstone, I Presume' sounds like an attempt at mixing McCartney's playfulness and Lennon's psychedelia, but the Moody Blues are clearly better off doing their own thing than trying to create the next Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Since there is no hint of mischief or ambiguity in 'Dr. Livingstone,' it comes off more like the 1910 Fruitgum Company than the Beatles. To be fair, the 'we're all looking for someone' section also sounds like the Pretty Things - - I'm assuming that there were mutual influences at work here. Meanwhile 'Om' seems to be a stab at a universal theme, ' la 'All You Need is Love' or 'Hey Jude' - - although it's more of a heroic piece than an anthemic one.

There are other non-Beatles influences at work, and the most interesting by far is the adoption of some Four Seasons vocal arrangements on both parts of 'House of Four Doors.' Listen to the chorus ('house of four doors / you'll be lost now forever') and you'll see what I mean. There's even a falsetto part, which, based on what I know of the Moodies, is a rarity.

On the upside, there are a handful of songs that are vintage Moody Blues tunes, and two in particular are among the band's classics. John Lodge's 'Ride My See-Saw,' a minor hit which nonetheless received recurrent airplay at least through the 1980s, has 1968 written all over it. The lyrics are by no means deep (something that can be said of any song on the album), but they're thoughtful; 'Ride My See-Saw' is psychedelic pop and borderline 'sunshine pop,' but not bubblegum.

The standout track on In Search of the Lost Chord, and probably the group's best 1960s song, is 'Legend of a Mind,' written and sung by Ray Thomas (thereby atoning in full for 'Dr. Livingstone'). Naming the subject (Timothy Leary) repeatedly, rather than having the listener guess (as in the Beatles' 'Doctor Robert,' Donovan's 'Jennifer Juniper,' and many, many others) was novel, and in fact just the kind of thing the Beatles would've done. Once more, it's not fine poetry, but neither is it a cutesy lyric whose LSD connection could be plausibly denied. Unlike 'Ride My See-Saw,' 'Legend of a Mind' was ahead of its time. Its arrangement featured a 'dry ice' section five years before 'Close to the Edge,' and its highlight is a soaring recapitulation of the chorus.

In Search of the Lost Chord is a mixed album, with a couple of great songs, and a couple of clunkers. On the whole, it hangs together as an enjoyable 42-minute work. Days of Future Passed it's not, but if you're interested in late-1960s psychedelic proto-prog, I'd suggest picking it up.