DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED

I make no claims to be an expert historian of progressive rock. I also fully recognize that whatever I do know about the formative years of the movement are essentially processed narratives I've learned from experts, like some reviewers on prog archives, that contextualize what was supposedly important and relevant. And yet, for the life of me, I can't understand how In the Court of the Crimson King is considered 'ground-zero' for progressive rock and not this record. Often considered an ambitious psychedelic rock record in the vein of Sgt. Peppers or Pet Sounds, its hard not to see in Days of Future Past a statement that pushes rock into formally 'progressive' territory.

A simple anecdote will suffice in highlighting just how fully realized this record's progressiveness is. Mellotrons were initially intended to provide a stage or studio act access to orchestral sounds that would otherwise be unwieldy to capture in those settings. Of course, as any prog fan will attest, the Mellotron indeed had its own distinct shimmer and timbre. This sound became a staple of progressive rock and is still in demand to this day despite modern synthesizers being able to perfectly replicate orchestral sounds. And yet, The Moody Blues, even with having a full-fledged orchestra on hand for recording in Days of Future Past, itself a super progressive move, still opted to incorporate the Mellotron extensively during the recording process thus giving this record the same prog feel of later groups like Genesis, Yes, and of course, King Crimson.

Along with the orchestra and Mellotron use, Days of Future Past embraces longer form multi-movement songwriting, develops musical ideas across different songs, and is arranged as a concept record. I may be a novice or dilettante music historian but, for what it's worth, Days of Future Past is my choice for first ever progressive rock album... Oh, and it also happens to be stunningly beautiful and captivating.