IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD

This is the second at the Moody Blues' "Magnificent Seven" albums row. "In Search of the Lost Chord" was conceived to be entirely played by the five members of the band, and they employed nothing less than 33 (!) different instruments at its recording. That said, this album is a perfect example of late sixties music, using lots of Eastern instruments (Hayward played sitar, Pinder, tamboura, and it goes). The concept here is search: search for the music, search for answers, search for themselves. As on "Days..." Graeme Edge wrote and spoke two poems, "Departure" and "The Word", which represents the concept of this album. About the music, there are three well-known songs: "Ride my See- Saw", "Legend of a Mind" (which its unforgettable chorus: "Timothy Leary's dead... No no no no he's outside, looking in", and the ridiculous comparison of "astral plane" with an airplane!!) and "Voices in the Sky". Other highlights are "The Best Way to Travel", "Dr. Livingstone I Presume" (another "happy" Thomas song), "Visions of Paradise" and "The Actor". This is a great album, but its Eastern influences makes it a bit dated. This does not happen to most of Moody Blues' albums, and it is the biggest reason to rate it as a four- star.