Moody Blues(#1 Prog)

AGREED

Not only were they the prog pioneers, but also, imho, the BEST prog band in history.  I love many a prog band, just look at my fav bands according to last-fm.

I didnt get that last FM thingy till long after i played the moodies here at school almost every day, they should be at about 1,000 plays!!

I grew up on them, they are the reason i even got into prog, THANKS DAD!!!

moodies = DOFP through SEVENTH SOJOURN, all else is NOT moodies there is NO PINDER!!!

riverking wrote:  Im a big Moodys fan, and as far as im concerned,  they laid the ground work for progressive rock bands. Dont get me wrong,  there are a lot of  great prog bands out there,during that time frame, but i think that the Moodys opened the door.....

Sorry but no... Maybe they set the ball rolling for the mellotron-laden art rock bands of the early 70s and some of the tamer symphonic bands, but they sure as hell didn't single-handedly give birth to prog. No band can claim to have done that.

Dick Heath wrote: ken4musiq wrote: If Nights in White Satin is not progressive what is.   Days of Future Passed is proto-prog, a studio experiment using a has-been pop group (when was Go Now a hit?) with Decca's (Phase 4?) studio orchestra, which initially struggled for sales because it wasn't either fish or fowl to LP buyers of that time. But Decca had the wisdom to release Nights In White Satin  and it became a psychedelic hit in 1968, (you should have seen how the BBC late night programme  Twice A Fortnight televised that hit in '68 - oil wheels and various other hippy effects). However, the track did feature on the first ever progressive music sampler, Wowie Zowie. Indeed Moody Blues had to get recognition in the USA before being accepted in Blighty - e.g. with Legend Of A Mind, a great psychedelia tune: the west coast freaks could tune in and drop out on it. By the time the MB starting cracking the UK once more, King Crimson and Renaissance first albums had been released by Island Records, and inevitably ITCOCK was compared to DOFP and seen as superior.

The reason why Days is not considered prog is because the instrumentalists do not possess the virtuosity that later became associated with prog; but a big part of progressive rock was also the verstility demonstrated by members of bands like the Moody Blues or Genesis. The Moody Blues have a very unique sound as well. And certainly they sound like progressive rock. Like the man said, "I may not know what it is, but I know it when I hear it."

 If you look at when the term "progressive rock" historically started to be used it was 1968 so anything pre 1968 is proto from that stand point. But Days being on the cusp surely qualifies it to be considered under the rubric of what writers were calling progressive rock at the time. 

People do not see the Moodies as an influential band.  When one looks at 1967 one immediately sees Sgt. Pepper's and the influence it had on many musicians, notably Brian Wilson who is infamous for driving himself crazy trying to surpass it. But down the line they were very influential. The Moodies used a lot of ambiance in their music, which Brian Eno cites as a chief influence on his future work in ambiant music, which brought us Frippertronics, Talking Heads and U2, two bands that whether one likes them have been quite big.

In addition, Talking Heads had a direct reference to the New York avant-garde and minimalism, which was influential on Yes and Genesis, the opening to Firth of Fifth for example. The piano intro is a series of piano ostinati.

micky wrote: hahhah... not to give you a flippant answer to your inquiry but.... some people see what is and what is not prog differently from you.  I've seen Yes described...accurately?... as nothing more than an trumped up  pop group.  You obviously see anything with pop tendancies as not prog.  I respect that, but I don't agree.  I suscribe to the train of thought that prog was a movement rather than something that is black and white musically.  How else to rationalize such diverse musical groups such as Magma, Faust, Gryphon, Frank Zappa, and Hawkwind being all considered prog.

Yes Micky, and that's why we're here, each one of us has a different perspective, and we can freely discuss it, sometimes we'll reach an agreement, some others not.

I believe Days of Future Passed is a good album, but the orcheestra sounds too artificial, as overplaced at the beginning and the end of each track.

The Orchestra never blends with the central song, and please, you can't argue that Nights in White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon without that pompous and artificial orchestra are nothuing else than sweet ballads.

Have you checked the later example I give of Forever Autumn, it's the exact case:

The summer sun is fading as the year grows old
And darker days are drawing near.
The winter winds will be much colder
Now you're not here.

I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky
And one by one they disappear.
I wish that I was flying with them
Now you're not here.

Like the sun through the trees you came to love me.
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away.

Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way,
You always loved this time of year.
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
'Cause you're not here.
'Cause you're not here.
'Cause you're not here.

Like the sun through the trees you came to love me,
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away.

A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes
As if to hide a lonely tear,
My life will be forever autumn
'Cause you're not here.
'Cause you're not here.
'Cause you're not here.

the lyrics of forever Autumn are so ambiguous and vague that make sense to the concept of a husband looking for his wife in a war against martians and as a love song for Valentines Day.

Justin took it out of the War of the Worlds context, erased the narration and orchestra and vouila a top 40 single, the same case as in Tuesday's Afternoon and Nights in White Satin.

NetsNJFan wrote:

Nets, please listen this album if you have it:

Especially the highligted tracks

2. Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon) (4:14)
3. Nights In White Satin (4:27)
12. Forever Autumn (4:33)

You'll notice that this are tracks from Days of Future Passed and the last one from The War of the Worlds out of their conceptual environment, and all of them are nothing but sweet ballads without the pompous orchestration.

Iván 

ivan_2068 wrote: micky wrote: hahhah... not to give you a flippant answer to your inquiry but.... some people see what is and what is not prog differently from you.  I've seen Yes described...accurately?... as nothing more than an trumped up  pop group.  You obviously see anything with pop tendancies as not prog.  I respect that, but I don't agree.  I suscribe to the train of thought that prog was a movement rather than something that is black and white musically.  How else to rationalize such diverse musical groups such as Magma, Faust, Gryphon, Frank Zappa, and Hawkwind being all considered prog. Yes Micky, and that's why we're here, each one of us has a different perspective, and we can freely discuss it, sometimes we'll reach an agreement, some others not. I believe Days of Future Passed is a good album, but the orcheestra sounds too artificial, as overplaced at the beginning and the end of each track. The Orchestra never blends with the central song, and please, you can't argue that Nights in White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon without that pompous and artificial orchestra are nothuing else than sweet ballads. Have you checked the later example I give of Forever Autumn, it's the exact case: The summer sun is fading as the year grows old And darker days are drawing near. The winter winds will be much colder Now you're not here. I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky And one by one they disappear. I wish that I was flying with them Now you're not here. Like the sun through the trees you came to love me. Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away. Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way, You always loved this time of year. Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now 'Cause you're not here. 'Cause you're not here. 'Cause you're not here. Like the sun through the trees you came to love me, Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away. A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes As if to hide a lonely tear, My life will be forever autumn 'Cause you're not here. 'Cause you're not here. 'Cause you're not here. the lyrics of forever Autumn are so ambiguous and vague that make sense to the concept of a husband looking for his wife in a war against martians and as a love song for Valentines Day. Justin took it out of the War of the Worlds context, erased the narration and orchestra and vouila a top 40 single, the same case as in Tuesday's Afternoon and Nights in White Satin. NetsNJFan wrote: Quote: I feel that the orchestra on DOFP was integrated incredibly well for such an early effort, the Moodies admirably share the stage with them. Nets, please listen this album if you have it: Especially the highligted tracks 2. Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon) (4:14) 3. Nights In White Satin (4:27) 12. Forever Autumn (4:33) You'll notice that this are tracks from Days of Future Passed and the last one from The War of the Worlds out of their conceptual environment, and all of them are nothing but sweet ballads without the pompous orchestration. Iván

The orchestra is not integrated.  It comes in and out of the songs, which stand alone. I love the orchestra because it is tacky.  As you said, it sounds like an artificial presense, much like a movie soundtrack. The Brits were never famous for their orchestrations.  But it also has an impressionistic quality that often adds to the romantic quality of the songs.

As much as one can say the Beatles influenced them, the Beatles never took the use of timbre to the level that the Moodies did. Martin used the string quartet on Eleanor Rigby to give it an aristocratic air, and Harrison the sitar to make a religious statement.  They might have been successful in creating a sense of mood but that was not intended.

The Moodies exceled in the use of timbre to create mood. On Days, every song on the album is unique and highlights a style as representative of a time of day.  This gives the band the opportunity to play with timbres: guitar sounds, the flute, sitar and mellotron. The later instruments are are used to create a sense of romantic alienation, which is really the essense of early prog, (as much as Gabriel's lyrics try to grant it a socio-political stance and thankfully save it from oblivion.)  They transport you and take you out of the pop song structure. Early prog is a quest for the grail, something transcendent and holy.  The Moodies portrayed that better than The Beatles ever did and made it the essense of who they were as a band.

Crimson used these instruments in the same way on those first two albums. People think of that first album and they think of Schizoid Man but really, that song is so much different than the romantic, moodiness and sense of alienation that the rest of the album grants.