Moody Blues or ELP

I get the feeling that I'm supposed to take a stab at answering this one.O.K.,but there's going to be a small price to pay for this seemingly unsurmountable task.When I 1st read this I thought this makes no sense at all.But after I read it a 2nd time,I think it started to actually make some sense(.More likely I'm losing it).ELP didn't have many radio hits.Back then,even though the market was becoming album oriented,every band still wanted a radio hit to help sell the album and to become more widely known to a larger audience.Emerson's idea for their 1st hit was Knife-Edge to show people the complexity of their music.The song has absolutely no AM radio potential,so Lake put in his song that he wrote when he was 12,Lucky Man,behind Emerson's back.Having obvious commercial appeal,it did chart,but even though it eventually became a famous "anthem" of theirs,it charted at a very low position at the time.The next 2 albums were concept albums(Tarkus,Pictures)and there were no possible "hits",but they did start to play a few "fun" songs that you were complaining about(i.e. Jeremy Bender,Are You Ready Eddy,Nutrocker).On their next album,Trilogy,they finally got a solid Top 40 hit with From the Beginning,but it was a very serious artistic song,and the only "fun" song was The Sheriff.On Brain Salad,it was Benny The Bouncer.Then in England,they would later have 2 big hit songs in Father Christmas and Fanfare.So out of 9 albums,they had only 4 hit songs and 5 "fun" songs,hardly enough to get much radio play that you are claiming or enough to sacrifice any of the beauty of their music.(Moodies had 7 core studio albums,as did ELP,King Crimson,Renaissance,Rush,Deep Purple,and many others.Yes(8),Genesis(6).

moshkito wrote: Snow Dog wrote: No it isn't a game. It's a band making music. Some may like it some may not. It was never a game.   I would like to suggest that you are mis-reading the wording.   I always thought that ELP was very good ... no question there ... but with the fun songs and what not -- with which they got a lot more radio attention, than otherwise ... it took a certain amount of the beauty and the seriousness of the work ... at the end of the day ... it was all just a fun radio song and who cares about serious stuff or better music ...   The "violence" and the way I used the words was relative to their ... out front ... style, which is ok ... and even the lyrics, which are often quite strong ... "don't tell me lies!" (punch, punch,accent -- how much more affirmative can that be? in music? )  ... kinda of thing ... it was not meant as the typical hollywood screamer 3 or 4 or 39 that everyone thinks is so cool. There is a place in music for that expression as there is in art and such ... and I would never suggest otherwise ... and you should know/understand that about me by now!   For me, music is life. Life is music ... so "a band making music" ... has no meaning whatsoever, btw ... it's all an art form related to our expressions ... and I do not think that music, is any different than anything else. Your words and work and reviews is no different in totality for me, than a "band" making music! ... you are making music of the work you love!   Quite different way of seeing things than .... you are used to, I'm sure!

We don't listen to ELP 40 years later because Emerson stabbed his organ with knives,or he spun around on a grand piano while playing from a death-defying distance at the top of a coliseum,we listen to it today for it's music only which has stood the test of time very well.Sure ELP knew that it would unfortunately take more than their serious music to make it to the top of the Rock heap,but on their 1977 tour they went bankrupt ,lost their own record company,Manticore,and everything trying to take a full hand-picked orchestra on the road with them for their music's sake.Very few bands have taken their music more seriously,Emerson composing a serious Piano Concerto,which included using a 12-tone tone row in part of the composition because he wanted his composition to be taken seriously by classical composers as well and atonal music was still the style for classical composers at the time and almost a prerequisite back then.

moshkito wrote: Hi,   It's not a hard choice.   Moody Blues ... because ELP, by the time they hit the road, already were representing a part of the rock music world that became ugly, and was about the excesses and the abuses, rather than the music itself.   Granted, it was the time for abuses, excesses, drugs and what not ... but I'm not sure that it was necessary all around, and while a few of the pieces by ELP are very nice and meaningful, in the end, with the exception of a piece or two in each album, some of the stuff was not as enjoyable or as good for me. And in this sense, I thought that the Moody Blues were a bit more serious about their music and work, albeit I would agree that they tried to get "poetically cute" to get more attention ... but their first album is, in many ways, a much more important listen when it comes to the histroy of rock music ... because it really showed that young folks that played rock music could do some very nice and important things that were far more than just a radio song!   ELP, and I like and have the first several albums, is very nice ... and the "violence" they tend to do some things is very clear and a valid point and attitude in music and its expression ... however, after one kill ... it's a game?

No it isn't a game. It's a band making music. Some may like it some may not. It was never a game.

I like both of them, but im gonna have to vote ELP.

I guess I can" try" to understand if you think ELP are too showy(virtuoso)for your own personal tastes,but lacking emotion???Now I've heard everything! Which of their albums fails to take you through the entire gamut of human emotions to the utter most extreme?

himtroy wrote: The Moodies.  Though I never really listen to either band anymore I must say they are much better.  I used to absolutely LOVE ELP's S/T and Pictures, and still do, however the Moody Blue's have WAY more good albums as well as more feel.  Sometimes ELP was too showy and emotionally lacking for my tastes and I only like those two albums, plus the SONG Tarkus.  Whereas ELP has Days of Future Passed, In Search of the Lost Chord, Seventh Sojourn,  On the Threshold, To Our Children's Children, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, and others, as well as the John Lodge and Ray Thomas collaboration Blue Jay.   Just listen to Seventh Sojourn or In Search of the Lost Chord and you'll see that it tops everything ELP ever released.

^Patrick Moraz isn't on Octave.

Yes, I'm torn between those two myself.

MoodyRush wrote:  *snip*  you can tell my choice from my username!

richardh wrote: ELP are my favourite band.   The only Moody Blues album I own is Question and I never manage to get very far past the opening track. I used to have Days Of Future Passed which is a very important seminal work but not nowadays a favourite of mine. btw Justin Hayward is from my home town of Swindon along with Rick Davies of Supertramp and the new wave band XTC. Just thought I would throw that in!

If that's your reason,I think you'd be more comfortable listening to country/western than to prog.Progressive:(definition)-advocating progress,as in technology(2)progressing;advancing;improving.

Prog Geo wrote: The moody blues!They are less technical.