Published on Sep 1, 1999
The Moody Blues are largely ignored these days, and it’s a pity.
Their psychadelic-tinged progressive pop journeyed through some
fairly uncharted territory in the late 1960’s, and up until their
breakup in 1972 they continued to style catchy and pleasing pop
music while at the same time keeping a standard of innovation–in
many ways, they followed the lead of Beatles’ records like
Magical Mystery Tour and
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. But all good things
must come to an end, and for the Moody Blues that end came with
their five-year hiatus following
Seventh Sojourn‘s release in 1972.
Though drummer Graeme Edge described it as the most difficult
Moodies album to create, mainly due to friction between keyboardist
Mike Pinder and other band members,
Seventh Sojourn is undisputedly one of the group’s finest
accomplishments. It eschews the more twee elements of their style
(spoken-word segments, unnecessarily silly lyrics) and concentrates
on building solid pop songs with great singing and playing. The
star is bassist John Lodge, who contributes two of his greatest
musical accomplishments–the gentle symphonic “Isn’t Life Strange”
and the thunderous “I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band),”
one of the group’s most instantly recognizable songs.
Not to be outdone, Pinder channels his seeming unhappiness with
the group into two absolutely heart-rending songs, the very
emotional “Lost In A Lost World”, which is carried by
Mellotron/Chamberlain swells and some really nice singing. Although
it is clear that Pinder, never the most aesthetically pleasing MB
in terms of voice, has lost a bit of range, he uses what he has
quite well here. “When You’re A Free Man” is an expansive piece
that allows the band to explore a bit instrumentally, in the style
of earlier Pinder compositions like “Have You Heard/The Voyage” and
“Melancholy Man”.
Flautist Ray Thomas kicks in one of his better efforts, the
lovely sea chanty “For My Lady”, a pretty if slightly limp pop
tune. Justin Hayward contributes yet another lovely vocalized pop
gem in “New Horizons”, which to my mind measures up to anything
he’d ever written, including “Nights In White Satin”.
Unfortunately the other tracks just don’t live up to this
considerably high level. “You And Me” is a silly country-tinged
tune that just doesn’t go anywhere special, and “The Land Of
Make-Believe” is pretty ugly as well.
Seventh Sojourn isn’t on that level of first-rate pop with
albums like
Abbey Road and the Byrds’
Fifth Dimension. However, it’s not far off, and is probably
the least dated of the “classic seven” Moodies albums. Either way,
it’s a good listen for those who enjoy well-crafted if light pop
and imaginative instrumental segments, and makes a decent
introduction to the Moodies’ late 60s-early 70s music.