Published on Sep 1, 1999
Like many people, my first taste of the Moody Blues was through
the radio. Songs like “Nights In White Satin” (in all its
overplayed glory), “Tuesday Afternoon,” “The Voice” and “Your
Wildest Dreams” were all part of the pattern of my young life.
Justin Hayward and crew might not have had a lot of time on my
turntable when I was young, but I listened intensely every time I
heard them on the radio.
So why am I utterly disappointed by
Strange Times, their first album in years? Is it because a
lot of the rich, layered harmony vocals that I loved on some songs
just aren’t there this time around? Or is it that the music sounds
like the band was bored to tears at certain points on this
album?
Now, I realize that music changes as time passes, and change is
often good (even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment you first
experience it). But I can’t fathom why the band would utilize what
sounds like synthesized drums on the opening track “English
Sunset”. It’s bad enough that such a gentle tune is turned into a
shuffle, but the drumwork sounds like something off a techno
album.
And, I realize that I probably expected to hear a lot of the
heavily arranged songs like “Your Wildest Dreams” and others which
were both poppy and pretty. Unfortunately for me on both counts,
The Moody Blues do two things on
Strange Times. First, they scale back their sound so much
that I often thought I was listening to a group like The Fixx. (No
offense to Fixx fans; I’m just saying this style of performance
isn’t suited for a band like The Moody Blues.) Second, with rare –
and I mean
rare – exception, there are no vocal harmonies. Tracks like
“Sooner Or Later (Walkin’ On Air)” and “Forever Now” really would
have benefitted from this.
It’s not that the harmonies are a gimmick that Hayward and
company use; it’s that these work well for the band. Case in point:
“Foolish Love,” easily the best song on the album. Now
this
sounds like The Moody Blues! The musical arrangement is top
notch, the vocals sound angelic, and it’s a track that even casual
fans would be able to easily identify.
The one thing that strikes me about
Strange Times is that, unlike some Moody Blues albums I’ve
listened to, I don’t find myself getting excited about the music
I’m hearing. This might be because the band occasionally doesn’t
sound thrilled with what they’re doing. “All That Is Real Is You,”
a track that has a bit of a Celtic taste to it, could have been a
real pretty track if it hadn’t been executed so lazily; it
sometimes sounds like Hayward is about to fall asleep while doing
the vocal. And did we really need the tieback to
Days Of Future Passed with the spoken-word outro on “Nothing
Changes”?
I’ll admit, the more I listen to
Strange Times, the more is revealed that I like about this
album. But this one is hardly a classic, and is a disappointing
return for a band that is capable of so much greater work.