Latest / Hangin' Out with Bob / Hangin' Out with Bob (Moody Blues music with Wayne Damerow)

Transcript

Hangin' Out with Bob (Moody Blues music with Wayne Damerow) · Hangin' Out with Bob

0:06
All right. Hello and welcome to Hanging Out with
0:08
Bob, a podcast hosted by me, Bob Edholm. Thanks
0:16
for joining us and let's get started. This is
0:22
another special edition podcast of Hanging Out
0:25
with Bob. Today's guest is also a previous guest.
0:28
He's Wayne Damro. a friend and former classmate
0:30
that I've known since we were both nine years
0:32
old, back when John F. Kennedy was president.
0:35
We grew up on the same block in Columbia Heights,
0:37
Minnesota, the Heights. Welcome back, Wayne,
0:40
to hanging out with Bob. Thanks, Bob. Glad to
0:42
be here. As we learned in our earlier podcast
0:48
with Wayne, he's retired from the Minnesota Department
0:51
of Natural Resources, the DNR. He worked close
0:55
to 40 years in the forestry department that included
0:58
assignments all over the state of Minnesota.
1:01
Wayne's married. Tell Patty I said hi, okay?
1:04
Wayne loves to travel, especially to Europe.
1:06
He plays golf. He's well -read and can talk about
1:09
anything at a genius level, from sports to history
1:12
to music. Why are you laughing? You are smart.
1:15
He's also developed quite an interest in genealogy
1:18
regarding the Damro family tree. Wayne, do you
1:21
remember what Mark Twain said about genealogy?
1:26
He said, just go into politics and your opponents
1:29
will do it for you. Now what makes this podcast
1:35
episode special is that Wayne and I are going
1:36
to do a deep dive into the Moody Blues, a rock
1:40
band that formed in Birmingham, England, easy
1:43
for me to say, in England back in 1964. The Moody's
1:48
were an active band from 1964 to 1974, and again
1:52
from 1977 to 2018. All told, they released a
1:56
total of 16 studio albums of original material.
2:00
But in this podcast, Wayne and I are going to
2:02
talk about the Moody Blues Core 7 albums. So
2:06
what do we mean by the Core 7? Well, these were
2:09
the seven Moody Blues albums that made from the
2:12
arrival of band members Justin Hayward and John
2:14
Lodge in 1966. to the band's hiatus in 1974.
2:20
Wayne, if you would, please tell us in chronological
2:22
order the Moody Blues albums that comprise that
2:25
Core 7. Sure. The first one that came out that
2:29
got national attention was Days of Future Past.
2:33
Yep. And that was in 1967. Then In Search of
2:38
the Lost Chord came next, 7 of 68. On the threshold
2:43
of a dream, was in 69, as was To Our Children's
2:48
Children's Children. And then in 70, A Question
2:53
of Balance came out with several huge hits that
2:57
came off that. And then Every Good Boy Deserves
2:59
Favor. And finally, of the core seven, Seventh
3:04
Sojourn, in 1972. Thanks, Wayne. So, seven studio
3:10
albums in six years. The lads were busy, weren't
3:13
they? Now I mentioned at the start of this podcast
3:15
that the Moody Blues were formed in 1964. In
3:19
fact, their first hit single came out in 1964.
3:21
The name of the song was Go Now. That song still
3:24
gets played on all these music stations and apps.
3:28
The Moody Blues actually started out as a rhythm
3:30
and blues group like a lot of the groups that
3:31
were part of that British invasion in the mid
3:33
-60s. But then as time went on, as we can talk
3:39
about the Core 7, they kind of evolved from just
3:41
a rhythm and blues band into more of a progressive
3:43
rock, even psychedelic rock band. So Wayne, let's
3:47
talk a bit about each of the Core 7 albums in
3:50
chronological order. The first album was, of
3:56
course, was in 1967, Days of Future Past. This
4:00
was one of the earliest albums of the progressive
4:02
rock or classical rock genre and one of rock
4:05
music's first concept albums. By that I mean
4:08
a collection of songs that are kind of unified
4:10
by a central theme or concept. The album's front
4:13
cover is like a collage of various time -related
4:16
images inspired by the album's songs. Everything
4:20
from, there's an hourglass somewhere on there,
4:24
and then there's moon phases. Yep, there you
4:27
go. There's moon phases. There's mounted knights
4:30
on horses. It's a very busy cover, but if you
4:35
have never seen it or can't remember looks like
4:37
you can just Google it But there were two songs
4:40
that came from now and there were big hits I
4:42
think almost everybody has heard of it. The first
4:44
is nights and white satin and then Tuesday afternoon
4:47
and Wayne I was just trying to do the math in
4:50
my head We were 14 years old ninth graders when
4:53
Days of Future Past was released in November
4:55
of 67 How and when did you first hear this album?
4:58
And what did you think of it? Before we even
5:01
get to that, I just wanted to mention about Go
5:03
Now, their first song. Yeah. It went to number
5:07
one in England and top 10 here in the States.
5:11
So it's interesting that they stopped any kind
5:14
of work for two years. Yeah, yeah. But that was
5:18
a very successful song. I had read somewhere,
5:19
Wayne, that after that song, it's just nothing
5:22
else. click for them or nothing came together
5:24
and they were basically like a cabaret band.
5:26
They were playing in little clubs. They weren't,
5:28
you know, filling up arenas or anything. They
5:29
were just, I don't know, flowering is the right
5:31
word, but they just weren't really going anywhere
5:33
until Justin and John came, I guess. Well, the
5:36
songwriting improved immensely. Yeah. Justin
5:39
being added. Right, right. But anyways, Days
5:43
of Future Past didn't even chart in the U .S.
5:46
when its first release. And it went to number
5:50
only 27 in England. Wow, yeah. Did it get sort
5:55
of a second boost then? Yeah, several years later
5:57
when Question was re -released. Oh, 1970, okay.
6:03
It went skyrocketed and became kind of their
6:06
signature. Okay. I'm trying to remember the first
6:09
time I heard like Nights in White Satin or Tuesday
6:12
Afternoon. Maybe it was during that second...
6:14
Boosted if you were probably where we would have
6:17
really paid attention. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Interesting.
6:20
Interesting. Okay, what? What were the songs
6:24
that maybe one or two songs from that album that
6:26
you really? Love hearing it just never gets old
6:29
for you Well, I think the whole side too. Okay,
6:33
which is including Tuesday and nights and once
6:37
that yeah in Twilight time That's that whole
6:40
side really it plays together. Well and that's
6:44
that's a what you call a concept album everything
6:47
kind of tied in you know just yeah that was your
6:49
that's a good point because when we grew up listening
6:51
to albums a song would end and there'd be like
6:55
three or four seconds of silence and then the
6:57
next song would be in but with moody blues he
6:59
just kind of mixed one would fade out and the
7:01
other would come up and yeah you know there was
7:03
continuity to it so and there was also the use
7:06
of an instrument that they were really first
7:10
to use it on a big scale, and that was the Mellotron.
7:13
Yep, it's a keyboard, but it could make every
7:15
sound imaginable. It sounded like an orchestra.
7:17
Yes, yeah, exactly, exactly. And Mike Pender
7:20
was the keyboardist. Right, and he worked for
7:22
the company. And so then he said, I see some
7:26
opportunity here. And he designed his own version
7:30
of it, and they used it for all seven albums.
7:34
And in fact, he had, I read this yesterday, little
7:38
prep. Sure, sure. That he convinced John Lennon
7:43
and Paul McCartney to get one and the Beatles
7:46
used it in Strawberry Fields forever. Oh, wow.
7:51
Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Very influential.
7:53
Wow. Okay. Well, obviously, Nights in White Satin
7:57
and Tuesday Afternoon are great songs, classical
7:59
rock hits. You still hear them all the time.
8:02
One of the songs that I really liked, I think
8:03
it was the first song on side one after the first
8:08
where there's vocals. It was called Dawn is a
8:11
Feeling. where Justin Hayward, he handles the
8:13
lead vocals, but what's interesting about it
8:15
is halfway through the song, I think the musical
8:17
term is bridge, where Mike Pinder sings some
8:20
song, you know, do you understand that all over
8:22
this land is a field? I never realized there
8:24
were two different singers on this one. I didn't
8:26
either. Yeah, he has that brief bridge is what
8:28
they call the term. And then it goes back to
8:30
Justin again, but I just love that song. Well,
8:33
I love the whole album, I guess. Actually, we
8:35
love all seven. That is true. That is true. All
8:43
right, let's get to the second album. It was
8:45
1968, In Search of the Lost Chord. I had read
8:50
that because of the success of Days of Future
8:52
Past, the Moody's were rewarded with additional
8:55
studio time and creative flexibility to work
8:58
on this follow -up album. The cover itself is,
9:01
I don't know how you describe it, I don't know
9:03
if it's disturbing or interesting or what. I
9:05
guess Google, like I said, but you've got sort
9:07
of like a... an unborn fetus on the right side
9:10
and a skull and then some kind of I don't know
9:13
what this is. It's a volcano, I think. Yeah,
9:16
that's right. That looks like lava coming through.
9:18
But there's a face at the top and the name of
9:21
the song. But it's worth Googling to look at.
9:23
I think somebody was smoking a little dope. There
9:26
may have been some influences in that. Yep, yep,
9:29
yep. Two singles were released on that album.
9:32
One is called Voices in the Sky and then Ride
9:35
My Seesaw. And I think Ride My Seesaw gets a
9:37
lot of play still on FM Classic Stations. But
9:40
those are released as singles. So Wayne, regarding
9:43
this album, again, this was released in July
9:45
of 1968. God, that was two months before we started
9:49
10th grade. When you hear this album, what were
9:53
your first impressions and what do you think
9:55
of when you think of In Search of the Lost Court?
9:57
I think of the actor, that song. That was my
10:01
favorite song from that album. The album rises
10:05
on the scene. Yeah, yeah. And there's some nice
10:09
bridging. in a couple different times. The album
10:14
went to number five in England, still did not
10:17
chart in the U .S. They hadn't found that big
10:20
commercial success yet. Right, right. Had they
10:22
even toured in the U .S.? Well, I saw them three
10:25
times back then. But not in 68 though? Not in
10:29
68, no. It just took a while for them to catch.
10:31
Probably 70. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, those are
10:35
good songs. Voices in the Sky, I thought, was
10:37
a good song. I liked that a lot, too. And then
10:38
The Actor, too. I think that's fun. But the song
10:41
that I really liked, it was just so unique, I
10:44
think, for its time, was the one from Mike Pinder
10:46
called The Best Way to Travel. I think the line
10:49
is thinking is the best way to travel. And I
10:51
think that's where he uses Mellotron, because
10:53
toward the end of the song, it's almost like
10:54
a cricket sound. It's just every beat, there's
10:57
a creak, creak, creak. And it does that throughout
10:59
the song. And I read this one comment about this
11:03
song when I was listening on YouTube. And this
11:05
one, it must have been a boomer like us. But
11:07
he says, I close my eyes, listen to this song,
11:10
and I'm taken back to the days of my youth. And
11:13
I guess that's thinking is the best way to time
11:16
travel, too. Sure. But it's a great song. Well,
11:19
great album. Great album. Yeah. House of Four
11:21
Doors was very innovative for the time. And they
11:25
introduced a lot of kind of an Eastern philosophy
11:28
to it, wasn't it? That one song they kept saying,
11:31
oh. And there's a sitar. Yeah, yeah, right, right.
11:35
And that, again, was George Harrison's influence.
11:39
He was using a lot at that point. Yep. OK, on
11:47
to the third album. 1969 on the threshold of
11:52
the dream. This album topped the charts. The
11:55
cover features this metallic robot -type entity
11:59
clutching with its sort of octopus tentacle -like
12:02
onto different living. He's got a rose in one
12:07
side, and I didn't know there's a face. And a
12:10
gas mask. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the tentacles are
12:13
also like a gas mask, I guess. But there's Merlin
12:16
up here in the corner, because there's that one
12:18
song about sitting comfortably, and there's a
12:20
fleet of golden galleons down in the lower left
12:22
corner on that side. But it was the same author,
12:25
or same artist, I should say, that did this cover.
12:27
He had an imagination, I'll say that. But it
12:30
was the Moody's first number one album in the
12:32
UK and in the Moody Blues fan magazine called
12:36
higher and higher. Do you subscribe to that?
12:38
No, I don't. I don't either. I just it was a
12:41
fan magazine. We should. But yeah, Justin Heyward
12:45
said in that that. On the Threshold of a Dream
12:47
was the defining album for the Moody Blues. He
12:50
said it was the one album where you would find
12:53
in people's homes when you went there, they would
12:55
have that album. It was just very popular. Just
12:58
one single was released on that. It never comes
13:01
today, but the album is just rich with great
13:04
songs. This album came out in the U .S. and Canada.
13:09
In May of 1969, right about the time you and
13:12
I, Wayne, had passed our driver's test and started
13:14
asking our dads for the car keys. But the question
13:17
is this, Wayne, would Justin Hayward have found
13:20
on the threshold of a dream in your home? Yes.
13:23
OK. You went to Musicland or whatever and bought
13:26
that? I think it was to Target. OK. And it went
13:31
to number 20 on the US charts. OK. OK. But it
13:34
did get to number one in the UK, really. Yes,
13:36
I misread that. Okay, okay. What are probably
13:40
the favorite songs for you on that album? Well,
13:44
to me it was the combination again of Have You
13:48
Heard the Voyage and Have You Heard Part Two.
13:51
Oh, yeah. Those three together with the piano
13:54
solo, building and building. It's Pender's song.
13:57
Yeah, that was all his. Yep, yep, yep. I really
14:01
liked Lovely to See You Again. Yeah, that was
14:04
a good one, side one. You ever notice how British
14:06
guys aren't afraid to say lovely? But you never
14:09
hear like a quarterback after a game saying,
14:11
we played a lovely game. Or when that guy beat
14:13
Mike Tyson, he goes, it was a lovely fight. But
14:17
when somehow when British guys sing or say lovely,
14:19
it sounds just perfect. It sounds sincere. Yeah,
14:22
it does. It does. It does. And then another one
14:24
I liked, I think I referenced it a minute ago
14:26
about the cover, but I liked Are You Sitting
14:28
Comfortably with the line about Merlin cashing
14:31
his spell and that stuff. But the other thing
14:34
I liked about it is Ray Thomas. He actually co
14:37
-wrote that with Justin, according to the notes
14:38
I read. And his flute is really prominent in
14:41
this song. You hear it a lot. And I know you're
14:43
going to get to this later, but when you've seen
14:45
Justin do his solo stuff, that song gets played
14:48
a lot, too. So great song. And I also read, Wayne,
14:51
that this was the first of their albums where
14:54
they provided lyrics. In search of the lost chord
14:58
and days of future past, at least not in my album,
15:01
I don't have a sheet, but there's a flyer of
15:04
program inside the album cover that has the lyrics
15:08
to every song. And they started doing that with
15:10
Threshold, and then they started doing that with
15:12
the rest of the Chorus 7. So it helped me because
15:16
I could read the words while I was listening
15:20
to the song. I wasn't mis -hearing the lyrics.
15:25
In fact, they said in this example, you've seen
15:29
those things about mis -heared lyrics. Oh yeah,
15:32
hilarious. But there was one from the Moody Blues
15:34
which I was surprised. I never got this, but
15:36
I just read that. from Knights and White Satin.
15:40
Some people thought he was singing Knights speaking
15:43
Latin. Knights speaking Latin. Okay, well, I'll
15:51
take his word for it. That's a little odd. But
15:54
the nice thing about having the lyrics is when
15:57
you do hear the songs, you know exactly what
15:59
they're saying. It gives you some insight too
16:01
in what he's thinking. Okay on to the fourth
16:10
album also released in 1969 later in 69, but
16:14
to our children's children's children Yeah, this
16:17
was the first album released on the group's newly
16:19
formed threshold record label Which is named
16:22
after the band's previous album on the threshold
16:25
the dream That was a great name for a record
16:27
label anyway. And that cover depicts a cave painting.
16:31
But it's funny, I did some further notes. It's
16:34
anachronistic, because you think cave paintings,
16:36
you know, thousands of years ago, there's a guy
16:38
with a rifle. And somewhere on this thing, there's
16:41
also an airplane. So it's like, OK, there were
16:44
no airplanes or rifles then. But again, the artist's
16:49
imagination. And so I thought that was interesting.
16:53
Again, these can all be Googled if you wanted
16:55
to see it. Drummer Graham Edge had said of this
16:59
album, To Our Children's Children's Children,
17:01
that it was inspired by a monumental achievement
17:04
in human history. Wayne, can you guess what the
17:07
monumental achievement in human history might
17:10
be? And I just learned this, I just learned this.
17:12
I'm being put on the spot here. Well, I didn't
17:15
know either, but I thought it was really interesting
17:17
though. No, tell me. Okay, a quote again from
17:20
that fan magazine, Higher and Higher. He said
17:22
of this album, it was a very exciting time. Man
17:25
had just gone to the moon. There's your monumental
17:28
achievement. And we thought of the album as a
17:30
sort of time capsule. All our thoughts and feelings
17:33
about living in such an epic making era. Also
17:36
in Higher and Higher, Mike Pinder said, we were
17:39
creating a rocket for every person who wants
17:41
to go to the moon but couldn't and would get
17:44
to do so with the earphones on or the stereo
17:46
turned up lying on their backs on the carpet.
17:50
Wayne, this album, To Our Children's Children's
17:53
Children was released in November of 69. We were
17:56
juniors in high school and I just want to know
17:58
were you one of those people who put on your
18:00
earphones turned on the stereo and lay on your
18:03
back in the carpet to listen to the album. Yep,
18:05
I had Radio Shack headset, the big bulky ones.
18:09
I had a feeling you would, yep, yep. And listened
18:12
to it a million times, it seemed like. Yep, yep,
18:14
yep. Awesome, awesome album. Yeah, it really
18:16
was. Went to number two in England, and number
18:20
14. You can just feel the progression. It's gone
18:23
from just sort of a... Weak song and album to
18:28
all of a sudden our top ten. Yep Yep, and watching
18:32
waiting watching and waiting was the one single
18:34
from that album, but oh my gosh There's so many
18:36
good songs on that on that album any other ones
18:39
that you really remember like you know Yeah,
18:42
really I don't have a favorite on this album
18:44
most albums are there's some really standout
18:47
material. Right. This the entire album, I thought.
18:51
Yeah, I mean, it's truly a concept album. It
18:53
just it all kind of flows together. So and looking
18:56
at the authors of the various songs, they all
19:00
took part in it. Ray Thomas has two of them.
19:05
Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. I really liked gypsy.
19:10
It was strange and just in time. That was a good
19:12
song. That was the was that the first song inside
19:14
to I believe so. It seems like it started off
19:18
one side, I couldn't remember. That's what they
19:19
opened their concert with. Okay, okay. And then
19:24
the one that follows that song on the album,
19:26
it was a Ray Thomas song, it's called Eternity
19:28
Road. I just really like that whole song, the
19:31
way it builds. Again, he gets his flute into
19:34
this song. He was a great flute player. He really
19:37
was. And a good songwriter, and actually a good
19:38
voice. He was very talented like they all were.
19:48
Okay, the fifth album. This was in 1970, as you
19:52
mentioned, Wayne, our question of balance. And
19:55
one reviewer wrote that a question of balance
19:58
was an attempt by the group to strip down their
20:01
previously lush psychedelic sound in order to
20:04
be better able to perform the songs in concert.
20:08
In a podcast from 2022, just a couple years ago,
20:11
a podcast called Discord and Rhyme, Justin Hayward
20:14
said, it was quite refreshing actually doing
20:17
the question of balance album, getting back to
20:20
that place where you could just get a bunch of
20:21
songs together with a bit less instrumentation
20:24
going on, that we could just sit around in a
20:26
room and play. And of course, the song question
20:29
was released as a single from that album. It's
20:32
an interesting cover too, Wayne, isn't it? It's
20:34
a vertical fold out. I mean, it takes a front
20:37
and back cover, but it's almost like a centerfold.
20:40
I mean, vertically, but it's just it's so busy.
20:43
It's got you look at the bottom and you see a
20:45
bunch of beach goers sitting in their chairs,
20:48
enjoying the sun. And while he says you're well
20:51
a menacing storm is approaching. The people in
20:56
the sleeve are actually just sitting there on
20:58
holiday or vacation basking in the sunshine with
21:00
presumably not a care in the world. They just
21:05
don't notice what's coming up at them and probably
21:07
won't until it's too late. Yeah, we have a half
21:09
moon also. Yes, yes. And how that ties in, I'm
21:13
not really sure. Yeah. And this almost looks
21:15
like Einstein up here, right? I often wondered
21:18
who that was supposed to be. You get guys on
21:20
cars. Well, actually, it makes sense to have
21:22
them as Einstein. Yeah. Oh, question the balance.
21:27
Yeah. OK. Then there's a guy with the stogie
21:29
hair smoking. But it's a very interesting cover.
21:34
I mean, you could just stare at it for a long
21:36
time and see all these different things. And
21:39
it was a wonderful commercial hit for them, too.
21:41
They broke out. It went to number three on the
21:44
US chart. Oh, question? Yeah. And number one
21:46
on the UK chart. Yeah, it was a great song. And
21:51
this came out, we would have been just getting
21:53
ready to start our senior year in high school.
21:54
It was August of 1970. I remember... Did you
22:02
have headphones too? No, but I remember the Moody
22:06
Blues actually singing question on American Bandstand.
22:11
But like every song back then, they didn't have
22:13
the technology then, they were lip -syncing.
22:15
Sure. And I often like to ask musicians what
22:19
that was like to... fake a song when you're on
22:22
TV. Isn't it embarrassing? Well, it's uncomfortable
22:24
seeing stuff like that now because you know they're
22:26
not really playing it. You know, they're playing
22:28
the song. Electric guitar with no chord coming
22:30
from it. Yeah, and a lot of times no mics. It's
22:32
like, who's picking the song? But they were,
22:35
but that was the time. They just couldn't do
22:37
live. It was song, and you know, Dick Clark had
22:39
a studio for people to dance and talk, but you
22:41
know, setting up with PAs and amps, it would
22:43
have been just a nightmare to set everything
22:46
up. Two of the songs that I really liked on Question
22:49
were Both on Side 2, it starts off with a song
22:54
by Justin, It's Up To You. That was a good beginning.
22:57
And then it's followed by one from John Lodge
23:00
called Minstrel Song. You know, it's a good,
23:05
you know, two really different sounding songs,
23:08
but they went together really well. I like the
23:10
way they arranged it on that side. My favorite
23:13
song is In The Tide Rushes In. Oh! And then followed
23:17
by Don't You Feel Small and Tortoise in the hair
23:20
those three together. Yes. Yes. Well, it's Graham
23:24
edge to get credit for that Don't you feel small
23:26
or was it? No, I was edge. It was okay dream
23:30
He thought there was some of his stuff in there
23:33
did tortoise in the hair and okay Thomas did
23:36
in the tide rushes Yeah, so they're really all
23:38
collaborative. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, good effort
23:40
all three of them. So Okay number Six of the
23:50
core seven. 1971, every good boy deserves favor.
23:54
And I remember how that threw me off because
23:56
when I saw it on the record rack, it's when I
23:58
first started realizing that British English
24:00
and American English is different because they
24:02
spelled favor wrong. What's the U there for?
24:05
But again, that's just the difference between
24:07
British spelling and American, I guess. But this
24:10
album cover shows a child gazing at a crystal
24:14
being dangled on a string by an old man. I'm
24:17
not sure what the significance that is, but I'm
24:19
sure there is a reason for it. It actually takes
24:22
up the front and back side. There's some people
24:23
behind, too. And I wonder why the band of clouds
24:27
across the moon. Yeah, good point. But I think
24:31
the little boy's eyes are what really catches
24:34
you. Everything is dark, but his eyes are just
24:36
lit up, maybe reflecting off the crystal or something.
24:41
But that's a cover for every good boy to see
24:43
in his favor. went to number one in England and
24:48
number two in the U .S. So they're continuing
24:51
to climb. Yeah, they are. It's also been written
24:55
that this was kind of a continuation in style
24:57
of A Question of Balance. No grand concept or
24:59
theme like Search of the Lost Corridor, Threshold
25:03
of a Dream, but it was a great album. I like
25:09
particularly Procession, which is basically a
25:13
history of music. Is that that desolation, creation,
25:18
communication? It's about 20 of them. Didn't
25:22
they all collaborate on that too, wasn't it?
25:24
We're all five of them. I'm not sure. Writing
25:26
credit for it. You can hear rain in the background,
25:30
I think. Yep, all five of them. Yeah, yeah, interesting.
25:33
And then that breaks into a story in your eyes.
25:35
Okay, that's how that works. Justin Hayward had
25:40
said about this album, he said, Every good book
25:43
deserves favor as a searching, seeking record.
25:45
It was made at a time of tremendous success for
25:48
us, and that brought on all of the feelings of
25:51
guilt, inadequacy, and self -doubt that accompanies
25:54
that kind of success. See, I've never been successful.
25:57
I've never had to feel guilty about it. Well,
25:59
they have sold over 70 million albums. To me,
26:03
that's a little different than our level of success.
26:07
Yes, yes. And the story in your eyes was the
26:11
single. That was released on that album. But
26:13
my gosh, there's so many great songs in that
26:14
album. This one came out Wayne in July of 71,
26:18
at least in the US, just a couple months before
26:20
we began our freshman year at Anoka Ramsey. I
26:24
distinctly remember hearing that song on KQRS
26:27
when we drive to school back and forth. Did you
26:29
have a radio in that car, Mandy? It did have
26:32
a radio. It didn't run for nothing, but it did
26:36
have a radio that worked. So I wasn't deprived
26:39
of music. I'm sorry. Did you have like a favorite
26:43
from that album? Well the procession and story
26:46
of the beginning. Okay, okay, okay, okay Really
26:48
sort of flowed and that's what they were so good
26:52
at doing. It wasn't a series of individual songs.
26:55
Right. Yep. Good point I really liked our guessing
26:57
game by Ray Thomas kind of an existential song
27:02
bless the days and I'm feeling strong. You can
27:05
never go home. That was a good song. Yep. Good
27:07
one too. And actually there's, this is one of
27:10
their strongest albums. Yeah. I would agree.
27:12
I would agree. You know what song I really liked?
27:14
I liked the song Emily song by John Lodge. It
27:17
was actually written for his daughter. He had
27:19
a little baby daughter when she, you know, must've
27:22
been a toddler or something like that. It's just
27:25
a sweet song, very nice song. And what I liked
27:27
about it was, um, I ended up, My daughter would
27:33
be embarrassed, but I used to sing that to her
27:34
when she was a baby. I even sang it to my granddaughter
27:37
when she was a baby because it reminded me of
27:38
singing it to my daughter. But it's just, like
27:41
I said, a sweet song. So it always puts a smile
27:44
on my face when I hear it. A smile on the face
27:48
and a tear in your eye. Yeah. And finally, 1972,
27:59
Seventh Sojourn. This album with its surrealistic
28:03
barren landscape on the cover was the last of
28:06
the core seven I was surprised to read that the
28:09
recording sessions for Seven Sojourn were kind
28:12
of an unhappy time for the group and sure enough
28:15
Seven Sojourn was the last album together, you
28:19
know, until three, four years, 1978. It was an
28:22
album called Octave. Yeah, the eight. But that
28:26
that was kind of the end of an era. I don't know
28:28
if they were just getting kind of tired. I think
28:30
Mike Pender had left the group or married somebody
28:33
in the US. Yeah, they maybe they just needed
28:38
a break. I mean, you know, seven albums in six
28:41
years, all his tours. Maybe they just needed
28:45
a chance to to break away from it for a while.
28:49
Graeme Edge had stated in talking about this
28:52
album that at the time it was his least favorite
28:55
album of all that they'd done. But then years
28:58
later he said after coming to it with fresh ears
29:00
and away from all of the pressures of that time
29:02
I realized that it was really rather good. There
29:05
were four singles from that album. I think that
29:07
was the most ever released by one album. Isn't
29:10
Life Strange? I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and
29:13
Roll Band. For My Lady. and You and Me, I think
29:18
the start of second two. What were your impressions
29:21
of that album, Wayne? Well, when we started talking
29:24
about rating them later, it was my least favorite
29:28
of them. It did go to number one in the U .S.
29:32
It was their first number one album. And number
29:35
five in the U .K. So a huge hit. And with those
29:40
four singles coming off of it, it helped. Do
29:43
you know, because you followed them more closely
29:46
than I did back then, did they tour with just
29:49
about every album released? I mean, when you
29:50
saw them with Seven Sojourn out when you saw
29:53
them? Not that I recall. What year do you think
29:57
that was? Were you still in high school or were
29:59
you in college by then? Both. I went in high
30:02
school to one concert and then two concerts in
30:06
college. And then I saw Justin Hayward a couple
30:09
years ago. Because I remember that came out,
30:14
that album came out when I was starting my final
30:17
year at Anoka Ramsey and you had already transferred
30:19
to the U by then. It was in the fall of 72, so.
30:23
And then I would say the two favorite songs for
30:28
me on that album were You and Me, the beginning
30:31
of side two, and then, well, I get the beginning
30:33
of side one, Lost in a Lost World by my Pinder.
30:37
That would be my favorite. Yeah, that was a great
30:38
song. Great introduction, everything, so. I liked
30:42
the finish of just the singer in the rock and
30:45
roll band. It was very tight ending. Yep. That
30:50
became a really popular hit too. I think it did.
30:53
And you still hear it on the radio. Yes. That's
30:56
kind of a sign of longevity. Yeah. It's fast
31:01
-paced, up -tempo. I can see why it would have
31:03
been popular to hear. So that was a core seven
31:13
and Wayne I'd want to take a timeout right now
31:15
I just want actually want to share this with
31:17
you and the listeners It's actually because of
31:19
you that it became such a huge Moody Blues fan.
31:22
Seriously. I had heard of the Moody's You know,
31:24
I knew about Tuesday afternoon and it's white
31:26
sadden because they played on the radio all the
31:28
time But I never actually listened to like a
31:30
full album until one day I was hanging out with
31:33
you and somebody else and played both sides of
31:36
On the Threshold of the Dream. Oh, that was the
31:37
one? Yep, that was the one. And I just remember
31:39
like Dear Diary and some of Pinder's songs where
31:43
you could hear the sound go from one speaker
31:45
to the other. And it was just like, wow, this
31:47
is, wow, I got to start buying this stuff. So
31:49
I ended up getting all seven albums. Seven Sojourn
31:52
had come out, so I had all the core seven. And
31:57
I see you have a few of the other ones. Yeah.
31:59
I'm going to get to that in just a second, Wayne.
32:02
I'm going to ask you a kind of a trivia, well,
32:04
a trivia question for you of these core seven
32:07
albums. The artist that we've been looking at
32:10
on all these albums, all but one of them, was
32:12
a guy named Phil Travers. You hadn't heard him?
32:19
Again, I've only done this because I researched
32:21
it. But there's one album that wasn't done by
32:24
him. Can you guess of these seven albums which
32:27
one wouldn't have been done by him? I would wonder
32:30
if it wasn't 7th Soldier. You know what? It was
32:33
actually the first one, Days of Future Past.
32:36
Well, if you hold that one up, again, for the
32:38
listeners to go, what is he talking about? But
32:41
if you can see it, Wayne, it just looks quite
32:43
a bit different, I think, from some of these
32:45
others. At any rate, it was... It wasn't Phil
32:48
Travers. And if you know the artist that did
32:51
that song, and don't look at the cover, you get
32:54
a free car. But his name was David Anstey, A
33:00
-N -S -T -E -Y. And in an issue of a, this magazine
33:06
is called Goldmine Magazine Record Collector
33:09
and Music Memorabilia, Justin Hayward said that
33:12
the band met David Anstey in, where else, a pub.
33:16
They're in England and told him about their songs
33:19
and he went and created that Artwork which ended
33:23
up being undercover. I think it's kind of almost
33:25
too busy sometimes looking at that album, but
33:28
It's stuck and now it's it's iconic, you know
33:35
Okay now comes the fun part Wayne we've looked
33:38
at all Of the core seven albums and now we get
33:41
to now we get to rank them so you can tell me
33:44
what What is one, what is two, and all the way
33:46
down. Do you want to start at the top or the
33:48
bottom? Yeah, sure. Or you can do, like, let
33:49
them in, start from the bottom, and work up.
33:51
Whatever. I have seventh sojourn as my seventh.
33:53
Okay. In search of the lost cord, six. Okay.
33:58
Days of future past, five. Okay. To our children's
34:02
children's children is four. Yep. Every good
34:05
boy deserves favor, three. Threshold of a dream,
34:08
two. And question, one. Okay, okay now I'll give
34:14
you mine I have it number one on the threshold
34:16
of a dream and maybe because that's the first
34:19
album I heard in its entirety For two I've got
34:22
seven sojourn. It's more sentimental I guess
34:24
for me than is with you three every good boy
34:27
deserves favor Four to our children's children's
34:31
children Five I've got in search of the last
34:34
chord six days of future past Seven sorry, I
34:39
got a question about But OK, let me do a disclaimer,
34:42
though. When you're ranking these, there's no
34:45
shame in being seventh. No, they're also good.
34:50
I don't think it's really, you know, an insult
34:52
to say, oh, that sucked, because I think they're
34:54
all fantastic albums. They're the core seven.
34:57
Yeah. And actually, we have them rated pretty
34:59
similarly other than Seventh Sojourn in question.
35:03
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was curious, too, if
35:07
they had number one singles. you know oh and
35:13
they did oh okay okay um let's see here um nights
35:19
and white satin went to number one yeah on the
35:23
second release not the first ah right uh tuesday
35:26
afternoon yep and question those are all number
35:32
one singles from the core seven albums yep yep
35:35
and then after that uh your wildest dreams Went
35:40
to number one. You love. Your love, rather. And
35:48
then I know there's, I can't read my writing,
35:52
something, somewhere. And so they didn't have
35:56
a huge number of songs at the top of the charts,
35:59
but they were an album concept. Yeah, yeah, good
36:02
point. Yep, they were. Well, it's hard to believe
36:08
it's been 52 years since the last of these core
36:11
seven albums were released But the Moody's music
36:14
has never really gone away. You can still hear
36:17
it anywhere. Thanks to technology I mean you
36:19
go to YouTube or any of these other platforms
36:21
Spotify and hear stuff whenever you want They
36:25
did release. Oh, I'm sorry good I was gonna say
36:28
they keep track of the number of times that they're
36:31
played don't they probably? Yeah, probably interesting,
36:34
you know millions And they did, you know, we
36:39
talk about the core seven, but they did release
36:40
another eight albums after Seven Sojourn. They
36:44
stayed together as a group officially till 2018.
36:47
You know, Mike Pinder had left, Ray Thomas retired
36:50
and later died and Graham Edge is deceased. And
36:54
so is Mike Pinder. He just died this year. But
36:56
again, They had some good stuff, like you said,
37:00
in your wildest dreams. It's a great song. I
37:02
hear that all the time. Good song. So there was
37:05
a sequel to that song too, wasn't it? Kind of
37:07
like, I know you're out there somewhere. I've
37:09
seen the video and it shows this. That's it.
37:11
I know you're out there somewhere. Yeah. That
37:13
went to number one. Okay. Okay. But great stuff.
37:18
But you know, that was music from beyond the
37:20
core seven. So So we just can't count it. That's
37:24
for another podcast. Let's see. Looking at all
37:29
my notes. Yeah. I appreciate you taking those
37:32
notes. Oh, Justin Hayward is an interesting,
37:34
brilliant songwriter, and he really helped focus
37:37
them. He was 19 years old when he wrote Nights
37:40
in White Sad. I know. He's amazing. Yeah, he's
37:44
amazing. And he's still performing. Oh, yeah.
37:47
I saw him three years ago. He played in Bloomington.
37:51
Yeah. And was brilliant. Yeah. And he's got a
37:55
good band with him, too, right? He's got the
37:57
flute player. A young lady that's a flute player.
37:59
Yep, she's great. And isn't there another lady
38:01
that keyboard things and there's another piano?
38:04
He doesn't have a drummer with him, right? He
38:05
just has guitars and keyboards? Yeah. No, he
38:09
had a drummer. Oh, he did? Okay. Yeah, at that
38:12
time. Okay, okay, okay. But yeah, he's well,
38:15
he's I think he's 78, but he likes it. He's fantastic.
38:18
He's Just a brilliant musician songwriter too.
38:21
So yeah. Oh one of a gals here So again, just
38:27
you said you've seen the moody blues how many
38:28
times over the years? three times and then once
38:33
with just just just Justin Okay. I saw them once.
38:39
I saw them in Northrop Auditorium at the U. It
38:42
was about either 1999 or 2000. And they had their
38:46
full orchestra. I mean, so when they did that
38:48
stuff, you know, Ray Thomas was still there.
38:51
Mike Kendra wasn't. And I don't know who they
38:53
had on the keyboard, but they sounded great.
38:56
And they had female backup singers. I think it
39:00
kind of helped Justin. Yeah, Justin had several
39:03
of them. It just sounds better live, you know,
39:06
it's done. But it was cute because Graham Edge
39:09
had a second drummer. I don't know if he just,
39:13
you know, he was probably in his 60s then, but
39:16
maybe he just can't fill the sound like he could
39:18
have before. But these drummers, I remember some
39:21
bands would play with two drummers. I remember
39:23
the Doobie Brothers sometimes did Almond Brothers,
39:25
so you can do it. But I remember during the song,
39:28
in your wildest dreams. They're back there playing.
39:31
The drummers are like from me to, I don't know,
39:33
about 10, well, about six feet away. And during
39:35
the song, they flipped their sticks. I mean,
39:38
they looked at each other and they tossed it
39:40
underhand to the other guy and they didn't miss
39:42
a beat. I mean, they caught it and they just
39:43
kept playing. I thought, I wonder if they do
39:46
that every night. You know, some nights it might
39:48
be... It misses. It falls off the chair. But
39:53
anyway, that's... Yeah, the Core 7 albums were
39:57
great. Well, the Moody Blues, just to kind of
40:03
wrap up, think of them, they were a British band
40:05
that formed in Birmingham, England, went on to
40:08
create a unique style of music that blended rock,
40:11
classical and pop rock, and influenced many other
40:13
bands. Genesis. Yes, yes, I mean that the group
40:19
not the affirmation King Carlson. Yep. Yep. I've
40:22
even heard ELO kind of do from them. So they
40:25
influenced a lot of people They also helped make
40:28
synthesizers or like the mellotron like you said
40:30
and then just the themes the grand themes like
40:33
love hope and unity It wasn't just about big
40:36
going to the picture. Yeah. Yeah bigger picture
40:38
not just You know, you're not talking about it.
40:41
Just there was some depth to the songs. So But
40:45
they became more mainstream in music, you know
40:47
the music grew Any other thoughts about the the
40:54
core seven as we as we finish up no, I think
40:56
this really fun. Yeah. Yeah, I Like said that
41:00
that music was so such a big part of our lives
41:03
And I think it still is for people even younger
41:05
people can learn to love and appreciate the music
41:08
my wife gets tired of hearing She's younger But
41:15
it's it's it's great music classical rock truly.
41:18
So All right. Well, this has been fun Wayne.
41:20
Yeah Great to get together again and share our
41:23
memories of the Moody's core seven albums I mean
41:26
we both continue to enjoy listening to the Moody
41:28
blues for years to come So thanks again for joining
41:30
me on the podcast you bet And again, to our listeners,
41:38
thanks for hanging out with me, Bob At Home,
41:40
and my guest, Wayne Damro. We hope you'll join
41:42
us for the next episode of Hanging Out With Bob
41:44
wherever you listen to your podcasts. And until
41:47
then, bye.