The Moody Blues
In Search of the Lost Chord: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Polydor/Republic/UMe
by David Chiu
(Band promo photo by By Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Rijksfotoarchief: Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Fotopersbureau (ANEFO), via Wikimedia Commons)
The Moody Blues’ 1967 album, Days of Future Passed, was the breakthrough work that provided the sonic template for all of the band’s future albums: futuristic progressive rock, the dramatic sound of the Mellotron, and spoken-word pieces. While Days of Future Passed arrived in the year of the Summer of Love/Flower Power, 1968’s In Search of the Lost Chord was arguably the group’s most psychedelic offering yet, highlighted by the cosmic epic “Legend of a Mind” (with the famous lyric “Timothy Leary’s dead”) and “Om,” which provides a clue to the album’s title. Aside from those tracks, this album yielded some of the Moodies’ best known songs, including the popular and energetic John Lodge rocker “Ride My See Saw” and Justin Heyward’s pastoral and gentle “Voices in the Sky” (sounding quite similar to his “Tuesday Afternoon” from Days of Future Passed) Other notable songs, however, shouldn’t be overlooked from the album, on which the band played a total of more than 30 instruments rather than using an orchestra: the whimsical “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume,” the two-part trippy “House of Four Doors,” and the dramatic ballad “The Actor.” Overall, Chord was the Moodies’ at their most mind-blowing and far-out, definitely emblematic of the era of peace and love. To mark the 50th anniversary of In Search of the Lost Chord, this new 3-CD/2-DVD boxed set contains not only the original album but also new stereo mixes, the previously unreleased mono versions of “Ride My See Saw” and “Legend of a Mind,” rarities (the gem “A Simple Game,” the B-side to “Ride My See Saw”), alternate mixes and BBC sessions, and a BBC TV program Colour Me Pop: In Search of the Lost Chord from 1968.
NewBeats 