Moody Blues - Strange Times

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Free Music Notes for Strange Times

Free Music Review: The Moodies are "back", Bayebey! :) (sorry, Austin)
Hit: 5 Stars

1. English Sunset--The techno shows that the guys are willing to mix contemporary pop sounds with their own styles. I find this track the most difficult to "possibly love", only because I don't have a big liking of programming overwhelming Graeme's drumming/percussion. I like the song okay, but partly because it's the Moodies. :) For a first single, I think the UK could have chosen a different song. S.O.Later, F.Love, L.D.C.Easy, The One, or The Swallow would be somewhat better candidates, IMO. Those 5 still may come out as singles, if the guys choose to agree to such terms.

2. Haunted--the "doo's" at the beginning sound more Beach Boys/America like. This one resembles "It's not on" from Justin's 1980 NIGHTFLIGHT album (solo). Being in the same key (B-flat major) is helpful, but Justin must have been inspired by the writer (can't remember his name...Nichols?) of INOn. Nice ballad, and should be a good airplay candidate, being the US's first single.

3. Sooner or Later (Walking On Air)--any Supertramp-inspiration here? Anyone familiar with their Supertramp's 1982 song "It's raining again", would recognize that the Moodies use nearly the same 4-chord progression, mixing the majors, minors and 7th's together to create (hopefully) the first J&J co-penned track on single/playlists since "Gemini Dream"...unless "You're the One" beats it out. Good vocal-line exchange here.

4. Wherever You Are--Simple John ballad. WYSay is by far his most expressed-from-the-soul one, but this shows his ability to harmonize with clever overdubbing, over his own lead vocal. His singing reminds me a little of when he sang "You" on 'Blue Jays'. Yep, sometimes "nothing changes" after 25 years...which is about the time Tony Clarke(?) and co. really worked with him on beginning to sing in a sentimental ballad-style.

5. Foolish Love--Kind of Tom Petty-like here, but lots of others can be compared. TP's "I Won't back down", comes to mind, but so do a few from his latest "Echo" album. Ever notice how his "Full Moon Fever" album shows a pic of him with kinda-Justin-like hair, holding his guitar in a similar manner too? Wonder if anyone's ever confused the two? :)

6. Love Don't Come Easy--Perhaps the best John ballad since "Survival" (from the '78's OCTAVE album) or "Nervous" ('81's LONG DISTANCE VOYAGER). It doesn't have the same lullaby-effect that Survival had, but the chord progression is actually more similar to Justin's "Driftwood" from the same year. Listen to the two carefully: Besides being in the same key (D-Major) they both have 4-measure bridges with a big chord-progression change. That's what bridges are all about! Like many Moodies songs from the 70's, they are bridge-experts, with that little extra-surprise! I like John's voice on this one as I do on WYAre, and the higher notes show he can still hit some without going (too!!!!!) flat! He and Justin have really improved in that area of studio performance.

7. All That Is Real Is You--Best country/folk ballad by Jus since "It's Cold Outside of Your Heart" from THE PRESENT in '83. "Vintage Wine" was a c/f followup to that, but that was more lively in tempo. I still need to listen to this one again to remember how it goes, but think I'll like it.

8. Strange Times--Whether this sounds better or not in the studio, compared to live, is definitely debateable. That's just to show how well the Moodies played it live, for those who liked it already! I agree that Justin's full-throttle will get attention and worth the price of just driving to a music store to hear the CD played. Having heard this song enough times already, it was just nice to hear it without earplugs! :) *Sensative hearing on my part. 9. Words You Say--One wonders if John was really in a sad mood when he did the final verse-cut for this. With the kind of life HE lives on stage and at the golf courses, I doubt it. He isn't afraid to go high in his range despite staying away from the high-note vocal songs on gigs...vocal-fatigue is one reason, but there may be others: "Sitting at the Wheel", for example...I know they avoid playing "The Present" songs due to some dissatisfaction of that album's recording process, but that one, along w/"Magic", "Under My Feet" and "Rock 'n' Roll Over You", were all big for him in the 80's and early 90's, as far as being on record.

10. My Little Lovely--Sure, Ray might be writing this for his grandchild(ren), but any child can be introduced to this song. "Nice to be here", "Another Morning" and "Our Guessing Game" were also nice 'young' song-titles. Perhaps I should share this song with my cousin to play for her 5 and 3-year-old daughters...have one other 3 year old cousin-o.rmvd. as well. Ah, heck...EVERY kid should hear this one! I like the line about "Fairy Dust and Pixie(sp) glue" especially. Very good instrumentation here too...Child-simple!

11. Forever Now--I think this one was once compared to "Maybe"...another BJ-album cut. The orchestration helps, but I think this was another-key signature/tonality-helped song, helping us become nostalgic about John's slower 70's songs.

12. The One--It was nice to hear J&J keep the tempo up, and those riffs!...can't tell if they're a synth, or a combo or the electric and bass guitars...unfortuantely, perhaps the former choice though. Fortuanately, this one didn't require overwhelming programming like when Tony Visconti made it dominate The Other Side of Life album...almost completely shutting John off from his bass. No knock on Tony and the guys, mind you, with the computer boom of the 80's...just would like to beable to hear John show his bass-skill on songs like YTOne...his bass seems to be a bit covered in places on this album...one of my big criticisms, but will try adjusting my EQer!

13. The Swallow--I can see what makes this song such a quick one to write for Jus. I can (almost) even play this chord progression with my eyes closed on guitar already, it's so easily-structured. Still 70's-like, and it's a killer the way Jus can switch from classical guitar-style to R&B/poppish...almost gradually! I like the melody and flute-like sounds, during the instrumental solos. Nicely done.

14. Nothing Changes--Graeme's reciting style sounds a little more "pronounced" than Mike...that might me an analog/digital technology thing though. He is a good reciter. Nice ending vocals there too, and the "simple game" line seems to be Justin's way of hoping Mike Pinder (composer of the '60's song "a simple game") will once again be part of the Moodies' future before the day they "retire".

*It takes a Moody fan who has heard and subconsciously memorized every song on every album since '66 to analyze this album as detailed as me. Although I don't hint all of them [about 170 some-odd Moody tracks on catalog now, too many!] I gave a good cluster to compare this album to. MY ADVICE: Stay _away_ from their compilation/best-of/anthologylike albums (except for rarity tracks) and buy the COMPLETE studio-set if you want to share one's deeper perspective and inner-feelings about Strange Times. Make sure you buy those, _before_ you buy Strange Times! Either way, you'll like the Moodies! The choice is yours.

-David... one of the "bad boys" of AOL Moodyboards! ;)

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