My first girlfriend used to play this thing at me ad nauseum, but me being unreconstructed metal mickey at the time hated it. Now, it has a certain charm reminding me of a time and a place long gone.
Easy for me, Ax. One of the greatest prog/rock songs of all time. I can't even pick on individual elements, as the whole shebang is sheer perfection to these ears. Never tire of hearing it. Brilliant choice. Funnily enough, the Moodys were never big on my radar and it's only in later years I've come ro appreciate them more. Better late than... :-D
@natyblooming@corinmcewan@21schizoid@ian38018 my best friend and his brother, between them, they had all their albums so back in 69-72 I was saturated with The Moody Blues - no bad thing. My favourite album was A Question of Balance. The great thing about #progweek is rediscovering the beauty of albums not listened to for 40 years. My brothere in law is younger than me and came to music during the punk era so he thinks that they are trite, bland, windy, pretentious; all the usual criticisms.
@natyblooming Aww, thank you Ms Natalia...*doffs cap*. @Axol Ha! Guess what album I was playing, just a few short days ago! As for your bro-in-law...there's hope, there's time & if all else fails, there's therapy... ;-D
@Axol I didn't ignore your post to me on your last Jam - work got in the way of reply. I don't know the 3 artists you mentioned and Jazz isn't my thing. Interesting that prog is normally associated with rock and not other genres. What would Progressive Punk be like? I lost track of music trends in the mid 90s (married with kids) and the last 10 years I have moved more to Indie and Alternative.
Prog rock bands of more recent times I have listened to:- Solstice (not the death metal one), Credo, Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree (although Steven Wilson would argue with me on that) but I suspect they are mostly 90s bands.
@Axol Wikipedia says an important part of progressive rock is: "Songs were replaced by musical suites that often stretched to 20 or 40 minutes in length and contained symphonic influences, extended musical themes, philosophical, mystical and/or surreal lyrics and complex orchestrations." Does such a new wave track exist?
@HawklordElf haha! Progressive rock had quite a wide definition back in 69-73. The Wikipedia definition leaves little room for bands other than The Moody Blues, Yes, ELP and King Crimson and maybe a few others. Well in the sense of the meaning of the word "progressive" then new wave was a progression from punk and in a definition of progressive that I like which is rock and roll plus, then a lot of new wave bands who played complex music would fall into that bag. More after I have my tea!
@Axol I have just been reading about progressive bluegrass, progressive trance, progressive country and progressive house to see how the term is applied there. I think your Venn diagram has just imploded!
@HawklordElf best thing for it! So what are we left with - narrow genre definitions or broad sweep categories? Post-punk/new wave struck me as having many of the characteristics of that post-1965 period where musical boundaries were crossed and new types of music were initiated. Enough theorising - I need to do some listening now. You wanted some examples - bands influenced by Velvet Underground - moving across the Atlantic now - Television - Talking Heads - and those influenced by "Krautrock"
My Mum has the single. I always thought it was 'Knights in White Satin' as a small child and imagined Marc Bolan types on white chargers! My other half's Mum was very much into The Moody Blues though so we have all the albums here. My favourite being 'In Search of The Lost Chord'.
Sounds a little aged now but this was a firm favorite of mine for a many years, I even went to their 1st farewell concert at Wembley Arena, a great gig as I remember. Of course they made several comebacks since then :)
Great jam. This was a favourite back in the '70s but amazingly this is the first time I've ever heard the full length album version with orchestra and poem ... it's so prog! The mellotron in the main part of the song is still utterly haunting. Just lovely.
25 Comments (since 10 Oct 2014)
ian38018
My first girlfriend used to play this thing at me ad nauseum, but me being unreconstructed metal mickey at the time hated it. Now, it has a certain charm reminding me of a time and a place long gone.
21schizoid
Easy for me, Ax. One of the greatest prog/rock songs of all time. I can't even pick on individual elements, as the whole shebang is sheer perfection to these ears. Never tire of hearing it. Brilliant choice. Funnily enough, the Moodys were never big on my radar and it's only in later years I've come ro appreciate them more. Better late than... :-D
corinmcewan
Ah, lovely stuff @Axol
natyblooming
@21schizoid said it best...as usual :)
Axol
@natyblooming @corinmcewan @21schizoid @ian38018 my best friend and his brother, between them, they had all their albums so back in 69-72 I was saturated with The Moody Blues - no bad thing. My favourite album was A Question of Balance. The great thing about #progweek is rediscovering the beauty of albums not listened to for 40 years. My brothere in law is younger than me and came to music during the punk era so he thinks that they are trite, bland, windy, pretentious; all the usual criticisms.
21schizoid
@natyblooming Aww, thank you Ms Natalia...*doffs cap*. @Axol Ha! Guess what album I was playing, just a few short days ago! As for your bro-in-law...there's hope, there's time & if all else fails, there's therapy... ;-D
Axol
@21schizoid haha I'll pass on your advice.
21schizoid
@Axol Even we occasional Doctors, are oft misunderstood... ;-D
HawklordElf
@Axol I didn't ignore your post to me on your last Jam - work got in the way of reply. I don't know the 3 artists you mentioned and Jazz isn't my thing. Interesting that prog is normally associated with rock and not other genres. What would Progressive Punk be like? I lost track of music trends in the mid 90s (married with kids) and the last 10 years I have moved more to Indie and Alternative.
HawklordElf
Prog rock bands of more recent times I have listened to:- Solstice (not the death metal one), Credo, Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree (although Steven Wilson would argue with me on that) but I suspect they are mostly 90s bands.
HawklordElf
I am afraid the Moody Blues passed me by (along with a few others I suspect).
corinmcewan
@Axol - You were spoiled... A Question of Balance is a beautiful album, well worth a revisit.
Axol
@HawklordElf I will look up those bands you mentioned. Progressive punk = new wave?
HawklordElf
@Axol Wikipedia says an important part of progressive rock is: "Songs were replaced by musical suites that often stretched to 20 or 40 minutes in length and contained symphonic influences, extended musical themes, philosophical, mystical and/or surreal lyrics and complex orchestrations." Does such a new wave track exist?
Axol
@HawklordElf haha! Progressive rock had quite a wide definition back in 69-73. The Wikipedia definition leaves little room for bands other than The Moody Blues, Yes, ELP and King Crimson and maybe a few others. Well in the sense of the meaning of the word "progressive" then new wave was a progression from punk and in a definition of progressive that I like which is rock and roll plus, then a lot of new wave bands who played complex music would fall into that bag. More after I have my tea!
HawklordElf
@Axol I have just been reading about progressive bluegrass, progressive trance, progressive country and progressive house to see how the term is applied there. I think your Venn diagram has just imploded!
Axol
@HawklordElf best thing for it! So what are we left with - narrow genre definitions or broad sweep categories? Post-punk/new wave struck me as having many of the characteristics of that post-1965 period where musical boundaries were crossed and new types of music were initiated. Enough theorising - I need to do some listening now. You wanted some examples - bands influenced by Velvet Underground - moving across the Atlantic now - Television - Talking Heads - and those influenced by "Krautrock"
heatherrings
I have always loved this. Beautiful song. :-)
mrwehall
Played 'Moody Blues' albums over and over again in my youth. Just classic stuff.
abigail.deeks
My Mum has the single. I always thought it was 'Knights in White Satin' as a small child and imagined Marc Bolan types on white chargers! My other half's Mum was very much into The Moody Blues though so we have all the albums here. My favourite being 'In Search of The Lost Chord'.
kompani101
Perfection.
Sid_Bonkers
Sounds a little aged now but this was a firm favorite of mine for a many years, I even went to their 1st farewell concert at Wembley Arena, a great gig as I remember. Of course they made several comebacks since then :)
pez
Great jam. This was a favourite back in the '70s but amazingly this is the first time I've ever heard the full length album version with orchestra and poem ... it's so prog! The mellotron in the main part of the song is still utterly haunting. Just lovely.
melissapulo
Love this song. Apparently my ex used to think the song was called Knights in White Satin, not Nights for a long time!
Axol
@melissapulo @pez @Sid_Bonkers @kompani101 @abigail.deeks @mrwehall @heatherrings @HawklordElf @natyblooming @corinmcewan @21schizoid @ian38018 thanks for the great comments about Nights in White Satin - always been a big favourite of mine too! A true classic. Because of #progweek I am now listening to great albums from 1969-1974 that I had forgotten about.