The Moody Blues- In Search of the Lost Chord (SIDE 1) (REACTION & REVIEW)
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- Опубликовано: 24 фев 2023
- Song Link: Song Link: • M̤o̤o̤d̤y̤ ̤Blues--I̤n...
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'Legend of a mind' is a great track, it could almost be an early Pink Floyd track, it has that same child-like Syd Barrett quality and an expansive psychedelic atmosphere. A trip around the bay indeed, the swooping Melloton, the exotic flute, the delicate acoustic guitar just so magical. I have never taken mind altering drugs but I don't feel I need to, The Moodies give me a natural high.
Ditto to those many, many natural highs💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Yes sounds like a Syd influenced song.
It is basically a spoof on drug use. House of 4 doors, they went through that and moved on. Timmy Leary will bring you back the same day.
My GOAT band. Remember friends, no matter where you go, there you are. ❤️🕯
One of their absoluut best. Especially Legend of a Mind! One of my all time favorites❤🎉👍🏻💪🏻
My favorite, too. I'm always suggesting it to reactors.
And 'Nights'.
I'm so jealous. My wife got to see them live in the day when they opened with a fog covered stage that started with this intro that quickly cleared and led into See Saw! I can only and easily imagine since I have loved the Moody Blues since I was a teen.
Remember loving this album in my college, hippie, Deadhead days. Old now, and haven't tripped in 3 decades, but it is a unique experience. It gets thrown in with all the other "bad drugs." But it really is like a shaman experience, where the metaphysical becomes physical to all our five (six) senses. Is LSD even a thing anymore outside of scientific research? Well, magic mushrooms must be, since they grow wild in many places.
As you can see from the comments, The Moody Blues are an acquired taste and always have been. I remember people coming over to my house and I'd be playing MB's and it would be either, wow, that's awesome, or what's this BS? Sometimes, it's just better to enjoy thing's on your own and let other's find their own way. May not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is for me. 🤠👌
The critics wanted to champion other styles instead so that had a lingering influence on what is cool. But they sold many records anyway.
Dr (David) Livingstone may not be so celebrated now but he was indeed a famous missionary/explorer of Africa in the mid Victorian era who lost contact with the outside world for 6 years until found by Henry Stanley who greeted him with the Moody Blues lyric 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume'. (Or maybe the Moodies swiped it from him. Who knows?) By the way, Timothy Leary was a long way from his death (in 1996) when this was released (1968)
As another person commented, perhaps it's a reference to espousing his ideas...🤔
I love this band and Legend of a Mind is my favorite song because of what Mike Pinder plays on the Mellotron. It’s a major reason I bought one. That pitch wheel thing is really easy.
The whole album is great! The first time I heard it I was as high as a kite, and even though I don't do any of the drugs of my youth, I can still "put" myself in that same mental state! This is not my favorite album, (my favorite is To Our Childrens Childrens Children), I can listen to this album anytime and enjoy it, especially with headphones!
TOCCC is my favourite too, I've still got my original vinyl copy (as with all their 'core' 7 albums) and love it as much today as back when l bought it.
To Our Children's Children's Children is my favorite too.
A gypsy of a strange and distant time
Yes. I was also tripping my ass off the first time I heard this. I can so relate to that event whenever I hear this now. Of course, I have the Moody's "core seven" and I love them all. Each one takes me to a different time and place.
ride my see saw is about lifes ups and downs. none of the Moodies had any classical music training. the drummer invented the electronic drum kit and was the first to use it in a recording. The Moodies have such deep lyrics and this was a great reaction. looking forward to part 2 and the rest of the Moodies core 7 album reactions which they are all considered concept albums
On Dr. Livingston that is Justin Hayward playing the sitar. Mike Pinder and John Lodge also play the cello. Pinder and Hayward play the mellotron, harpsichord. Ray Thomas plays the flute, saxophone, oboe, and French horn. So. the Moody Blues really were their own orchestra, even when the London Symphony wasn't present.
In his relatively younger days with The Moody Blues, Graeham Edge was a hellacious monster of a drummer rivaling Keith Moon for intensity. Check out their black n white tv appearances in 65 or so.
Oh, and by the way, I also read that the door effects were made on a cello.
This album is a product of its time, the psychedelic era. The youth of society had discovered pot and LSD, they were exploring different avenues of awareness, searching for answers. The cultural context is too deep to go into. Timothy Leary wrote about the Tibetan book of the dead to guide people through acid trips (it inspired Lennon to write 'Tomorrow Never Knows'). People were learning about Eastern philosophy & meditation.
Leary didn't die until 1996 by the way. The Four Doors in the Moody's song each has a different genre of music: folk, baroque and symphonic classical before the 'Legend of a Mind'.
You should check out the song 'A Simple Game' which was the non-album b-side to 'Ride My See-Saw'. It was included on their first compilation "This Is the Moody Blues" which was a 2 LP set from those iconic 7 albums.
You provided great context here that to me is much needed. Nicely done.
Beautifully said! You know your stuff!!
The Moodies were speaking "metaphorically" about Leary being "dead.
Yes we did.
Legend of a Mind is such a fantastic song. Ray Thomas was genius with that composition, and his flute rivals anything by Ian Anderson or Peter Gabriel. Mike Pinder added just the right touch by varying tape speed to get bended notes on the Mellotron. When it came out it seemed creepy to me that they were saying that Leary was dead when he was still alive. After his death the song took on a slightly different feel. The bay refers to the San Francisco Bay because Leary got his PhD at UC Berkeley then taught across the bay at UCSF.
Acid musings that many of us tripped to.
Unfortunately I only really discovered and took a deep dive into this band decades after I stopped doing that stuff would have been nice to have combined the two...
One thing people miss about the cover art.... there's a Nuke explosion implied as God spreads his arms to welcome us. It could also be interpreted as Man under the ground (in the womb) being born into Life (partnership or something with God?).
One of the grooviest songs from the ‘60s, "Ride My See-Saw." I always thought they were singing ‘ride my sweet soul,’ which I still prefer 50-some years on.
Many bands or artists have at least one song that becomes their “every concert” song. They either begin or end every performance with that song, and if they haven’t performed it, you know the concert isn’t over yet. For Eric Clapton, it’s “Layla.” For Elton John, it’s “Your Song.” For the Moody Blues, there are probably two: “Nights in White Satin” and “Ride my See-Saw.”
Livingston pretty famously got lost in the heart of Africa (with the song title referring to when another exploration party went to find him). Scott is most famous for his spectacularly-failed Antarctic expedition, trying to reach the South Poel before anyone else did - not only did another team beat him, but his own was woefully unprepared for the weather they encountered.
This was one of the albums my older sister bought when I was in my teens. Our whole family enjoyed this. It reflected the times (70s). Thanks for doing it.
My friend who had 2 older brothers brought Threshold of a Dream into our kindergarten in 68. It left an impression even on my 5 year old brain.
Nice catch on the tone of the Ray Thomas song. Much of his music is very childlike. In fact, Nice To Be Here, from Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, is quite literally a children's song. Each of the five members of the band seems to have, generally, a musical niche in the tone of their compositions. Thomas is the playful one. Pinder is the "space cadet", heavy on the psychedelia. Edge tends toward the epic. Lodge provides many of the real rockers, and Hayward is the spiritualist and romanticist. Of course, these generalizations are just my opinions based on decades of listening to all their albums and many of the solo projects (my favorite of which is Bluejays, a Hayward/Lodge collaboration put out during the Moodies' extended hiatus between Seventh Sojourn and Octave).
And, just as a side note, even though The Magnificent Moodies (aka Go Now) is technically their first (studio) album, with the departure of two members (Clint Warnick and Denny Laine - who later became one of Paul McCarney's Wings) who were replaced by Hayward and Lodge, the dynamic and direction of the band changed dramatically enough that they seem to have abandoned (though not quite disavowed) that first album as a Moodies album. If you count Days of Future Passed as the first album, then Seventh Sojourn is their seventh, Octave is their eighth. A case can be made that there is an indication that Long Distance Voyager is meant to be counted as their ninth album if you make note that in the sky on the album cover artwork hovers one of the only two things made by humans designed to leave the realm of the Solar System's (at the time) nine planets. And in the Maxfield Parrish pastiche cover of the next album, The Present, one figure presents to the other a roman numeral ten. I suppose you could say it's just a capital X, but I don't think so. And from this paragraph you can see that, clearly, I don't have enough other things to think about...
Loved this reaction, Justin. Carry on!
I have thought about it many times. You could take certain songs from different albums and animate them as a children's audio book.
@@j.dragon651 Great idea!
they sound good to meto you my fellow Moody friend
@@Habichiwoowoo After what the Moodies did to Patrick Moraz I think I will pass. I lost a lot of respect for them after that.
Dr. Livingstone was a British explorer of Africa.
As I understand it, Mike Pinder also wrote a song about Leary called When You're a Free Man on the album Seventh Sojourn. Leary and his wife Rosemarie fled to Europe after he escaped from jail.
True.
jail....really?
One sunny day in '69, a ninth grade classmate invited me to his neighborhood and to a house where this album was being served, along with some super strong smoking sticks, neither of which I knew Jack Squat about, but soon to be passing through some new doors. Ten years later Timothy Leary came and spoke in Charlotte, and "Legend of a Mind" was playing as he peered in from behind the curtain. His talk was like a roller-coaster, up and down, but eventually planting your feet back on the ground. He was a Harvard psychologist who studied psychedelic drugs, and wrote about it, causing great ripples in the counterculture who was already on the same trip. "Tune in, turn on, and drop out". Years later I would see Dr. Leary again as a very old but spry man, and got to talk with him, and have him sign my copy of his "Jail Notes". He was, I thought, a very spry 90-year old, judging by the cracks on his face up close. He died at 76 I just discovered. I thought he was much older, skinwise. But he only died in 1996.
Spot on about Graeme and Ringo. Neither are pyrotechnically scintillating, but both are perfect for the music. Ray Thomas had the least psychedelic songs and may have been a drinker. You've still some very great songs to come, including "The Actor" and "Om", which is the lost chord, and which you can sometimes hear when the rain is on the roof.
I see what you did there…. Love it.
@@glenndespres5317 Om is where the art is!
House Of Four Doors and Legend Of A Mind are definitely one of the big highlights of the album. Part of the beginnings of prog. But you have yet to hear The Actor, the other big highlight. My mother was a lifelong Moody Blues fan, so I have been hearing this music since I was in the womb.
:Legend of a Mind" is my favorite Moody Blues song--with Nights In
White Satin" a close second. So glad we have similar tastes, Justin. Looking forward to hearing your look at side two.
Ty PK :)
This album never loses its flavour, but then, we're talking about the brilliant Moodies here, after all. I enjoyed your reaction and that you loved "Legend...". It's the favourite of many a 'space head' from back in the day, natch!, but it stands as a beautifully composed song, regardless. Looking forward to side 2. Till then...peace, man.✌
Just do what you want, Justin. I will be here for any Moody Blues you do, in whatever order. Always appreciate your analysis to the music I love. Thanks JP!
Took me a while, back in the day to become acquainted with MB albums. Very special personally for me was A Question Of Balance, Question..in 1973.
Ride My See Saw was the band's usual encore song for decades, that's how highly the band thought of it. It was written by bassist John Lodge.
Hey, something that didn't get blocked! IMO this album plus *To Our Children's Children's Children* are the best from the "classic period." With this album you'll get a better feel for the different writing styles of the different band members. The MB were unusual in that *every* band member was a contributor in some meaningful way, and each was sort of put into different stylistic boxes as a result. Justin was the romantic balladeer, John was the rocker, Mike was they mystic, Ray was the jolly showman, and Graeme was the poet. The formula wasn't totally fixed. Justin could write great rockers and John wrote some sensitive ballads, for example. But in general terms it held true across these seven (and even later) albums.
Lots of prog fans consider the Moodies a proto-prog band during this period. Their sound and style is definitely "of its time", but the seeds are being laid for what would come down the road from bands like Yes, ELO, and Alan Parsons. They helped to pioneer the concept album (obviously riding the Beatles' coattails), and really dug into it on these albums. Notice, for example, how on "House of Four Doors" each of the little instrumental interludes represents different epochs of music, going from simple (medieval) flute and guitar to baroque harpsichord to a big orchestral piano flourish. They played with this idea again on the album *Every Good Boy Deserves Favour*.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is my favorite from the Moody Blues. I look forward to Justin getting to it in time and breaking out the LP I sent him to show the album art.
@@IllumeEltanin My favourite MB album is TOCCC, but a favourite track is After You Came from Every Good Boy, its quite a heavy song from this band who are mainly known for their gentler work.
My personal favourite album from them are "question of balance"
Melancholy man.. what a great song !!
But love most of their albums..toccc and every good boy.. lost chord.. Sevent sojourn.. On the treshold.. Great stuff.
1970 just got back from overseas , had bought a 16 track real to real it was an Akai with Panasonic headphones. Which I purchased in Ton Sonot AFB , I came home dropped a hit of orange wedge - laid on bed . And had all four albums back to back . What a trip .
LSD is the major influence here
The drumming in "House of 4 Doors" reminds me of the drumming in the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields" - it's practically the same drum fill used in both. So it makes sense that you'd say it reminds you of Ringo.
What a Great Masterpiece!!!! I'm here to view your reaction!!!!
Think of the Mellotron as a giant tape recorder - motor, capstan, tape, tape heads. The keyboard keys have pinch rollers and and pressure pads that engage the tape and pulls across a tape playback head.
Just like any tape machine, you have a motor speed controller which in effect, raises or lowers the pitch (how fast the machine is playing back the tape). Pinder uses this effect to get the pitch bends of tape being slowed down/up to change the pitch.
A Mellotron is the first real sampler - a tape playback machine, instruments (or voice, instrumental passages, rhythms, or sound effects) recorded on tape, in 7 seconds length. A Mellotron keyboard is keys with pinch rollers and pressure pads pulling 7 seconds length of tape over a head block.. Each tape was three tracks A, B, C. You would have to manually switch the head block to move under the tapes to play track A, B, or C, as they didn't have multitrack heads cheap enough to mass produce.
The early Mk II model (Moody Blues, Beatles, Genesis through Foxtrot, King Crimson through Islands) were giant beasts with two keyboard manuals, and the tapes were three tracks with six sections/banks of sounds to cycle through, so you had 18 sounds per keyboard to play with. Mike Pinder worked in the Melltron manufacturer shop - Streetly Electronics in Birmingham, so he was sort of the play tester of the Mellotron, and was the first to swap out the left hand keyboard to have more lead sounds. It was he who introduced the Mellotron the Beatles (first use on Strawberry Fields).
The M400 is the white single keyboard Mellotron we all know and love in the 70s progressive rock and hard rock acts.
Mike Pinder is no Rick Wakeman, but he is the best MELLOTRONIST of all. He really knew its touch, idiosyncrasies, and sound pallet the best of all. You can really hear on Moody Blues records the rare tape sounds, like Mellotron organ, French accordion, saxophone, mixed brass, mandolin in addition to the famous 3 violins, flute.
The Mellotron cello (think King Crimson Exiles intro, Radiohead Airbag intro, Oasis Champagne Supernova) and the Mellotron 8 voice choir (think Genesis Dancing With the Moonlight Knight, anything on the Lamb, Radiohead The Tourist) do not appear as a choice until the early 70s.
I'm not a huge Moody Blues fan, but I love Ride My See Saw, what a fantastic, beautifully constructed pop song, one of the greatest from the 60's.
Fantastic Album. The track "Voices in the Sky" is a permanent resident on my play list
Absolutely!
Mr. Leary Died in1996, He was still very much alive when this song was made, and yes, Legend Of A Mind is mine and most Moodies favorite song on this album. The 2nd side isn't as conceptional as the 1st side, but still really good.
He died May 31,1996 at 75.
The band did rerecord the song in 1996 upon his death with the lyric change: "Timothy Leary Lives." Hard to find, but I believe it was included in a tribute album for Leary.
Probably the inventors of the concept album. Always light, fun tracks, but always illustrating a part of a story.
Incredible album - released within a year of Sgt. Pepper's, too. I was always amazed by Tony Clarke's productions of Moody Blues albums. Tony was always given credit on the album, almost as a member of the group. And to think, it was produced using either 4 track or 8 track recordings and mixers. Those stereo cross fades were very new at the time, but are cliche nowadays.
The year after this album in 1969, Tony Clarke was working on recording material with the new group King Crimson, and helped get their mellotron. But the group dismissed Tony and made their first album on their own.
must be listened to with headphones on as certain sounds pass from one ear and through your head to the other ear.
100% correct you are fellow Moody brother
You are in for a treat with side 2. Wish you could play it through and then comment but, it’s your show brother. I’ll be here!
Great review of side one! Side two has some of their best work. Although I feel they had an incredible run with the "classic 7" albums. I say it's some of their best work because they really were allowed to open up musically and explore concepts, instruments, recording techniques, and songwriting.
I guess they were in a way. I think what they are really saying is put yourself in my shoes. Don't criticise the way other people live their lives, you don't know all the ups and downs that have shaped them.
Takes me back to the days of Columbia Record Club. Me waiting in anticipation for the mailman to show up with my order.
Ah yes ... where have our record clubs gone? 8 tracks, cassettes, CDs. It was nice getting 12 for a few bucks, but the full price with shipping was a drag. I would cancel Columbia after meeting my obligations, then go to RCA club ... switching back and forth. Good times like you stated. Well, I'm due for Mr Leary's pick me up ... for today's legend of our mind ... caffeine. Thanks for sparking my memory of the record clubs.
I have quite a soft spot for this album. It is my favorite Moody Blues album, but I think every one of the "Big Seven" are five star to me. It's a shame that many tend to downplay their playing, while not flashy like Al DiMeola or Keith Emerson, they play flawlessly. I don't believe anyone else can deliver moods like this. The production is amazing too. I do hope you do these in order. It's a nice progression. There are no pauses in any of these 7 lLPp's between tracks. Enjoy the next five journeys.
My favourite Moodies album is the next one "On the Threshold of a Dream". I hope you get round to reviewing it soon.
Producer Tony Clarke is often referred to as "the sixth Moody" because his influence is so palpable and central to those astounding seven Moody Blues albums, starting with Days of Future Passed and ending with Seventh Sojourn. He also produced Octave, but that was six years after Seventh Sojourn, and not considered part of the Moodies' "golden age", as it were. Clarke's influence and manipulation of the soundscape, playing with the subtle entrances and exits of various instruments and sounds, linking the songs together in a magical, continuous flow, arranging the beautiful vocal harmonies, adding mood, atmosphere and feel to the listener's experience and generally contributing masterfully to the lifting of those recordings into a new and previously unexplored musical realm cannot be overstated. The man was a genius.
This is a great album, but so are the next five! On the Threshold of a Dream, the album following this one is my absolute favourite Moody Blues record. Do yourself a favour and listen to that masterpiece.
The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley is worth reading if you want to understand this album. The Doors took their name from it.
Awesome choice Justin....love this butty.
Loved your review, hope your wife are well...and,I still listen to your old reactions Justin...ELP.. Oldfield.. Genesis..Yes...just sublime channel butty...great memories,what a journey you've been on ♥️🫶🫶.
This reminded sooo much of them times my friend 🌟♥️♥️
Legend of a Mind is just mind blowing track.
I remember them doing this live in Bristol in 82 I think Justin..it was on their Long distance Voyager tour.
Patrick Moraz was on Keyboards!!!
More please butty 👍👍👍👍👍
just imagine listening to the Moody Blues on Leary's cid, and this tribute kicks in.
"Search for the Lost Chord" charts the spiritual quest some of the band members were on... It begins in discovering that "facts" of youth are not enough to fulfill one's soul. As mankind searches for "discoveries," they make the realization that "we're all looking for someone." We want a fulfillment of that quest, a place we can reside forever, and part of that exploration/discovery (at least for some of the band members) led to LSD. Of course, Timothy Leary was a CIA plant, but that wasn't known at the time. You may not agree with the ultimate conclusion of the album, as this ultimately leads to Indian Hindu mysticism, but it does chart where some of the members of the Moody Blues were philosophically at this time... I say "some" because bassist John Lodge apparently did not go down the same path as some of the other band members.
If you like the sweeping mellotron manipulations of 'Legend of A Mind', you have much to look forward to in the forthcoming albums...
Great reaction! My feelings very much mimic yours - especially on Legend Of A Mind. This album (like most of their 'core' 7) is such a head-space listen. Even when not 'on' acid, it feels like you are tripping! Always a great sonic adventure, just continued from their Days Of Future Passed masterpiece (but pared down on the orchestration so they could play this stuff live!). Can't wait for part 2!
That cover alone.. great POWERFUL lp.
When I was a DJ at the college radio, I often made a mix with Beatles, A day in a life followed by Departure and Ride my Seesaw. A perfect mix from my point of view, you have to start the crescendo of Departure over the fade away of A day in a Life.
On the Threshold of a Dream is a must listen. And A Question of Balance has great variety too.
The critics abandoned them after Days of Future Passed but the public didn't. Merely shifts in fashion.
Unlike some progressive groups they could combine atmosphere and experimentation with a great melodic sense.
Like the Beatles they did touch on quite a few musical styles as well, which may frustrate some who want to narrow them down as purely progressive. They did their own thing.
i just listened to pt 2 and i must say you have a very good ability to breakdown the song with your interpretations. i hope you do the next one in line which is "On the threshold of a dream" and cant wait to hear your interpretations
Nice review, JP. I think you were looking for a word to help describe "Dr. Livingstone, I presume". It would be classified as a march. It's similar to "The Bridge on the River Kwai" theme. Also, I'd like to point out that "Legend of a Mind" is a satirical commercial. Timothy Leary was promoting LSD as if he were selling it. The song is advertising all of the wonderful things the drug can do for you, as the proverbial snake oil salesman does down on the street corner. In essence, he was saying: "Take a trip without leaving your house." Ray Thomas was such a genius.
I used to hear that very beginning when i was a baby. And it frightened me. I think it's beautiful music. Great video.
OMG it freaked me out too.......... but I kept listening and it made me who I AM TODAY
😃🥰
🎵🎶🎶
Legend of a Mind is one of my favorite Moody Blues songs. You may not know who Timothy Leary was, but he was famous when this was released. He was a psychology professor who was controversial because of his use of, and promotion of LSD. That is what the line about "he'll fly his astral plane" is about- tripping on LSD, flying the astral plane. He started the whole "turn on, tune in, drop out" movement in the 60s, and he used to advocate using LSD to enhance the mind. The line "he's outside looking in" refers to when he was imprisoned for his allegedly criminal influence on young people in the 60s. He had many battles with the authorities, and it was all rather public. Outside looking in is a phrase that means you're in jail. It also probably refers to how Leary was outside of the system, looking in at society and speaking about it. Ah you did the research Justin and figured it out. Very good. I should have waited until the end to start writing my comment!
But it's the music of Legend of a Mind that I dig. It is a beautiful arrangement. I agree Justin about that middle section. It's the best! Yeah the pitch bending/glissando, of the strings is epic. That exact glissando string mellotron sound became a standard within certain pop music productions of the 70s. Most excellent master JP! This is an awesome album and is fun all over again to hear it with you, and get your excellent reaction. I like your take on the House of Four Doors concept. Also makes me think of Aldous Huxley and his book Doors of Perception. That's where Manzarek and Morrison came up with their band name The Doors- both had read Huxley. That doors of perception concept really got around with certain artists in the 60s. Cheers!
Your favorite part of "Legend of a Mind" sounds exactly like their song "Tuesday Afternoon" (on the album 'Days of Future Passed').
The door effect is a cello played by John Lodge.
I am literally floating a foot above my couch right now! I have waited for this! Let the flashbacks be intense and vivid! Honestly, there is no separating the music you listened to on your first voyage. Enjoy this my friend!
YES, OH YESSSSS! The music can always "take us there"!! Of course, the remembering is a pale comparison to the original experiences, but still full of so much nostalgic joy! Some things have to be personally experienced to be understood.
😄😇
Absolutely wonderful album. Crazy to think I was 10 when this came out & these songs caress my soul!
Legend of a mind - is about Tim Leary and LSD which they indulged in frequently.
Ride My SeeSaw has for ME the best intro. of any rock song. My favorite Moody song by far. GREAT album as well.
Justin. This album wraps around in a coherent theme. I hope you are able to hear the second half of this album sooner rather than later.
It's hard to pick up on at first, but the Four Doors (I read in an interview somewhere I think) represent different periods of music. First mediaeval and Renaissance music, the next baroque and classical, the third overblown Romantic era music as in Rachmaninoff. The fourth door then represents the youth movement of the 60s, but they are saying even that is not what they are looking for, But MAN I LOVE those mellotron bends too. They always give me goosebumps, no matter how dated the music may seem -- or maybe even because of that!
Timothy Leary was a professor at Harvard . He advanced the theory that you could enhance awareness through the use of LSD. It was reported that he thought this song was great. He wasn't dead at the time.
I'm so glad you're enjoying Justin, and appreciate the concept as well as the sound of this album. Yes, the Ray Thomas' Dr. Livingston, I Presume is very "innocent" sounding; in my opinion the lyrics and concept is much deeper for the entire album, as you are discovering.
I was very young when this came out, eight years old in '68, so I don't think I first heard it until the early to mid '70s. Of course, I have my own detailed interpretation of the journey we're taken on in this album.
Departure:
The basic outline of the concept; that there's something inside all of us yearning for a mystical "more."
Ride My See-Saw:
We're beginning our search to fulfill that yearning. Education and career have satisfied the material and mundane. Now it's time to see what more there is to our existence.
Dr. Livingston, I Presume:
Even with traveling the world and seeing many varied and wondrous sites, that yearning is still not assuaged. The Search continues.
House of Four Doors:
The Search takes us to meditation of Sight and Sound. In some methods of meditation, the practitioner sits calmly with eyes closed and in silence. It is believed both visions and sounds will come to them during that time, which will gradually lead them to enlightenment.
1. The first door describes the realization that we have this yearning within us.
2. The second door describes the wonder (beauty) the acolyte may experience when they discover a path that initially speaks to their own spiritual growth.
3. The third door describes the sounds one may hear when sitting in silent meditation, supposedly elevating their spirit closer to Nirvana.
4. The saying above the fourth door is confirmation that the seeker is on the right path, but that their journey is not yet finished.
Legend of a Mind:
As a teen in the '70s, Timothy Leary and his experiments with LSD were fairly well known. I think this song acknowledges the mind expansion properties of psychedelics, yet is also saying that chemically enhanced mind expansion is not what the inner yearning is about. I also feel the placement of this song before going through the fourth door shows the seeker experimenting with other routes to enlightenment, but returning to meditation to continue the inner journey.
House of Four Doors (part 2):
The seeker finds himself outside with nothing around him. But then, similar to being shown the path of meditation in the first part of House of Four Doors, a light breaks through the seekers heart, clearly showing the way to spiritual enlightenment for them.
Again, this is my very personal interpretation of side 1 of In Search of The Lost Chord. I'm not saying it is correct, nor is what the Moody Blues fully intended. But, it works for me.
Excellent! I resonate!
Fantastic job!
But at the end of the day they’re just singers in a rock ‘n roll band. We MB fans, we all know that it’s true (we all know that it’s true)💙
@@tommhill9948
🤣
I'm looking forward to Justin learning about why Lodge wrote I'm Just A Singer when he gets through the Magnificent Seven and finishes up with Seventh Sojourn.
(although I have no issues with him continuing on through the '80s albums)
First time I've heard this, and I'm loving it! Sounds surprisingly like Hawkwind in parts (or Hawkwind sound surprisingly like this!). If it weren't for Justin i would probably never have listened. Thanks!
Check out Love "Forever Changes" from late '67 just before this one and one of the all-time greats
Timothy Leary was not dead when Legend of a Mind was written. He actually died in 1996.
An album about discovery, fantastic Moodies
The Moody Blues always a very nice sound and their own unique Sonic experience to the Classic Prog table !! 👍🎶🎹🎸🎤🥁🎼✌
That sound early on Justin was just Guitar with a little Fuzz tone 🎸
Ah, Justin. Days of Future Passed's front cover artwork gives so much insight into the cyclical nature of that album. But, the gatefold jackets starting with this one really bring a lot of additional meaning to the concepts of the Magnificent Seven albums.
The inside of the gatefold has a yantra mandala, a visual aid in meditation, much like a mantra is a vocal aid. But the front cover artwork is what really brings the concept to life. As you noticed in Departure, the lyrics say:
Or the strength of an oak with roots deep in the ground
The wonder of flowers to be covered
And then to burst up through tarmac to the sun again
Or to fly to the sun without burning a wing
For me, the cover art truly depicts those lines. The embryo and skull underground show that from earth/dust we come and to earth/dust we return. The figure at the roots of the tree show us in our everyday mundane state. The trunk bursting through the ground is the soul striving to find deeper meaning and the crown of the tree with the golden figure is the soul attaining Nirvana. I'll go into that more in my posts explaining how the concept works for me.
I do wish I had sent you vinyls of all of the Magnificent Seven albums, as, while not quite essential as with Olias of Sunhillow, the artwork does play into the concept. At least you do have Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, which is my favorite. The inner artwork of that gatefold depicts the opening track of EGBDF, Procession, amazingly well.
As you well know by now, I'm very much a chronological listener, and listening to the Moody Blues is no exception. The liner notes for In Search of The Lost Chord has a write up by the engineer for the album, and all of the Magnificent Seven I believe, Tony Clarke. He is integral to the Moody Blues sound on these albums. In it makes a point of stressing that on this album the Moody Blues play everything. While the band sort of did what Decca asked of them in integrating the orchestra with them on Days of Future Passed, I think some music critics panned them for doing so. So, the point being stressed that the band played everything was important at that time.
Playing these albums in chronological order you witness both the musical evolution of the band, as well as their growth in concepts via lyrics. So, I do recommend chronological listening, but definitely do what appeals to you most.
It's Ray's song and it features a flute solo. But in between there's a piece with guitar, mellotron and drums.
I hadn't noticed till you expressed your enjoyment of the drums that, in a way the mellotron and guitar provide the background. The drums are brought forward and are featured.
Nice observation!
Oh, this was lovely fun! I am so enjoying your content today! I look forward to side 2, with some beautiful stuff on it!
And I hope I live long enough to get to watch you react to my fave moodies album, "On the Threshold of A Dream"!!! As much as you enjoyed the instrumental portion on "Legend....", I KNOW you will really LOVE OtToAD!!!
"I think. I think I am!"
Also, the "light they say that shines so clear" is a literal reference to a very pure form of LSD back then called "Clear Light" or "Windowpane". Fricken' life-changing.....and that's not hyperbole!💡
Threshold of a Dream is trippy as hell as well. My personal favorite Moody album.
I hadn't listened to any Moody Blues albums before hearing them on this channel. I think I prefer this one to Days of Future Passed.
Timothy Leary must have been surprised to hear about his death: he lived for another 28 years, dying in 1996. Perhaps they meant the ideas he espoused had died. He was one of those influential counterculture figures of the 1960s. Fun fact: the Beatles Tomorrow Never Knows was inspired by his translation of the Tibetan book of the dead.
Livingstone and Scott were British explorers, so wouldn't be well known in the States. Scott tried to be the first to reach the South pole and got there only to find he had been narrowly beaten to it. Then he and his entire group died on the ice while trying to get back.
You're spot on with esposing Leary's ideas...imo.
At the time this album was released Timothy Leary was not dead. (He is now. He died May 31, 1996) Back then he told Ray Thomas, who wrote the song, that the song made him more famous than he did for himself.
They are imo the best band of all time!!
That's a bold claim!
They're MY GOATS!
@@emilyflotilla931 damn goats, they eat everything they find!
Everyone has a favourite band l suppose, mine is Pink Floyd, but the Moody Blues are in my top 5
I like the Floyd also
Timothy Leary was 38 when this song was released. Not dead, yet. That was in 1996. He didn't live long enough to see the Internet. A shame, cos he would have loved the early days of conductivity. His loss. 🤯
Timothy Leary was a PhD clinical psychologist at Harvard who founded the Harvard University Psilocybin Project and through his research became convinced that psychedelic drugs were the key to opening up our minds and freeing us from our mundane thinking, He was NOT the "little man selling thrills on the shore," but the foremost proponent of LSD.
I would also add that I think the theme is a bit more complicated, as it is a search for meaning THROUGH MUSIC, hence the album title,, In Search of the Lost CHORD
Many bands seem to arrive at the 'with orchestra' rendering of their big hits, for better or worse, as some kind of retrospective or gentrification. The Moody Blues seized the opportunity to work with an orchestra as a way of creating a new USP, a major re-branding after their initial period as a R&B based rock band from which only the song 'Go Now' survived in legacy; I seem to recall that the offer of an orchestra arose from their label Decca/Deram wishing to promote the technological breakthrough of stereophonic recording, resulting in Days Of Future Passed..
There were line-up changes too, bass and guitar, which brought in John Lodge and Justin Hayward.
With similar orchestral ambitions, the band Barclay James Harvest managed to work with their own house orchestra for a couple of albums but ultimately the touring costs proved prohibitive. The Moody Blues came to Lost Chord putting their faith in the developing technology of electronic keyboards and the orchestral tape loops of the mellotron to fill out their sound to the voice, compositional forms and lyrical themes that we came to know as their trademark.
I did not pick up on them until the next album, On The Threshold Of A Dream, so I was backtracking when I came to Days Of Future Passed and Lost Chord; I recall being impressed by how clearly each of the three albums was a step forward from previous work, but that Lost Chord seemed the most exhilarating of them both musically and in its recording and production.
YES!!!!!!!!
I have been s fan since 1964 and seen them umpteen times, have all there music👍
35:24 that’s metaphysical truth, LOL
Hi JP. DP from UK. Take A Little Trip with The Moodies! I agree that Legend Of A Mind contains some brilliant sounds and textures, and I remember it was a fave of my schoolfriends back in the day. As for me, I've always thought the next album On The Threshold of a Dream is the band at their peak. I love how this side starts: the dramatic build of Departure as it leads into a Moodies' all-time classic, Ride My Seesaw. Highlight of side 2? Maybe the beautiful Voices In The Sky. Brilliant reaction as usual, Justin.
P.S. my song ref Take A Little Trip is by Minnie Riperton.
Putting the albums of different groups at this time has to be put in context of the era. Not just the marijuana but the acid/trips that were making their way into the fray. The Legend and Timothy Leary was about acid. He wrote the Tibetan book of the dead to guide people through acid trips. A lot of groups made music that was excellent for the acid trips.
This was one of the first albums I ever owned and thank you for bringing it back into focus for me! Good stuff.
Along with Yes The Moody Blues slap you in the face with positive energy and deep, well thought out lyrics. And like Neil Peart, Graeme Edge, drummers both are poets and great lyricists also. There is a reason why all of us are telling you to do the 7 album period between "Days" and "Seventh Sojourn", "It's a Question of Balance"! "On the Threshold of a Dream" if you really want to leave something "To Our Children's Children's Children" for "The Present", play on. C'mon "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour"! Be a "Long Distance Voyager" in these "Strange Times" and live "The Other Side of Life"! Peace,Love, and Harmony from an aging hippie.
I'm Watching And Waiting!
Excellent, JP! This LP used to be in my top 5 “Sunday morning” albums. You would get the big fat newspaper that had all the extra sections, brew a strong pot of coffee (to help combat the hangover from the night before lol), and just let both sides play out. Still my favourite MB album. Way more trippy than Sgt Peppers or Satanic Majesty’s Request (Stones). Peace from Toronto!
Yay! My 2nd favorite Moody Blues album (after Seventh Sojourn). Looking forward to this!
Show me another album that mentions "giant Antarctic eels". Go ahead. I'll wait.
Capt. Robert F. Scott's ill-fated 1912 expedition to the South Pole is a legendary story well worth looking into.
"Legend Of A Mind" was a fan favorite and concert staple, always one of the centerpieces of their live shows. In this context, Timothy Leary was only "dead" in the sense of having undergone a spiritual rebirth from his LSD experimentation. It was only his former self that was "dead". He would actually live for many more years.
When this was released Tim Leary was not dead yet! He died many years later.
Definitely classic! One of my favorite bands from the 70's.
Ray Thomas would often contribute a very whimsical tune on their albums ("Dr. Livingstone" here) -- as you may also recall "Another Morning" from _Days of Future Past._ There's also "Lazy Day," "Floating," "Nice to Be Here," and "Painted Smile" from their subsequent albums.
"Dear Diary" is one of my faves, as well.
@@artrock101 That's not really one of his child-like whimsical tunes, though.
You're the expert...