Days of Future Passed |
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Released: November 11, 1967 Peak: 3 US, 27 UK, 3 CN, 10 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.06 UK, 1.16 world (includes US and UK) Genre: progressive rock |
Tracks:Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks)
Total Running Time: 41:34 The Players:
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Rating: 4.344 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings)
Awards:(Click on award to learn more).
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The Moodies’ Early YearsThe Moody Blues formed in Birmingham, England, in 1964. They were part of the British beat and R&B scene, finding #1 success in the UK and top-ten success in the U.S. with the song “Go Now,” a cover of an R&B classic by Bessie Banks. Despite that early success, the Moodies struggled to have more hits over the next couple of years. When original members Denny Laine and Clint Warwick left the band, the group found themselves looking for “a new musical direction.” TB They brought in singer/guitarist Justin Hayward and bassist/singer John Lodge. They gave “the band an infusion of new songwriting talent and…material with a ‘cosmic’ edge to it.” CRSAt the Forefront of Progressive RockThe new lineup recorded a pair of singles before launching into the “bolder and more ambitious” AM Days of Future Passed. The band had “passed through their fascination with American blues…and sought to emphasize rock’s European roots that had been forgotten by English bands who bowed down to Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson.” CS The band became known as “a sophisticated orchestral rock band, combining lush symphonic instrumentation…with heady lyrics and a whisper of their blues background to create an overwhelming…psychedelic experience for the listener.” CSDays of Future Passed “marked the formal debut of the psychedelic-era Moody Blues” AM and it “became one of the defining documents of the blossoming psychedelic era, and one of the most enduringly popular albums of its era.” AM It is “probably the most successful integration of orchestra and rock band.” CRS “The album flutters back and forth between English psychedelica, buttery smooth vocal harmonies, and symphonic arrangements to propel rock into a whole new territory.” CS It “paved the way for a host of English progressive bands to experiment with sophisticated studio technology and elaborate stage productions, popularizing progressive rock to become one of the hottest genres of the 1970s in the United States, bringing stardom to bands like Yes, Procol Harum, Jethro Tull, the Electric Light Orchestra, and Emerson, Laked & Palmer.” CS Recording the AlbumInterestingly, the “album was created out of deceit.” CRS Eager to showcase their new stereo sound system, Decca Records approached the band about recording a rock version of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony.” The Moody Blues agreed, but once in the studio they convinced producer Tony Clarke to let them record a “symphonic song cycle” they’d been working on. Conductor/arranger Peter Knight added inventive orchestral arrangements by the London Festival Orchestra, who were actually “a hastily cobble assortment of studio musicians.” CSHow to Promote?The record company was at a loss for how to promote the album, “fearing rock fans would not buy it, and classical fans would be incensed by this aberration.” CS However, the album “seemed to satisfy the appetites whetted by the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…a thickly textured departure from amplified, blues-based rock.” CS The album was “one of the first pieces of heavily orchestrated, album-length psychedelic rock to come out of England.” AMTheme AlbumIn the wake of Sgt. Pepper’s there was much greater interest in conceptual works and the Moody Blues delivered “with the strongest, most cohesive body of songs in their history.” AM Days succeeded because it “was refreshingly original, rather than an attempt to mimic the Beatles.” AM It also benefited from being “one of the earlier theme albums, a loose story told of a man’s journey over the course of a day (a metaphor for the course of a life).” CSThe SongsEven the best of themes, however, don’t work without strong songs. Days gave the group the most memorable song of their career with “the wildly romantic” TB “Nights in White Satin.” The song originally missed the Billboard Hot 100, but went all the way to #2 upon a 1972 re-release. It would also become a staple at classic rock radio.The album produced another classic rock staple with “Tuesday Afternoon,” the single version of the awkwardly titled “Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?).” Although it didn’t chart in the UK, it reached the top 25 in the United States, “glorious Mellotron-driven pop for the ‘Summer of Love.’” TB “Much of the orchestration is MOR, with the ‘morning music’ resembling the busy-busy scores once featured on travel documentaries. ‘Dawn Is a Feeling’ is the highlight of the first side.” TB “Sandwiched among the playful lyricism of ‘Another Morning’ and the mysticism of ‘The Sunset,’ songs like ‘Tuesday Afternoon’ and ‘Twilight Time’ (which remained in their concert repertory for three years) were pounding rockers within the British psychedelic milieu, and the harmony singing (another new attribute for the group) made the band’s sound unique.” AM ReissueA 2008 reissue added some alternate tracks (“Tuesday Afternoon,” “Dawn Is a Feeling,” “The Sun Set,” “Twilight Time”) and pre-Days singles (“Fly Me High,” “I Really Haven’t Got the Time,” “Love and Beauty,” “Leave This Man Alone,” and “Cities”), as well as the Moodies rendition of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” by the Animals. |
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First posted 11/17/2008; last updated 9/5/2025. |
