Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

The Moody Blues — To Our Children's Children's Children
(Threshold 844 770-2, 1969/1997, CD)

by Jeff Melton, Published 1997-10-01

To Our Children's Children's Children Cover art

The Moody Blues is one of those bands that has tried to disassociate with traditional progressive rock. However, their impact on pop music, with more complex arrangements, was nothing less than prominent in the European and US singles and LP charts between 1967 and 1973. The band had a knack for using the studio to its full advantage, defining itself as a mini-orchestra. Also they were the first band to the use Mellotron exetensively as a standard component of their unique textured sound. Their influence on King Crimson, Yes, and Genesis is obviously linked from this source. 1969 was a busy year for the band in the studio since they released two excellent albums, of which this is the better, if not the lesser known. Individual members reportedly saved up the best songs they had accumulated over three years and then decided to record and segue the tracks together. Classic album tracks such as “Candle of Life,” “Gypsy,” and “Eternity Road” included subtle use of a myriad of instruments from harp to sitar and upfront use of acoustic guitar in my favorite tracks, the two acoustic pieces from Justin Hayward, “I Never Thought I'd Live to be a Hundred/Million.” The long awaited re-master of this and the entire catalog is now available to revisit or examine for the first time in much more clarity and detail than you’ve heard before. So don't be leery to cough up a few more of your hard earned dollars for a closer look at the roots of prog.

Filed under: Reissues, Issue 13, 1997 releases, 1969 recordings

Related artist(s): The Moody Blues

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.