DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED

It's not at all true - as is so often mistakenly said - that this was the first album to mix in classical instrumentation with a rock group. Arthur Lee had done it before on Love's "Forever Changes", and to be honest he was more successful at integrating the orchestral elements with the group's sounds - the horn and string sections on that album are an integral part of the songs, whereas on this album you have a bit where the orchestra's playing, then a bit with the group playing, then the orchestra, then the group, and so on taking turns until the end of the album.

Still, it is important for one very big reason: the use of mellotron. Rather than providing accents here and there, the mellotron is a core part of the Moodies' instrumentation; essentially standing in for the orchestra, it's also handy for providing the glue between the orchestral snippets and the group performances; there are several parts where a mellotron tone blends seamlessly into the orchestra's playing.

As far as the songs go, to be honest I find the rock songs far more compelling than the orchestral interludes, which often slip into quoting the rock compositions without really adding much more to them (and at points, like on "Lunch Break", they start sounding like cheesy 50s sitcom music). Dawn Is a Feeling introduces the Moodies' new sound - a mile away from "Go Now"! - with style, whilst Ray Thomas' Another Morning is the first of several jaunty, light-hearted songs he would compose for the group - the skipping, jolly nature of the song would practically be his compositional trademark - as would the overt trippiness of Twilight Time. John Lodge's Peak Hour is one of the rockier tracks that provides a little fast- paced excitement in what is otherwise a placid, laid-back album. My least favourite track on the album is probably Mike Pinder's The Sunset, which seems to get into the whole Indian music influences thing which was going on at the time but doesn't quite enjoy the same level of actual knowledge of Indian music or compositional chops that, say, George Harrison was showing, though it does score points for being one of the few rock songs on the album to make effective use of the orchestra. Still, even that doesn't stop the album from being a pleasant listen. I can't say it's an excellent example of early symphonic prog because of the poor level of integration of the classical elements, but it is well worth your attention. Still, the Moodies would do far, far better albums in the future.