FLY ME HIGH

The Moody Blues almost became a brand new band when Justin Hayward and John Lodge replaced the original vocalist Denny Laine (who later joined Paul McCartney's Wings) and bassist Clint Warwick in 1966. Neither of the latter were notable songwriters whereas both Hayward and Lodge were to become the most prolific songwriters in the group, surpassing the original members Mike Pinder and Ray Thomas -- not to speak of drummer Graeme Edge -- in that matter. Before this new classic line-up debuted with the legendary and orchestrated concept album Days of Future Passed (1967), they recorded a bunch of single songs that were two decades later collected in a compilation titled Prelude (1987).

The songs on this single are closer in style to the beat / r&b era of the former line-up. 'Fly Me High' was one of the first songs Justin Hayward wrote and sung in The Moody Blues. It's a simple, straight forward, fast tempo rocker that I would rather place in the early/mid sixties instead of the watershed year 1967 when the whole rock genre started developing and maturing at full speed. Also Hayward's songwriting was to improve enormously in a short time, but this song is no more than a humble start.

The keyboard player Mike Pinder composed the B side song '(Really Haven't) Got the Time'. He plays piano very fast, almost like Jerry Lee Lewis, and sings the main vocals. The most of his serious-toned and deeply thoughtful songs during the classic Moody Blues era up to Seventh Sojourn (1972) are among my dearest favourites. Some of his songs on the Moodies albums are admittedly less impressive, but this fast and hilariously rollicking tune is completely different from anything Pinder was to compose and sing in the following years. The sound quality is also rather poor. In fact this song seems to date from the earlier line-up.

Since I'm not fond of either song here, I have to rate this single low. However, if you're a Moodies fan, the mentioned Prelude compilation gives an interesting selection of non-album songs and definitely broadens your picture of the classic line-up's stylistic development.