DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED

Its difficult to fault this album, when you consider when it was recorded, how young the band were at the time, and what they had produced previously as an R'n'B act. Arguably, this is the first prog rock album. Recorded the same year as Sgt Pepper and the Floyd debut (1967), TDOFP is an actual concept album. The continuous music is glued together with fine orchestrations, courtesy of the London Festival Orchestra, and although some songs fall into the category of 'sixties pop' the album is host to many classic songs. The Moodies had laid their hands on a second hand Mellotron and Mike Pinder makes fine use of it.

It took me several listerns to get into, in particular 'The Day begins' to 'Lunch break' tracks 1 - 4. However, the 'Afternoon..' section and everything therafter is absolute classic Moody Blues; deeply melancholic, awash with Mellotron, acoustic guitar and Justin Haywards unmistakable and beautiful voice. The concept is a simple but effective one. The albums tells of a day in the life of us all, and begins and ends with some poetry which takes some getting used to, but like all good concept albums TDOFP should be enjoyed from start to finish, and when 'Nights in White Satin' draws to its emotional close, you appreciate the poignancy of the poetry that closes the album.

Considering this albums age, I dont feel it has dated. The production is superb, allowing the clarity of both the bands perfomance and that of the orchestra to shine through. Hi - lights for me are 'Tuesday Afternoon' 'Forever Afternoon' (Haywards 'weepy' voice really lends magic to this section) 'Twilight Time' and 'Nights in White Satin'

This is a very special and very classic album. Its enchanting, timeless, imaginative yet accessable, and beautifully crafted. Its certainly one of my favourite recordings from the 1960's, and fully deserves at least four stars IMO.