DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED

It's a classic that has a very special place at the head of the Prog roll of honour yet Days Of Future Passed is not a masterpiece despite the presence of several excellent songs. It is based around the concept of a 'day in the life', executed not as a narrative story but as discrete episodes illustrated by appropriate music - eg Peak Hour is a fast hurrying-about type of song, while Nights In White Satin is dreamy and sedate. These episodes are separated by lightweight, flowery and incongruous orchestral passages that bear little relation to the music of the band. It was an interesting idea, and at the time it was pioneering, but collectively they failed to create a successful integration of the two elements.

Despite that, it has a certain charm and many of the much loved ingredients essential to the Moodies' later success are already in evidence including their trademark multi-part harmonies impossibly topped by Lodge, Thomas's masterful flute, Edge's poems, Hayward's silky voice and of course the mighty Mellotron of Mike Pinder. Overall it is very much a product of the 60s, but it still sounds fresh and at least three songs have stood the test of time: Dawn Is A Feeling, Tuesday Afternoon and of course Nights In White Satin. Too flawed to be a masterpiece but no Prog collection is complete without it.