DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED

This album is of definite historical significance as it was the first one to have MELLOTRONS , but also for its full-fledged orchestral arrangements and longer numbers. And I lost count of how many times I got laid in white satin sheets . So a lot of good memories but having re-listened to it after around twenty years , I must say that some passages are quite dated , and let's face it I play this when there are woman ready to fall into my arms - not meaning that I can't get laid without it , you wise arses! Anyway, of historical significance

A day in the life

"Days of Future passed" really has stood up well to the test of time, due in no small part to the imaginative orchestration. This may not have been the first album to use the orchestra in this way (that is a well worn debate for the forum), but it arguably the most significant.

While "DOFP" was not the first Moody Blues release (many think it was), the band had effectively reinvented themselves since the pop orientated early work of the "Go now" era, the most significant change being the arrival of Justin Hayward. Hayward's unique voice and guitar dexterity immediately gave the band the sound which we now associate so closely with them.

"Days of future passed" came about as a result of the Moody Blues record label Decca wishing to promote their new serious music subsidiary Deram. The idea was to demonstrate how far the recording process had come, with the introduction of such facilities as stereo and hi-fi. The band were afforded a generous amount of latitude to do their own thing, the use of the orchestra constituting a major investment and leap of faith on the part of the record company. It's hard to see such a willingness by a record company, to take a risk of this nature, happening in today's corporate environment.

It's hard now to appreciate just how original this album was at the time of its release. The success of "Nights in white satin" as a single helped to boost sales significantly. Heard within the context of the album though, it makes for a superb finale. The track also contains a wonderful flute solo by the criminally under-recognised Ray Thomas, complemented by some superb bass work by John Lodge. Graham Edge adds one of his captivating soliloquies just before the final orchestral burst. As an aside, the "Cold hearted orb which rules the night" referred to by Edge is a television, the reference to it "removing the colours from our sight" reflecting the fact that the album predates the introduction of colour TV for the masses!

Justin Hayward's vocals are excellent throughout, but especially on the atmospheric "Tuesday Afternoon". The album is best listened to as a complete piece although tracks such as the two mentioned do sound great in isolation.

There's little indication here of the direction the band would follow on later releases. Their instrumental prowess is largely stifled by the orchestra, but this is a superb album by any standards.

If you have this recording then you need to have the re-mastered version..This may represent the best example of a dramatic and proper re-mastering that exists today. I find this re-mastered version much brighter and clearer than previous CD transfer attempts.in fact there is almost no hiss at all..But enough of the free promotion here. "Days Of Future Passed" is one of the first true progressive rock recordings of all time..not to mention one of the greatest as well. The MOODY BLUES mix heavy orchestral arrangements with some truly amazing song writing. The Mellotron is really introduced to the world here and used throughout sounding just superb with the orchestra led intro's and conclusions. For those who may not be all that familiar with this recording it does contain several big time MOODY BLUES hits including "Night In White Satin". The MOODY BLUES attempted to create one of the first concept like recordings ever having written songs which attemot to reflect the mood of a passing day. In my mind this album works as well as "Sgt Pepper" and early FLOYD offerings. This recording is a true classic and is essential in all good collections.

1967 was a watershed moment in pop music, as the broad horizons of the post-Pet Sounds landscape beckoned to bands like THE BEATLES, THE MOODY BLUES, PINK FLOYD, THE ROLLING STONES and many others. Each went off in their own directions, PINK FLOYD in pursuit of the ultimate sonic acid splash, THE BEATLES to perfect Britpop in the studio, and THE MOODIES to make a classical pop record. (THE STONES, for their part, tripped and took a noisy tumble down the hill.) While some of the original gilding still shines on "Days of Future Passed", the psychedelic precocity of its intent has left a patina that obscures some of the fine handiwork involved in its painstaking fabrication. The London Festival Orchestra, conducted by PETER KNIGHT, might have been the subtle salting needed to bring these songs a better flavor, but mostly it places THE MOODIES in the middle of Pepperland (though they did arrive there first). The spoken poetry, introduced here for the first time, is the height of pretension, invoking Helios in a Homeric summoning of the dawn as if the sun shined out of their art. And yet, it's this ambitious pretense to music as classical art that makes Days so compelling. Much of what THE MOODIES reach for is simply beyond their grasp; "Dawn Is A Feeling" and "Another Morning" are mawkish attempts to merge classical and pop themes. But no amount of failure can diminish the album's great achievement: "Nights In White Satin." This was, and remains, one of pop music's most sublime victories, invoking a majesty that elevated the medium in an instant from popular voice to artistic expression. Not to be overlooked is "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)," which introduced the mellotron into THE MOODIES music and achieved much the same effect as Nights without the strings. The remainder of the record has its moments, "Peak Hour" (despite its remarkably shrill chorus) and "Twilight Time" among them. At this early stage, JUSTIN HAYWARD's songs carry the day, while JOHN LODGE and RAY THOMAS (whose affection for Eastern sounds here suggests an affinity with GEORGE HARRISON) search for a suitable muse. That would all be in the past, though, as the Moodies looked forward to a new future where each songwriter found their own voice. It was indeed a new day dawning for THE MOODIES and for pop music in general. Not bad for a day's work.

With Justin Hayward and John Lodge replacing Laine & Warwick, the MOODY BLUES made a radical shift from a pleasantly forgettable british R&B band to a more free-thinking approach in tune with the lysergic times; whether they singlehandedly started progressive rock or not at this point is debatable but no one can deny that they made musical history. "Days of Future Passed" sits with "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Fragile" as the progressive rock album most likely to be found in non-prog music collections, and is one of the more unique and significant achievements in a decade full of rock firsts.

"Sgt. Pepper" established the concept album, brought an orchestra into the studio, and dabbled with "A Day in the Life"; mere months later, THE MOODY BLUES went several steps 'furthur' by originating symphonic rock and illustrating an entire day from start to finish. While the psychedelic era lured many musicians towards improvisation and general sonic weirdness, the MOODYS actually created quite a disciplined, structured expression in "Days of Future Passed". If the overall sound seems a bit different even from the band's succesive orchestral offerings, it's mainly because the symphonic elements were not quite a band product. The record company suggested the idea that they do a version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" to showcase Deram's new stereo imaging technology. Luckily, the band (known collectively as 'Redwave' in the credits) took the idea in a different direction and submitted the individual songs to Peter Knight, who then arranged and conducted the orchestra atop the rock material. We'd have to wait until 1992 to see the band and the orchestra play this all together...

I imagine more good trips than bad accompanied the album- the lyrics are full of the characteristic 60s virtues of wonder, optimism and freedom. This is a blessing and a curse; only near the close of the album, in brief lines of "Nights" and "Lament" do we hear any troubles expressed- there is very little 'moody' and no 'blue' to be found. This led many critics to question the depth of the band, often using words like "saccharine" and "breezy" or even "'easy-listening". It's certainly not hard on the ears (unless you're very sensitive to the dated sound) but along with the soundtrack atmosphere and lighthearted vocals comes a pioneering, progressive spirit. Pure opinion follows: I find the band's majestic wonder and naivete (which for the most part endured well into the 80s, if not to this day) genuine and engaging- childlike rather than childish, if that makes sense. And this is the essential example- an album you can listen to without being bothered by world-weariness, as if there were no dark Altamont/ Manson sides to the human potential. It's idyllic and nostalgic, and I can forgive its flaws (Pinder's pretentious poetry bookends, for example) for the unmatched effect. The classical influence is more textural than compositional- occasionally seeming a tad contrived when linking the separate movements, but generally working with the rock instruments and vocal harmonies to create a lush and evocative atmosphere.

My five stars comes with an obvious disclaimer: it rarely rocks and there's no real instrumental dazzle, so if that's your thing, you're out of luck. But you should still own this album, even if you don't end up loving it like I do, because it is the reason we're all here; progressive rock started with this masterpiece. Add this to COMUS' first album and any MOTHERS OF INVENTION release, and you have the essential extremes of the late 60s psychedelic progressive rock spectrum.

The Moody Blues were never a progressive band, that's a fact we must understand before reviewing this good album; they had some progressive approach and some distinctive elements of the genre but nothing more.

On the other hand their relevance as predecessors of the genre is absolutely undeniable, especially in "Days of Future Passed" an album that uses many prog' elements like the use of Mellotron the inclusion of an Orchestra and the fusion of genres. None of this elements was absolutely new in rock history but I could dare to affirm that it was one the first times all were used together.

I've not mentioned the idea of a conceptual rock album (about a normal man's day) which is also characteristic of Progressive Rock, because I believe Days of Future Passed is the first album that clearly developed it, mostly because the story of each song is perfectly linked with the next one something that other previous like Sgt. Pepper's by The Beatles (doesn't have a concrete concept) or Little Deuce Coupe (Just a collection of 12 songs with no senses of continuity) and Freak Out (Also not clearly a conceptual album) both by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Uinvention.

It's also important to remember that 1967 was a very important year for rock, British Psychedelia was reaching it's maturity but there was needed a change of direction to turn into Progressive Rock, "Days of Future Passed" is one of this first steps, the aggressive and druggy mood of this era is not as evident as in most albums of the era, "Days of Future Passed" is much more lyrical and ambitious.

The introduction of The London Festival Orchestra conducted by Peter Knight was a good idea, even when The Moody Blues didn't worked it perfectly because most of the time the Orchestra sounds as an alien element to the music, not as a vital part of the composition, maybe also a bit naive and simple but at the same time adventurous and elegant. In other words enhances the music but doesn't totally blend with the atmosphere of the album.

I'm not sure if The Moody Blues were conscious they were helping to create a new genre, but they wanted to do something different and surely they did it.

Justin Hayward's voice is one of the highlights; his voice reaches almost all the ranges and sounds perfect for this soft kind of music. Keyboards are absolutely innocent and that's maybe it's greatest beauty, specially when Pinder sounds absolutely different to anything from the late 60's, it's important to notice that when most bands where using the cheesy Farfisa Organ, The Moody Blues were experimenting with the Mellotron.

If I had to choose a track I would have to go with "Nights in White Satin" because of the importance it has as an all time classic that will pass to history as one of the masterpieces of Rock history, simply beautiful and wonderful song.

It's very hard to rate this album, because the music is too simple to consider "Days of Future Passed" as a masterpiece, but it's relevance in the developing of early prog' is so transcendental that no collection will be considered complete without a copy.

Considering this two aspects I will rate the album with 4 stars.

Well this dosen't sound alot like the vein of comtemporary classical music popular for the time period. Also, it was orchestrated by a third party. Still this is undoubtedly one of the greatest albums released... ever. This is a true masterpiece of not only rock but music in general. They took the radio in a whole new direction. The Beatles already had "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" but The Moody Blues not only picked up the ball... they ran it in for a goal. This entire album doaen't have a single bad track on it. You can stick it into the CD player, hit play, and forget while you listen to this gorgeous album. If you like rock... you'll like "Peak Hour". If you like love songs... you'll love "Nights in White Satin". Actually, even if you don;t like love songs you like "Nights in White Satin" it's that good. If you like comtemplative music... you'll like the entire album. As a small child this is one of the first albums I remember and it shaped the way I saw music for my entire life. I just could never get into music without any depth again. I had heard the standard in which I hold artists at that moment. I can't say there are very many albums in this genre that have done that for me. This is absolutely essential to have, that is, if you don't own it already because this album sold alot of copies. Sometimes, over 4 million people truely cannot be wrong. That was how many copies it sold upon it's release. Get this, get it now if you don't have it.

This in my opinion is the first symphonic prog album.There couldnt have been Yes,Genesis,King Crimson or any other great British prog of the early 70's without this album being made before.I am partically fond of Justen Haywards songs and voice and sometimes you can fool non prog fans who like classical music into listening to side one.

I got this album shortly after getting into Pink Floyd (starting with Dark Side and The Wall). After hearing PF's excellent work with the concept album genre, I was quite shocked to discover that Days of Future Passed dated all the way back to 1967, when PF was releasing its very first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Although I do not have the same familiarity with the Moody Blues that I do with Pink Floyd, I must say this is a very good concept album indeed. Judging from what some reviewers have said, it seems that the two favourite tracks are probably "Nights in White Satin" and "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)".

While these are beautiful tracks, and probably the ones that best survived the test of time, I am most moved by the absolutely surreal--and achingly short--"Twilight Time". This song absolutely soars...the layered vocals are haunting and hypnotic, and one wants to take flight into the world of dreams and joyous anticipation of the next day's promise. For seven years, the moment when this song is swallowed up by the orchestra has always been one of the most "painful" moments of the album...I never want this song to end, and yet it does far too soon. Often I wish that this underrated tune could be extended to run forever.

One rather annoying thing about the CD that I own is that there's no track break right before "Twilight Time", so the only way to reach the song is to fast forward from the beginning of the Evening suite or back from its end (same problem with "Time to Get Away"). The other drawback of this album, in my mind, is that a few of the songs do become a bit dated. Although I enjoy it, "Peak Hour" is the one that seems the most tied to the 60's pop sound and least able to transfer to the modern day.

I do enjoy the blending between the orchestra and the band, and the quality of the recording itself is shockingly good for its time. As for the poetry that seems to annoy some people--I enjoy it. I give this album four stars...although a few songs seem dated in retrospect, its quality is extremely high for its time, and it is an excellent forerunner to concept albums such as those later produced by Pink Floyd and its individual members Roger Waters and Rick Wright.

I have for a long time been of the opinion that the Moody Blues were a band who were neither here nor there. They were not exactly a 60s beat/pop band but neither do I feel that they were a psychedelic band. Though they are certainly caught in the middle there somewhere. Sure in the sixties most of the bands that came out of Britain needed the chart single success to simply exist and that culture was in complete contrast to the scene in the USA at the time where bands and artists were becoming predominately album based. With this album Days Of Future Passed the Moody Blues gave themselves a taste of both worlds and a sense of safe security perhaps with the advent of a very accessible song, more of which later. It's a concept album, one of the first apparently, but the concept is rather loose yet simplistic and even enjoyable and very moody if a little blue at times. While the Moodys run through the day and pin point certain moments including "Lunch Break" (sub titled "Peak Hour") and one of my favorites "The Afternoon" ("Forever Afternoon" and "Time To Get Away" being the sub segments here) the tone of the music is interrupted by the sporadic bursts of orchestration that saturates the album before and after almost every piece some bopping along like a cartoon background but only served as an intermission to the real music and the songs. I read the sleeve notes with some suspicion where (executive producer) Hugh Mendl states that " [The Moodys] Have found the point where pop becomes one with the classics" but in my opinion it does not do that. There is an obvious separation in the classical arrangements and the songs the Moody Blues have composed. Fair enough "Nights In White Satin" sounds tremendous augmented with the orchestra but it is the only place on the album where I feel it actually works in a sympathetic union. What I would like to hear is Days Of Future Passed minus the superfluous and dated poetry and the lush orchestration and simply hear the songs standing on their own. They are good enough to stand alone without the gimmick of overblown and pretentious symphonic orchestrated strings and horns, it is a decent album that spawned a massive song in album closer "Nights In White Satin", worth it for that alone.

NOW!!!!! Here's where we get to hear the REAL Moody Blues. Before Genesis and David Bowie became famous for their styles of music, they both released some heavily reissued material which mostly comprised of short little silly pop songs. That's what The Moody Blues did before this album. Here, the band employed the London Festival Orchestra which was a magic touch to this album. Beginning and ending with a subtle, apocalyptic poem written (and probably recited) by Graeme Edge [the drummer], Days Of Future Passed is an album with a concept of a typical day in the life of a normal man. That is the precise reason these song titles are given the foretitles like "Dawn," "Morning" and "Lunch Break." This album also scored a pair of hits with Tuesday Afternoon (a.k.a. Forever Afternoon) and Nights In White Satin. After I played this album, I just couldn't wash those songs out of my brain. The playing alone also deserves discussing. The keyboards Mike Pinder plays almost crush every other keyboard sounds from other prog groups of the day (he even makes Tony Banks sound pitiful), the acoustic guitars are played fine and the flute also adds the true prog-rock sound that made Genesis, Jethro Tull and King Crimson great. The Moody Blues sure really knew how to start a great career and this was one album that they sure had a hard time matching its splendour.

Five stars for an album before its time.

This is a very nice album, but I have a bit mixed-up feelings about it. I heard the single version of "Nights in White Satin" first (actually 15 years before I listened to the long player), and I were of course very impressed of it. Therefore the music around it I now heard felt bit weird to me, and the extra orchestrations over that particular song didn't feel so good to me. Also I guess the music on this record is a bit too light for me, and it lacks some harder edges that would please my ear. Fine historical album still, and the album cover painting on this one pleased me very much. Sadly the content on the LP didn't quite fulfill the psychedelic promises which the album jacket made.

a very good album. one of the very first that introduced the concept of "album art". its pretty solid from start to finish. they made a good use of the London Festival Orchestra. if you love classical music and havent heard of prog rock. this is the album that will get you into it.

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.

This one's definitely essential. Although many would argue about where Progressive Rock started, I am of the opinion it started with this album. Others believe that it started two years later with In the Court of the Crimson King. But just listen to both albums back to back and tell me that King Crimson were not greatly influenced by this album.

This is an incredibly exceptional album of great quality that is essential, but not perfect. Yes some of it is dated, and may be considered corny to many modern listeners, but therein lies its charm. In fact Another Morning, probably the corniest bit on the album, is probably my favorite song for its well constructed musical arrangement, intelligent lyrics, and truthfulness. It's a very honest song, and this entire album is honest, and beautiful. This innovative concept album was the first of its kind. There had been semi-concept albums before. Sgt. Pepper is usually the first that comes to mind, and you can definitely hear the influence that album had on this. But this album took it one gigantic step further. It tells a story, with a clear beginning middle and end as represented by each track, of every man's day. It does with the use of voices, guitars, flutes, mellotrons, and the london festival orchestra. There are so many different styles of music here too, and was probably the most stylistically diverse album of new material ever released at that point.

The Moody Blues became very philosophical with this album, and proceeded to become more philosophical with their future albums. It was a welcome direction, and they seemed to portray wisdom beyond there years. It's to imagine a group of 20 year old kids releasing an album like this today, where the music seems to be dominated by cynicism and angst. It is nice to look at a time when rock music was still young and innocent, and spreading its wings to and breaking the boundaries that had limited it. With this album, it seemed that anything was possible. There was no set style or genre, it was all just good music. This was the beginning of the best period for rock music, and this album is a good starting point for progressive rock.

While this album is very poppish and is not complex, it takes several listens for it to sink in. It is a classical symphonic pop album of the 60s that on its own created a road towards symphonic rock. It is a concept album ,and all the songs are connected together by Orchestra solo sections.

"The day begins" starts this album and shows in a symphonic introduction all the melodies that will be later heard in the album. "Dawn" is a dark mellow track that melds pop and classical music. The male vocalist is very talented and he sings in beautiful melodies. "Morning" is an upbeat track with a happy and extremely catchy melody played with string instruments." Lunch" is a fast tempo track with great vocal harmonies. "Afternoon" is a highlight, which shows that a song doesn't have to be complex in order to love it. It has great mellotron work, simple, yet effective percussion, and soaring vocals. "Evening" has excellent acoustic guitar work, driving rhythms, and a great chorus, and is separated into three different sections. This is the song that sound closest to the Beatles. "Night in White Satin" is easily the strongest Moody Blues track, and my favourite ballad of all times. It is perfect and accessible. Its lyrics tell of unrequited love making this song melancholic. The verses have great melodies backed by a mellotron, and the choruses of 'I love you!" are some of the best choruses I have ever heard in my life! The instrumental break is gorgeous with a flute solo and the album ends in the same way it started ... dominated by an Orchestra.

1. The day begins (7/10) 2. Dawn: Dawn is a feeling (8/10) 3. Morning: another Morning (6/10) 4. Lunch break: peak hour (6.5/10) 5. Tuesday afternoon (forever afternoon) (8.5/10) 6. Evening: the sun set: twilight time (7.5/10) 7. Night: nights in white satin (11/10) (masterpiece rating)

My grade : B

The first album of the classic Moody Blues' line-up (Hayward, Lodge, Thomas, Pinder & Edge) was grounbreaking for many reasons: the album was credited to The Moody Blues with The London Festival Orchestra, Conducted by Peter Knight (other bands employed orchestras to enhance their sound, but this was the first to put that at the cover); it was probably the first concept album to be massively known and bought by record buyers; two poems were used to enhance the concept, as speeches (Rick Wakeman probably remembered this when he was arranging his "Journey to the Centre of the Earth"). That said, let's analyze the music: and the music on "Days of Future Passed" is pretty good! Album begins with an orchestral passage, which arranges some melodies of another songs, and goes further with the first poem, spoken by his author Graeme Edge. "Dawn is a feeling" is the first proper song, written & sung by Mike Pinder, a bit melancholic but perfectly appropriate to the mood of this album. Pinder also wrote the sumptuous "The Sunset", which perfectly blends his mellotron with the orchestra. "Another Morning" is a joyous song written and sung by Ray Thomas, who uses his Broadwayesque voice to create the idea of a "happy" awakening. "Peak Hour" is a rocking song written by John Lodge, going in the mood of the previous song. "The Afternoon" comes in two parts: first, the majestic "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)", one of the most enduring Hayward's compositions and second, "(Evening) Time to Get Away", another Lodge composition (and probably my least favourite track at this album). "Evening" is also splitted in two parts: the aforementioned "The Sunset" and "Twilight Time", another Thomas composition, which leads to another Edge poem ("Late Lament" as it became widely known) and the marvellous "Nights in White Satin". Everything has been said about this last song, so I will only say that this was the first prog-rock classic, perfect from the first to the last second of music. This album is a genuine masterpiece and must be at any prog-rock collection, at least for its historical value.

Didn't really like 'Peak Hour' it seemed a bit noisy/jangly compared to the rest of the album. However, it was a 'concept album', so as part of an unfolding day, it had it's place on the album. Most of the songs feature very lush orchestration, which I'm a sucker for. On the whole, this is a thouroughly enjoyable album. I've sung 'Tuesday Afternoon' at a karaoke. Unfortunately the karaoke version, although very good, is truncated, so just as I'm winding up for the full dose of passion in this highly emotive, passionate, sacred sounding, anthemic song, it fizzles out.

'Twilight time' is hypnotic, as is the 'Sunset'. Nights in White Satin is probably their most famous song, the flute playing kind of envelopes you in a balloon that reminds me of the effect that Nilsson's 'Everybody's Talking ' used to have.

This was the album that saw the introduction of Hayward and Lodge, the REAL Moody Blues as far as I'm concerned. "Go Now' may have gotten to number one in the UK singles chart, but obviously with a different line up, it sounds like a totally different group, and much more basic.

If you like light, syrupy, classical music, good harmonies, lyrics, well produced songs, this is a must have.

I reluctantly give 4 stars to this album, as there is no denying that it is an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

The main reasons for supporting it are fairly numerous, so here are a few;

1) After "Sergeant Pepper..." it was the most progressive album to come out of 1967. 2) It features the London Festival Orchestra, so that's pretty prog. 3) It has a Mellotron. 4) It has Justin Hayward - one of the most achingly melodramatic singers with one of the purest voices ever. Better than Greg Lake. 5) The Moodies fused classical and rock before Keith Emerson did. 6) It's just got that Prog Rock ambience, OK - it's not really prog when you listen hard, but it's got the right attitude and nuances to sit comfortably alongside your Yes and ELP albums - although probably more comfortably next to your Barcly James Harvest collection...

So on to the music;

The day begins is a quickly hacked together overture that introduces the main themes of all the songs on the album. The fading in gong is brilliant, but the rest is Cheesey to the max; it's inoffensive in a kind of MGM films kind of way, with little tinkly bells, harps and piano trills making you feel like you're in an airport waiting lounge.

Suddenly a theme shines through all chirpy and cheeky, sounding like a happy version of part of Orff's "Carmina Burana", but soon all is tinkliness and light again... Then the first glimpse of "Nights..." is exposed, weaving a little darkness into the texture at last, but I wish they'd dropped the harp - the crashing noise would have been highly amusing...

Next, poetry. Well... sort of. Somehow I think of the Small Faces "Ogden's Nut Gone", except that the words just aren't funny - they're just pretentious. But hey, this is proto- prog - it's SUPPOSED to be pretentious!

The orchestra drifts away on a mushy pillow, and gives way to "Dawn...". More orchestral cheddar feeds into a Mellotron and some great melody from Mr Hayward. This is a great, great, song - even the lyrics are comfortable, but it is a standard song structure - no formal fireworks - that wouldn't have been out of place on "Sgt. Pepper", the standard is so high.

An orchestral interlude interrupts - here I feel the fusion is not quite as successful as it could have been.

Then we move into "Morning..." - I must admit I'm not a fan of happy, chirpy mornings, and even less of a fan of that naff riff that seems to have come from "Carmina...". The following song is of a reasonable quality when it moves to the minor key chorus, but I find the upbeat parts remind me of the Small Faces but without the humour.

The next orchestral interlude should have been CUT IMO - it's more horrible than a horrible thing, and repeating Orff's riff doesn't make it work better.

"Lunch Break" starts in a way that reminds me of so many things, and is made even worse by constant repetition of the "Orff riff", for want of a better term. The tempo does kind of suggest the peak hour subject matter, but I wish it had been done differently. I hate it. Your Mileage May Vary.

Then we get a bit of ROCK. Just when you thought you'd been settled into that easy chair, the tempo is lifted, and the song "Peak Hour" sounds like something that might have come from Yes' debut, except with decent vocals and a more sensibly moderated bass.

The central vocal harmony section is interesting for its obvious Beach Boys roots, and the "grow out", with carefully felt guitar and organ solos. The organ / drum outro is a nice surpise, and ends side one of my MONO first press with style :o)

Unlike Sergeant Pepper, No suprises await the vinyl listener in the run-out groove, so straight over to side two we hop for the next stage of this trip.

"Tuesday Afternoon" goes straight in with the proto-Prog, and OH! Those Mellotrons!! Frankly, Mr Hayward could be singing about a mucky Monday morning on the M25 and it would still sound glorious - you just know it! The way he lifts the melody with a semitone, and drops it again is creative genius at work.

This pleasant little number drops into and out of different styles, the influences apparent but not in your face - this is original Moody Blues music, and the high point of the album for me - the closest it really gets to prog. And just because it doesn't stray away from 4/4 doesn't mean it isn't.

Nice flutes and harps with sawing and soaring violins prepare us for "Nights..." before "Evening" has even begun.

The melancholy music is much more worth listening to than the lyrics, which in this song start to grate a little from the precious and patronising podium from which they preach, and the moaning over the loss of morning - but there is a sudden twist to the realisation that evening is "time to get away", which redeems it a little. There are also a lot of changes in this song - which ends up feeling a little like something from an Andrew Lloyd Webber production.

One yucky orchestral interlude later and into awful lyrics zone: "Take a look out there, planets everywhere...", and it doesn't get better, although the backing music is arguably the most interesting on the entire album due to its experimental nature, give or take the odd nasty orchestral interlude. Twilight Time carries this on extremely well, maintaining a wonderfully "moody" feel, and more great proto prog.

More orchestral nastiness with harps and horns, and it's finally into "Nights In White Satin" - without doubt the most famous song on this album. There's no point covering this, as everyone knows it, except Herman the Hermit and his hamster, Hugo. The orchestral intro is so bad that the song stands out in fairly painful relief - as if it's just been crowbarred in any old how, which is a cruel thing to do to such a beautiful song, IMHO.

The other cruel thing to do is continue on with dodgy orchestral music, and round it off with horrendous "poetry" that wanders between the outright naff and the downright pretentious.

Oh, then there's a really nasty orchestral ending.

But you should still own this album because it's historically very important, contains some very, very fine singing, songwriting and proto-prog - even if in small doses - and you can get it in the bargain bins practically everywhere!!

And what about those Mellotrons, eh?

This is maybe the most influential album ever for prog. It's up there with In the Court of the Crimson King, but I don't think this is quite as good. It is Essential nonetheless, and features many prog defining moments. It was also one of the first albums to use a mellotron, and this paved the way for many prog rock bands to come.

The opener is an overture of sorts, with some spoken word poetry. It features the orchestra in large amounts, and it is kind of boring, I hate to say. Not really bad, though.

Dawn is a Feeling is disapointment for me. I just don't find the main melody very appealing. It also sounds very dated, which usually doesn't bother me, but oh well. Not a very good song, I don't think. But you might like it. I can't really describe it. It also sounds much darker than what I would imagine dawn to feel like.

Another Morning is a great song, I think. It features a very fun, singsongy cheerful verse melody. It also features a more sad sounding chorus, and the instrumentation is great. The orchestra parts don't fit with the melodies in my opinion, but the song is overall a good one. Fits the mood of morning well.

Peak Hour is an OK song, sounds kind of Who-ish in parts. The melodies are overall not as strong as the other songs, and it rocks a little more and fits the mood of Lunch well.

Whereas side one was inconsistent, side two is spectacular. Tuesday Afternoon features a very sad sounding melody, and some other great melodies, along with a rollicking kind of country western part, except without the country part. Nice piano, very good mellotron/orchestra in this part. It segues into Evening (Time to Get Away) with a very dark and moody acoustic section. Excellent spacy vocals. Time to Get Away features an excellent catchy chorus, and the verse melody is pretty good; It does feature some dated pitch shifting in the vocals, ala Roy Orbison, but its not bad at all. This song is excellent. Fits the mood well.

Sunset is awesome, featuring a very dreamy spacy melody and a great orchestra interlude, very mideastern sounding. One of the best orchestra bits on here. This segues into one of the best parts on the album, Twilight Time. Very awesome melody, awesome bridge, great lyrics, just awesome stuff. Much faster paced than the slow sunset. This also fits the evening mood well, but I think Twilight Time would also have worked as the Dawn Melody.

Nights in White Satin. Ooh, how awesome. Gives me goosebumps. Insanely good melody and vocals and lyrcis, and some great orchestra and mellotron-ing. Great flute in the bridge. Very dark, moody, night time song. Perfect for the mood. On my version of the CD, it has seven tracks and Late Lament is on the tail end of Nights... It's pretty much just a reprise of the spoken poetry from the first track.

So this song is awesome, very influential, awesome mellotron passages. Orchestra passages are usually pretty good, sometimes not great, a little too Disnye-esque for me and not fitting to the rest of the song at times, but all in all a solid album. 4.5 stars, plus another half a star for the influence it had and the greatness it spawned. Without this album there would little to nothing in the way of prog. Maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but either way its an awesome album.

Here is where HISTORY begins, "Days of Future Passed" is really the first conceptual-progressive rock album, like it or not.

Reformed in 1966 with a new guitar player (Hayward) and a new bassist (Lodge) and also the addition of new instruments (mellotron, the most notable), The Moody Blues recorded this brilliant piece.

There are some dull parts at the first track, "The day begins" and some pretentious moments at the last track, the "Late lament" pseudo-poetry. But the real musical score is fine, the orchestrated parts then doing a good job linking the songs; also singing and playing by band members are awesome.

The story of one day in a person's life is well told and felt:

'Dawn is a feeling' reminds us of that natural indolence when we wake up. Great ballad, soft, almost drowsy. Fine initial orchestrated part. Hayward voice is another instrument here. Ellegant;

'The morning' brings a kind of freshness of beautiful winter days with some funny and happy tunes. Flute intro is awesome and then keyboards enter uplifting the atmosphere. Good lyrics too. Tasteful;

'Lunch break' introduces us inside the frenzy activities of midday hour. Intro is glorious, nervous, it's like being clogged in the city traffic. After a fading moment the song goes to a rocky part delightfully dated in the 60s. Pleasant;

'Tuesday afternoon', almost an epic, the singer's voice decays just like afternoon nearing evening, a marvelous effect. One of the best songs in Moody Blues' roster. Excellent;

'Evening' changes from a posture edging inertia to an optimistic sensation. Many changes and variations, catchy, agreeable. Fair;

'Nights in white satin', probably the most beautiful prog-rock ballad, is candid and gentle, the sadness of a lonely night is perfectly understood. The way the song flows is astonishing and exciting and there's always a background mellotron tune, a kind of registered mark for this marvelous song. Unique.

Really a MASTERPIECE, compulsory for all music fans (not only prog-fans). Total: 5 stars.

The album that paved the way for other Prog-Rockers. It all began with this band as well as Procul Harum. D.O.F.P. was inspired by a certain album by a certain quartet of young Englishmen. and this album was the inspiration of another Album(That at first really did not go anywhere) by another group of Englishmen. Can you guess these bands and LPS? but the list is endlless. This album truly shows that orchestration and rock can fuse well together. The album has great vocal harmonies as well. Now that I think about it The Moody Blues were underrated as a vocal group! The album( Of course) ends on a powerful note with NIghts In White Satin. Justin Haywards voice is extememly potent. I like that certain moan he has, brings a tear to my eye when he sings N.I.W.S. A winner

One of the most beautiful albums of all times but like all work of the 60s demands a bit of time to be used to. It begins with the orchestra playing all themes and only after we have band and orchestra alternating. With exceptional melodies and vocals, the Moodies showed why the tiny foggy island (Britain) was so sophisticated and powerful when speaking of music, I recommend also comrade bands Procol Harum and Traffic as a dessert. Ah, the cover must be seen in the vertical: a male's face and a female's face may be seen.

How to start? with the lyrics? or the music? this is a strang recording from a non progressive rock group. Using different types of instruments and a full classicl orchestra. I was dissapointed with the overall result but Ill keep it anyway. Not perfect but still worth it.

Amazing. Simply amazing. Days of Future Passed is arguably one of the first prog albums of all time, completely phenomenal. This is the TRUE start to the epic prog band, The Moody Blues. Forget "Go Now!" and anything else, this is where we find our good friend Mike Pinder joining with the great vocals of Justin Hayward and some amazing orchestral elements! Truly a prize in the history of prog. This album consists of heavy instrumental influences and combines this with great progressive melodies. The Moody Blues are always know for having amazing harmonic vocals, and this shines through on this album, especially Tuesday Afternoon and Nights in White Satin. Simple a fantastic album, not much more need be said for this great band! You must listen to this to understand the greatness!

My introduction to "progressive" music, although I didn't know it at the time. I have been listening to this album as long as I remember and the only other albums that recieved heavier circulation through my early childhood were "abbey Road" and "Let it Be" by the Beatles. While technically this may not be a true "Prog" album, it sure comes damn close. The use of the orchestra as well as a coherent concept make this a true masterpiece. An extremely important album to say the least. The Moodies created an album that not only has stood the test of time but provided a true bridge from adventurous psychadelic rock to prog. There is not a weak track on the album making it a treat to listen to through it's entirety. other concept albums that have followed fall through with their complex stories and granduer. This album is brilliant in it's simplicity, and still continues to impress me every time I listen. Essential for any prog fan not only for it's historical factor, but it's timelessness and brilliance.

"Cold hearted orb which rules the night, removes the colours from our sight, red is gray and yellow white, but we decide which is right and which is an illusion"

Here it is. The first progressive album, IMO. Orchestral arrangments, longer songs, many switches between mood/song structures/instraments, progressive theme, everything here screams progressive. Especially for that time. From this standpoint alone its essential in every collection. The music itself is very good with many flutes, voilins, keybaords, and an overall happy feeling in most of the tunes. Also, i really like the lyrics on many of the tracks. I probably would give this four stars if it wasn't for the fact that i believe it to be the first progressive album. It is debateable however, and again for that reason every prog fan should try so they can form there own opinion.

Hightlights: The Day begins, with its overture-like feel, introducing all the delicious melodies that will appear later (and some good poetry by Graham, i believe). Lunch Break: Peak Hour, starting as an upbeat "classical" piece and switching to a hard rocker (for that time anyway). Excellent stuff! Tuesday Afternoon: Forever Afternoon, from the "hit" single of the first movement to the orchestral stuff of the second and the softer, ominous rock of the third, very well done, and again very progressive. The last huge hitter would be the lamentful Night: Nights in White Satin. I love the melody of this song, melancholy and powerful! Very emotional singing as well, you can feel the pure emotion of what he is singing. Wonderful! All the other songs are very good as well, but these stand out.

All in all, this is a must. The first progressive album which deserves to be owned (or at least heard) by all prog fans. As a plus there are very few lowlights on this album. Extremly recommended! Absolutely essential.

4.45 Lack of musical complexity, but is definitely a five star listen. (Deram 1997 issue. This remaster is clear and sounds as though it was recorded yesterday.)

There’s no doubt that this album is essential, but it is not a masterpiece in my opinion. There are a great variety of moods created perfectly, and most songs shift direction easily, and along with an orchestral orientation, give a progressive element. But the music isn’t complex enough for the devoted prog listener, due to fairly simple drumbeats and no real mergence of a variety of instruments. However, this was certainly one of its kind, performing a giant leap in to the development of the magical world of 70’s prog.

The album is beautiful to listen to, the melodies are smooth, accompanied by the wonderful Justin Hayward, soothing and flowing. My favourite track is ‘The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon’, with a mood-changing transition masked by an orchestral interlude and flute. ‘Evening’ and ‘Night’ are classic tracks, and always a delight to listen to.

Overall, this album is a stunner, and one of the best albums to emerge from the 60s. Every track is a pure delight and is a must have for your collection.

One of the first prog albums, this was originally supposed to be a rock/orchestral version of Dvorak's 9th symphony designed to show off Deram's new "Deramic" sound system, but the Moodies persuaded the producer to let them record their own songs. It's not a true integration of band and orchestra, as the two recorded separately and the orchestra mainly provides the filling between the Moodies' tracks. I will admit I found these sections a bit "cheesy" to start with (along with the poem at start and finish) but they are much improved in the new remastered edition, and even the poem makes more sense when you know that the "cold-hearted orb" is a television. Having said that, these are the main reasons for the record sounding a bit dated now, as it is hard to believe that songs like the brilliant "Tuesday Afternoon" (or Forever Afternon (Tuesday?) to give it its correct title) are around 40 years old. "(Evening) Time to get away" is another classic, sung with an astonish octave leap by John Lodge. This song has a great chorus, although it fades out too soon on the second one. The album ends with the classic "Nights in White Satin", featuring heavy use of the Mellotron and highlighting Hayward's brilliant vocals. Is this possibly the most well known flute solo in music?

All in all, a classic album and one of the first prog albums ever made. Personally speaking, the orchestral sections date it slightly (a couple of them sound like the soundtrack to a low-budget English film from the 60s) but this still belongs in all serious prog collections.

The new remastered version features alternate versions of some of the songs, some mono single masters, a few rarities and some tracks from BBC radio sessions in late 1967 and early 1968. Sound-wise, it's a big improvement on my earlier version.

There have been so many words written about this album that it’s unlikely there is really anything new to say, but in the interest of covering all my favorite Moodies releases, I’ll add my words anyway.

I think the most remarkable things about this album aren’t the many arguable firsts – first progressive album; first use of an orchestra in a purely pop/rock album; first use of mellotron as primary instruments in a pop/rock album; first use of spoken-word poems to augment pop/rock songs; etc. etc. The really remarkable things are the reissues of the best-known single “Nights in White Satin” in the 70s that outsold even the original release, and the reemergence of the album on hit charts several times throughout the 70s, indicating both continuing and renewed interest in it. I first heard that song as a young teenager, not realizing that what I thought was a huge new hit was actually more than half a dozen years old. For a midwestern American in the early 70s, this was an incredibly exotic-sounding work, and after hearing the whole album (on 8-track, of course) I was dumbfounded. We didn’t have music like that where I came from.

Even today you can get completely lost in this album. The lushness of the arrangements, over-the-top grandeur of the orchestra combined with the novelty and subtlety of the mellotron tracks (compared to so many later works by cheap knockoff bands) really made this album work. Justin Hayward’s voice, particularly on “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Evening” is so devastatingly mournful and yet beautiful at the same time. All of these combined with the quiet and suave flute just gave this album a much more refined and weighty feel to it than most of what else was available at the time.

Even though the album tells a contiguous story, it’s really the second half that makes the whole thing work. From “Tuesday Afternoon” through the end, the listener is just swept into this surreal world that was at the time so novel, not psychedelic, and not classic orchestral, not folk, but a perfect melding of the three.

I have to wonder if Arjen Anthony Lucassen at least thought about this album when he penned The Human Equation, and if this is the bar he set for himself. If so, he may have bested it, but not by much.

I can’t really say anything else that others haven’t already said – a true classic in every sense. Five stars.

peace

This albums a feeling, a beutiful ceiling. Flows through the day effortlessly and with great imagery. The only low point in the album is "Lunch Hour: Peak Hour". Very poppy and I believe it could of been done better. Evening: The Sun Set: Twilight time is an absolute masterpiece as it proclaims the evening sun set perfectly. One of the greatest concept albums of all time.

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.

When you're talking about "Days of Future Passed" you're going back about as far as you can possibly go in the history of progressive rock. Whether or not it's the first true prog album is somewhat subjective and not an argument I'm disposed to get into. What I do know is that in 1967 Deram Records signed this struggling little group mainly because they wanted a "mod" combo to record a hip version of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 (bad idea). Evidently the group and more reasonable minds were able to find a compromise with the label and, as the notes on the back of the LP announce, create a "fusion of pop composition and classical writing." I feel that I'm walking a thin line in this review. In no way do I want to demean this album or in any way diminish the huge significance of its impact. On the other hand, I don't want some 16 year old to buy this thinking they're getting something along the lines of Pink Floyd's psychedelic "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" or the Beatles' revolutionary "Revolver." All three were on the shelves in 1967 but there the similarity ends. Compared to those two "Days of Future Passed" was as conservative as Barry Goldwater's politics.

As the album begins you get the feeling that you've somehow landed in the front row of a Broadway musical as the orchestra plays the glossy overture, "The Day Begins." Then Graeme Edge delivers his famous Shakespearean-like soliloquy that is still majestic and lofty even today. "Dawn is a Feeling" is a featherweight tune heavy on the orchestration but it is Justin Hayward's unmistakable voice that fits the song well. This is where the music starts to get really dated in a hurry. The flute beginning of "Another Morning" is very, very old school, downright corny and Ray Thomas' song is almost laughable in its naiveté. "Lunch Break" features an extremely contemporary orchestral score that sounds like it was borrowed from a syrupy Mantovani record. When the band starts up John Lodge's "Peak Hour" it reminds you of something from an Austin Powers movie. I'm not being disrespectful here, I'm just giving you the facts. But now we come to one of the reasons this album became so popular. The next segment features Hayward's excellent "Tuesday Afternoon" and the introduction of the magnificent Mellotron. This new device didn't really sound like a string section or an organ or anything else. Listeners didn't know what it was but they liked it. It added a unique sound to the proceedings and symphonic progressive rock may have truly been born because of it. Following that the orchestral score resumes and a dramatic piano leads us to a sort of acoustic guitar singalong, "Evening Time." The next section is the strangest. Starting with the strings performing something that would be more appropriate on a Christmas album, it moves into an Indian raga motif complete with tabla and flute for Thomas' "Sun Set." It's almost surreal. "Twilight Time" follows, a "groovy" pop song based on a heavy piano riff. The ending is another reason that this experiment worked. Hayward's haunting "Nights in White Satin" is classy, regal and showcases his one-of-a-kind voice perfectly. This, along with "Tuesday Afternoon," kept the album on the charts for two years running. The symphony delivers a big finish complete with another Edge poetry recital and a fitting, gigantic bash of the gong.

Listening to it now the whole thing comes off as being a bit camp but keep in mind that this precedes Deep Purple, The Nice and others who would attempt to blend a classical mentality with rock and roll. Credit the Moody Blues for even jumping into this project and for bringing the Mellotron to the "Top 40" list where the general public would experience it on a daily basis. Those were heady times and the notions of what was possible in music were evolving by the hour. And this courageous band of musicians was right in the thick of it all, opening as many doors as they could.

There is nothing bad that can be said about this groundbreaking concept album. Really a work of art here. From Dawn to Night, this is flawless. Hayward's vocals are among the finest in the world of Prog/Art rock. Mike Pinder's mellotron playing is something to behold. Mr. Thomas's flute playing and cheery take on "Another Morning" is excellent while John Lodge really adds to the vocal harmonies. Graeme Edge shows off some very creative poetry, and it helps shape the concept of the album. This is a progressive masterpiece.

This album is usually regarded as the first progressive, or particularly, symphonic rock album ever made. Whether this is factual or not isn't much important, but the album really introduced symphonic orchestral arrangements and especially Mellotron sounds into pop/rock music. And that may be enough to deserve a place amongst the most crucial albums.

On the other hand, from today's perspective, the album is quite out-dated. First half is a sugary, pop ballads with loads of strings and often sound very childish. The second half, starting from "Tuesday Afternoon", is much better and it introduces wonderful Mellotron minor-key melancholy sounds.

Production is nicely done, with themes merging, making a real "concept album", which tries to depict a 24 hours in a introspective, poetic way. It is obvious from where Greg Lake found inspiration for his lush balladry, be it with KING CRIMSON or ELP, and in this matter "Days of Future Passed" is surely an influential and groundbreaking record.

But it is far from any masterpiece. Listening today at least half of it is negligible. Objectively, out of the scope of this site, I would rate it 3 stars. Having in mind the purpose of PA, after all, this album should be listened by all prog fans because it was an important record in the development of progressive rock. Barely ****

You look around you. Things, they astound you.

Days of Future Passed is easily a prime example of full blown progressive rock in its earliest stages. The innovation for its time is rather astounding. The way in which it works around a concept in addition to the fantastic work of the London Festival Orchestra makes it stand out as a true innovator of the music scene. The album is as varied as its subject, a typical day, highlighting the energy of afternoon and the lonliness of night.

The album draws a lot of its success through the wide variety of instruments that are provided by the orchestra. The strings echoing the main melody in "Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling" is a prime example. Also, the introduction is a sweeping overture exclusively of the orchestra. For 1967, having an orchestra backing you on a record is something truly innovative. Quite often, the album has a sound of a somewhat typical sixties "British Invasion" band and the Beatles influence is really present. The best example is "Peak Hour." However, the introduction to that song is much more experimental than anything that their pop contemporaries would produce. The various orchestral interludes are really great because they really create a distinct sound and are a welcome break from use of more typical rock instruments. It adds a real artistic quality that is still unparalleled and transforms the album in to something like "highly progressive pop music" which I think most people would certainly find enjoyable. It adds to the accessability of the album. The band combines pop melodies with progressive orchestration and the result is a winner.

What it comes down to is that The Moody Blues really do make great music and this is an album with historical qualities for progressive music and the quality of musicianship is very good indeed. The concept aspect of the album is exectuted very well with poignant lyrics. I'd say "Nights in White Satin" has to be one of the best orchestrated and beautiful pieces of the 60s and the vocals work very well. Overall, a great album that would make a good addition for people who enjoy diverse instruments and songwriting. Not the most complex work, but the concept and musicianship more than make up for it. Really an enjoyable and deep work that has to be heard.

An important album is Days Of Future Passed. There is no mistaking Moodey Blues were one of the forerunners of progressive related sound. The orchestral arrangements on this album are prefectly enmeshed with the able back up of young but professional musicianship. A strong signal to the Hayward/Lodge collaborations in future days.Nights in White Satin arguably on of the most frequently played songs of all time. This is a solid album from the Moodey Blues, a significant release which lead to even better releases from the band and highly recommended to those seeking Art Rock as a genre.

The Night: 4.5

This is, quite possibly, the best of all the Sergeant Pepper rip offs I can think of. And I say that having listened...uh, to none of them. Well, except for one, but I don't really think it's a Sergeant Pepper rip off at all. Of course...I suppose if you wanna get "technical" or something, I haven't actually heard Sergeant Pepper either. So, really now, why should you trust me on ANYTHING rock 'n rollish at all?

Alright, this review is getting off to a bad start... Aha! Instead of Pepper, I think that a much better record to compare this too would be Dark Side of the Moon, the OTHER greatest rock album ever. I mean, they're both based on the same concept of a day in the life...or a life in a day, depends on how you look at it. And I can safely say that, without a doubt, this is the better album.

For one thing, the concept feels so much more...honest on this record. Sometimes Dark Side's use of the concept felt a little cheap, a way to tie up loose ends in the songs. Days though, the concept just strengthens the songs. So secondly is, of course, the melodies. Oh, God, the melodies. But hey, if you wanna hear me bitch about Dark Side, I should be reviewing that instead; let's talk about this puppy!

We open with "The Day Begins," which is actually hardly the best track in the universe. It's an overture in the absolute truest sense of the word. A bunch of the themes from the record played by an orchestra. It must have been kinda cool at the time. Now? Well, sometimes the converted themes are real good ("Nights in White Satin" comes off beautifully, for example). But sometimes it feels a little...soundtrackish? Oh well, it's all good enough, except that it ends in some...ugh, poetry. I shouldn't have to describe it, it oughta be (in)famous enough. Suffice to say that drummer Graham Edge is a very good poet...for a fifth grader. Or maybe an advanced fourth grader.

Okay, on to the actual songs. And, you know what? This is scary but...they're almost all amazing. "Dawn in a Feeling" is a nice piano ballad. Cool lyrics...mostly (the chorus is just a bit much). Ah, but "Another Morning?" Pure genius. A real hidden gem. That playful melody is enchanting, the medieval chorus is ghostly good, and the lyrics are practically deep! What more could you want? The orchestrals at the end even fit perfectly!

"Peak Hour" is the only track that I really don't like that much. I mean, the tune itself is solid enough, but the Moodies just can't rock sufficiently enough to make it work (the slow midsection is a little corny, surely you must agree). In the hands of the Who the song woulda kicked ass though. Although the orchestra at the beginning sounds starts to sound exactly like Warner Brothers cartoon stock music for "traffic." Oh well, the nods to "Dawn in a Feeling" are nice.

The Moodies then give the whole multi-part track thing a shot; "The Afternoon" is split among two "movements;" "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" has this real cool, ghostly mellotron opening. The verses are pretty, and the chorus features a dirty piano! Well, at least as dirty as the Moodies could get. Soaring orchestrals get us into "(Evening) Time to Get Away." The verse is slow and solemn, but the chorus is so desperate, it's great. The ending with the falsetto might be a bit much, but then that mellotron comes back in and it's great.

"Evening" features "The Sunset," an Eastern themed rocker. It's a bit repetitive, and the lyrics are a tad schizoid, but the tune is so darn catchy. But the psycho rocker "Twilight Time" is yet another overlooked gem off the album. Spooky and driving, it might not rock as hard as "Peak Hour," but it's so much tighter. Freaky lyrics too. In a good way I mean.

Of course, the big number off the album is "Nights in White Satin," and it's easy to see why. I know I've said a lot of other songs are beautiful (and I mean in my life, not just on this album), but this thing might just be the most beautiful song ever recorded. And it's so simple! But it's gorgeous, AND, it's eternally resonant to boot. Best lyrics on the whole damn album (flawlessly sung by Hayward); I know I've done all that dumb crap in my quests for love and happiness...okay, so we don't, as a people, write letters anymore, but "text messages I've written, never meaning to send" probably doesn't fit into the melody quite as well.

And I'm not even going to mark it off for one more visit from our resident "poet" drummer. Nope. Of course, if they HAD ended the song after that nice, sufficiently bombastic orchestral rise before the dumb poetry, then the song honestly would be perfect. Oh well, can't have it all. Just stop the CD early; it's still the best song on the record.

Now, in one way, this record is not perfect. It's not even "so close to perfect that it hurts." Be they good song writers, the Moodies are hardly the best buncha song players. The vocals (Hayward) sure, and Lodge's bass is solid and Pinder's mellotron may not be masterfully played, but it is done with a goodly amount of cunning. Everything else? Never really rising above some artsy session players; no good guitar work, and Edge continues to be my least favorite member of the band (I can drum better than that!).

Secondly, of course, there is the matter of the occasionally cheesy orchestrations, and the pretty much always cheesy poetry ("Brave Helios, wake up your steeds?" "Senior citizens wish they were young?" Gimme a break!).

But, is this a cheesy album? Hell yeah! Sometimes the cheese even gets to me ("Peak Hour"). But the Moodies are a cheesy band. If you can't live with that, if you won't allow the melodies to bury themselves into your brain, then you're just not human. I love brainless Dragons and Dungeons metal just as much as the next guy, but you cannot not admire the gift these guys had for melody.

You see, barring those (effectively minor) weaknesses, this IS a perfect album. These guys were sonic geniuses who, by and large, knew their limits. What makes the album so good is that it never goes over its head. And yes, I realize that I just explained how it utterly goes over its head, but that was conceptually. Musically, it's one of the most adequate albums on earth.

This is probably the greatest art pop album ever, and, even if it's not, it's surely the most beautiful. Hell, it's prettier 'n Heavy Horses! Which, from me, means a lot (and, of course, disclaimer, Heavy Horses is a technically better album).

And, from that point of view, the Moodies would get "technically" better later on (compare the musicianship here with, say, Children's Children, and you'll see what I mean), but I can't think of a more solid album that they ever did. In fact, I can think of very few albums this solid period. Hell, I know for a fact that there are some bands that have not been able to scrape together enough material to rival "Another Morning," "Twilight Time," maybe just "Nights."

I've said it before, but I just honestly cannot envision a person who could possibly HATE this album. Complain about it? Sure. But hate it? No. They would have to be a heartless bastard. Don't be a heartless bastard. Buy this today.

One of the most important precursors to progressive rock, 'Days Of Future Passed' is notable for the number of innovations it introduced to popular music.

It's not THE MOODY BLUES' first album, but it's the first after they re-formed in 1966, having shed their gentle R&B image and embraced psychedelic sensibilities. That they should have issued this record as their first of the new formation is nothing short of astonishing. To put out a concept album of wistful tunes about 'a day in the life' sandwiched between pop orchestral colourings hardly seems a recipe for success, but it worked extremely well.

Of particular note to me is the way the band operated. Each member apart from GRAEME EDGE composed songs for the band, (and even he did poems, most of them rather poor) and thus in a very democratic fashion THE MOODY BLUES incorporated a stunning variety of voices, vocalists and talents. This served to keep the band alive far longer than most of their contemporaries, and echoed THE BEATLES' method of working.

MICHAEL PINDER is worth noting. One of the very earliest adopters of the mellotron, his work was soon imitated by keyboardists the world over, and within three years the mellotron was the ubiquitous face of progressive rock.

At this point I must confess I do not much like this album. I'm a keen classical music fan, and it pains me to listen to what the LONDON FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA played here. These simple pop stylings do nothing for me. The crescendos are overwrought and unearned (the one following 'Nights In White Satin' is simply ghastly), and any instrumental virtuosity is sacrificed in favour of triangles and other mock-orchestral touches. Of all the music here, I'm interested only in the hits 'Tuesday Afternoon' and 'Nights In White Satin'. Overplayed they might have been, especially the latter, but they are both glorious amalgams of psychedelic rock and JUSTIN HAYWARD'S achingly beautiful voice, setting the scene for what THE MOODY BLUES would offer in the 1970s and beyond. The rest of the album is dated now, and was bland even when I first heard it. It receives a fourth star out of respect for its place in history.

By the way, this is one album you should listen to on vinyl. Not only is the sound so much warmer, the CD mastering changed a number of aspects of the album for the worse. Oh yes, JOHN LODGE'S falsetto is atrocious (listen to it on 'Evening'). Thankfully he used it less and less as time went on.

Overall, as everyone says, this is an album any serious devotee of progressive rock should listen to, even forty years later. Our prog metal friends will scratch their heads, as will our avant-prog fans, and wonder what the fuss is about. But this is part of your history too.

The first prog-rock album?

Is Days of Future Passed the first album in the history of progressive music? Or is the first one In the Court of the Crimson King? This is a question that has been debated for decades and will continue to be debated for decades to come. Regardless, it is still one of the best and most influential albums of the 60's. Yeah, sure they aren't nearly as complicated as most of the prog we're used to, but we can't deny its historical importance.

Now they may not have been the first band to play with a symphony orchestra (in this case The London Festival Orchestra), but they probably made the best use of it at the time. Days of Future Passed was one of the first conceptual symphonic rock albums, and not to mention one of the most cohesive albums to date. The story followed the events in the every day life of a man, a formula that would be used by countless prog bands in the future. Not only did they jump-start the popularity of the concept album, but they were the first band to consistently use a Mellotron on their albums!

OK, so if you already have a good background in prog (which you probably do) then you probably already know all this influence stuff. If you've heard about it all already, but never actually heard the album, then you'd probably like to know what it actually sounds like. Well imagine the best movie soundtrack you can think of from the 60's: all the symphonies, epic string sections, etc. Now, keep that in mind and meld it together with some of the eras best classic rock. If you can fathom that then you should already have a good idea of what the Moody Blues sound like.

Now if we put all of the importance/influence stuff aside the what's left? Well, it's still a ridiculously good album regardless of it's innovation. It might sound a little outdated to the person used to a more modern/alternative sound, but it still thrives on its elegant songwriting and structures. Right from the first few bars of "The Day Begins", which serves as a sort of overture, one can feel this album is going to be something special. Ranging from the cheery "Tuesday Afternoon" to the emotional and melancholic "Nights in White Satin", all of the songs flow seamlessly with beauty and grace.

On the downside, the album seems to fall really short. The introduction gives off the impression something epic is about to take place, but then after only 40 minutes it all reaches its climax. Of course the 40 minutes that do take place are great, but ultimately it just leaves me wishing for more, more that never comes.

Overall, Days of Future Passed is not only a milestone in the history of music, but is still an excellent listen. Even from the first listen it induced musical orgasms in the pits of my soul. Okay, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but certain points do send chills down my spine and when music does that, it's automatically bumped to at least a 4 star rating. Days of Future Passed includes some great songwriting, catchy tunes (hey they were popular!) and appeal to a wide range of tastes. So, if you haven't already, definitely check this album out.

9.5/10 Incredible

The Moody Blues really have it here. This album shows the bands real sound coming together, the sound which they will hold for the next few albums with Pinder taking control. Mike Pinder is really the horse pulling the wagon with the band, his vision for this album and his mellotron work are all trademark to the moodies sound.

"Days of Future Passed" is really a "landmark moment in time". This could be considered one of if not the FIRST prog album ever recorded. I don't really have a say on that, but I do know this is an incredible work of music and art. It is stunning how the band makes such a huge leap forward to this new sound with the orchestra and all; truly labeling themselves as an innovative prog giant awakening. This album has perfect mood changes, the usual Moody Blues genius all surrounding, the incredible aura and sound of the band...it is just a really unbeliveable "start" for the band, if it can be considered a brand new start for them from the old sound. If you are at all into symphonic showerings of melodic beauty, this album is smothered in the stuff. "Days..." is kind of a stand-alone in that it doesn't quite sound like all of what is to come afterward, but it has the beginning elements of the bands new sound. All of this executed in pure greatness, with "In Search of the Lost Chord" an almost mind boggling return to greatness, in finer form, and perfection at that. Unbelieveable band, no wonder some fans considered them the saviours of mankind, aliens and so forth...the sound that is The Moody Blues is comprehensable only to the deepest emotions, an astounding album by one of the greatest bands ever. Thank goodness it only gets better after this one, what a feast of greatness!!!

The Moody Blues are the first good band that I listened to. Before that I wasn't into music other than the occasional listen to Smash Mouth (which I still like because it's epic), Lenny Kravitz (he's alright), Weird Al Yankovic (still like), or Sugar Ray (no). Oh yeah, and those crappy Now CD's that had one or two songs that I liked occasionally, but anyway... I heard a compilation of their stuff first, so I only heard Tuesday Afternoon and Nights in White Satin, but I have since heard this album in it's enirety and it is great. The two most famous tracks I mentioned are the best, but The Day Begins (an epic introduction), Dawn Is a Feeling, Peak Hour, and Twilight Time are also very good.

Difficult for me find the correct words for a review about "Days Of Future Passed". Because in those years this type of albums are totally revolutionary. For a young person like me, with an attention vision of musical side this album is the summa of the beauty of the music. In a certain sense for those years "Days Of Future Passed" is the more seminal album. In fact this revolutionary album has fertilizer the chins of millions of musicians, also already famous. Today "Days Of Future Passed" is the album of "Nights In White Satin", one of the more famous Rock songs (with an Italian version titled "Ho Difeso Il Mio Amore"). But also in those years this songs was a great Juke Box hit. Another emotional album, another classic for my emotions in music.

Being a player of classical music, this album is brilliant for me. I do believe also that it is the very first progressive album made. Ever. It may be slightly hard to get at for quite a lot of prog fans for the simple reason that it can be categorised as pure classical music; however for the educated listener, it is a real jem. The highlights of the album would have to be the opener, Dawn is a Feeling, Tuesday Afternoon and of course the classic Nights in White Satin. The other four are just nice classical pieces with some real great melody but nothing too special about them.

For the mere fact that it is the very first progressive concept is enough reason alone to buy this disk, and the concept is also very good and simple. Overall, my first listen of this album sent me into some kind of sub-conscious dream, so i would strongly advise its purchase.

4.5/5, an excellent addition to any prog music collection, however a forgotten masterpiece in its own right.

1967, I was 8 years old that year, and Nights in White Satin going on the radio.

Of course, I did not know at that time that I heard would be the future of prog, but I knew this song was very original.

Today, I listen to the whole album, the first four tracks are quite dated, with the orchestra that does not really play classical music but music like in the 60's movies.

In fact, only the last two tracks have really stood the test of time.

For the prog music, this album is one stars of the Big Bang.

Well, here it is. The album that is considered by many to be the first concept album, and possibly even the first truly progressive album. While I do not personally agree with this, I do recognize it as a very important step in music, and is certainly one of the first albums of it's kind. In the same year that saw the release of ''Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' and ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED by The Moody Blues serves as one of the three 'key' albums pertaining to prog's origin, at least in my opinion.

My first impression of this album was actually not a good one, as the dated style of the orchestral arrangements and lack of rock influence (More blues and R&B traits would show up in the album later) made me feel like I was watching an old, all-too-happy 50s romantic musical. So while the record is in my opinion quite 'cheesy' to begin with, I decided to listen to it several times more before I came to a final verdict. I feel now like I have given it enough spins to merit a fair, well-rounded review that will be written in the proper perspective. The point is this: DAYS has many shortcomings, but also many wonderfull moments as well, and hopefully both of those points will be accurately made without too much embellishing done to favor either side. My wish is that this will come across as even and balanced across the board as I express my opinions on what the album is like to listen to.

''The day begins'' Is a complete symphony orchestra piece, first very powerfull and works very well to begin this interesting and very original musical journey. Soon though, I just can't help but feel like things could have gone alot better than they did, and even though the melodies are very beautiful here, there are moments scattered throughout the song (and really, the entire album) that feel a little too 'bouncey' and don't really fit the rest of the album's mood. So, even though there are weak points concerning the orchestra, when it is good, it is amazing. The amazing parts far outweigh the weak points in general, so that only takes off one star for me, as the rest of the time, I am fully engrossed by it, and the strength the classical influence brings is actually very effective for what The Moodies were going for. Unfortunately, we then hear what resembles a reading from Dr. Seuss himself, as the spoken line: ''Cold-hearted orb that rules the night, removes the colours from our sight. Red is grey, and yellow white, but we decide which is right, and which isd an illusion . . . '' is delivered in a painfully atrocious manner, being overly dramatized and without any real emotion, which is quite unfortunate, because it isn't the lyrics that were the problem there; it was merely the poor way in which they were delivered that ultimately killed this track for me.

''Dawn: Dawn is a feeling'' Is the first time we actually hear The Moody Blues themselves perfoming with their instruments, and the vocal work here is superb. This is merely a taste of what greatness will come as far as the singing is concerned. The musicians themselves aren't all that bad, either, and the lyrics on this song are still some of my favorites from the record: ''Dawn is a feeling, a beautiful ceiling. The smell of grass just makes you pass into a dream. You're here today, no future fears. This day will last a thousand years if you want it to . . . ''.

The concepts found in this album deal with discovery, awakening, spiritual enlightenment, and universal love. It tells of an average man going through his daily routines who finds himself discovering these things for the first time, and while something along these lines may not sound like anything too original, you must remember that these were the first guys who told that story, so it was original for the time. There are no reall 'rock n' roll' moments on this album, but there don't need to be, because this is true progressive music, through-and-through. The forementioned concept along with the marriage of electric instruments and orchestra are both prime examples of just how progressive this album was when it was first released. Even now, it stands out as quite an original piece of music. The next song continues this concept quite well.

''Morning: Another Morning'' Is one of my favorite songs on the album, and when the lyrics ''Time seems to stand quite still; in a child's world, it always will'' come into play, I can't help but be extraordinarily uplifted by, and the quality of Justin Hayward's voice is almost supernal at times. The very insightful lyric: ''Yesterday's dreams are tomorrow's sighs'' helps solidify the band's prolific quality for the time they were in. Then the orchestra takes over for another syrup-clad treatment that I am not very fond of, but luckily it doesn't last for a very long time, and it soon becomes bearable before ending well. All in all, another excellent track.

''Lunch Break: peak hour'' Isn't all that great of a track, though it does have its moments. The opening is more of the same with the classical influence, but it soon transforms into a much more straightforward track, before becoming an all-out rocker around the four minute mark, complete with a guitar solos, and everything. I didn't even know they had it in them, but it is the only time on this record that the band sounds anything remotely similar to rock, which is fine, because that isn't what I like about the album, anyway.

''Tuesday afternoon'' is my personal favorite on the album. Perfect use of instruments at just the right moments, and the voice work on here is the best as well. The melody is also very catchy and easy to hum along to, so it may not be as obscure as some of the other tracks, but it is no less enjoyable, and for me, the most enjoyable of all. Ironically, there is hardly any orchestra found in this particular track fore quite some time, which also makes ''Tuesday afternoon'' the most Moody Blues-specific song on DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED. Even when the symphonic aspect comes in to play, it is actually very wonderful to listen to, and not overly cheery at all. Quite tasteful, I think. Probably the best usage of the orchestra to be found on the whole thing. The song then returns to more Moody-only work, and the tone is now much darker and more, parden the pun, 'moody'. Nothing is wrong with this song, and it is the only track that holds my interest from beginning to end without feeling contrived or boring.

''Evening: the sun set: twilight time'' Is the worst track on the record since ''The day begins'', just because it feels like a little bit much, and the tune or song structure doesn't particularly speak to me like the other songs on the record do, and while the slightly celtic quality of the track, with echoing drums, slighty distorted vocals and prominent flute work, can be appealing, it just didn't work to me, and felt very out of place. However, the song does pick up speed a bit later, and that is when I can find some enjoyement from it, but even then the feeling is minimal, as it starts to feel repetitive very quickly, The orchestra comes back in now, and plays my personal favorite moment on the enitre album as far as the classical musicians are concerned. Still not enough to save the track from being too long and redundant, I'm afraid.

''Night: nights in white satin'' Well now, what can I say about this track that hasn't been said already countless times? Um . . . it is an absolutely goregous track from start to finsih. The only other song that is completely flawless on DAYS. The orchestra is amazing, the acoustic guitar (what can be heard of it) is masterful, showing the band members' susperb musicianship for one of the few times on the record, and of course Hayward's voice is perfect as always, and this song truly captures what the album as a whole is about, as it has everything that is good about the album included in it, and none of the bad aspects. Very powerful.

''Late Lament'' pretty much sums up everything that has happened over the course of DAYS, and it serves as a good album closer I suppose, but is not necessary, I don't believe.

As a whole, this album is very good, but it is by no means a masterpiece, and for me to claim that it is just because of it's reputation among progheads would be unfair to my personal view of DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED as a complete piece. I also consider it an excellent addition to any collection, but I still don't want to give it four stars, because I feel like the music has to really do something to my soul in order to be worthy of four stars and above, and that just didn't happen for me, even when I revisited this album numerous times. Nevertheless, it is undeniably an important album that shoudln't be overlooked by any serious prog fanatic. There are flaws, cpomplete with over-the-top symphony compositions sometimes, and moment sin which I feel as if the band was trying to achieve something that they ultimately failed at. So yes, there are things about that date it considerably (including yet another Dr. Seuss reading shortly before the album's close), but there are many more things about it that were pulled off very well, and have stood the test of time. It is certainly an enjoyable album to hear, but not worthy of four stars, in my own point of view. Will it stand the test of time for forty more years? Well, only time will tell, but at this point there are still enough aspects about it that make it worth listening to. A very solid effort from a very solid band. One of the first real prog works, and still a great experience. An absolute recommendation from me.

A concept album ? Definitely.

When you listen to the "intro" ("The Day Begins" and its "White Satin" theme° you got it all there. But to call this prog is not really the most suitable wording. Classical, yes. Invading orchestra, yes. Prog? Hummm!!!

Great and passionate vocal harmonies, for sure. There is of course a huge improvement in comparison with their weak debut album. Production has dramatically improved, song writing is waaaaaay better (but this was not complicated to achieve). The rhythm and blues is all gone (thank god!).

You might have read some reviews of mine already; so, you won't be surprised that such heavy orchestrations are not my cup of tea. If you would expect the great "El Dorado" (ELO), I have never been thrilled with such music. "Morning: Another Morning" as well as "Lunch Break" have more in common with Gershwin than with prog music.

Some compositions are longer than average (for the era). "The Afternoon" clocking at over eight minutes allows to develop some good ideas and theme changes. But, at this time one is willing to get at night because even if this album is one of the first concept work it is far to be convincing. I remember that when I listened to it for the first time ages ago, I was not enthusiast at all about it. And my judgement has not changed.

This is a combination of some pleasant vocal melodies submerged by an orchestra. Not appealing to me.

Of course, there is "Nights". One of the best slow ever produced in "rock" music. On par with the greatest of the genre. A five star track. But the only one here. If you would exclude this masterpiece, there is not much to retain from this album. It doesn't pass the proof of time very well.

I won't really be in-line with my fellow colleagues (but it is not the first time). As with the early BJH (who were seriously influenced by this work), I am not charmed by this album (except by the one and only of course.).

Two stars. No more.

The last of 1967's BIG 3

To mark this review 400 (look out Hugues, I'm catching ya) I wanted to give proper due to one of the big 3 releases of '67 that in my opinion are the reason we're all here today. We have plenty of folks at the site who will scold me for saying these albums were the birth of Prog but keep your pants on. I'm not saying there *were* Prog, I'm saying they got the ball rolling. They were the single-celled creatures in the Ocean. They were the foreplay before Prog consummated with the release of [insert what you consider Prog's first true album here].

Earlier in that glorious year of 1967 the Beatles dropped Sgt. Pepper in our lap. Although rock music was already taking off with exciting releases in the years prior, this album altered our ideas about what kinds of ideas could be expressed. Not to mention the music was great fun too. Later, in August, came what in my view may have been the first true Prog song when Piper at the Gates of Dawn was released. Syd's fantastic psych-heaven album may not have been Prog as a whole but it's hard to deny that the 9-minute instrumental "Interstellar Overdrive" didn't meet some criteria. Three months after Syd's masterpiece came The Moodies' Days of Future Passed. Again, if not entirely progressive in the majority opinion it is an early conceptual work that combined orchestration and mellotron into a grandiose spectacle and a fine one at that. Everything about the album screams classy from the production to the great playing to the impressive singles to the fantastic cover painting.

With so many reviews another description of songs is not necessary. But I would like to comment on the notion I've read where some infer the album is too "conservative" or that it might bore today's listeners with its sweeping, orchestral sounds. Boy, that was not my experience. As someone who grew up after that period and never made time for this album until fairly recently I can say that I find the effect of the period orchestral sound to be very fresh and even a bit radical to me personally. If you're used to just modern rock's mechanical sounds, hearing something like this is quite new and interesting-records don't sound like this anymore. So my point to the youngsters is, just because the old guys here find this dated, don't pass it up. I'm sure to your ears it will be far more "new" sounding than the latest flavor of the month album. Last, again to the new young proggers who might read this: While all the advice you get might point you to the early '70s classics, don't forget to hear the freshman class of '67: Pepper, Piper, and Passed. The three Ps won't let you down. Play this one alone on a rainy night and enjoy. It's true that you might find some of the poetry or strings cheesy is places but remember, this was meant to be played as a complete conceptual piece and the album works wonders in that context. A true classic.

My introduction to Moody Blues

This album right here is absolutely fascinating. It is the center of the argument about beginning of progressive rock (some say this is the starting kick, and some say its the first King Crimson album, In the Court of the Crimson King) and i think people are right to think that Days of Future Passed is the true beginning of progressive rock, and lets see why wile talking about its great music.

One interesting fact is that Days of Future Passed almost did not made it because the record label executives thought that mixing rock music and symphonic music was disastrous: it would not sell to its destined audience (the rock fans), would alienate them (the rock fans) and would enrage the symphonic music fans (because it mixed symphonic music with a lower kind of music). Probably this is the reason why this album is praised as the first progressive rock album: because it was the first album able to join rock music and symphonic music and making something completely different, innovative and groundbreaking: rock music to be listened and not to be danced, like symphonic music.

Another thing that signs in favor of this album is that Days of Future Passed is a concept album. Although the concept is not exactly mind blowing but it is a concept. The concept is about the day of a normal person, from his awakening to his sleep.

However, there are some downsides in this album. The band is the normal 60's band and have nothing extraordinary in its music by itself, i mean, the parts where the band plays are sometimes dull, contrasting with the great orchestral passages. The vocals are also not very good, and sometimes even below average because the singer sometimes sings out of tune. Fortunately, good qualities outshines its downsides, making this album a great album to listen.

Like all concept albums, this album must be listened as a whole and it is definitely worth it. The music is great, specially the orchestral pieces and, because of its groundbreaking originality and composition (to progressive rock), i think this album is worth the masterpiece grade.

The first prog album(?)

Well, it's been long argued which was the first truly prog album and whether it's this one or not really doesn't matter in the end. What does matter though is the caliber of music on the album, because this disc is simply wonderful. Especially given the fact that we're talking 1967 here - The Moody Blues pushed all kind of boundaries with this album as would The Beatles in the same year with Sgt. Peppers. The difference between the two (well, okay, they're nothing alike anyways) is that while The Beatles made a concept album these guys really took the idea of a concept a step ahead. The album itself is a day in the life of a person going through their daily activities. We get the somber mornings, the bouncy, busy daytime and the beauty of dusk and evening.

Style wise, the album is very removed from conventional rock. The backing of a full orchestra really helps the progression of the album and allows for a full spectrum of emotion as the day presses on. The Day Begins with an overture that sees themes set for the rest of the album that will come into play later on and as we make our way into Dawn we get a spoken word intro that sets the lyrical tone for the album. The lyrics for this album are really something else. Beautifully crafted poetry whisks together with pretty orchestrations are enough to make anyone with an appreciation for anything like that sit with jaw agape at just what kind of imagery this combination presents. ''Cold hearted orb that rules the night, remove the colors from our sight. Red is grey and yellow - white, but we decide which is right'' - just gorgeous!

Some parts of the album are incredibly eerie, others, very upbeat. Depending on the time of day the Moodies change the music to fit. Lunch Break:Peak Hour has a very upbeat pace as it moves along in an almost silly way that fits strangely enough. Evening:The Sun Set:Twilight Time is where the eeriness comes into play with darker tones taking over, not unlike an actual evening. Nights In White Satin finished the album with more spoken word and what is easily one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded.

There's a reason this album gets a lot of attention - it's pure gold! This album is a must for any prog fan who wants to know any little detail about the genre before it got it's name, and knowing prog fans, they all will. 5 nights in white satin out of 5 - this one is undoubtedly completely essential for a prog music collection. Absolutely perfect in every way and worth many many listens. Very, very, very highly recommended.

This may or may not have been the first Progressive album, but it was the first major mellotron record. Only the first song doesn't have mellotron on it. This is also a concept album about the emotions that accompany each part of the day. Orchestration is very prominant on this album unfortunately, but they had no choice as the record label insisted on this. Still it ruins it for me.

"The Day Begins" opens with orchestration that continues until after 4 minutes ! Just shoot me please ! Then we get spoken words that are eventually joined by some happy harp melodies before the orchestration sweeps back in like Peter Pan flying across the sky. I completely agree with Chicpah's review and thoughts, I'm sure that any teenager listening to this would probably think he's been teleported into a 50's Disney movie. "Dawn" opens with more orchestral banter until vocals arrive before a minute. The vocals remind me of Greg Lake actually. Orchestration is back 3 minutes in. "Morning" opens with a light melody. Vocals before a minute. Tough song for me to get into. Orchestration comes in around 3 minutes.

"Lunch Break" opens with some orchestral romps that Walt Disney would be proud of. The rompage continues until 2 minutes in when a good 60's pop tune takes over. And it doesn't end with orchestration ! "The Afternoon" or "Tuesday Afternoon" is a song I bow in honour to. Melancholic with lots of mellotron. Perhaps my favourite MOODY BLUES tune. Incredible ! I never tire of this one. "Evening" opens with orchestration before vocals, percussion and bass take over. Strings after 2 1/2 minutes. Orchestration is back a minute later. There's a real psychedelic flavour to the song before 4 minutes. Orchestration 6 minutes in. The "Night" or "Nights In White Satin" is a classic. Melancholic with mellotron. Hey there's a theme here with the two best tracks. Very powerful when he sings "Yes I love you, oh how I love you !" Orchestration and spoken words end the album.

It is both easy and difficult to give this 2 stars. Easy because the orchestral parts make me cringe, and there are tons of those moments. Hard because of the significance of this recording.

Took me a good long time to really figure this one out. For months, I had thought this was a halfway decent symphonic rock album until I really listened to it. The pop-symphony combo is not original at this point (the Beatles had some success with this combo on ''Eleanor Rigby''), but the Moody Blues embraced the classical ideas even moreso on DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED. Instead of just a few one-off collaborations, the Moodies along with London Festival Orchestra conductor Peter Knight created a ''modern'' symphony piece.

A group tackling this feat couldn't have been easy back in 1967, especially with the Moodies bringing in two new members (Hayward and Lodge) and the band's previous history as a safe, RnB influenced group. But, in the post Sgt. Pepper's world, anyone with a creative idea was given the leeway to create. And a masterpiece the Moodies helped create, indeed.

Each member of the Moody Blues has at least one contribution here, rare for the time, but it works beautifully as all except Graeme Edge have at least one highlight here. It's rare for me to understand the more emotional moments in music, but ''Night in White Satin'' and ''Dawn is a Feeling'' are two of the most beautiful pieces I've ever heard. Contrast those with the atmospheric ''Sun Set/Twilight Time'' (if you excuse Pinder's lyrics), the catchy ''Peak Hour'' and the classic ''Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)/Time to Get Away'', and you've got a classic at hand.

I wish that the orchestra could have been more integrated into the band sections; the orchestra sections and band sections sound separate to me, but they both still work just fine. The poetry sections bookending the album are cringeworthy (Graeme Edge typically does this on the earlier Moodies works), but not too overly distracting. A beautiful classic that is vital for any prog collection.

This landmark album is really two albums in one: the first operates on the premise that one can simply match up gentle pop songs with orchestral flourishes and rehash their melodies with similarly orchestrated instrumental passages and presto you have a breakthrough for 1967. To be honest I can't argue much with that. But, given the datedness and the lack of memorability of part 1, the real pioneering spirit is felt on the part 2, representing the pm in everyone's day, if you will. Here we find well written and performed songs that are enhanced rather than justified by the orchestra. For every lugubrious "Dawn is a Feeling", part 2 contains a timeless melody like "Tuesday Afternoon", and for every passe sixties rocker "Peak Hour", part 2 presents a stunning "Twilight Time". Add in the eerie power of "Sunset" and the eternal romance of "Nights in White Satin", and you have half a 5 star album. If you have hitherto passed on "Days..", I recommend you add it to your future shopping list.

"Days Of Future Passed" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act The Moody Blues. The Moody Blues were approached by Deram Records in late 1967, as the record company wanted the band to record a rock version of classical composer Antonín Dvořák´s "Symphony No. 9" (also known as "New World Symphony") in order to test the label´s latest recording techniques. The band accepted the offer with the condition that there would be no interference in the artistic process from Deram Records executives.

When the band entered the studio with conductor/arranger Peter Knight their agenda had changed though and the band convinced Peter Knight to built orchestral parts around original pop/rock compositions written by the band (some sources dispute this though saying that it was always the label´s intent for the band to record an album of the band´s own compositions with a classical orchestra). The album was recorded over a three week period with the band recording in one studio while the The London Festival Orchestra conducted by Peter Knight recorded their parts in the studio next door. There were mixed receptions from Deram Records excecutives when they heard the final result but "Days Of Future Passed" was given a release on the 11th of November 1967 in the UK (released in April 1968 in the US).

Naturally "Days Of Future Passed" is a very different sounding release to the more traditional rhythm´n´blues of "The Magnificent Moodies (1965)", but some of the rock parts of the album still point backwards, although the material on "Days Of Future Passed" is generally more sophisticated in nature compared to the material on the debut album. The orchestral parts are often separated from the rock tracks, and therefore "Days Of Future Passed" sometimes appears a little fragmented between rhythm´n´blues/psychadelic rock compositions and what often sounds like soundtrack classical music scores.

All tracks seque into each other to create a concept and as the titles of the songs suggest the lyrical concept is about the different hours of the day seen from the perspective of an everyday man (very simply explained, as there is a little more depth to it). In addition to the orchestral parts which as mentioned above appear in both seperate sections but also integrated parts of some tracks, there´s the use of mellotron in the music which gives the music a proto-progressive sound. The vocals are smooth and pleasant and we´re treated to some really great harmony and choir vocals too. While all tracks are well written and catchy there´s one track that stands out as being THE highlight of the album and that´s Nights in White Satin. A true evergreen that song. "Evening" could be mentioned too, but the material are generally well written.

The sound production is without a doubt one of the most well sounding and professional productions I´ve heard from that time. It´s organic, layered, and pleasant, suiting the material perfectly.

Listening to "Days Of Future Passed" it´s hard not to acknowledge the importance and groundbreaking nature of the album (although it actually wasn´t an instant success upon release). There are not many pop/rock albums from 1967 that can be considered this progressive in nature. But while I find this a very adventurous and innovative album, and the band´s own compositions range from good to great, the orchestral parts are often of the kind that remind me of Disney movie scores. I don´t say this to sound disrespectful but that´s really how it sounds to me. So as an experiment "Days Of Future Passed" is a moderate success, but as coherent listening experience I could have done without many of the classical orchestra parts, which to my ears is a distraction and don´t really fit the mood of the album. Still a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

First of all: The Moodies are NOT prog.

Second of all: WHO CARES? These guys are GREAT anyway, no matter what genre you wish to place them.

For those who doesn't know (I don't believe it is the case), Days of Future Passed (1967) is the second album of the Moodies AND also the second conceptual album of rock history (after Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's, released shortly before this one, in the same year).

Its history, in brief lines: Deram wanted to experiment its new stereo sound and suggested the Moodies a rock version of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony, accompanied with orchestra. The Moodies managed to convince the producers to record their own songs, and the rest, as it's said, is history.

The seven tracks on this album account for a day in the life. As far as I'm concerned, this is the first rock album to be accompanied by an entire orchestra, what, in itself, makes this a historical, fundamental album in any rock collection. BUT the album is MUCH MORE than just a historical relic. It is magnificently produced, executed and conceived. It becomes even more impressive after you learn that the songs were composed separetely by the members, even before the concept was defined. Talk about synchronicity!!!

To pay attention to details improves even more the experience. The first track, The Day Begins, is the first one to reproduce the opera's artifice to begin the "concert" with excerpts from the main themes, artifice so often repeated ever since in other conceptual albums (like The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia).

The orchestral sound reminds me of the 1960s musical movies, with its touches of jazz and Gershwin.

Track 3, Another Morning, has flutes emulating the song of birds. Lunch Break: Peak Hour, for its matter, emulates the sounds and hurry of a metropolis at lunch hour. Pure genius. As "night" comes, so the album becomes also calmer and more reflexive. Track 6 first part, The Sun Set, showcases the influence of Indian music and talks about the desolation of a working man seeing another day going by in vain, at work - a theme to resurface in Lament, the poem (narrated, not sung) that closes the album. Incidentally, the album opens and closes with a poem, written by drummer Graeme Edge and narrated by keyboardist Micheal Pinder, a tool that would become the Moodies' trademark for the next 6 albums.

Still, for the majority of listeners, it's Nights in White Satin, the first part of track 7, the highlight of the album and, in fact, of the whole Moodies career. This fame is not unjustified, as this is a ballad, with wonderful singing by Justin Hayward and great flute solo by Ray Thomas. Nights in White Satin was to become the most famous song and, in certain ways, outshined the rest of the album, and here lies the unjustice. Days is an excellent album in its entirety, cohese, with no fillers or low points. Apart from Nights in White Satin, I'd quote as highlights the beautiful track 2, Dawn Is a Feeling - another wonderful vocal from Justin, the aforementioned Another Morning (more great flutes and evocative lyrics about childhood) and Twilight Time (second part of track 6) - the last two written by Ray Thomas.

The result is a true instant classic. Itssound is clearly sixties, but not less appealing because of that. The orchestral passages might sound a little too much, but are good nevertheless, and the band's passages are anchored with great, catchy melodies. Still, they both blend in perfectly, as the 2008 edition demonstrates clearly with some non-orchestral versions as bonus tracks, that are just not so moving as the official versions. Justin's voice is magnificent, mellotron and flutes are prominent and, as it should be the case of a sixties band, the vocal harmonies are simply PERFECT - as it is, indeed, the whole album. Don't let this one pass by unnoticed. I reccomend the aforementioned 2008 remastered edition, on which the bonus tracks let you perceive the transition from just another r'n'b band to a top psychedelic one.

For its conceptual character and use or orchestra, Days is seen by many as the first prog rock album. I particularly don't agree with that. It's sound is pure psychedelic sixties rock - but it is a landmark nevertheless, a phenomenal, collective genius work in its kind, and, in short, a true classic of rock, no matter what genre. It is, however, undeniable its importance in defining and influencing the prog rock scene.

In sum: it can't get more essential than that.

"Days of Future Passed" by the Moody Blues is as full of passion an mystic appreciation of the various moods of the day as it was innovative as a collboration of pop-rock band and orchestra as well as, as I've read, the first outing of the mellotron. For many this album is the starting point of progressive rock.

The Day Begins - The album opens with a long cymbal or gong roll that resolves into a variously passionate description of the themes found throughout the album, an overture. Then there is poetry on the night and the coming of dawn. The orchestra responds obligingly.

Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling - The Moody Blues proper chimes in. Eternity is invoked in this song of the dawn. One is still caught perhaps in a dream state or a state of undisturbed blissful hope for the possibilities of life. The chorus, a gentle, soul guide:

You're here today No future fears This day will last a thousand years If you want it to.

The Morning: Another Morning - Okay, we're up now and a busy day is ahead of us full of childhood fun. The lyrics recall the timelessness of childhood the morning of our lives. An orchestral transition nudges you forward into the day.

Lunch Break: Peak Hour - We are definitely moving now in 60s-toned orchestral effects; the orchestra invokes images of downtown in the city and everyday human industry. The Moody Blues play an upbeat song. The topic is akin to "Good Morning Good Morning" by The Beatles and "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" by Chicago...to what end are we all so crazily running around?

The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)/Time to Get Away - "Tuesday Afternoon" is a dreamy song about the afternoon, presently mystical rather than wistful. Tuesday is, perhaps, not a day thought of as worthy of song but The Moody Blues find plenty to sing about creating a unique song and perspective on a day as a result. This track also includes another song "Time to Get Away" which moves from lightly ominous to a more joyful mood.

Evening: The Sun Set/Twilight Time - With, perhaps, the last burst of the daytime's intense activity the orchestra gives way to an exotic song (sound maybe gamelan-like/Asian). This changes the tone a bit making the familar, seem unfamiliar and full of a strange and unearthly power. Then an orchestra interlude resolves the exotic into something more sensual. The second song in this track is a piano rocker with spiritual chorus soaring in the background; the world of dream seems to take hold again. Perhaps both songs mean to bring us round to this other-world. Plenty of song time is given to the night in this album of day and night. The song ends with an orchestral transition into the deeper night.

The Night: Nights in White Satin - Perhaps this song is meant to dissolve the passions of the whole album into two lover's sharing their passion. The chorus is lke some haunting ache of love in the darkness. If you have a heart this song will bring you tears of joy. The orchestra brings in the climax of this song. Further orchestration and poetry and finally the deep splash of the gong bring this song and album to a close.

(5 stars) Days of Future Passed is an early concept album which elevates pop-rock to an art. Music can take us on an emotional journey through imaginative landscapes and this album does so with creative passion. The band and orchestra work nearly seemlessly together here making this a great example of this kind of collaboration. This album compares well to The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" as a much clearer concept album with more compassion and the mellotrons seem to amplify the sense of the mystical as well. This makes "Sgt. Pepper..." seem darker and sarcastic in comparison.

I recommend the album as a whole to progressive rock fans and the following songs specifically: "Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling", "The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" (not so much "Time to Get Away"), "The Evening: The Sun Set/Twilight Time", and "The Night: Nights in White Satin".

While not progressive rock in its own right, this album pioneered the blending of symphonic and rock music, essentially preparing the way for future bands to follow suit and expand on the concept. Though the band and the London Festival Orchestra do play together, the latter, conducted by Peter Knight, performs half of the album on its own, such that I myself would be hesitant to consider this a true symphonic rock album (especially since there is only one proper rock song on the album anyway). Overall, it's a pleasing piece that fits the concept of an everyman's weekday extremely well.

"The Day Begins" The orchestra introduces the musical themes to this album in a beautiful and grand way. "Morning Glory," a poem written by the drummer, appears at the end.

"Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling" The first song on the album is similar to Oldies music, with the orchestra backing the main band.

"Morning: another Morning" Like the one that came before, this song is certainly a lot like Oldies music, but this time features a slightly more complex musical scheme, led by a perky flute. The orchestra takes over completely at the end.

"Lunch Break: Peak Hour" Had I not known better, I would have sworn I was watching a peppy scene from an old Disney film, with the orchestra prancing along as it does in the beginning. After the two-minute introduction, an upbeat pop-rock song begins, sounding like The Beatles and The Who. Afterward, there's a gentler vocal interlude, followed by guitar and keyboard solos.

"The Afternoon: Tuesday Afternoon The first of two hits from this album, this song blends the orchestra and the band pleasantly, creating a rich sound on this memorable pop tune. It boasts a jaunty, well-known second section, played twice before the orchestra offers its more graceful rendition. It leads into "Time to Get Away," a section that highlights the twilight and the end of the workday, with music that is gloomier, more reflective, and feeling "tired."

"Evening: The Sun Set: Twilight Time" Following an elegant orchestral introduction (again, try not to think of Walt Disney), a song with sparse instrumentation and a catchy melody takes over. Over easygoing percussion, the orchestra plays sweet notes. After that part, a sprightly piano hammers out chords while thick vocals and music work over it. Predictably, the orchestra alone finishes the track with some "winding down" music.

"Night: Nights in White Satin" Easily the most widely recognized song from The Moody Blues (and the first one I ever heard from them), this lovely song has a highly memorable melody and musical theme. A gorgeous flute interlude dances along acoustic guitar and Mellotron. The orchestra handles the ending, leaving the listener with the words from the poem "Morning Glory."

Days Of Future Passed (1967) has been variously described as influential, innovative, groundbreaking; some have even hailed it as the first progressive album. I don't want to resurrect any old arguments on this issue, but for me (and others of course) an album has to be more than merely significant to make it great. Sadly, The Moodies' debut (let's draw a veil over The Magnificent Moodies, it wasn't the same band) simply doesn't cut the greatness mustard in my opinion.

There are several problems with DOFP, but let's start with Peter Knight's orchestration. Most of his previous work had been in the fields of film and television and this influence is alarmingly clear on this recording. Basically, I think that the orchestrations on DOFP sound incongruous alongside the songs. If I want to listen to English light orchestral works I'll have Ralph Vaughan Williams, thank you. Apart from that, this wasn't a true collaboration as the band recorded each song before it was handed over to Knight to add his orchestrations. I've never been keen on rock albums that feature orchestras in any case, but if anyone wants to hear a truly cohesive integration of rock with orchestral music I would suggest they listen to Contaminazione by Il Rovescio Della Medaglia.

Normally I can do without the Graeme Edge poems (Morning Glory and Late Lament), but they don't actually bother me on this album. I'm more concerned with the songs and instrumentation this time around. Setting aside the Justin Hayward compositions, the evergreen Nights In White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon, we're left with some very patchy material. Also, the instruments aren't so much vintage, more like fossilized. This is certainly a far cry from the heights that the band would scale on future releases, along with their producer and 'sixth Moody' the late Tony Clarke.

Justin Hayward shares the vocals with Mike Pinder on the latter's composition, Dawn Is A Feeling, but the normally soulful Pinder doesn't connect with me on this song. Ray Thomas's Another Morning is beyond twee, even by his usual standards, and the Mellotron sounds truly primitive. Thankfully, John Lodge's Peak Hour saves the first half of the album from total oblivion. The intro to his later composition I'm Just A Singer borrows from this song (listen to how the drums speed up after the break in the middle of the song). There's no sign of Justin Hayward's trademark guitar here though, just a twanging '60s sound.

The second half of the album is stronger and opens with the two-part The Afternoon, comprising Tuesday Afternoon plus Lodge's Time To Get Away. The latter sounds like typical '60s pop and features Lodge's distinctive falsetto. Another two-part song follows; this time coupling Pinder's Eastern flavoured The Sun Set with Thomas's psychedelic Twilight Time. Don't expect anything like his signature Legend Of A Mind though.

The interesting thing about DOFP is that many of the elements that would contribute to the band's distinctive sound are already present here in embryonic form. However the orchestra would be missing from the string of classic albums that followed, so I don't think this recording is particularly representative of the band. As I said in my introduction I don't want to re-open any debates about whether The Moody Blues deserve the label of 'Pioneers' of prog rock, or whether DOFP was the first prog album. What I will say is that as far as I'm concerned there are a good number of superior Moody Blues albums for people to choose from, despite this one having the highest rating.

How can one belittle one of the sacred albums that started it all? Still a masterpiece forty-three years later, DoFP is still one of my favorite start-to-finish listens--and there aren't many of those out there, believe me! A masterful blend of orchestral music with folkish pop song 'interludes' engaging one on a journey through a single day of towing the line of modern human life while occasionally being reminded of the ubiquitous and omnipresent background, the matrix of life, as provided by good old Mother Nature. Beautiful poetry, beautiful voices--spoken and sung. Beautiful music throughout all culminating in one of the greatest mood shapers of all-time: "Nights in White Satin" (album version only, please). I cannot recommend this album highly enough.

Nights in White Satin, never reaching the end... oh, how I love You!"

1967. The birth of prog... and here is one of the instigators. Let us embark on a journey. The day begins opens with an orchestration and a narration; "Cold hearted orb that rules the night, Removes the colours from our sight, Red is gray and yellow, white But we decide which is right, And which is an illusion". If you can get passed this cliche'd weirdness you will have an enthralling experience.

Dawn: Dawn is a feeling "Dawn is a feeling, A beautiful ceiling, The smell of grass, Just makes you pass Into a dream". It sounds silly but with all its pretentious bombastic lyrical poetry it seems to work with the massive orchestra and of course the soaring crystal clear vocals of Justin Hayward. I love his voice so it is easy to take even the weaker songs. As a whole concept the album is great to hear from beginning to end but there is no mistaking the two showstoppers that dominate on this classic. We will get to those in a moment.

Morning: another Morning As we emerge into the morning the music brightens "Balloons flying, Children sighing, What a day to go kite flying, Breeze is cool Away from school, Cowboys fighting out a duel, Time seems to stand quite still In a child's world, it always will". Let's forget the silly lyrics for a moment here. Actually, I can't they are so dominating and pervade every track to this point. The naff poetry is outlandish; the music is incredible so I am torn here. The album is dated due to the lyrics that are eccentric and oddball to say the least.

On Lunch break: peak hour The lyrics now go up a notch; much better and more thought provoking such as, "Minds are subject to what should be done, Problems solved, time cannot be won, One hour a day, One hour at night, Sees crowds of people All meant for flight." The stirring rhythms and ambience is as emotive as the band can get and this leads to: Tuesday afternoon (forever afternoon) words cannot express how much I adore this, but I will try. Mellotrons. "Explain it all with a siiiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii- iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh". Time Sig change. Heavenly vocals. I heard this at an early age on a Moody Blues Greatest Hits comp and was floored by the way Hayward sings this and that beautiful music, the keyboards, guitars and base are incredible. The time signature changes dramatically and the album really has one heck of a masterpiece track here. This track would absolutely permeate itself in the band's repertoire. It encompasses everything the band stands for, soaring vocals, emotive thought provoking conceptual lyrics, and music that reaches into the stratosphere. I can't fault this. I love the way it changes completely with a new rhythm pattern and Hayward sings, "I'm looking at myself, Reflections of my mind, It's just the kind of day To leave myself behind, So gently swaying Through the fairy-land of love, If you'll just come with me And see the beauty of Tuesdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafternooooooooooooooooooon...." You can hear it, can't you?

Evening: the sun set: twilight time is a sweet medley sandwiched between two classics, but it is not too bad as a transition between them. The three tracks are fused together as one seamless composition and are really beautiful pieces with passages of orchestra and synth that stir the soul. But I am not going to digress any longer, let's get to the astounding masterpiece that blew everyone out of the water and continues to do so....

Night: Nights in White Satin. I am in awe of this quintessential Moody Blues brilliant master work. It begins with astonishing orchestration as good as you will hear on a soundtrack to a movie. It rises to a crescendo and settles as the bass and drums keep a constant stream of rhythmic patterns. Hayward's voice is angelic, "Nights in white satin, Never reaching the end, Letters I've written, Never meaning to send..." I knew this entire song off by heart as a teenager, I am not just talking about the lyrics, I used to hum the music in my head especially the flute solo, and now as an adult I return to it often and can play it on guitar. The way the chorus lifts with choral massed choir and very strong melodies is unsurpassed. The flute solo is mesmirising and I have never been able to get it out of my head, it's there indefinitely and I am intoxicated by its spell... I bought this album for the full length version of this track as I was sick of all the edited single versions. This is the way to hear this, the other tracks build inexorably to this magical moment and it even ends with an epilogue Late Lament that is part of the whole experience; "Breathe deep the gathering gloom, Watch lights fade from every room, Bedsitter people look back and lament, Another day's useless energy spent..." It bookends the whole album and I was stunned at the ending orchestration which is similar to the intro of "Nights".

Granted, this overblown concept album is not perfect but the saving grace of the two master tracks plus other moments weaved into the tapestry make this an excellent album to savour and remember. It was way back in 1967 that music like this was being created, before Ayreon, before Dream Theater, efore any of the sprawling concept artists that permeate modern prog, and it is the ultimate Moody Blues experience with their two best songs. 4 stars minimum without question.

When I was first married, my wife and I would watch the 1pm movie many a day and the theme song was absolutely beautiful. I had never heard it before that and I really wanted to find out where I could get it. About 2 years later, I had the money to get "Days of Future Past," and I bought it because "Nights in White Satin" was one of my favorite songs to play on the guitar. More than one person regarded it as my signature song. While I was playing the first side, the song that I had been wanting to get suddenly started playing. It was the intro on "Lunch Break, Peak Hour." I couldn't believe my ears! I never thought that a rock band would make such beautiful orchestra music.

This album is something else. The entire thing is one theme, with different parts. I kind of believe the Moodies were headed in the same direction with their music as I wanted prog to go in, but they were definitely ahead of many other proto prog bands.

The album starts off with a big gong and then the orchestra comes in to amaze the ear. Near the end, a thought provoking poem is spoken by Ray Thomas I think.(Correct me if I'm wrong.) This guy has the best voice for the spoken word! The orchestra really emphasizes what he is saying to make it a special event. Then "Dawn is a Feeling" breaks upon the ears.

Throughout the album the orchestra plays some of the finest classical music I have ever heard, then the band plays the rock. This is somewhat of a drawback. I think they really weren't sure how exactly to go about mixing the 2 together and they felt this was the best way to do it. Just a year later bands like Blood, Sweat, & Tears, and Chicago would blend the rock with the orchestra just right to make it a great sound.

Now comes the down side. The orchestra plays so much better than the band, that it hurts the album as a whole. I got to the point where I would rather just listen to the orchestra parts. With that said, There are enough good tunes by the Moodies to make it worthwhile to get this. Don't get me wrong, The Moody Blues have a lot of good pop rock to hear, but it just isn't AS GOOD as the orchestra stuff.

The standouts on this are "Tuesday Afternoon," "Dawn is a Feeling," "Twilight Time," and of course,"Nights in White Satin."

Given the time they made this and the high quality of the music itself, this is a must have. It gets 5 stars.

From the first melancholic (mellotronic in later songs), you know that you're listening something special. Assuming you're aware of year when it was released and then-music scene (what people were listening). It's revolution. You all heard that before, I know.

What James Lee stated about Antonín Dvořák's (probably the best Czech classical music composer) influence on this album is quite true. Because there can be traced many motifs hidden between more "Rock" sound of this album. I know "New World Symphony" (so called Novosvětská) very well and I can tell that pieces of it are used here and there, some parts are inspired by it (of course, talking about Classical music parts only), but it's only good that way. Songs are good (I suppose), but they doesn't move me that much (as following album does). However, there are advantages that "Days of Future Passed" has over "In the Search of the Lost Chord", like orchestra, more complex songs. However, it's less enjoyable. So songs are more or less good, except The Night, which is song I quite hate. Not all song-length, only some parts.

4(-), strangely, I'll rate this with exactly same rating (given & intended one) as their following album.

1967 was indeed a very important year where the first roots of progressive rock music would take shape. Not only did we get a few important summer releases like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn but also a completely unexpected entry by the Moody Blues with Days Of Future Passed, towards its end!

This early concept album with orchestral music arrangements is easily one of the top 3 most important Proto-Prog releases and listening to it today I can clearly see why it is so. Even though Days Of Future Passed has never been a huge personal favorite of mine, since I have no personal attachment to this music, I still consider it a worthy participant of my album collection. Listening to it today did give me an added sense of affection for its material, especially sections like Dawn and The Morning which I carelessly managed to overlook, while giving the advantage to the material on side two. What surprises me the most is how much the band's style had changed since their debut album, merely 2 year prior to this release. Gone were almost all the R&B roots and what we've got instead was early symphonic rock at its best!

The great material is what keeps this album afloat for me and the 8 minute The Afternoon is where it reaches its peak. This two song medley includes Tuesday Afternoon and (Evening) Time To Get Away, is easily the catchiest material off the whole record! Nights In White Satin concludes the album with a hefty portion of Mellotron sound that should please Symphonic Prog fans, but even though the melody and lyrics are very memorable it fails to become my obvious favorite out of all the album's highlights.

Days Of Future Passed was a huge step forward in rock music's history and even though it has been overshadows by dozen of other important releases from that highly influential year of 1967, we the prog community are not likely to forget its credentials any time soon!

***** star songs: The Afternoon (8:23)

**** star songs: Dawn (3:49) The Morning (3:56) Lunch Break (5:29) Evening (6:40) The Night (7:39)

*** star songs: The Day Begins (5:51)

The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed (1967)

This is for sure one of the most prestigious projects of the sixties. A former beat-band introducing the mellotron to the public, whilst combining it's adoring sound with a full-blown orchestra! Moreover, the Moody Blues made it a concept album about a day in the life. The songs resolve around parts of the day, morning, afternoon, ect. The opening and ending section is played by the orchestra and there's also some poetry. The role within the songs for the orchestra is often minimal, but always functional.

The sound of the Moody Blues is really classic on this lp. The mellotrons sound really warm and the band has a 'thick' sound. Often parts don't sound too clear, but the power of music compensates. The vocals are great and the songwriting, especially on side two is very strong. Most of the song show symphonic prog ideas, whilst combing it with beautiful song-writing craftmanship. My favorites are Tuesday Afternoon, Twilight Time and of course the impressive version of Nights in White Satin.

Conclusion. This project is very special, not only for it's very early release, but also for it's totally original concept. As far as I'm aware this is the first rockband-orchestra project in the history of music. It might also be the first concept album of rock-music. The symphonic sound and some other progressive features make this a real treat for fans of the early prog. This album is recommended to this group of proto-proggers and those interested in early prog and the development of the genre. Four stars, though I must admit the side one deserves only three stars.

* In recent months I've grown in my appreciation for this album (especially the first side), partly because of my girlfriend liking it very much as well. Upgraded my rating to five stars.

A lot of reviewers seem to debate whether this album is prog, proto-prog, prog-related, post-proto-prog or whatever. To add my two cents to it, this is typically what I would call a badly aged and old-fashioned 67 pop record that sounds as if it comes out of the 50's. Progressive rock is the entire opposite.

In fact I can add little to Mellotron Storm's amusing account of this album. At least three quarters of it is filled with syrupy orchestral pathos, the other quarter is plain pop music, crooner pop even. Some songs are not beyond salvation though, Dawn could have been a fine song in an entirely different arrangement and I'm sure Greg Lake would be tempted at a Chrismas carol version of it. Nights in White Satin is one of those rock rock anthems I have this hate/love relation with, it's excellent but it's overplayed too much and just like Stairway To Heaven for example I don't know if I'll get goosebumps or will simply cringe from it.

Most of the material is unlistenable orchestrated pomposity and I only need one look at the Nice's superb debut to know how classical music can be merged with rock, and it's definitely not with so much cheese as here. File under prehistoric pop.

There seems to be debate over whether this album has "aged" well or not.

Count me in the camp who believes that Days of Future Passed has not aged particularly well.

The poppy bits (toward the middle of the album) sound very much to me like simple Beatles-ish crooning and harmonizing. Sandwiching this material between orchestral interludes and outtros does not link things together very well...in fact, it just makes things sound more disjointed to my ears. Using the orchestra was a progressive idea, but for a good part of the album, neither the band nor the orchestra is really playing anything particularly new.

Of course, I'm being overly harsh. I love the creativity and brashness of the concept and execution. There were simply fewer previous mistakes to have learned from in 1967, and the Moodies get plenty of credit for being the first to make some of the above mistakes.

And certainly Tuesday Afternoon is a classic song, and Nights in White Satin is a prog-rock classic, and a wonderful close to the album to boot. Yes, the Moodies were my favorite mellotroners of the time...that is, until In the Court of the Crimson King.

Four stars for historical importance. I don't particularly enjoy much of Days of Future Past, but my collection would not feel right without its presence.

A lot has been said about this album already on this site. This was a highly influential work that paved the way for symphonic rock music in particular and it was a huge turn away from the band's R&B roots. I really like the very inventive ideas on here and the concept of tracing an everyman's day from daybreak to night, awakening to sleep.

There are many musical interludes in between the songs which were played by the London festival orchestra. "Dawn, Dawn Is A Feeling" is the first main song that sets off that romantic, mystical, dreamy atmosphere that swirls around throughout the album. There are some nice touches from the flute and of course the lovely mellotron. This was the first of a string of greats by the Moodies. I love all the albums from this one right up to "Seventh Sojurn" very much indeed. Some favourites here are the wonderous, magical "Tuesday Afternoon" and the equally enchanting "Twilight Time". "Nights In White Satin" is also of course a great sixties classic.

"Days Of Future Passed" was an extremely original piece of work for it's time and is perhaps dated in many ways now, but that doesn't matter much to me. I'd highly recommend it nonetheless.

THREE AND A HALF; A melodic set of songs.

This was one of the first albums that was truly progressive. Made up of progressive-pop songs that have an orchestral section in between each song. Also, the opening song is completely orchestral. The orchestral section often builds on musical themes from the songs. The songs themselves are more progressive and more eerie than most of the music that was around at that time.

I'm not sure if this would rate so high without the string arrangements. Sure it's chock full of great melodies, which are highlighted by their usage in the orchestrated passages. But the songs themselves don't really stack up. The big hit, 'Nights in white satin' is brilliant, absolutely breathtaking with its mix of drama, emotion, melody and inventive arranging. 'Peak Hour' is a first class sixties rocker and 'Sunset' has quirk appeal, but mainly the other songs just feel like they are there to accompany 'nights in white satin', like it's a single with a long, extended B-side.

Progressive Rock purists say that this album is the beginning of the genre. Like the first album of King Crimson, it remains the benchmark of the genre, although they are 2 groups who invented the genre by pure chance. The Moody Blues was until this album a blues band but also very soft in the style of The Beatles or The Move. The group will seek a new path with this album, and major facilities are implemented ... with a symphony orchestra of classical music ... Personally it does not attract me at all to classical music in rock, worse still I think the group is lost ... The real interest is the emergence and bursting of Mellotron on this album. The keyboard is preferred it is still amateur and working with the manufacturer of Mellotrons, it will even make some promotion on the album title are fantastic. The Mellotron makes things incredibly unique but because with His divine and absolutely fantastic, many of the same group has now its the current research that no longer exists because mellotrons have disappeared, or when used, extremely rare in a catastrophic state. The record company of Moody Blues Album implemented in a method of stereophonic recording (Deramic Sound System) already introduced in some works of classical music. Days of Future Passed is a concept album, the first in the world of rock ... the

Full article originally published on blogcritics.org

One of the major concerns I have with popular music in the past few decades, and with rock music in particular (I have many concerns, but I'll concentrate on just one here), is that no one really writes beautiful songs anymore. No performers seem to be able to rise above the particular rock genre title they have been indelibly stamped with for purposes of record industry marketing and demographic data, and pen a piece that is graceful and elegantly rendered. There is so very little variation (let alone differentiation). It is as if everything musical has been covered with quickset cement. Rock indeed!

Rock music used to thrive on invention and variability, mixing the heavy with the heavenly, the hard edges and the soft corners, the ethereal light and the impenetrable dark, so that everything didn't drone on with such annoying rigidity. When was the last time you heard a genuinely beautiful song? If you've heard one recently, chances are it wasn't penned in the last twenty or maybe even thirty years. It seems we've lost the art of artfulness.

In prior generations of rock performers, The Beatles composed exquisite pop tunes with supernatural regularity, and Simon & Garfunkel made a career of crafting elegant compositions. Traffic, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and even rock deities like The Who, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin ? bands who had their greatest triumphs in the 60's and 70's ? had the compositional skills to offer songs that really rocked, others that were full of epic grandeur, and still others that were, for want of a better word, beautiful. But there is very little contrast in current rock music, and even less innovation and variation. I suppose that once you've been put through the Walmartian musical meat-grinder, there is only Spam ? or whatever meat substitute passes for popular music these days. Once you been barcoded and scanned, you must not break the mold.

This is why there will never be another Days of Future Passed. Beauty, it would seem, is fast shuffling of this mortal coil. In this incredibly shrinking world of Twitter, Blackberry, and faceless friendships on Facebook, there is little time to stop and smell the roses, because many of us haven't ventured outside the environs of the Internet since last April. Even what is sold as music currently is conveniently sequenced into repetitive digital sound-bytes ? white noise on purple iPods ? that leaves little room for considering the distinctive production and compositional prowess required to develop conceptual music in an album format. Why bother with an album when one can purchase greatest hits at .99 cents a download from Amazon or iTunes? If you have the time between tweets, chirps, and other fowl noises, I shall endeavor to explain it to you.

Days of Future Passed (1967) is a musical treasure and an essential album for anyone who does not live in a cave and scratch his/her private parts in public. This is an album that bridges generations and spans genres; in fact, the longtime (and decidedly conservative) classical musical critic of the Detroit Free Press, the late John Guinn, said simply that Days of Future Passed was an album he "cherished". That speaks volumes for the reach of this album. The Moody Blues advanced the "progressive rock" genre before anyone coined such a term, and the album was quite beyond anything recorded on the rock scene in the 1960s and has never been duplicated since. The Beatles and Procol Harum teased their fans with string arrangements and bits of Bach, The Who wrote rock pseudo-operas, and Frank Zappa toyed with symphonic compositions, but there had never before been a rock group completely integrated with an orchestra for an entire album.

Originally conceived by the Decca label as a means to trumpet the new stereophonic sound and advanced recording techniques of its Deram division, The Moody Blues were to have gone in studio with an orchestra to provide a rock version of Antonín Dvorák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor (better known as the New World Symphony). Supposedly, the band had other ideas and, without the label's knowledge, based the entire album on the concept of a day in the life of an individual, an "everyman". Whether or not this is true is up for conjecture; but this is the stuff of rock legend, so why mess with it?

Sonorous and seductive, naïve but nuanced, playful yet profound ? Days of Future Passed succeeds on many levels as a means of aural gratification, particularly because it is hauntingly, even achingly beautiful in spots. I would suggest that the enchanting "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" and the epic ode to luxury bed sheets "Nights in White Satin" are two of the greatest love songs ever written. Also of note is the stirring poem "Morning Glory", followed by the exquisite "Dawn is a Feeling" (great with coffee on the patio on a summer morning), the majestic "The Sunset", and "Twilight Time" with its memorable lines "A nightingale plays a dark mellow phrase/Of notes that are rich and so true/An aerial display by the firefly brigade/Dancing to tunes no one knew."

From a compositional perspective, the songwriting responsibilities for the album were divided evenly between the various members of the Moodys: Justin Hayward ("Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights in White Satin"), Mike Pinder ("Dawn is a Feeling" and "The Sunset"), John Lodge ("Peak Hour" and "Evening Time to Get Away"), Ray Thomas ("Another Morning" and "Twilight Time"), and even drummer Graeme Edge got to lend a hand (having penned the poems "Morning Glory" and "Late Lament").

Just as importantly, the use of the London Festival Orchestra (conducted by Peter Knight, who also composed the orchestral themes for the album) is an integral part of the album as a whole, rather than an afterthought simply to give a rock band a classical flair. The orchestra and the band have separate musical themes as the album progresses, sections that both reflect and enhance the other (with Mike Pinder's innovative use of the mellotron amply filling in for the symphonic strings during the Moody's sequences), and only during "Night in White Satin" do the two slowly intertwine, meeting in full at last for a magnificent crescendo as the song reaches its climax. The dark and melancholy poem "Late Lament" is also a memorable moment in rock history, and an appropriate ending for a day in the life as written by the Moody Blues: "?Cold hearted orb that rules the night/Removes the colours from our sight/Red is gray and yellow white/But we decide which is right/And which is an illusion?"

No sir, they just don't make 'em like that no more. More's the pity.

Days of Future Passed ? 1967 (4.6/5) 13 ? Best Song: The Night: Nights in White Satin

This album has been so wildly hailed and heaped with mass praise that if you've any inkling of interest in art rock or all that jazz, then you're bound to come across it right expediently. I'd deftly wager too that you'd gobble it up like a munchkin, because there really was no album like it about this time. No, Sgt. Pepper was NOT like it. Sgt. Pepper was pop with classical themes. This is totally classical with pop themes. It's this reason exactly that I end up rating the latter a bit higher than the former (blasphemy I know). It's this very album that introduced me to classical music and forced me to enjoy it in its splendors. As much issue you might have with the Moody Blues, no one can ever faithfully deny this album's right to sit well atop the mount in the grand pantheon of rock classics.

Yeah it has some barmy brit poetry and a silly concept that wouldn't make it as a contemporary Andrew Lloyd Webber play, that much is assured, but it is this fascinating naivety which brings me ever closer to their vision. They're not pretentious in the arrogant way. They're precocious little scamps who'd never play twenty minute jam sessions about space wars or space gates or guns on a horse or something. This, excepting the one track which must not be named (okay I'll name it, it's Nights in White Satin) is pure classical, but you could well enough call it classical- light. Their debut sure as hell didn't give much inclination toward this direction now did it? Let's get something straight, mister ? this thing, though dated, has real personality?and yes I created a Moody Blues page solely with the intention of reviewing this record. It's some of the most enduring contemporary classical I ever did hear. There's pop songs hidden in there too and they are sweet, somber, melancholy, and such and so.

A few warnings: For those of you with a real hatred for symphonies, Mozart, or flutes, you might as well go listen to your damn Sex Pistols. I will never in my heart feel comfortable awarding this little sucker as high on the scale as Animals (which openly demolishes it) or higher than Sgt. Pepper (which openly?I'm bat [%*!#] insane). I can't explain it, and I don't think I will be able to any time soon. It's real consistent. Nights in White Satin is unfathomably pretty. Gah, I just lost the internet.

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.

Here's an album that I like more now than I did in the seventies. Plus, it's a piece of prog history. Sure, the songs themselves are only a little proggy, but the concept and use of orchestra in 1967 was definitely progressive.

Although this was the second album released under the name The Moody Blues, the addition of Justin Hayward and John Lodge brought in the sound that the band would become famous for.

The orchestrations are very heavy on the strings, and often go on a little too long, but still, especially if you get the remastered CD, provide interesting transitions between the Moodies songs. The songs themselves still mostly have a sixties, British psychedelic style, but the meat of the Moodies new sound is especially prevalent in the two most famous tracks, Tuesday Afternoon and Nights In White Satin.

Graeme Edge's poetry was cool at the time, but sounds a bit cheesy now. But for a good laugh, look up the parody version of late lament.

Best 60s album, as well as best Moody Blues album. Ahead of its time.

The Moody Blues took the risk of combing 60s rock with classical orchestral music, with the record company fearing it wouldn't work. But the result was (and still is) a beautiful musical experience. It takes the simple concept of the transition from dawn to night, and mixes pure orchestral parts among band performances. The two styles are separated from each other and sort of take turns, so no one should get bored of one particular style. Each song represents a part of day and they all work well to represent it.

The Day Begins is all orchestral and incorporates themes to be heard later in the album, along with a poem by Graeme Edge to open up the concept. This is an incredibly pleasant song and a perfect opener.

Dawn Is A Feeling is where the band start performing. It's a laid-back piece with pleasant piano arpeggios, and the trademark mellotron of The Moody Blues. The lyrics are great as they sound sophisticated but at the same time, a little drug influenced.

Another Morning is the Ray Thomas song of the album: where he writes, sings and plays his flute. It's fun and sort of corny but I don't dislike it. Maybe on its own it's a little weak, but within the whole album experience it does work well, especially when the orchestra ties into it, as it does with all the songs.

Lunch Break begins with the orchestra playing hectic, jolly music. It's sort of sound that reminds me of the old school Disney movies. It then turns into the rocking Peak Hour, the most '60s' sounding thing on the album. Reminds me of early Pink Floyd. Very enjoyable.

Now for The Afternoon. It begins with Tuesday Afternoon, what I believe to be the best Moody Blues song to have existed. It's perfect in every way, especially the end where the flute flows into the orchestra and ends happily. With an orchestral interlude in the middle it joins to a moody (untitled) song. The Afternoon makes very good use of the mellotron.

The Evening begins with the 'trancey' Sunset which has the orchestra combined with it in a few parts which are very effective. It then turns into Twilight Time which sounds very spacey and far-out. I love the vocal contributions by Justin Hayward.

Then the finale of the album; the famous Nights In White Satin. It contains breathtaking verses and choruses mixed with that beautiful and haunting mellotron that lead up to a brilliant climax where the orchestra joins in again. It then ends with Graeme Edge's magical poetry.

Days Of Future Passed is a timeless album with classic songs among a strong musical concept and structured album. It is best heard and looked at as a whole, rather than with individual tracks. Along with just being an enjoyable album it is very unique; this album made me enjoy classical music that I wouldn't usually enjoy, by placing it with rock so it's heard in moderation. Sadly, The Moody Blues were unable to exceed the heights of this album, and this was only 1967!

Days of Future Passed was released in a year that was absolutely critical in the development of progressive rock, but I'd argue that this album is the year's most important precursor to symphonic prog as we now know it. The orchestral arrangements, conceptual album format, and extensive use of mellotron simply paved the way for the upcoming rise of symphonic progressive rock acts, and the sheer ambition exerted by The Moody Blues here makes Days of Future Passed an essential piece of early prog rock history. That's not to mention, of course, that this is a stunning album from beginning to end - the compositions are simply beautiful and the arrangements are as well-thought out as one can imagine. In short, these Birmingham lads succeeded in nearly every aspect with Days of Future Passed, and the result is nothing short of a timeless classic.

Musically, we're dealing with a mix of fairly standard sixties' pop/rock and orchestrations by The London Festival Orchestra. Of course the extensive symphonic interludes immediately set Days of Future Passed apart from your average sixties' pop album, but the use of mellotron as an integral part of the music was also nearly unheard of at this point. The use of mellotron parred with the orchestra adds a lush atmosphere throughout the full album, and the fact that it's a conceptual album with repeating themes (lyrically and musically) sets it even further apart from anything like it during this time period. I've heard some folks criticize Days of Future Passed for not integrating the orchestrations with the rock sections well enough, but I personally think it's perfect - a few orchestral interludes may carry out a bit too long, but I think the repeating themes help give the album a unified feel. Though songs like the instrumental "The Day Begins" can take a bit to get used to (it may rub off as background music at first), its genius begins to shine through once you realize all of the melodies that re-occur throughout the album. It sets the tone for the rest of the album particularly well, and I absolutely adore this lovely overture. Days of Future Passed is an album filled to the brim with gems, though, and "Dawn: Dawn Is a Feeling", "The Afternoon", and especially "Night: Nights In White Satin" stand out as marvelous highlights.

Days of Future Passed also sports a fantastic production (one of the best from the sixties') and stellar musicianship, so when all things are considered, this is a virtually flawless album. Not only is this a groundbreaking album in the history of progressive rock, it's also one of the best albums from the second half of its decade. A lovely, marvelous, and spectacular work indeed, the least I can give Days of Future Passed is 4.5 stars. The Moody Blues really struck gold this time around, and I'd recommend this observation in a heartbeat to any fan of early progressive rock.

A magical album, revolutionary for its time. From their below-average debut to their full-blown, world-renown career, Days Of Future Passed was their start and their best. The instrumental arrangement sounds a bit of a fairy-tale, flowing beautifully. This isn't the Lost Chord or the Threshold of a Dream Moody Blues that you know, this is something different entirely. It seems there's multiple styles included, Pop/Arabic/Romantic, an indescribable mixture. A perfect introduction to prog in general. Creative ideas are throughout, as the Orchestra isn't enough, here we have a clear narrator, great vocals, and soaked in mellotrons. To the prog roots, there's tempo changes to always keep the listener interested. Multiple parts of each song. The Moody Blues were always perfect with their vocal arrangements, like an A Capella group, layering them upon each other. As everyone knows, 2 fantastic hits came from this masterpiece, and even with all the radio play it got (and still gets!) still are classic songs. So many positive remarks to be said about this album; the album artwork, the titles (which describe the parts of the day, giving even more prog roots, a concept album in a way!), if you haven't already bought this piece of musical art, do yourself the honor and buy. You'll thoroughly enjoy every minute, sit back, and truly learn to relax...

The Moody Blues. Are they prog or psychedelic? I think both. The Moodies are a band that comes out of the psychedelic movement and helped pioneer the prog movement.

Days of Future Passed is an album that is - and I don't say this lightly - a a work of art for music in any genre. This album is very integrating when it comes to symphonic and rock music.

The opening symphonic pieces are movements of incredible atmosphere leading into the Dawn: Dawn Is A Feeling. The elements of stunningly beautiful music are in perfect order here. Very similar to Procol Harum, as are many songs on this album.

The way songs flow into each other makes this obvious concept album a very moving experience. The upbeat "Morning" is very 60s and could be considered "dated", but still delivers a meaningful expression of life for anyone. It reminds me a a bit of the Beatles.

Although Lunch Break is a bit of a silly symphony piece that you may find in an old 60s film or cartoon, it does tend to change pace and develop into a driving rock number that is a very groovy tune that would not be out of place on any psychedelic album created in the hippie era, but the Moodies are so tight and the harmonies are so brilliant that it goes above and beyond most psychedelic music, but it implements elements of prog.

Reaching "Tuesday Afternoon", we come to what I refer to as power side of the album. Three masterworks in secession. This is the Moody Blues that you know and feel. The first "side" is almost an appetizer for the meal of the second. After the classic "Tuesday Afternoon", another sensational track "Twilight Time" comes in and brings the album to another level.

This leads us to the "pop hit", the hot single, but the perfect ending for such an amazing album, "Nights In White Satin." This song has been commercialized and radio-played death, but never loses its original power. And, like "He Ain't Heavy", this is an extremely powerful song for any generation. One of the greatest albums with one of the greatest codas of all-time is how I describe the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed.

Overall, this is a mind-blowing, masterwork of precision musicianship, layered harmonies and the perfect blend of classical symphonic music with 60s psych, creating a Prog Epic, a piéce de résistance!

Even when these guys are not exactly into the prog, they surely traced the road for many others later. Historically speaking if this album wasn't exists maybe the prog we know now will be something different.

Contemplating the musical horizon, there in the very beginning of rock psychedelic and symphonic rock, the silence of nighttime is leisurely being displaced by this sonorous record and 'The Day Begins' with the powerful strings of the London Orchestra's overture. A musical dawn on its most poetical expression, soft yet strong. As harmonious as sublime, the leitmotif paints the sky with clarinet sunlight.

And then 'Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling' breaks over the clouds of a cold British morning with Hayward vocals remaining the existence of being in another day, another morning beginning asking to open your eyes. If not jolly, the somber tune marks the last fight of the nighttime just before the sun displaced definitely.

Until 'The Morning: Another Morning' brings color and joy, a daybreaks in well terms, breathing the fresh air of the morning. Still last many hours before any happened, it's the very beginning and as such the entire orchestra plays rampant poppy tunes. So the pipes drives the rhythm a little further, hastening pace, still the eyes on the sun and the color change from the reddish dawn to the brightly white at 'Lunch Break: Peak Hour' with Lodge inviting to stand up for rocking.

The day still not over, keep moving forward trough 'The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon', with a quieter tune but magically, here becomes a little more progressive, the tempo changes, that playful interaction between the rock band and the orchestra, the lovely yet subtle mellotron, and the flute convening bridge to the orchestral transfiguration in the second part 'evening' portrayed since the keyboard direction, drawing the way home for an ending day. Ending and running across streets and reddish trees, before walks pacing with the eyes staring beholding the dusky lights of 'Evening: The Sunset', melodically a little more experimental, the foreign sounds from East drives lucid dreams of slumber and psychedelic adventures in 'Twilight Times'. Once again the orchestra's make its way for the rock flavor in the last minutes of the festive day and merge them into blurred clouds and a starry blue sky, the stars winking over the strings.

So 'The Night: Nights in White Satin' takes leave the day, with the first street lights accompanying Hayward's lament of a missing love on his way home. This ballad presents one of the most popular and still spectacular moments in the Moody's career. Once the classic rock ballad merges with the orchestral fanfare, the somber tune of the farewell becomes a little more obvious with the spoken 'Late Lament' contemplating a sole night waiting for a new day to breaks. A new progressive era has begun.

If a person has a single Moody Blues album in their collection, this is probably it. And deservedly so, since it paved the way for so much terrific material from so many other artists in its wake. Its impact is probably still being felt in the music industry today.

Supposedly, to fulfill record company wishes, the reconstituted Moodies (with Justin Hayward and John Lodge firmly ensconced as the replacements for the departed Denny Laine and Clint Warwick), years and personnel removed from their one big hit to that point, were to record a rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony". Instead, they locked the door and huddled down to record "Days of Future Passed" with a collection of British session orchestra musicians. While the music may seem a bit slight in light of what came later, one simply cannot rate this album down - it influenced far too many bands even if it wasn't in and of itself perfect.

Bookended by two Graeme Edge poems, the music here tells the story of a day in the life of one guy. Not just what he experiences, but in many instances what he feels about his surroundings and circumstances as well. Nothing overwhelmingly interesting happens, but it's a unique take nonetheless.

The music on the album starts with Mike Pinder's "Dawn Is a Feeling", sung by Justin Hayward in one of the few instances of the composer not singing the song for this band. It may also be the only waltz time song the band ever did (I've run through most of their songs in my head, and generally they're just about all in 4/4 time. Odd time signatures were not something this band did, for better or worse). The sweeping mellotron and piano provide a lilting backdrop for the introspective lyrics.

Ray Thomas then offers his first real composition with the new line-up, the quirky "Another Morning". All the Thomas hallmarks are here - slightly comical lyrics from the perspective of a child, some pleasant flute interludes and a generally positive tone. John Lodge does some excellent bass work here as well. Earthshaking? Probably not. Groundbreaking? Perhaps. Fun and enjoyable? Definitely.

Next up is John Lodge's rocker "Peak Hour". Somewhat Beatle-esqe, with a great Justin Hayward guitar solo and some good vocal harmonies. It also nicely provides a counterpoint to the more somber tone of the remainder of the album going forward.

Justin Hayward penned two hit singles for side two. "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" has a memorable mellotron/bass opening and starts a more dreamy feel for a bit. One can kind of feel the creeping lethargy of a sunny afternoon with no huge goals to reach - in good and bad ways. It's a memorable song at a number of levels.

Next up is basically a three-part suite: "Evening (Time to Get Away)" by Lodge, complete with some orchestration; "The Sunset" by Pinder (the most ominous of the three) and Thomas's classic "Twilight Time". Of the three, "Twilight" is my favorite, with its driving piano, illuminating word pictures and fantastic vocal melodies, but "Evening" is certainly a great song as well, and "The Sunset", while probably my least favorite of the three, is still an enjoyable if slightly offbeat excursion (Thomas provides some nice flute work here as well - even better live).

Finally, comes The Song - "Nights in White Satin". This is probably the band's most enduring hit (though there have been plenty of other great chart-hitters along the way). The flute solo (probably somewhat unusual at the time), the eerie vocal stylings and the sheer vulnerability of the narrative make it an all-time classic people seem to never tire of hearing. And it is an awesome song, on an album with not a single weak track and several one would consider great to outstanding.

Does it seem a bit primitive in the wake of such bands as The Flower Kings, Gentle Giant or Van Der Graaf Generator? Probably. But every musical movement has a starting point, and it could easily be argued that progressive rock started here, along (perhaps) with "Sgt. Pepper" by The Beatles. Taken on its own, this is certainly a worthy album. With its legacy in mind, it's simply a classic. Don't hesitate to add this to your collection. Five stars.

Honestly, this is a very good album. It is an important record that helped change the music scene in the late 60's, and helped shape progressive music. Days of Future Passed is well appreciated for its innovation and historical significance.

But I would be rather hesitant to call it a masterpiece. It's great historically but it doesn't hold up as an album as well as many people would lead you to believe. Some parts are heavily dated, mainly the orchestration. "The Morning: Another Morning" is a naive little song that repeats the same flute progression. Three songs at the end of the album really allow the band to play without too much interruption by the orchestra. They are: "The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon", "Evening: Sun Set/Twilight Time", and "The Night: Nights In White Satin". These are the best pieces on the record.

Perhaps the reason you listen to this album the most for is the song "Nights In White Satin". Just a great song. The chorus "Yes I love you, oh how I love you" and the backing symphony are very powerful together. I also like the poetry and even the melodramatic ending.

Comparing this to other albums from 1967 like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club by The Beatles, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd, or even The Doors' self titled album, Days of Future Passed seems not as classic. Take whatever I say with a grain of salt and listen to it for yourself to judge whether you love it or not. Maybe I'll come back to it some time in the future and it will be a masterpiece. For now, it is just "good".

The change from "Tha Magnificent Moodies" to "Days of Future Passed" is huge. When the songs on the first record were ordinar, bluesy and quite boring is these songs harmonic and sweet and the record is orchestrated in a pompous way. 1967 was an early year for a rock band to have an intention to do something so far from rock like this. Well, Beatles existed but htey were more psychedelic than this. This was a marriage between a rock band and an orchestra, The London Festival Orchestra(conducted by Peter Knight). The cover is very colourful and suggestive. It is expressionistic art. The bands musicians are Graeme Edge on drums. Justin Hayward on guitar and song, John Lodge on bass, guitar and vocals, Michael Pinder on keyboard, vocals and mellotron, and Ray Thomas on flute and vocals.

The music of this record is very much orchestra. I as a fan of classical music, appreciate a lot the wonderful sweeping tunes of the melodies and I think I prefer the orchestrated bits before the more common rock songs included. What I could have wanted more is that the band and the orchestra played more at the same time. But that, of course, doesn't effect what sounds which are actually here. The introduction "The Day Begins" for example ot totally instrumental and classical and is wonderful(8/10). The best track in "Night: Nights in white satin"(10/10) which is a complete mix of orchestra and rock band and the romantic love song's lyrics and sweet vocals don't change that. "The Afternoon" is almost as great(8/10) with a powerful mellotron that gives the music a mystical and forward sounding feeling. "Evening", the fast and funny "Lunch break: Peak Hour" and "The morning: Another Morning" is also as good as 8/10 shows. "Dawn: Dawn is a feeling" was a bit more of a common song but, that was a fine one(7/10).

This record isn't as timeless as those prog records which came four years later; the sound is quite dated. That is not a problem for me. I like the early era of prog and the fact that prog wasn't at all a known thing at that time. I recommend this record for people who like clasical music and sweat pop prog. I you're only into heavy music, is this probably not something for you - but who knows...

Days of Future Passed is perhaps The Moody Blues' most important album in their discography as it was one of the first progressive albums and one of the first concept albums in its time. It's a simple concept about a typical day and the passing of time in which every track reflects a time of day. The songs fit their time quite well in terms of the energy and the atmosphere.

What was unique (and progressive) about this album when it came out is its clever use of the Mellotron along with the orchestration provided The London Festival Orchestra throughout the album. Although some people might argue that it's not really a progressive rock album and say that it is more of a psychedelic and baroque pop album. Nevertheless, it has been very influential for the Progressive Rock genre especially Symphonic Prog.

The lavish orchestration really adds a lot of colour and texture to each song on here. I think that without the orchestra, the album wouldn't have sounded as interesting and beautiful as it is. Not that I'm saying the songs fall short on their own, but it adds a whole new dimension to them. As it greatly helped the concept by giving the musical representation of each time of the day.

With the orchestral overture, the haunting "Dawn is a feeling", the bright-sounding "Another Morning", the energetic and fast paced "Peak Hour" the eastern-flavoured "The Sun Set / Twilight Time", and the magical hit "Nights in White Satin" the album offers a diverse selection of songs that all flow together perfectly into one beautiful conceptual album that was like a blueprint for Symphonic Progressive music and influence many bands to come.

Highlights: Dawn Is a Feeling ? Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) ? Nights in White Satin

The lore surrounding the genesis of this concept album and foundation piece for progressive music has several different versions. The version I always heard was the record company approached The Moody Blues to record a rock n roll side of an album while an orchestra would record the other as a demonstration of a fancy new recording system. There is also the more common, and now seemingly refuted version, that the record company intended the album to be an adaptation of a Dvorak symphony....as a demonstration of a fancy new recording system. Whichever it was, it wasn't. Except for the fancy new recording system. The quality of the recording is absurdly clean for 1967. And before anyone asks, yes, I am familiar with the original pressings that occurred prior to the 1978 restoration. The transitions between The Moody's and the London Festival Orchestra appear seamless.

The concept, lifetime in the stages of a day. Perhaps not original, even in 1967. But conveyed with undeniable sound and lyric allusory precision. Even the poetic intro and closing are strong elements to the story. I am not aware of the level of cooperation between the orchestra and band as far as the arrangements go, but the orchestral parts serve almost exclusively as transitional elements. The music is not flawless. In particular Peak Hour, the lunch time theme, which feels completely out of place. Capturing that frantic midday pace with something as groundbreaking as the remainder of the album is somewhat of a metaphor for the frantic pace at which music itself was changing in 1967. As the only real stinker of the album closes side A (for those of you following along on vinyl), the true beauty of the album unfolds on side B as the afternoon-night sections. Tuesday Afternoon, the second most popular single for the album, is permeated with Mike Pinder's mellotron. This fades to the haunting verses of the evening and Twilight Time. This section provides what is certainly the most fluid orchestral to rock transitions. The Sun Set in particular incorporates slow bongo and flute for a safari-like feel, conveying the daily vacation as the work day ends. Then we get to the most identifiable single in the Moody Blue's entire discography, Knights in White Satin. The beautiful lamentation that moves even the most stagnant soul. One could, and I'm guessing some have, write a philosophy dissertation on the meaning and gravity of the few short verses.

I've gone through different stages of finding more or less importance of this album personally, but its place in the history of progressive music is undeniable. It is not perfect, but it is amazing and borders on essential.

The conception of symphonic progressive rock: 8/10

THE MOODY BLUES' excellently crafted and surprisingly philosophical (for such a simple) concept became the foundation of album-writing that progressive rock would adopt. Mostly because, well, this IS a progressive rock album. Not the first - that title goes to FREAK OUT!, released in the previous year - but nonetheless an eloquent summary of the genre (namely, Symphonic Prog), featuring many of its trademark characteristics: wide adoption of the modern, never-used-before Mellotron and heavy influences from classical music.

Actually, DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED isn't "influenced" by classical music, it HAS it. Lush amount of orchestral arrangements - visibly present, for instance, in the opener The Day Begins - akin to a soundtrack of a 60s Hollywoodian masterpiece; they are uplifting, warm and romantic. There's also a localized - yet thoroughly amazing - moment (Evening) with Hindu influences, both percussion and melodically.

For all its progressive glories, DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED still sounds like a 60s psychedelic/pop rock album, with 60s pop-rock (Morning or Peak Hour) or psychedelic rock songs (Afternoon). However, it's a refined form of pop ("baroque pop") featuring lush Mellotron textures accompanying the simpleton 60s arrangements, so it's not boring early THE BEATLES or something. Mentioning this detail might sound I'm arguing this isn't prog, but that's not the case - I'm merely stating the album sounds somewhat poppish. "Progressive pop rock"? No, not really. "Symphonic prog with pop tendencies"? More like it.

Well, I'm not fond of the 60s, but other than the overrated White Satin (In the Court of the Crimson King's older yet worst sibling), I had no issue going through this album. In fact, it'd be no problem to go through it all again.

Definitely worth checking out.

Review # 98. This is the second album by The Moody Blues which was released on November of 1967. But it is the first album that it is considered as Progressive Rock (because their first was more of R&B style), and it is also the first album which was released after the departure of Denny Laine (who later joined Paul Mc Cartney's Wings). At that time, 2 very important members for the future of Moody Blues joined the band: Justin Hayward and John Lodge. These two will play a significant role, changing the band's sound as they will become the main composers and singers, and in general will be the "engine" of The Moody Blues in the years to come.

Days of Future Passed is a concept album, with a very simple but nice theme. An 'everyman's day' from dawn until night. The musicians that participated here are the 5 members of the band, together with the London Festival Orchestra. The contribution of the orchestra is very important to the whole record, but mostly in the transitions between the songs. The truth is that this project was a very dangerous experiment at that time. (Don't forget that we are talking about 1967!). Their company (Deram), didn't want to release the record in the beginning, because they were afraid that the combination of Rock and Symphonic music would be a failure.

After many discussions between the band, their manager and the company, they finally agreed to release the record. The album became a very big success, especially because of the songs 'Nights in White Satin' (Is there really anyone who haven't heard this song?), and 'Tuesday Afternoon'. But after its release, the album was accused of being lenient to drug consumption because of some assumed "inappropriate" lyrics. For example, in the song 'Dawn (is a feeling)' the part that says: 'the smell of grass just makes you pass into a dream', but also parts of the lyrics in other songs as well.

Despite all these, the album made very good sales, it reached at No.3 at the USA charts, and it will continue selling in the following decades. It is the most famous and the best selling album by The Moody Blues, and is considered as a pioneer for Progressive Rock, and one of the best albums ever. My Rating: 5 stars.

Days of Future Passed takes a little while to get started. The album begins with a four-minute orchestral piece, and the first real "song" doesn't start until more than six minutes into the record. And the first two songs on the first side, "Dawn is a Feeling" and "Another Morning," are relatively weak. But side ends on a strong note with "Peak Hour."

Side Two begins with "The Afternoon," from which the classic single "Tuesday Afternoon" was culled. "Tuesday Afternoon," written and sung by guitarist Justin Hayward, is among the most recognizable Moody Blues songs, and is here paired with bassist John Lodge's "(Evening) Time to Get Away," a catchy little number which, as far as I can tell, was never released as a single anywhere. This is followed by two more single-worthy songs by two more members of the band: keyboardist Mike Pinder's eastern-tinged "The Sunset" and Twilight Time" by flautist Ray Thomas. Both are parts of the "Evening" suite.

And finally comes "The Night," the majority of which is Hayward's majestic "Nights in White Satin." This is a rare song that is a legitimate pop classic and an equally legitimate progressive-rock classic. Its message and melody are as timeless as that of, say, "Dust in the Wind," but its execution is much more "progressive." And while many prog classics ("Close to the Edge" "2112," "In the Court of the Crimson King," etc.) are expertly composed, produced, and performed, few have the universality of "Nights in White Satin."

The Moody Blues are rightly congratulated for taking risks with this album. But not every experiment on Days of Future Passed is an unqualified success. The orchestral pieces mostly serve as bridges between suites or songs. For these, arranger/conductor Peter Knight, who is billed on the album cover and receives a few co-composition credits, often picks the hokiest motifs from the Moodies' melodies for the orchestral passages. His work throughout "The Night," though, is a substantial exception. Here the orchestra and the orchestration seem like integral components of the track.

The other innovation which quite doesn't work (for me, at least) is the poetry recitations. I can deal with some pretentiousness - - this is art rock, after all - - when the content is of high quality. But that's not the case here. Although nicely performed by Pinder, the poetry itself doesn't justify its inclusion as the bookends of the album. Interestingly, the band swore off the use of an orchestra after Days of Future Passed but continued with the poetry. In my opinion, the orchestra had some promise and, of the two, might have been the one to continue experimenting with.

Anyway, in the grander scheme, these are mild annoyances. Days of Future Passed is certainly a package deal, and the orchestra and poetry are part of the package. More importantly, the album is well produced, the sound is generally very good given the available technologies, and the compositions are very good. There are eight Moody Blues songs on Days of Future Passed, and after two relatively pedestrian offerings is a string of six very strong songs: "Peak Hour" → "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" / "(Evening) Time To Get Away" → "The Sunset" / "Twilight Time" → "Nights In White Satin."

Some might call Days of Future Passed a "flawed masterpiece," but I think that's misguided on two counts. First of all, it's not a "flawed" album at all. It has imperfections and a couple of feeble songs, but not fundamental flaws. And secondly, it's a not a masterpiece. Its status as a document of substantial historical significance among prog-rock fans probably elevates the expectation of first-time listeners, but realistically, this album is a very good songs-cycle which happened to break new ground. From this perspective, Days of Future Passed is exceptionally cohesive despite having been strung together from relatively independent songs written by four different writers.

Four stars for an excellent proto-prog / psychedelic rock album.

Except for the orchestra this is a typical Moody Blues album. They write a couple of really great songs (in the case of Nights In White Satin, Justin Hayward has written his masterpiece). They add filler to get to around 40 minutes of music, come up with a futuristic album title then get the Art department at Decca to design an imaginative album sleeve.

The problem is it's difficult to tell apart the orchestra from the rock instrumentation. You might as well be listening to Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra or Prokofiev's Peter And The Wolf. A few years later Procol Harum made Live: In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The latter is a perfect integration of rock with orchestra. That one is a masterpiece. This one isn't. Nights In White Satin is one of the great songs of the rock era. It works with orchestra or without orchestra. It doesn't matter.

Days Of Future Passed, in my view, would have worked better with less orchestra and more electronic keyboard. Mike Pinder was one of the pioneers of Mellotron technology. He has imaginative ideas which never seem to be developed on. If only the other members of the band weren't so intent in writing pop singles and instead expanded on some of Pinder's use of Mellotron to write longer more atmospheric songs. Otherwise what you get from a Moody Blues album is great album sleeve art which draws you to the music, but the disappointment of listening to songs that have only a peripheral connection to the album title and album sleeve artwork.

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Posted Thursday, January 23, 2020 | Review Permalink

1 The Day Begins is a classic start, the reason for my column on it; yes the prog is more there than on the crimson king, a start with everything bucolic, classic, perky, on a few notes we can already hear the night in the distance in a sheet of white satin; go solemn vocal after the birth of the day for the first day which frolics before you, magical, dreamlike, progressive of course 2 Dawn clarinet, oboe, flight of violins, it feels like the sorcerer's apprentice, just enough time to have... finally the first title sung, Justin but everyone will get involved except Graeme confined behind his drums; cutesy title about creation; solemn, religious limit this title, to settle down, to go and research how 3 The Morning: Another Morning bucolic intro before its time, folk tune before its time, languorous choirs before its time; a hint of the first BEATLES, a hint of space Charisma Label, a soundtrack of a spy film on the back of a big bi; final cinematic without knowing it, there was creative energy there... 4 Lunch Break: Peak Hour with another intro from BOF, all dynamic, we would say we are inside the classical orchestra, far, very far from the prog blood; suddenly the tune of the BEATLES again or vice versa, in any case a tune of young people on mopeds crisscrossing Birmingham; it increases suddenly, Justin's guitar strums timidly, it becomes very flowery with time, but thinking about it, daring to mix classical with pop-rock who would have thought it?

5 The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) / Time To Get Away, that's it, have you changed your face? The Mellotron suddenly... flowing, oozing, immediately divine and a title that will hit the critics; a genre fusion that works, leaving fans in disbelief; the voice on the left, sign of the recordings of the 60s, dreamlike; Well, this Mellotron is going well, surely heard in my mother's womb, it's not possible as I shudder decades later (mom, I love you); minimalist flute break, bam a second on a harp arpeggio and the violins which return like a flock of swans; 5 minutes and the moment when the program was born; a break which confuses the initial tune and this extension which we would later call progression; a grandiloquent composition I agree which draws on the emotion of classic and the joy of nascent rock, festive and young, prog, fundamentally musically dreamlike 6 Evening: The Sun Set / Twilight Time arrives, 3 chapters in this singular title more mystical pop folk; a tambourine and classical orchestration forward; a musical decline coming from Olympus I believe; hushed pop comes on stage, the violins return like will-o'-the-wisps, a horn in the distance, magical and magical atmosphere 7 The Night: Nights In White Satin ... for the slap; you have to remember the tune, the rise, the violins again and the 'Oh I love you'; the trumpets that come will do nothing, you are marked for life by this majestic air; of course as a concept, Michael rewards us with a cinematic finale, a Dantesque end to the film with this 'Late Lament' which leaves us in place, his voice-over closing the first issue of the prog group without knowing it..

"Brave Helios wake up your steeds, Bring the warmth the countryside needs."

This record holds a special historical importance in my eyes. It is like Marx brothers movies in a way. They marked a great milestone in rock music, but I believe they are somehow forgotten nowadays. This album is a poetic dessert, very sweet, yet very deep, without toothache. The orchestra sounds nostalgic, like watching a Hollywood romance from the 30's.

In the same year Sgt. Pepper was released. For comparison, the Beatles followed new way of psychedelia and Eastern influences to close their career somewhere in a raw hard rock like it was shown in Let it be Naked. It was 2 years to the King Crimson debut. I want to point out that the Moodies kept this early 60's bumpy naive songwriting up to early 70's as if their progress was 2 or 3 years behind. But as Ivan_Melgar_M said in his review, the Moodies never were progressive...

That's my impression and the reason why I haven't been able to dive into their further albums. But this one... This one sounds better balanced and more adult. The songs are colourful, yes, still there is this base from which they were able to draw more juice from one musical idea and to slide to other idea and song. And they brought just amazing atmosphere of a dusk.

Great credit is held by the orchestra with the whole concept pushing the band into more formal production with longer songs. But still, I don't want to underestimate the band's qualities, rather to point out the influence. It is not a fusion of rock band and orchestra yet, but a rock symphony it is, probably the first one in the history.

"Red is grey and yellow white, but we decide which is right... And which is an illusion."

The first album post-mid-60's album by Moody Blues is also the most ambitious and progressive one. Little commercial interest, abundance of symphonic passages, fantastic vocals and emotions. It sounded futuristic in the year of release and sounds quite dated today. Take example of "The day beings" - what was of historical rock importance before seems a bit dull nowadays as it does not bring anything now. "The dawn: dawn is a feeling" has a calming and rich orchestral instrumentation well suiting lyrical voice by Hayward. "The morning: another morning" sounds uplifting, refreshing with flutes, mellotron and marching rhythm. Moodies also show their vocal harmonies capabilities. The melody is rather simple but documents the lightness of the song. "Lunch break" starts disappointingly similar to the previous composition but after two minutes, thankfully, a fresh 60's Mersey beat kicks in with typical rock outfit and refreshing mellotron. Pay attention to soaring vocals in a mellow section with organ or mellotron behind. The combination of mellotron and rock ensemble is pretty progressive.

"The afternoon" is one of the most haunting song by MB, a great melody, tons of mellotron, good use of rhythm piano. The second part is a baroque-pop oriented ("(Evening) Time to get away") with very nice melodies. Falsetto vocals would be unthinkable from a serious rock band but MB have no problem with that. Beatles' moments with piano and horn enrich the flow.

"The evening" is a playful orchestral intermezzo. Lush melody highlighted by cellos and spiraling flute with hypnotic beats, specially mixed vocal. "Twilight time" is a great melancholy song, lovely arrangements. Innovative vocals, busy bass guitar colouring, love also the semi rock'n'roll piano.

The last song is the irresistible and immortal "Nights in white satin" - attention fully deserved.

This work has its undeniable place among the collection of 60's shaping albums.

I make no claims to be an expert historian of progressive rock. I also fully recognize that whatever I do know about the formative years of the movement are essentially processed narratives I've learned from experts, like some reviewers on prog archives, that contextualize what was supposedly important and relevant. And yet, for the life of me, I can't understand how In the Court of the Crimson King is considered 'ground-zero' for progressive rock and not this record. Often considered an ambitious psychedelic rock record in the vein of Sgt. Peppers or Pet Sounds, its hard not to see in Days of Future Past a statement that pushes rock into formally 'progressive' territory.

A simple anecdote will suffice in highlighting just how fully realized this record's progressiveness is. Mellotrons were initially intended to provide a stage or studio act access to orchestral sounds that would otherwise be unwieldy to capture in those settings. Of course, as any prog fan will attest, the Mellotron indeed had its own distinct shimmer and timbre. This sound became a staple of progressive rock and is still in demand to this day despite modern synthesizers being able to perfectly replicate orchestral sounds. And yet, The Moody Blues, even with having a full-fledged orchestra on hand for recording in Days of Future Past, itself a super progressive move, still opted to incorporate the Mellotron extensively during the recording process thus giving this record the same prog feel of later groups like Genesis, Yes, and of course, King Crimson.

Along with the orchestra and Mellotron use, Days of Future Past embraces longer form multi-movement songwriting, develops musical ideas across different songs, and is arranged as a concept record. I may be a novice or dilettante music historian but, for what it's worth, Days of Future Past is my choice for first ever progressive rock album... Oh, and it also happens to be stunningly beautiful and captivating.