ON THE THRESHOLD OF A DREAM

This is the third of THE MOODY BLUES' fabulous seventies seven, and the outstanding compositional quality continued on this album, let down only by three successive substandard song fragments on the first side.

'On The Threshold of a Dream' is the first of the MOODIES' albums to be released on their own label, and represents a refinement rather than an evolution of their formula. The cornerstones of the album are PINDER'S contribution and the three HAYWARD compositions. The first of these, 'Lovely To See You', is a wonder. Has there ever been such a simple sentiment expressed so eloquently? It's extremely difficult to write upbeat lyrics and music, and so much easier to be cynical and destructive. Yet I listen to this and feel that HAYWARD is genuinely pleased to have us on board, and delighted to be back singing for us. 'Never Comes The Day' and the dreamy 'Are You Sitting Comfortably' are excellent songs in the HAYWARD tradition.

MIKE PINDER'S work on this album is outstanding, and he provides us with his best composition, 'Have You Heard/The Voyage/Have You Heard' which finishes the album. This is true mellotron-laden progressive music, required listening for every student of the development of progressive rock.

RAY THOMAS provides two whimsical tracks, the prosaic 'Dear Diary' (with a nice lyrical twist in the fadeout) and the silly, dispensable 'Lazy Day'.

The problem with this album comes with the song fragments 'Send Me No Wine', 'To Share Our Love' and 'So Deep Within You.' None of these are sufficiently developed to be considered full songs, nor do they flow together well. THE MOODY BLUES were to perfect the use of song fragments on their masterpiece 'To Our Children's ...' but the idea of running song fragments together was here in its embryonic stage and not well executed. The poetry of 'In The Beginning' is cringeworthy in its alliterative banality, and sadly is not the only time this band subjects us to such nonsense. One hopes they had their tongues firmly in their cheeks while writing such stuff.

THE MOODY BLUES are not a challenging listen, but there are times when our souls need good cheer. A few stumbles apart, this album is delightful, and will reward the open-minded listener. Cheer yourself up by giving this a whirl.