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The Moody Blues - The Other Side Of Life CD (album) cover

THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE

The Moody Blues

 

Crossover Prog

2.28 | 121 ratings

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patrickq
Prog Reviewer
2 stars It's true that The Other Side of Life is synth-pop. And it's true that The Other Side of Life is weaker than many Moodies albums. But to me the problem isn't its synth-poppiness - - it's the lack of diversity in the songwriting department. Eight of the nine songs were written by guitarist Justin Hayward, bassist John Lodge, or both. On their best albums, this ratio was much lower: Long Distance Voyager (1981), six of ten, and Days of Future Passed (1967), four of eleven. To be fair, nearly all of the Moody Blues' best songs were written by some combination of Hayward and Lodge. But I suspect that pop and rock songs often begin as pieces which are eventually fit together. Distributing the best musical segments across eight songs, as opposed to four, must impact the quality of the songs.

There are three solid songs here: the Lodge-Hayward collaboration 'Running Out of Love' and the album's two singles, 'Your Wildest Dreams' and 'The Other Side of Life,' both written and sung by Hayward. A #9 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Your Wildest Dreams" was just the third (and final) US top-ten song for the group, after "Go Now," #10 in 1964, and "Nights in White Satin," #2 in 1972. The song's music video was also named the 'best overall video' of 1986 at Billboard's annual music video awards, quite a feat considering that Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' was released the same year. Poignant and wistful, 'Your Wildest Dreams' is a rare 1980s pop song insofar as it had an apt and successful sequel ('I Know You're Out There Somewhere,' 1988).

The title song is a bit darker, though like all Moody Blues songs, it's about as edgy as a rubber butter knife. It's catchy enough, but at nearly seven minutes, it's way too long. While 'Your Wildest Dreams' is synth-heavy, with a stiff, digital bassline, 'The Other Side of Life' is even more programmed; the only thing that stops it from being robotic is its relatively low tempo.

While some aspects of the bouncy 'Running Out of Love' hearken back to the band's early days, it's an early eighties Moody Blues song if I've ever heard one, along the lines of 'Gemini Dream' or 'Sitting at the Wheel.' As such, it's not as synth-poppy as some of the other tunes on the album, like Lodge's equally animated 'Rock 'n' Roll Over You.'

The only song written by neither Lodge nor Hayward is 'The Spirit,' a halfway-decent number composed by drummer Graeme Edge and keyboardist Patrick Moraz, the latter of whom was summarily jettisoned in 1991 after complaining that his only contribution to four and a half albums was 'half a song (written) with the drummer.' Although the style of Moraz's solo compositions might not obviously suit the Moodies' 1980s music, he was certainly a prolific composer, as had been Edge, Mike Pinder (whom Moraz replaced) and Ray Thomas, whose practically nonexistent contributions to The Other Side of Life may have been limited by health issues.

Anyway, the remaining songs - - 'Talkin' Talkin',' 'I Just Don't Care,' 'Slings and Arrows,' and 'It May Be a Fire' - - are relatively weak, strengthening my perception that ideally, Hayward and Lodge would only be relied upon for half of an album.

Fans of 1980s pop-rock will appreciate much of The Other Side of Life, and of course it's an essential part of any Moody Blues collection. But to those curious about this era of the band, I'd suggest starting with Long Distance Voyager.

patrickq | 2/5 |

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