TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN

This is an essential Moodies album for sure. The celestial quality of the mellotron has never been more evident than on this LP, and the songwriting is up there with the best of their career. The theme of space travel is not important and fairly loose, although it does provide the album's one skippable track, Beyond, an experimental instrumental that isn't really much fun to listen to. Other than that, the songs really shine. Hayward's Gypsy and Watching and Waiting are incredibly moving and beautiful compositions, and his guitar playing features melodic, attention-grabbing licks that catch the ear without dominating the dense but clear mix. Mike Pinder gets in a couple of his best songs on Out and In and the sitar-driven Sun is Still Shining, and John Lodge shows his mystical side on Candle of Life. Even Ray Thomas, who sometimes succumbs to schmaltziness, contributes the classy, ultra-melodic Eternity Road. The songs blend into each other with fade ins and outs in a wonderful, flowing manner. The whole affair has a sense of quiet profundity and spirtuality that you won't find in much of the psych music of the period. This album has been with me for half my life, and I never tire of it. If you want to pick up a couple of Moody Blues albums, make this one of them. It's pure class from start to finish.