DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED

Monumentally important album merging classical and rock, and basically serving as the starting point to the whole 'progressive rock' thing. Took the concept album to the next step with this musical presentation of the day in the life of an everyday person from morning through to the end of the day, with songs by the Moody Blues interspersed with interludes and connecting pieces of orchestral music from the London Festival Orchestra and composed by Peter Knight. It also was the first extensive use of the Mellotron in rock music. Nights in White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon are all-time classics, but I do have a couple issues with much of the rest of the album. First, despite its reputation for integrating the classical orchestra with a rock band, the orchestra is only fully integrated with the Moody Blues on 'Nights", whereas all the other tracks are either just the band (with 'orchestra' sounds provided by Pinder's fabulous Mellotron) or just the orchestra providing connecting pieces or interludes. It doesn't really fully integrate the two together. Second, the arrangements of the orchestral pieces don't have a very contemporary style or sound (the arrangements seem in a style more out of movie soundtracks from the 1940's and '50's, rather than contemporary to the 60's and beyond). This lack of integration, at least for me, keeps this amazing project from being fully realized. It is still a major breakthrough and undisputed classic, but I don't listen to this as much as the others, and it is just not quite among my top 5 favorites from them. Best Songs: Nights in White Satin, Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?), Peak Hour, Dawn is a Feeling. Rating: 4