Sunday, January 29, 2006

Music from my youth


While listening to the Moody Blues last night, I was thinking about how important they were when I was in my adolescence. The four releases in question would be "On The Threshold of A Dream","A Question of Balance","Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" and "Seventh Sojourn" The critics hated them. They weren't edgy enough. But, after having discovered "2001 A Space Odyssey" when I was 13, they were the perfect band for me. Back then, the music MEANT something. They were talking to me..Billy Bumpkin from the midwest. I would stay awake at night and listen to the entire first side of "Dream". The mellotron scared the hell out of me at times ane thrilled me at others. After all this time,I knew every word of every song.John Lodge and Justin Hayward formed Bluejays and released one great album. Now, they are just a mere shell of the original band (which is to be expected) and with the exception of "Long Distance Voyager" and the song "My Blue World", they were pretty much done in 1972. I had the great pleasure in meeting them and getting an album signed by Justin and John in 1986. They did the nationally syndicated "Rockline" show from the studios in Crestwood. They may have been the last rock stars to set foot in the cinder block building in Crestwood. I remember they posed for pictures, signed autographs and were very accomodating. Does today's music mean as much to today's kids? Have they made the connection? Will they ever? How cool to be a composer of music that really affects people.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Randy, I totally agree with your assessment of the Moody Blues. They are my favorite band to this day & I'm only 31. I was a late convert around the time of Red Rocks, so I missed their glory days, but they still reeled me in with the "meaning" in their music. My favorite album is "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" or EGBDF as most fans refer to it. Rock on! - Annie Wilson

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