A Question of Balance Review by Steve Alspach The fourth album released by the Moody Blues between 1967 and 1972, A Question of Balance was the first album by the Moodies that didn't have any sort of coherent theme to it. It was still an influential album. More...
In 2017 The Moody Blues album Days of Future Passed turned 50 years old. It's hard in retrospect to understand just how much of a game-changer that album was, merging symphonic music and rock into a concept album.
I’ve only seen the Moody Blues live once and it was a disappointing show. They pushed the sound system past the point of good music and into the distortion zone.
Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 Review by Gary Hill The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 saw the Moody Blues play in front of half a million people. I’m sure many people then (as today, even) thought of the Moody Blues as a strictly studio band.
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In the 1980’s the Moody Blues took on a more electronic sound. I know that sound didn’t sit well with a lot of fans. For them this was probably the last great Moody Blues album – at least for a while.
I know a lot of people disregard these later Moody Blues albums. I happen to have a special attraction to them because Patrick Moraz is on them, bringing a Yes connection.
To Our Children's Children's Children Review by Steve Alspach The middle of the seven albums released by the Moodies between 1967 and 1972, "…Children…" has space exploration as its theme. No small wonder - it was 1969, and space travel was quite the thing back then.
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Voices in the Sky: The Best of the Moody Blues Review by Gary Hill I wouldn’t want to be the one to have to put together a “Best Of” package for an act like The Moody Blues. I mean, these guys have had so much great music how do you pick?
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This is unusual as "best of" sets go. For one thing, many of the tracks are not John Lodge solo numbers, but rather numbers he wrote for and recorded with The Moody Blues.
This new set from the ever-changing group of musicians recording under the name "The Prog Collective" does feel a little darker than some of the rest of their music.
Yes - Friends and Relatives Review by Gary Hill Friends and Relatives is a two CD set that is a compilation of two Yes tracks from the KTA albums with solo works from the various artists. Other than the two stellar group performances, the Rick Wakeman pieces and Steve Howe`s take on Tales From Topographic Oceans stand out the most.
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Patrick Moraz - Future Memories I and II Review by Gary Hill Patrick Moraz might not be the household name that Rick Wakeman is, but he definitely has plenty of prog rock cred built up. Stints in Yes and the Moody Blues will do that for you.
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Patrick Moraz - In Princeton DVD Review by Gary Hill The core of this DVD is a solo concert by Patrick Moraz from 1999. It is professionally filmed, although, I have to say that the film quality is somewhere on the excellent side of very good – in other words, it’s not perfect.
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Jeff Wayne - Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds 2005 Edition Review by Gary Hill In the world of rock opera's Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds stands far above the majority of the competition. A release that has shown lasting appeal, maintaining a following for all these years, has just been re-issued in this hybrid Super Audio CD.
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Yes - Live In Philadelphia 1979 DVD Review by Gary Hill This DVD really seems to be an official release of a bootleg video. For one thing the audio is in mono, rather than stereo.
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The main claim to fame of this 1971 disc is the fact that it was Patrick Moraz' first band (at least in terms of first band with a release). The thing is, the music holds up really well as early progressive rock by itself.
Moraz / Bruford - Music For Piano and Drum Review by Gary Hill While many might think that Bill Bruford and Patrick Moraz first played together in Yes, that's not true. They never played in Yes together.
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Robby Steinhardt was probably best known as the violinist for the band Kansas. He was certainly a unique individual in the prog rock scene of the day playing that instrument.
The first solo album from Patrick Moraz, The Story of i (also reviewed in this issue), was released in 1976 as part of a group effort from members of Yes to release solo albums.
Refugee released their only studio album in 1973. The band was considered a nod to the classic prog band The Nice, but I'd say there was more to it than that.
Yes - Relayer Review by Gary Hill At first glance, Relayer resembles Close To The Edge in that it is composed of three cuts, one in the twenty-minute range, and the other two taking up about the same length of time between them. However, while there are some strong moments here, this is arguably Yes at their most self-indulgent and least cohesive.
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Rick Wakeman - Return To The Centre of The Earth Review by Gary Hill By going back to his past, Rick Wakeman has created an album that is nearly a masterpiece. A sequel to his Journey to the Centre of the Earth disc, Return to the Centre of the Earth is a very potent progressive rock concept album.
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Various Artists - Rock N Roll Christmas Review by Gary Hill f you are looking for a CD that combines solid rock with Christmas themes to augment your holiday festivities, this is a good choice.
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Various Artists - Steinway To Heaven Review by Gary Hill It seems like a rather novel, but still somewhat obvious concept. Take various keyboardists, mostly from the world of progressive rock and have them record various classical piano pieces.
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I generally like things like this where an album is created by taking the track list of a famous album and having different artists reproduce the songs.
Various Artists - Tales From Yesterday Review by Gary Hill A tribute to the music of Yes, Tales From Yesterday, features some very fine renditions of Yessongs performed by a variety of artists (including several past and present members of Yes). This is a mixed bag. Some of the tracks are quite faithful to the original, while others represent major reworkings.
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There have been a few books written about the band, Yes but this one really includes the involvement of many of the members of the group through extensive interviews.
Patrick Moraz - Windows of Time Review by Gary Hill Patrick Moraz is every bit the keyboard powerhouse that Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman are, but he never seems to get the kind of respect they do. That’s a shame.
Yes - Yesyears Box Set Review by Gary Hill Released during the flurry of activity surrounding the Union tour, this four CD set is a pricey, but fairly solid addition to the Yes catalog. While any compilation will undoubtedly bring up complaints as to what was included and what was not, this album presents a fairly accurate representation of the chronology of the band.
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