In Search of the Lost Chord

Bruce Beatlefan (October 15, 2011)

The Moody Blues achieved a sort of "accidental" success with the unique Days of Future Passed, but it is with In Search of the Lost Chord, this superb follow-up where they launch a true "Moody Blues" sound which is to carry them through the rest of their career.

Explanations for this album's excellence usually centers around the metaphysical searching, or Eastern themes of many of the songs. This is supposed to a wonderful album to get high to, to burn incense, or dream of higher realities. Well, I've never really done those things; I've never used drugs, and the only time I've ever said "Om" was in singing along with the final song on this album...yet In Search of the Lost Chord remains a true masterwork for me as well.

Beginning with this album, the glory of the Moody Blues is studying they way maintain an ensemble sound through the distinct expressions and personalities of the five members. Each member's song is treated respectfully by the group as a whole--there is no "White Album" treatment with these guys, and this album serves as a nearly perfect template for the styles which the members were to make their own, a great starting point for learning about them:

John Lodge, bass guitar, primarily alternates between upbeat British Invasion rock and roll and songs which were stately, slow, and sometimes (dare I use the word) a little stodgy. "Ride Me See-Saw" and "House of Four Doors", respectively, provide fine examples of these two styles.

Michael Pinder, keyboardist, is the strongest proselyte of the alternative, meditative life-style, expressing these songs in his deep, gruff voice, frequently going off into fluid mellotron tangents when lyrics cannot sufficiently expess his yearnings. In this album he is amusing with "The Best Way to Travel" and magnificent with "Om".

Ordinarily, Ray Thomas (flute, woodwinds, percussion) is the fey child of the group, with melodies of nursery-rhyme simplicity. "Dr. Livingstone I Presume" fits this description nicely, but overshadowing Dr. Livingstone is the magnificent "Legend of a Mind", a lengthy and complex masterwork that has thrilled concertgoers for more than forty years.

Graeme Edge, drummer, contributes his unique spoken-word passages which are dramatically delivered and often on the very tipping point of collapsing into farcical humor ("Lonely man cries for love and has none!!"). Here Mr. Edge gets the album off the ground--literally!--with "Departure", the manic lead-in to "Ride My See Saw", and then provides a lovely link between the final two musical tracks with his pensive "The Word".

Justin Hayward, lead guitarist and primary hitmaker, already has a well-developed melodic gift and hence relies far less on lengthy instrumental passages than his mates. "Voices in the Sky" is the lovely sort of melody that takes advantage of his soaring voice that has established his career. With "The Actor" he knits together a suite of melodies that he was to do much more expertly in later songs ("The Land of Make Believe", or "I Dreamed Last Night"), and establishes his special gift of expressing a subtle sense of pain and loss in a way that makes the listener ecstatic in sympathy.

We also have the special bonus sound of Hayward and Thomas combined with the song "Visions of Paradise". These combined jewels were to grace the next two albums as well with superb songs that unfortunately didn't remain.