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Higher And Higher
A Classic Moody Blues Song Countdown
by Benjamin Ray
For a brief time at the height of the psychedelic rock era in the late 1960s, the Moody Blues were a hot item. Their run of seven albums in six years helped define the sound of the era and, some would argue, helped create the genre of progressive rock (Days of Future Passed, specifically, gets this credit). In 1972 the band split for a while, their sound growing passe and Mike Pinder decamping for a new career in sound engineering. The remaining four members would reunite in 1978 and continue releasing albums every few years throughout the ’80s, with a sound now driven by synthesizers and the occasional solid hit single. The band moved to the live/oldies circuit in the ’90s and began slowly losing members; however, their original body of work remained beloved and popular enough to warrant their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
To be fair, the band originally started out as yet another British Invasion band, playing blues and R&B songs with the same sound as many other bands of the era; as good as some of these songs are, they failed to make much of an impact, save for “Go Now.” Denny Laine led this lineup but exited the group in 1966 along with bassist Clint Warwick; they were replaced by Justin Hayward and John Lodge, and the classic lineup (also featuring Graeme Edge on drums, Mike Pinder on keyboards/Mellotron, and Ray Thomas on harmonica/tambourine/flute) was born.
Because their career is so neatly divided into two eras, this countdown will look only at the “classic seven” albums of the earlier era, including all the studio tracks recorded during this period, some of which were never released until certain 50th anniversary reissues and the Time Traveler box set. Plus, it’s difficult to rank a Mellotron-instrumental against, say, “Bless The Wings” from 1991’s dull-as-dirt Keys Of The Kingdom, so we shall not compare apples to oranges today, no sir. Sound off on social media if you disagree, and enjoy.
87. “The Word,” In Search Of The Lost Chord: Not a song, just a brief and pointless spoken word poem.
86. “The Dream,” On The Threshold Of A Dream: Same as #87, but with a Mellotron underpinning, just a transition from one song to another.
85. “In The Beginning,” Dream: A two-minute-long space-sound that is one long held whoosh and a high-pitched white noise to accompany it, with the occasional blip and bleep and spoken word. It’s all very 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it’s unnecessary.
84. “Nice To Be Here,” Every Good Boy Deserves Favour: Embarrassing for all involved, unbelievably naïve and twee, and the reason that bands like the Stooges and Black Sabbath started making music the same year.
83-82. “I Never Thought I’d Live To Be A Hundred/Million,” To Our Children’s Children’s Children: Barely a song, just a very short acoustic piece with one sung verse that links the theme of the album together, but does nothing else of note. The early albums were full of clutter like this.
81. “Leave This Man Alone,” unreleased 1967 track: The transition from “Go Now” to Days Of Future Passed is quite jarring, and you knew there had to be some ugly transitional sounds happening to get there. This is probably the worst one, attempting to graft a new psych-rock direction onto the old R&B-British Invasion sound.
80. “Mike’s Number One,” unreleased 1970 track: Uninspired, barely sung and dull; no wonder this was left off the album.
79-75. “Long Summer Days,” “Please Think About It,” “Love And Beauty,” “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “Cities,” unreleased 1967 tracks: Similar to #81, marginally better perhaps, but still unmemorable and a bit awkward. Of interest to hardcore fans or people into Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets compilation, but most everyone else can skip without prejudice.
74. “I Really Haven’t Got The Time,” unreleased 1967 track: This one is a hoot, a lame white-boy bar-band boogie (think Led Zeppelin’s “Hot Dog” or ELP’s “The Sheriff,” but worse) that sounds like nothing else in the band’s repertoire.
73. “Departure,” Chord: Another brief spoken word song, but marginally better because of the slowly ascending chord that ratchets up the suspense until dissolving into a manic laugh.
72. “The Day Begins,” Days Of Future Passed: I don’t even think the Moodies appear on this one, and it’s the weakest part of the album. Granted, the synthesis of a British Invasion band and the London Festival Orchestra was original and inspired, and the two halves would work together (especially on the second side) to create something amazing. But this is little more than an orchestral overture, and not a particularly memorable one at that.
71-69. “What Am I Doing Here,” “Gimme A Little Somethin’” and “King And Queen,” unreleased 1968 tracks: Recorded for Chord but left off, for obvious reasons. They’re tentative and unfinished, sounding like the Moodies, but lacking the spark needed to be good enough for an album.
68-67. “Have You Heard Pts. 1-2”, Dream: Part of the suite that closes the album, and bookends to the lush “The Voyage,” but on their own not necessarily good songs.
66. “The Balance,” A Question Of Balance: A lousy ending to an otherwise decent album, with a barely-there guitar alternating with Mellotron passages and yet another spoken word poem.
65. “Dawn: Dawn Is A Feeling” Days Of Future Passed: This is one of those rare albums where each song is better than the one before it, rather than being front-loaded, and those who discovered DFP probably weren’t too impressed after the first two tracks. Hayward sings this one well, of course, but it’s just too slow and serious.
64. “The Dreamer,” unreleased 1971 track: The acoustic guitar is insistent and Ray Thomas sings well, but the song doesn’t really go anywhere, spending too long on one particular note and losing dynamic range in the process. They were on to something here, but it never coalesced.
63. “The Morning: Another Morning,” Days Of Future Passed: There’s a childlike whimsy at work here, and a very British one to boot. This was a rather unfortunate effect present in the band’s work at the time, but the song works both because of the orchestra’s closing section and because of the lyrics: “Yesterday’s dreams are tomorrow’s sighs,” which only resonates with time.
62. “Are You Sitting Comfortably,” Dream: Dull and slow, just here to fill space.
61. “Minstrel’s Song,” Balance: A little too precious for much of its runtime, with the repeated “love is all around” sounding too flower-child.
60. “Visions Of Paradise,” Chord: There are moments on the band’s early albums that sound hopelessly dated, and this flute-and-sitar piece is chief among them; it just drags on.
59-58. “Eyes Of A Child Pt. 1” and “Floating,” Children: Takes forever to get going, then just bleats along for a bit, then segues into “Floating,” which is naïve and twee and annoying, but you have to grudgingly respect that it nails the childlike vibe it’s going for. This album had dual themes about exploration (the moon landing was the same year) and the span of one’s life, which worked out better on some songs than others like these.
57-54. “Om,” “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume,” “House Of Four Doors Pt. 1 And Pt. 2,” Chord: Wide-eyed hippie drug-fueled bullshit. You have to be in the right mood to appreciate these.
53. “To Share Our Love,” Dream: Midtempo rocker of the “Peak Hour” variety, not great, but not bad either.
52. “Sun Is Still Shining,” Children: Akin to “Visions Of Paradise,” slathered in echo and sitar, but the central riff is actually kind of catchy and it builds to a decent close.
51. “The Land Of Make-Believe,” Seventh Sojourn: The worst song on the band’s best album, but not by much. It still has that sort of twee innocence of the band’s earlier work as noted above, but there’s a melancholy and maturity there that wasn’t present before, befitting the album’s tenor as a whole.
50. “Procession,” Favour: I think this instrumental is supposed to represent the history of music or something in four minutes, as a lead-in to the theme of the album. It’s audacious and wastes a good three minutes before anything happens, but the last minute has so much going on in a short time that it suddenly gets interesting.
49. “Lazy Day,” Dream: More whimsy. Sigh. But the middle is fine and the vocal harmonies are on point.
48. “You Can Never Go Home,” Favour: Some interesting ideas and melodies here, but the song never really becomes its own entity of note.
47. “Dawning Is The Day,” Balance: There’s two songs at work here. The verses are dull, but around a minute and a half the mood shifts, Hayward sings a minor-key melody, the flute comes in, the tempo quickens and you get sucked in. Then the song returns to the dull part. But man, that midsection is phenomenal.
46. “Melancholy Man,” Balance: Almost comically sad, but lovely.
45. “So Deep Within You,” Dream: Yay sex! Not explicitly, necessarily, but this is a hidden gem buried at the end of the first side, and it’s about as horny as these good British boys ever got.
44. “Fly Me High,” unreleased 1967 track: An early track from just after the Laine era and before the DFP juggernaut was created, and better than most anything else from that period.
43. “The Best Way To Travel,” Chord: Look, you can tell I don’t like much from this album, and this song would fall into that trap, but it’s interesting and has a good ending, and that kicks it up several notches.
42. “Dear Diary,” Dream: Needlessly portentous, with vocals that sound like they are being sung underwater, but the overall effect adds to the dream-like state that envelops the album.
41. “Out And In,” Children: A fine, if unremarkable, song that would have been more interesting with a few dozen layers of sound peeled back.
40. “Candle Of Life,” Children: This one always bored me, but the older I get, the more I can appreciate the vibe here. The unbearably naïve “So love everybody and make them your friend” chorus is hopeless, but the verses have a stately demeanor that offsets it.
39. “Lunch Break: Peak Hour,” Days Of Future Passed: The first real sign of life on DFP shows up toward the end of the first side; after a two-minute orchestral intro, a sprightly Brit-Invasion track pops up (a nod toward the band’s past), slows down, then speeds back up into the close. There’s even a little grit in the vocals.
38. “Eternity Road,” Children: Rather spacy in the verses, but the chorus and the ascending Mellotron figure over some acoustic guitar turn this one into a flawed little gem.
37. “Don’t You Feel Small,” Balance: The Question Of Balance album is full of songs with mediocre introductions/verses and great choruses/finishes, part of the band’s attempt to scale back their layers of sound and write songs they could play on stage. This is one such track; the overkill on the vocal layers and the flute push this into “precious,” but then the chorus actually rocks a little, and rescues the song.
36. “Our Guessing Game,” Favour: For a while there, Ray Thomas got the third song on each album, and his tracks tended to be more grounded (especially from 1970 forward) while the other guys went off the hippie deep end. This is one such track, a forgotten number from the penultimate album of the band’s “classic seven” lineup.
35. “For My Lady,” Seventh Sojourn: The flip side of the song that follows on this list, it’s a melancholy, heartfelt love song with a folk lilt.
34. “And The Tide Rushes In,” Balance: A simple, poignant divorce song from Thomas, with one of his best vocal deliveries.
33. “After You Came,” Favour: An odd little number, never settling on a direction or a theme, and closing with a heroic guitar solo for absolutely no reason. It’s so weird, and probably a good thing that Graeme Edge didn’t try to write more songs.
32. “Emily’s Song,” Favour: John Lodge wrote this lovely lullaby for his daughter. Can’t say anything bad about it.
31. “Never Comes the Day,” Dream: Builds from a quiet acoustic number to a confident, loping psychedelic rocker, with a touch of harmonica for flavor.
30. “You And Me,” Seventh Sojourn: A solid album track, originally used to kick off the second side.
29. “Tortoise And The Hare,” Balance: Whimsy, yet again, but this time Lodge and Edge actually put a little muscle behind it, and the song comes to life because of it. The band would also pull this song off live for that reason.
28. “Eyes Of A Child II,” Children: Might seem strange to put a minute-long song this high on the list, but it has a kinetic energy and one of the quickest pulses of the band’s catalog. I really wish it had been developed into a real song.
27. “A Simple Game,” B-side to “Ride My See-Saw”: A great lost song from the era that really should have been on Chord, and if you’re not familiar with it, go seek it out. Good vocal harmonies, good guitar work, melancholy vibe without pretension… it’s a shame this never got the exposure that lesser songs got.
26. “Voices In The Sky,” Chord: A fan favorite, though to me it hasn’t held up as well as the other songs higher on this list. The success is solely due to Hayward’s singing and the restrained but nice vocal harmonies that appear at the right moments.
25-24. “Beyond,” Children and “The Voyage,” Dream: Among the more progressive numbers in the band’s catalog are these two Mellotron-heavy instrumentals, and both are befitting their name. “Voyage” is the climax of Dream and maintains its dream-like quality; of particular note is Pinder’s repeated piano figure toward the end of the piece, over a descending keyboard figure that builds in intensity to its release.
23. “Island,” Seventh Sojourn outtake: A very good unreleased song, definitely fitting in with the tenor of its parent album, but left off because it wasn’t quite to the level of the others (though I would have swapped it for “Land Of Make-Believe”).
22. “My Song,” Favour: Speaking of progressive, this one qualifies, a seven-minute multi-part suite with a variety of sections and an epic feel, relying on wordless vocals in the midsection over Edge’s crashing drums. It’s quite the experiment.
21. “Watching And Waiting,” Children: Almost unbearably sad; the song is mostly two repeated, sustained Mellotron notes, with a bridge that splits the song in half. It’s difficult to listen to very often and might make you cry when it comes on.
20. “Send Me No Wine,” Dream: An effervescent two-minute rocker that ends too quickly. It’s fun.
19. “One More Time to Live,” Favour: I never know what to make of this track. It’s two sections repeated. The first is a Moody-by-numbers, whatever, but the second is a repetition of words that all end in “-tion” and sung with various levels of seriousness over the Mellotron. It sounds ridiculous when you type it out, but somehow it comes together.
18. “It’s Up To You,” Balance: No pretensions here; the keyboard doesn’t even make an appearance. This is a country-fried rocker and a sincere love song. It’s hard not to enjoy it.
17. “Evening: The Sun Set,” Days Of Future Passed: Two songs in one, surrounded and split in half by the orchestra. The first song is a slow, vaguely Indian-sounding number that has not aged well. The second part, “Twilight Time,” is one of the best songs the group ever recorded; on its own, it would be Top 5 in this list. Rarely were the band’s vocal harmonies used to such great effect.
16. “How Is It (We Are Here),” Balance: The Mellotron is the lead instrument here, and the mock seriousness borders on the ridiculous, but you forget all that when the instrumental midsection (with an overdriven guitar figure) comes in. This song never gets any love, but that middle part should be better remembered.
15. “Isn’t Life Strange,” Seventh Sojourn: If any Moodies song was to be considered an epic, it’s this one. The grandiose sweep of the music and the lyrics about unrequited or lost love come together in a gorgeous piece of work.
14. “Higher And Higher,” Children: The moon landing inspired several artists around this time; Bowie gets the nod for “Space Oddity,” but the Moodies tried to actually use layers of sound (like 25 overdubs or something) to create the feeling of a ship actually blasting off, before a rollicking song comes on. The words are spoken but can barely keep up with the music. It’s a rush that most of the rest of the album can’t live up to.
13. “Lovely To See You,” Dream: A straightforward rock (for these guys, anyway) song about friendship, no more. It’s fine on record, but in concert the band would stretch it out with a guitar solo, and over time it would come to be a defining track from this era.
12. “New Horizons,” Seventh Sojourn: This beautiful, expansive solo acoustic-and-keyboard number from Hayward was part an ode to his father (who had recently passed away) and his new wife and child. The emotion surges through not only his pained lyrics but through his guitar, particularly in the electric solo midway through the piece.
11. “Legend Of A Mind,” Chord: An ode to Timothy Leary, and the band’s first mini-epic that could both be considered prog-rock and psychedelic rock, depending how you define the term.
10. “The Afternoon,” Days Of Future Passed: A composite of two songs: the beloved sorta-hit “Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon),” with its pounding piano chorus and dreamier chorus; and the slower, creepier “Time To Get Away,” with that six-note riff making you wonder what sort of evening this will be.
9. “When You’re A Free Man,” Seventh Sojourn: Kind of a sequel to “Legend Of A Mind,” but much slower and sadder, since by 1972 Timothy Leary was living in exile, escaped from prison and somewhere in South America, and Mike Pinder missed his friend. I’ve written elsewhere about how this album signified the end of the hippie dream, and this song is a big contributor to that overall feel; only a couple years before, they would laugh on the mountainside and dream of the future. Real life hit hard.
8. “Ride My See-Saw,” Chord: The second song on the band’s second album is excellent, a punchy rocker that does its business in three minutes, makes time for a guitar solo, features the hallmark layered vocals, and is as an effective slice of psychedelic rock as any you can name from 1968. It would become the band’s closer for the next several decades, with a stretched-out introduction (the Red Rocks version is particularly good).
7. “The Actor,” Chord: Maybe an odd pick to be up this high, but I can think of few other songs where Hayward’s voice sounded so amazing; his performance in the chorus will give you chills. Thomas’ flute is a soothing counterpoint to the words.
6. “The Story In Your Eyes,” Favour: A ferocious rocker and also a concert favorite. Pinder dispenses with the keyboard and plays a pounding piano figure throughout the piece instead; the song ends proper at the two-minute mark, and the final minute is given to a jam between the piano and Hayward’s electric guitar.
5. “Question,” Balance: The single version is more effective, stripping away the horns in the intro and focusing on the furious acoustic guitar strum. Hayward had two songs written here and decided to simply join them together, and the result was a hit single, though Lodge also deserves credit for his popping bassline throughout the first and final parts.
4. “The Night,” Days Of Future Passed: Probably the band’s best-known song, a dramatic piece that magnificently blends the orchestra and the Moodies in the “Nights in White Satin” portion; the “Late Lament” spoken word poem is a bit cringy on its own, I suppose, but it ties the album together before that final gong sounds. Although written as a romantic song, some have interpreted the white satin to actually be a coffin lining, and the “days” of future passed are actually a lifespan, not just one day. It’s a phenomenal end to the album no matter how you see it.
3. “Lost In A Lost World,” Seventh Sojourn: In 1972, the hippie dream was dead. Failed. The world was overpopulated, the U.S. was at war, racial tensions were high, humanity was no less selfish than it was when bands urged everyone to love on their brothers. Those who believed in it were now facing their own adulthood, their own careers and bills and the real world instead of a fantasy, and they were not thrilled. The Moodies captured this brilliantly on this song in particular, but also throughout melancholy opus Seventh Sojourn, tackling tough topics but also remaining hopeful, if world-weary…
2. “I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band),” Seventh Sojourn: …and realizing that those who put their faith and hope in musicians as agents of change were kind of lame. The Moodies took the piss out of their own image and others who saw themselves as revolutionaries or leaders: “If you can see exactly what to do / Don’t tell me / I’m just a singer,” they harmonize. And for once, all the Mellotrons and whimsy and pretense and hippie cliches are set aside and the band just rocks, with Lodge’s best bassline, a great guitar solo, and a final cymbal crash that fades into the distance, putting a capper on the first phase of the band’s career.
1. “Gypsy (Of A Strange And Distant Time),” Children: The thing is, when you mention the band to anyone, they think of the hits from the band as their defining moments. To me, this is their defining song. It has a lush wall of sound, a sci-fi/fantasy premise that also works as a parallel for anyone on a journey (such as an astronaut, befitting of the album’s theme), and some of Hayward’s best non-word singing; nobody can stretch out the word “home” like that and make it sound so compelling. The song is basically three quick notes followed by a riff, topped with a slower keyboard pattern repeated twice, then the vocals; repeat three times, then close with a jam. It’s intoxicating, and if you know, you know.