The Giant Panther

My first exposure to The Moody Blues came when I first heard the single "Nights in White Satin." That song was re-issued in the mid seventies for some reason and was a hit all over again. I think one of the proms I never attended at Voorhees High School in Glen Gardner, NJ used it as the theme song if memory serves. That's usually enough to turn you off to any song, but I had a history with The Moody Blues. My best friend Jim had three older siblings and they all had Moody Blues records. We used to play the baseball dice game Strat-O-Matic and listen to these records endlessly. Finally, in 1974, The Moody Blues released This is The Moody Blues as a greatest hits package. It didn't catch everything, but it sure was close. For a 14 year old on a grass cutting budget, this was the jackpot. A double album priced at no more than $7.99 at Korvette's on Route 22 in New Jersey was nirvana. I haven't thought about Korvette's in years, but pow, just like that, I'm back in 1974. I guess E.J. (Korvette) declared bankruptcy in 1980 and folded the chain, but he was my music man for a couple of years. I was a Massachusetts resident by then so I didn't get the memo, but God bless that chain.

Note the vinyl marks on the artwork above. You know this baby sat in a heavy pile of records for a long time. It's not my copy, but it might as well have been. I love The Moody Blues. I know it's not very fashionable to say as much these days, but I've always loved this band. I remember a friend of my father's gave me a cassette copy of Seventh Sojourn in 1972. I played that thing like there was no tomorrow. I just loved it. This is The Moody Blues was one of the first greatest hits records I can remember where you didn't get a break between the songs. Nearly every one of them was blended or had a few seconds of silence between the tracks. I didn't mind it when I was playing the album, but digitzing the music is kind of a nightmare. Songs frequently get chopped unfortunately.

Last night The Moody Blues played the Bank of America Pavilion here in Boston. At 49 years young I felt like a toddler in this silver haired crowd. The Moodies released their first record, Days of Future Passed, in 1967. Many of these folks were obviously long time fans like me with the emphasis on the long. Aside from seeing 60 somethings Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge on stage looking every bit their age, it was interesting to see a crowd of folks pushing 60 trying to rock. Maybe this is how I look at a Kings of Leon concert I'm guessing huh? I know many of you folks out there probably know four Moody Blues songs at best, but these guys were pioneers. They mixed poetry and orchestral soft rock and produced some great music. Like Pink Floyd, there has never been anybody like them. Even with three of the original five on stage, it was like I was back in Boston Garden in 1980 or at Concerts On The Common in 1988 minus Michael Pinder and Ray Thomas. When they broke into "Tuesday Afternoon" about five songs in I was in nostalgia heaven. It practically was Tuesday Afternoon to boot. Great symmetry. I'm a sucker for symmetry.

The highlight of the show, for me, though was "Never Comes The Day" from 1969's On The Threshold of a Dream. I sang that thing at the top of my lungs along with everybody else within earshot. I know most of you probably don't even know the song, but it's a great tune. I love Justin Hayward's voice. It's so soothing. I didn't get to hear "Lovely To See You" or "Legend of a Mind" last night, but I didn't really care. I've heard those first seven records hundreds of times. I was just happy to be there last night on a picture perfect late August evening. Our ten days of summer is coming to a close and even I, allergic to weather 80 degrees and above, was comfortable last night. The weather hasn't quite broken yet, but you can feel it coming. I just love the cool weather of the fall season. I knew I was going to the show all along, but I didn't grab a ticket until yesterday afternoon. I found a single in the 12th row center and had a tremendous view of their gorgeous new flute player dressed in black. She might have been talented, but I was too dazzled by her silhouette to notice.

I saw Bruce Springsteen over the weekend, but I felt like writing about The Moody Blues instead. I feel like these guys just don't get their due in rock history. Thirty years from now the band and us fans will probably be gone so I'm doing my part to remind folks what great artists these guys were and are. I could leave you any number of Moody Blues songs and be happy about it, but I'm going to go with You and Me from Seventh Sojourn. Even if you are a reasonably big Moody Blues fan you might not know this one. I hope you like it.

www.moodyblues.co.uk