Ranking The Moody Blues: My Favourite Songs
The Moody Blues are one of my favourite bands. Here are my ten favourite Moody Blues songs, presented chronologically, so I don’t need to decide which is my absolute favourite.
1967: Nights In White Satin
This classic song is about unrequited love. It’s from their second album (and their first album featuring their classic line-up), Days Of Future Passed. Written by Justin Hayward, Nights In White Satin is the archetype of many of the Moody’s classic songs: a slow, quiet introduction and first verse, building up to an intense, energised, highly emotional chorus, before returning to a calming second verse. Then rinse and repeat. They use this song structure over and over in their career. But it works, so who am I to judge?
1968: Legend Of A Mind
This song, written by Ray Thomas, appears on the Moody’s third album, In Search Of The Lost Chord. It’s about psychologist and drug advocate Timothy Leary.
It starts as a folky, slightly Indian-influenced pop song, then switches to a shuffle, then briefly to a waltz, before moving into an extended Indian-influenced flute solo. The song then finishes by changing back to a rockier version of the opening tune — all in one song.
It’s a fascinating, dynamic song with engaging stylistic changes, great melodies and harmonies, and a beautiful arrangement — everything you expect from the Moodies.
1969: Never Comes the Day
Never Comes The Day, from their 1969 album On the Threshold of a Dream, is another Justin Hayward track about the give-and-take required to make a relationship work.
It’s a gorgeous and deeply emotional song that, like Nights In White Satin, begins as a quiet folk ballad before building up to a more positive and rocky chorus that really chugs along before reverting to its soft, sad, folky verse again. It then, of course, rinses and repeats this structure. Another classic example of the soft-loud-soft-loud style of song the Moodies are so well known for.
1969: Have You Heard / The Voyage
Also from 1969’s On the Threshold of a Dream is the medley comprising the song Have You Heard and the instrumental track, The Voyage, both by Moodie’s keyboard player, Mike Pinder.
Divided into three sections, it opens with Have You Heard, a slow ballad about human existence, a topic The Moodies would often explore. This is followed by an extended orchestral-like instrumental section called The Voyage, mainly played on mellotron. It’s simply awesome and is an early example of prog rock. This is followed by a reprise of Have You Heard to finish the album. Another one of those Moody songs that takes you on a journey with its stylistic changes
1971: One More Time to Live
Written by John Lodge, One More Time To Live is the centrepiece of the Moody’s 1971 album, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. And once more, it follows The Moody’s favourite song structure: quiet verses, building up to a loud, energetic chorus. The song is about a man looking out a window and contemplating the meaning of life.
And its chorus is an example of a word-list song, like REM’s It’s The End Of The World As We Know It. But it’s not the only great song on Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.
1971: You Can Never Go Home
You Can Never Go Home is another Justin Hayward classic. I don’t know much about this song, but I believe it was written around the time of his father’s death. But the song’s meaning is obvious: time only moves in one direction, and you can’t go back and fix things. The Moodys really thought about life a lot. And, of course, it starts quiet and builds up to a big chorus.
1972: New Horizons
New Horizons, from 1972’s Seventh Sojourn album, is a Justin Hayward song about positivity and the good things we have in our lives. Or, in Justin’s case, his new wife and child.
This song also follows the soft-loud-soft-loud method but with a bit more subtlety. It has a solid emotional chorus, but it’s not as powerfully in-your-face as some other Moody ballads. But it’d still one of the Moody’s most beautiful songs.
1972: Isn’t Life Strange
Also from Seventh Sojourn, Isn’t Life Strange is another John Lodge song where he muses about the meaning of life. It again uses soft-loud-soft-loud to good effect. And Mike Pinder’s keyboard arrangements are extraordinary. Check out the 8-minute version on the deluxe edition if you can — the extended instrumental break on that version is sublime.
1978: The Day We Meet Again
The Moodys took a break from the studio after Seventh Sojourn and a complete hiatus after their 1974 tour. When they got back together in 1978 to record another album, it wasn’t a happy time. In fact, Mike Pinder left the band in the middle of the sessions. Despite this, there are a few good songs on an otherwise lacklustre album, and The Day We Meet Again is the best of them.
The Day We Meet Again is a Justin Hayward song about someone hoping and wishing to meet the love of their life once more and imagining what would happen if they did.
In the absence of Mike Pinder, Hayward plays the organ. And while he doesn’t have the virtuosity of Pinder, the simplicity of Hayward’s keyboard playing adds innocence and sweetness to the song. It’s really lovely, and thankfully, it doesn’t follow the soft-loud-soft-loud method, instead gradually increasing in intensity as the song goes along.
1981: In My World
And the final song on the list of my ten favourite Moody Blues songs is 1981’s In My World, written by Justin Hayward, from their Long Distance Voyager album.
It’s a love song, pure and simple, that builds and builds, concluding with a false fade out, followed by an extended choir-like coda that reminds me a lot of the coda of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, just without the superb Dave Gilmour guitar solo. But In My World is still great, even without an extended guitar solo.
My Top Ten
So there you have it — my ten favourite Moody Blues songs. But ten’s too short. There are heaps of other great Moody songs that I haven’t covered here. If you’ve only listened to their well-known songs, it’s worth diving deeper. Almost all their albums have hidden gems, even the less-than-stellar late-career albums from the 80s and 90s. Go check them out!
