A few months back, I bought my spouse a disc that she'd been asking for since it first was released a year before: the Rounder tribute collection Moody Bluegrass. Becky is a big Moody Blues fan – they're her favorite rock band – and though the pop nerd in me used to get a charge out of repeatedly teasing her for this preference, over time I've mellowed. They're a good pop singles band and I've even got a copy of the band's one-disc best-of in the PT Cruiser. Usually skip through "Nights in White Satin" when I play it, but the rest is just fine.
The Bluegrass collection, produced by mandolinist David Harvey and featuring new grass artists like John Cowan, Tim O'Brien, and Alison Krause, is a respectful tribute set that's about half greatest hits and half countrified takes on lesser-known album tracks. Considering how heavily orchestrated and produced much of the Moodies' music can be, it's surprising how well so many translate into acoustic country.
The bulk of the songs covered are by Moodies lead singer Justin Hayward, and, in the best reinterpretations, they sound like something a more studied Nashville songwriter might've concocted. Where the original version of "The Other Side of Life" always seemed more than a little unbelievable – a buncha middle-aged VH-1ers telling us about takin' a walk on the wild side? – hearing Lonesome Standard Time's Larry Cordle tackle the same lyrics with his country soulful voice is a whole different matter.
The bulk of the collection's tracks have a country folkish tinge to 'em: it's in the three most rockin' covers ("Ride My See Saw," "The Voice," "I'm Just A Singer In A Rock & Roll Band") that the musicians indulge in full-throttle bluegrass pickin'. Of these, perhaps the last is the least successful track – not just because the idea of singing about being a rock & roller while the banjos and mandolins are flyin' all around you seems off, but because the original's shrieking orchestrated urgency is so memorable – but they're all fun to listen to. And it's definitely a kick to hear a group of Nashvillians seriously warblin' "Legend of A Mind"'s eulogy to Timothy Leary.
Article comments
1 - Angie Beasant
No offence, mate, but that review could have been written by a child on his first day at school. In fact, if it had been written by a small child, there would at least have been a good excuse for being so completely ignorant about one of the greatest bands of all-time.
Personally, I think this album is embarrassingly awful. Hearing the Moodies' material being covered in this style is worse than hearing the Moodies perform covers themselves.
2 - Phoebe Sabbatini
Is it simply all about the music for your wife or does she actually quite fancy one or two of these "middle-aged VH-1ers"?
That would explain your opinion and attitude very clearly.
3 - Lee Adamson
"singles band"? Since when? If there's one thing the Moody Blues are not, or ever have been, it's a singles band. Their popularity has been garnered from their multi-million selling albums.
I wish reviewers would actually research their subject before making comments that only serve to embarrass themselves.
4 - Bill Sherman
A few Moody Blues songs that’ve made successful singles either in the U.S. or U.K.: “Go Now,” “Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,“ ”Question,” “The Voice,” “Your Wildest Dreams,” “Other Side of Life.” Though many of their fans primarly think of ‘em as an album band, I still prefer ‘em as a singles group " and I’m not the only one. In Holland, a two-disc set entitled Singles was released a couple of years ago: among the information included in the booklet was each song’s place on a variety of singles charts.
My original attitude towards the Moodys is one I held long before I met my wife, incidentally, coz I’m a big ol’ pop-rock snob . . .
5 - Julie D
I'm glad the reviewer likes Moody Bluegrass. I do too, and am hoping soon for Moody Bluegrass II. The Moodies themselves so much enjoyed the expert musicianship and the novel interpretation of the tracks on this cd, that they turned up for the live performance of this material in Nashville a year ago. I like this review of the cd, but I don't think it gives enough credit to the band it pays tribute to. The Moody Blues have legions of fans, who have the deepest regard for their prolific back catalog, including Days of Future Passed. The band has re-released their core albums in SACD format to insure the best quality of this classic work is available. Their songs are melodious, uplifting, and timeless in its appeal; and “that sound” defines their music. It's feel-good music. Maybe our author finds the recorded version of “Nights” to be a sappy love song (I'm speculating), but as a 16-yr old girl back in 1969, it sure made me swoon. It still does. In their current live show the song has taken on a life of its own; and quite deservedly, receives some of the longest applause I've ever seen or heard after any song. Justin Hayward, supported by a wonderful backup of vocals and instrumentation, who is obviously blessed with a velvet throat, tirelessly delivers his signature song, decade after decade, night after night, with unsurpassed beauty and emotion, and always with his trademark plaintive wail at the end..absolutely sublime.
6 - Bill Sherman
Worth noting that of the twenty-some reviews I've posted since returning to Blogcritics, the first 'un to generate much in the way of spirited response has been this somewhat flippant quickie Moodies piece: sez a lot for the devotion that this band has built over the years.
We all have songs that continue to evoke an emotional response every time we hear 'em: for me, two of 'em would be "Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks and "I Can See for Miles" by the Who (decades after first hearing it, that big booming guitar chord still can send a chill down my back). Other great songs, unfortunately, have been played so much on mainstream radio over the years that their impact is dulled: to my ears, "Nights" is one of the latter. ("Gemini Dream" can still get my pulse racing, however.) And though it may be unclear from the way I worded it, my big issue with "Nights" is less with the song itself and more with the spoken recitation at the end of it (which was not, incidentally, included in the original single release) . . .
For the record, there is nothing wrong with being a good singles band.
7 - Mark Saleski
"Nights" creeps me out a little because i remember listening to it (via my "pillow speaker"...ever had one of them?) on the radio late at night when i was about 9 years old. for whatever reason, it scared me back then.
8 - Frankie Beggs
It's so obvious from the bulk of your review that you are not particularly familiar with this band's work.
The first rule of convincing argument or critique: Don't write about what you don't know.
9 - Connie Phillips
This article has been placed at the Advance.net websites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
10 - Bill Sherman
Mark "
Back when I was nine, the only way to listen to the AM radio (cue Everclear song) in bed was with a transistor radio and a crappy earpiece. Kept the folks from yelling at ya, but it definitely was not a surround sound experience. I can see how the chorus to “Nights” " with its echoey vocals, in particular " might’ve sounded spooky to a young kid with a decent set of headphones, though . . .
11 - Maria-Luisa Alvarez
Middle-aged VH-1ers??? Yes, I could say that when as a 21 year old in 1986 I first saw the video for The Other Side of Life, and particularly the way Justin Hayward looked in it, my first thought was exactly that. However I'd be lying through my teeth.
Your comment is made all the more ridiculous by then going onto say that a cover by a talented (but with a great deal of room for improvement) would-be of a song by some of the most talented musicians to have had the good fortune to meet each other and one of the greatest voices of all time sounds more convincing than the original.
That is just ONE of the huge gaping holes in your so-called review which doesn't amount to a review at all but an attempt to force your opinions down the gullet of anyone who cares to read it.