To Our Children's Children's Children (1969)

WARNING!!

These reviews are given in the spirit of a personal editorial and of personal opinion. If you would find yourself offended by these views and criticisms within the body of these reviews, please do not read further. It is not our intention to offend or injure someone's views on their favourite band. We wrote these as one-time fans who now, after many years, revisited these albums and wanted to write fair and unbiased reviews of The Moody Blues' material. If indeed, a member of The Moody Blues does happen to read these reviews, please take into consideration that these are simply opinions. These reviews present an alternate perspective.
Thank You,
Shawn and Andrew Dow,
March, 2007

Album Review by Andrew Dow

Album Review by Shawn Dow

Album Review by Andrew Dow

After the success of "On The Threshold of A Dream", thanks to "Lovely To See You", and "Never Comes The Day", The Moodies were on a streak. They decided to follow in The Beatles' footsteps and move into acquiring their own record label. They formed Threshold records in 1969, and this would be their most active period, producing not just one, but two albums, much like Yes in 1972, releasing "Fragile" and "Close To The Edge". The Moodies were also looking for another act to sell Threshold. They initially asked Robert Fripp of King Crimson if he wanted to join Threshold, but after much hedging, Graeme Edge told Ian McDonald (after "altering his state of consciousness"), that King Crimson was just simply too strong an act to follow. However there were sessions with Tony Clarke at Morgan Studios through summer of '69, but the project and all tapes were abandoned. The Moodies signed the artist "Trapeze", as well as another group.

There was a rumor that The Moodies contacted NASA to purchase sound equipment to outfit Threshold. This is erroneous. They only acquired sounds of rockets taking off which they wanted to use in their new album that they wanted to build around the theme of space travel. Another story is that the opening sound on the album is a piano dropping to the ground, making a huge crash. I haven't heard if this is true or not, but it sounds a lot like what a piano would sound like hitting the ground.

This album is actually a turning point in their careers. This album would be the last to feature extensive over-dubbing of instruments by all of the bands members. From the next album on, all music would be created to reproduce in a live setting. If you really need to know, The Moodies were never a truly effective live act, but this album represents what I feel is The Moodies at quite possibly their very best. Space theme aside, they wrote some really good material for this one.

Higher And Higher: The opening of Moodies albums seems to follow a trend. Something really trippy to freak out or in this case literally scare the crap out of the listener. A huge crash (most likely a piano hitting the ground) followed by a rocket sound and a chorus of voices, signifying the heavens. The song then moves into a fast rocker based around a poem by Edge, spoken by Pinder. The tune is actually good with it's electric guitar lead and backing acoustic guitars. The mellotron in the background only guides the track, not overwhelm it. The lead guitar riff and subsequent call and response of Hayward's two guitars is really inventive on the bands part. Edge's best tune.

Eyes of A Child (Part I): Here we go again with a two parter. Only here both parts of the song are different and don't seem to be simply padding. The opening of the song with it's harps and chimes work well with Thomas' flute. In this song, the verses have no backing rhythm and the chorus has it's beat, with a nice chorus. Laid back in tone, but interesting to listen to. Once again, the mellotron is pushed into the background and used sparingly. Nice percussion accents the verses, with good vocals by the entire band as a chorus. Simply A,B, A,B but it plays well.

Floating: Thomas carries on the album with this slightly up-tempo diddy. The drums playing what sounds like a closely mic'd woodblock on the snare. The vibraphone accents the vocal melody and the vocals come through well as a chorus after Thomas' verses. The song does speak of space travel to the moon, and floating through space, and the tune does have a spacey feel. The ending of the song has a nice soaring vocal by Thomas. I like the way the bass pops in with it's high accenting through the song. A good Thomas tune.

Eyes of A Child (Part II): Again, the Moodies go for a rocker. After floating, one was needed. This part two shows little similarity to the first, except for the chorus. In tone and feel it's a good addition to the first part. Except for Lodge's slightly high backing vocal. For this one, I'll forgive him.

I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Hundred: Hayward's double tracked guitar/vocal song about a man living to be a hundred. Low in tone and shows Hayward's vocals. A nice little song. Not much to it, but a nice touch.

Beyond: This is Edge's attempt at instrumental writing. The first instrumental by the band. It's basically a mellotron riff repeated against a steady 16 beat rhythm, interrupted twice by more groaning mellotrons. This tune, the album could have done without. The instrumental sounds like it should have been in a 60's discothèque or acid-house. Pinder going for the freak out with his droning mellotron. The song goes on for a while and really slows the album down.

Out And In: A Pinder mellotron-laced epic. However, here, the song is not bad at all. It does tend to carry on a little bit, but Hayward's nice guitar work keeps the song going. Here we have the familiar, A,B, A,B,C, pattern, with the mellotron the lead instrument, actually. The song could be an allegory for sex, but we all know the Moodies don't really think that way. The song speaks of a journey and searching, but I never did understand The Moodies' lyrics. The pulse and melody keep the song alive, but it repeats too many verses and goes on too long. A flawed song.

Gypsy: Hayward begins side two of the album with another rocker. The song speaks of a gypsy of "a strange and distant time", "left without a hope of coming home". I guess he means its some sort of time traveler. The song is backed by mellotron and acoustic guitar and I've found the "Ahh's" a little much for me. The vocals on this song are not actually that strong on Hayward's part. All that wailing can't be good for you. The guitar stabs at the end of the song are nice, but the mellotron is leading the song at the end. The song repeats too much and is a ready made hit single for the band. I actually think this was a single.

Eternity Road: The album finally gets good again. Thomas again proves his writing chops may be better than the rest of the band. Here we have a multi-part tune backed by excellent vocals, nice breaks and the mellotron backing the song, not leading it. There is some good guitar work by Hayward that shows he may have done better things if he just worked at his lead playing instead of worked as mainly rhythm guitarist. The band even uses the solo for a small little jam. Surprisingly, Thomas has two great songs on this album. One problem: the constant tambourine. I guess Ray is Mr. Tambourine Man all right.

Candle of Life: Another great tune, this time by Lodge. A slow, lament on how life slowly burns itself out. The drum fill at the opening is nice, to be filled by Hayward and Lodge's due on this tune. The piano in the background accents the melody nicely, and the mellotron adds to the song, and doesn't mar it. The cymbal rhythm gives the song almost a jazzy sound. The middle 8 section reciting the main theme on piano gives the song some drama, a quality lacking in a lot of Moodies material. They move back into the pattern again, making the song go on a bit, but I like it for some reason. A downer yes, but at least it's interesting.

Sun Is Still Shining: The Moodies go "Beatlesque" again. This time with Sitars actually playing a melody this time instead of simply noodling. A slow rocker with a nice little bass line by Lodge. The middle 8 has some more mellotron pitch bending, but in this song it seems to work. At least the song is talking about something positive in it's dreariness. A strong effort by Pinder. The ending jam-out tends to crash a little bit, but I'll give the guys a break here.

I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Million: Hayward caps off his little guitar/vocal deal by saying he's a million now. It's faster than "A Hundred" and doesn't last long, so it's fresh here.

Watching And Waiting: Hayward's dirge about loneliness. A mellotron lead piece that doesn't wear the song out. Hayward's vocal works here instead of sounding polite and sappy. A few little changes occur from chorus to verse and give the song variety. A lamentable song to be sure, but at least here it works and has nice acoustic guitar work. The final climax is nice, except for Hayward's crying "Ooooo, ooooooo". Makes me think, "Oh, poor little baby", but it doesn't go on for too long and closes out the album. A good Hayward tune.

Summary

This album grew on me, and I honestly don't know why. It has a lot of the same trappings as other Moodies album, but here it seemed that it worked. Aside from a few brown spots like "Beyond", "Gypsy", and "Out And In" the album re-uses older Moody stuff and hones it down to a fine point, which I think all culminated with this album. From here on out, the Moodies grew into even more pretention. Hits wise, I'm not sure if Gypsy even charted well, the first album not to have a definitive hit. Nothing off this album has ever surfaced on radio and is rarely played live by the Moodies, (with the exception of Gypsy which featured terribly on "Caught Live +5")

The album is not perfect to be sure, but it's probably as close to being a great Moodies album as they ever got in their "classic seven" period. Like I mentioned this was a whirlwind period for the Moodies; putting out two albums in one year and creating Threshold Records, this adds up to their most proficient and productive period ever.

Star Rating (out of 5)

***1/2 out of *****

Album Review by Shawn Dow

Watch for an upcoming Review by Shawn Dow