zumpoems

Moody Blues: In Search of the Lost Chord

With their second album, released July 26, 1968, the Moody Blues solidly establish their own style and identity with recognizable, reverberation-enhanced vocals, use of cross-fade between tracks, and a complex, polished production style as realized by Tony Clarke. In the previous album, Days of Future Past, The Moody Blues were backed up by Decca’s house orchestra, The London Festival Orchestra; in this album, the orchestra is replaced by almost three dozen instruments all played by the band members. Mellotron and sitar fans will enjoy the use of those instruments here, part of achieving an effective album. If you don’t have this on LP, consider the CD version with its bonus tracks, two of which provide a glimpse at how good Moody Blues sounded in live performances in 1968.

Track Listing [From Wikipedia]

1. Departure (0:44)
2. Ride My See-Saw (3:38)
3. Dr. Livingstone, I Presume? (2:58)
4. House of Four Doors (4:12)
5. Legend of a Mind (6:36)
6. House of Four Doors, pt.2 (1:47)
7. Voices in the Sky (3:25)
8. The Best Way to Travel (3:14)
9. Visions of Paradise (4:15)
10. The Actor (4:39)
11. The Word (0:48)
12. Om (5:44)

Total Time: 42:03

Moody Blues

– Justin Hayward / acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, lead vocals (1,4,6,8)
– Michael Pinder / piano, Mellotron, Moog, acoustic guitar, maracas, lead vocals (2,4,9,10)
– Ray Thomas / flute, tambourine, lead vocals (3,4)
– John Lodge / bass guitar, lead vocals (4,7)
– Graeme Edge / drums, percussion, whispered vocal (4)

Buffalo Springfield: Last Time Around

Tinged with folk and country elements, Buffalo Springfield’s final studio album, released on July 30, brings to a close an early chapter in folk/country rock.  Though the weakest of their three albums, there is much to like here, particularly the even number tracks on side one and the first three tracks on side two.

Track listing [from Wikipedia]

Side one

1. “On the Way Home” (Young) – 2:25
   • Recorded November 15-December 13, 1967, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California. Vocals: Richie Furay, Neil Young; bass: Bruce Palmer; piano: Neil Young.
2. “It’s So Hard to Wait” (Furay, Young) – 2:03
   • Recorded March 9, 1968, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California. Lead vocals: Richie Furay.
3. “Pretty Girl Why” (Stills) – 2:24
   • Recorded February 26 & May 1967, Sound Recorders, Hollywood and Atlantic Studios, New York City. Lead vocals: Stephen Stills; bass: Jim Fielder.
4. “Four Days Gone” (Stills) – 2:53
   • Recorded late 1967-early 1968. Lead vocals and piano: Stephen Stills, lead guitar solo: Neil Young
5. “Carefree Country Day” (Messina) – 2:35
   • Recorded late 1967-early 1968. Lead vocals: Jim Messina.
6. “Special Care” (Stills) – 3:30
   • Recorded January 3–20, 1968. Sunset Sound, Hollywood. Lead vocals, pianos, B3, guitars, bass: Stephen Stills; drums: Buddy Miles.

Side two

1. “The Hour of Not Quite Rain” (Callen, Furay) – 3:45
   • Recorded late 1967-February 1968. Lead vocals: Richie Furay.
2. “Questions” (Stills) – 2:52
   • Recorded February 16, 1968, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California. Vocals, guitars, bass guitar, Hohner clavinet: Stephen Stills; drums: Jimmy Karstein.
3. “I Am a Child” (Young) – 2:15
   • Recorded February 5, 1968, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California. Lead vocals: Neil Young; bass: Gary Marker.
4. “Merry-Go-Round” (Furay) – 2:02
   • Recorded February 16-March 1968, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California. Lead vocals: Richie Furay; bass: drums: Jimmy Karstein. Harpsichord, calliope, bells: Jeremy Stuart.
5. “Uno Mundo” (Stills) – 2:00
   • Recorded February–March 1968, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California. Lead vocals: Stephen Stills.
6. “Kind Woman” (Furay) – 4:10
   • Recorded February–March 6, 1968, Atlantic Studios, New York City & Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California. Lead vocals: Richie Furay; pedal steel guitar: Rusty Young; bass: Richard Davis.(not Dickie Davis)

Personnel

Buffalo Springfield

• Richie Furay – guitar (1,2,3,8,10,11,12), vocals (1,2,3,5,7,10,12)
• Dewey Martin – drums (1,2,3,9,11)
• Jim Messina – bass, vocals (5,12)
• Stephen Stills – guitar (1,2,3,4,6,8,10,11), piano (4,6,8), B3 organ (6,8,11), bass (6,8), clavinet (8), vibes (1), percussion (11), Handclaps (11), background vocals (1,5,8,10), vocals (3,4,6,8,11)
• Neil Young – guitar (3,4,9,10), harmonica (9), piano (1), background vocals (1), vocals (9), appears in some capacity on (5)
• Bruce Palmer – bass (1)

Additional personnel

• Buddy Miles – drums (6)
• Jimmy Karstein – drums (8,10)
• Gary Marker : bass (9)
• Jeremy Stuart – harpsichord, calliope, bells (10)
• Rusty Young – pedal steel guitar (12)
• Richard Davis – bass (12)
• unidentified – horns (1), saxophone, clarinet (2), drums (4), bass, drums, harpsichord, orchestra (7), piano, drums (12)

Harry Nilsson: Aerial Ballet

Released sometime in July 1969, Aerial Ballet, provides another set of cleverly crafted pop tunes, very much influenced by Paul McCartney songwriting and the production approach on Beatles and Beach Boys albums.  With his third album, Nilsson provides all original songs with one exception: a song called “Everybody’s Talkin'” written by Fred Neil, who would later drop out of music to focus on an organization he founded, The Dolphin Research Project, dedicated to stopping the mistreatment and exploitation of dolphins around the world.  When Nilsson’s version was released as a single in July 1968, it failed to break into the top 100, but after its inclusion as the theme song in the film Midnight Cowboy in 1969, the song was re-released as a single and became a hit, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard pop chart and No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart.

The gem of this album is “One”, a song that sounds as unassuming and catchy today  as it did in 1968.  Many will be familiar with the Three Dog Night’s version, but it is this original version that is the definitive, and by far the best, one.

Track listing [from Wikipedia]

All tracks written by Harry Nilsson, except where noted.  Arranged by George Tipton.