Post by erik on Apr 15, 2023 19:54:26 GMT -5
Arguably the most popular of all British progressive rock groups, the Moody Blues find themselves in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight with a moving hit of theirs from 1972.
ISN’T LIFE STRANGE? (The Moody Blues; Threshold; 1972)—Even with the immense number of progressive rock bands, those that combined rock with the structures of classical and/or orchestral music, The Moody Blues were likely that genre’s greatest exponent of the form, especially with American audiences. Though their hit-making days had begun as a British R&B band in early 1965 with “Go Now”, by the time 1967 rolled around, they had introduced their brand of orchestral rock in the form of their landmark album Days Of Future Passed, which contained such FM rock staples as “Tuesday Afternoon”, and their biggest hit “Nights In White Satin” (though it took until late 1972 for this last one to be a big American hit. Further U.S. hits included “Question” in 1970, and “The Story In Your Eyes” in 1971. And just prior to “Nights In White Satin” finally making it onto the U.S. charts, the “Moodies” previewed what became their first #1-charting American album Seventh Sojourn with the decidedly philosophical ballad “Isn’t Life Strange?” Written by the group’s lead singer, bassist, and guitarist John Lodge, the song was said to take its inspiration from the German baroque-era composer Johann Pachelbel’s beloved “Canon In D Major”, and it features instrumentation like the harmonium and Chamberlain that are only occasionally used by classical orchestras, and, at least at that time in the early 1970’s, not a part of any rock band’s instrumental compliment. At six minutes in length, it was one the group’s longer songs (though the uncut “Nights In White Satin” is almost a minute and a half longer); and although “Isn’t Life Strange?” was a bigger hit in the group’s native England, where it reached #13, it still peaked at a very respectable #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1972, setting them up for a significant fan base on both sides of the Atlantic (though, as with many classically-oriented bands of their type, the critics were far less kind). Though the band would have sporadic successes after the late 1980’s, they managed, after much prodding (given that their first record was in 1965 and were thus eligible as early as 1990), they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
ISN’T LIFE STRANGE? (The Moody Blues; Threshold; 1972)—Even with the immense number of progressive rock bands, those that combined rock with the structures of classical and/or orchestral music, The Moody Blues were likely that genre’s greatest exponent of the form, especially with American audiences. Though their hit-making days had begun as a British R&B band in early 1965 with “Go Now”, by the time 1967 rolled around, they had introduced their brand of orchestral rock in the form of their landmark album Days Of Future Passed, which contained such FM rock staples as “Tuesday Afternoon”, and their biggest hit “Nights In White Satin” (though it took until late 1972 for this last one to be a big American hit. Further U.S. hits included “Question” in 1970, and “The Story In Your Eyes” in 1971. And just prior to “Nights In White Satin” finally making it onto the U.S. charts, the “Moodies” previewed what became their first #1-charting American album Seventh Sojourn with the decidedly philosophical ballad “Isn’t Life Strange?” Written by the group’s lead singer, bassist, and guitarist John Lodge, the song was said to take its inspiration from the German baroque-era composer Johann Pachelbel’s beloved “Canon In D Major”, and it features instrumentation like the harmonium and Chamberlain that are only occasionally used by classical orchestras, and, at least at that time in the early 1970’s, not a part of any rock band’s instrumental compliment. At six minutes in length, it was one the group’s longer songs (though the uncut “Nights In White Satin” is almost a minute and a half longer); and although “Isn’t Life Strange?” was a bigger hit in the group’s native England, where it reached #13, it still peaked at a very respectable #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1972, setting them up for a significant fan base on both sides of the Atlantic (though, as with many classically-oriented bands of their type, the critics were far less kind). Though the band would have sporadic successes after the late 1980’s, they managed, after much prodding (given that their first record was in 1965 and were thus eligible as early as 1990), they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.