Artist: THE MOODY BLUES
Album: DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED REMASTERED & EXPANDED (CD)

Year: 1967/ 2008
EAN/UPS: 0600753066317
Media type: CD

Originally, the Moodies' label, Deram, had wanted them to record a rock version of Dvorjak's New World Symphony in order to demonstrate their latest recording techniques. Instead, the band (initially without the label's knowledge) decided to focus on an album based on an original stage show that they'd been working on.

The concept of both the stage show and the album was very simple, tracing an "everyman's day" from dawn to night, from awakening to sleep. The seven tracks spawned two hit singles: "Tuesday Afternoon", which on the album was actually titled "The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)", and "Nights in White Satin" which hit No. 2 five years after the LP's original release. Both remain commercial radio mainstays across various formats and de rigueur performances in concert.

The project was almost doomed to failure as executives at Deram Records felt that combining rock and symphonic music would both alienate rock fans and enrage symphonic fans. The album's subsequent success led to other criticism about implied drug use, especially with such lines as "the smell of grass just makes you pass into a dream" and "those gentle voices I hear explain it all with a sigh." Despite such early criticism, Days of Future Passed paved the way for progressive offerings from other bands and remains one of the Moody Blues' most popular releases ever.

The original packaging credited the orchestral parts to "Redwave/Knight". "Knight" was conductor Peter Knight, while "Redwave" was an imaginary name representing the Moody Blues themselves. (Knight built the orchestral parts around themes written by Hayward, Thomas, Pinder & Lodge). Also, the packaging failed to give titles or credits for Graeme Edge's poems "Morning Glory" and "Late Lament".

TRACKLIST:

"The Day Begins" (Peter Knight & The Moody Blues) / "Morning Glory" (Graeme Edge) (unlisted track) – 5:51
Dawn: "Dawn is a Feeling" (Mike Pinder) – 3:49
The Morning: "Another Morning" (Ray Thomas) – 3:56
Lunch Break: "Peak Hour" (John Lodge) – 5:29

The Afternoon: "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" (Justin Hayward) / "(Evening) Time to Get Away" (Lodge) – 8:23
Evening: "The Sunset" (Pinder) / "Twilight Time" (Thomas) – 6:40
The Night: "Nights in White Satin" (Hayward) / "Late Lament" (Graeme Edge) (unlisted track) - 7:39

Bonus tracks:

8. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood 2:22
9. Fly Me High 2:54
10. I Really Haven't Got The Time 3:07
11. Love And Beauty 2:23
12. Leave This Man Alone 2:59
13. Cities 2:23
14. Tuesday Afternoon 4:20
15. Dawn: Dawn Is A Feeling 2:19
16. The Sun Set 2:49
17. Twilight Time

LINE-UP:

Justin Hayward: Acoustic and electric guitars, piano, keyboards, vocals.
John Lodge: Bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals.
Mike Pinder: Keyboards, mellotron, piano, vocals (including spoken).
Ray Thomas: Flutes, horns, percussion, keyboards, vocals.
Graeme Edge: Drums, percussion.
Peter Knight: Conductor, arrangements.
The London Festival Orchestra.