Customer Reviews

The Other Side of Life

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Moody Blues' 1986 album, "The Other Side Of Life," is easily the most polished, radio-friendly offering in their whole catalog, but it's still a very good Moodies album, and I remain pleased to this day that it was a big hit for them, too, their last US Top Ten album. "The Other Side Of Life" has an 80's gloss of keyboards and synth drums, and yet, the music is still great fun, and the Moodies' knack for tuneful singing, songwriting and performing remains intact. Guitarist Justin Hayward's "Your Wildest Dreams" was the big hit song from the album, and it's a nice little number, but my favorite tracks on the disc are other songs that come from Justin's pen, including the excellent title song, which is a marvelously spooky 7 1/2 minute pop-rocker, the sweet "I Just Don't Care," and the catchy pop of "Running Out Of Love," co-written with bassist John Lodge. Also worth mentioning are "The Spirit," co-written by keyboardist Patrick Moraz & drummer Graeme Edge, and Lodge's fine power ballad finale, "It May Be A Fire." Excellent pop from beginning to end, "The Other Side Of Life" is a charming Moody Blues album.

TOSOL is not my favorite of the Moodies and it certainly is not their best work by far. Still, it's the Moody Blues, and even at their worst, they are better than 99% of the "stuff" being peddled today and labeled music.

I enjoyed Justin Hayward's Your Wildest Dreams, I just Don't Care, and The other Side of Life. Hayward and Lodge collaborated on Running out of Love and I love the song on all levels, especially their sweet harmony.
John Lodge's It May Be a Fire isn't my fave of his but it was a pleasant surprise as was Rock n Roll Over You.

This CD is for die-hard MB's completists or those who love 80's sounding music. The "core 7 MB only" folks probably hate this one. I love The Moodies and am willing to stick by them thru thick and thin. This CD isn't vintage Moody Blues, but hey it WAS the 1980's.

This seems to be the album that everyone either loves or hates. I, for one, love it. Maybe that's becuz I am a child of the 70's/80's, love good pop/rock music & am not afraid of synthesizers which are used quite proficiently by new keyboardist Patrick Moraz to full effect to enhance the songs. Or it also may be becuz I know a good song when I hear one & don't have that closed minded attitude that most older Moody fans have which is... if it's got synthesizers in it or it's radio friendly, it must mean the band sold-out to appeal to a wider audience & to appease their record companies. Therefore no matter how good the song is, it must be crap. I don't subscribe to that snobbish attitude. As far as i'm concerned a good song is a good song, no matter who wrote it or why.

Well this album from 1986 has plenty of good songs & it is not only one of the Moody's finest albums but it is one of the best of the 80's as well & it is absolute pop bliss. It starts off very strong with "Your Wildest Dreams" which is a very catchy melodic number & it deservedly was an overdue #1 hit for the band. The title track is also a great mid-tempo track with lots of bass, heavy drum beat & mystical sounding synth. The simple but gorgeous ballad "I Just Don't Care" written/sung by Justin Hayward is a very pleasant romantic song & one of the best i've ever heard. "Running Out of Love" is another highlight of the album & is a really catchy, melodic, mid-tempo track that John & Justin both wrote. It also has a great guitar solo 3/4 of the way through & really great synth. I think it would've even been a hit single if given the chance. Same goes for my fav non-hit: "Slings and Arrows" which is the fastest song on the album & it has kind of a bluesy sound to it. Again very catchy & terrific harmony vocals by John & Justin. The album wraps up with "It May Be a Fire" which is another fine ballad (sung by John Lodge)& it is a perfect closer for the album.

Anyway, you can't go wrong with this album. It is pop perfection & a joy to listen to from beginning to end.

It was quite posible The Moody Blues would have vanished off the face of the musical map had it not been for the release of this record. Had they carried on with the style of music they had been playing prior to this release, there is little doubt that they would have faded away into that English Sunset by now. But they didn't because they made an album filled to the brim with creativity, inspired playing and modern electronic sounds built upon the groups more familiar acoustic foundation, and the signiture imprint of their lush vocal harmonies. In fact, not since the OLD DAYS has this group harmonized so well together, putting all of their voices out there in full throttle, rather than featuring a solo voice that is occasionally greeted momentarily by another vocal as if to remind the listener that there are other people in this group too. The album spawned two hits (Your Wildest Dreams and The Other Side of Life) and two of the most interesting music videos ever made. They have yet to make another album as interesting and creative as this one, although their latest does manage to succeed more than the previous two (Keys and Sur La Mer) did. But their latest release may well have never happened had the band not made this inspired and brilliantly underrated (among Moodies Fans) release that brought them a whole new generation of fans and a second lease on musical life.

I'm puzzled by the negative reviews here. As a Moody Blues album, this is outstanding material. Of course there are synth flourishes from Patrick Moraz that may be over the top, but heck, that over the top quality was always part of the Moodies music. And these are really great songs! One reviewer criticized "Rock N Roll Over You" as being silly, but hey, this is rock and roll! The tune had stuck with me for years, and when I bought this as a download was just as driving as I remember. I just got this as a download, made my own CD with the cover, and have loved it. In my view this ended the Moodies as a creative force, and if you are a fan of this great band, don't miss this music.

This is one of the best albums in my collection for a number of reasons. The Moody Blues are one of my favorite bands and I happen to love both rock n'roll and electronically based music, and "The Other Side" happens to be a pretty good mix. Also, "Your Wildest Dreams" is one of the best songs ever created! Majestic, enchanting, almost epic, awesome vocal work laced with soothing harmonic synths, next to "True Faith" by New Order its probably my favorite song in existance! The fast-paced and edgy "Rock n' Roll Over You" along with the charming and energetic "Talkin' Talkin'" will drive you wild on the dancefloor and definitely add to the fun and spontanaity that went into making this treasure. Now, for some reason "The Spirit" is the song that is most trashed in earlier reviews. This song ROCKS! I'm speaking both as an avid Moody Blues fan and as an Eighties Child! Aside from a strong beat and excellent synths an instrumentation, the vocals are superb, if a bit oddly sung, and the lyrics are so poetic, almost matching some of New Order's best work (their lead singer, in my own opinion, is the BEST lyricist). Now, if you're looking for the softer side of the band, don't worry its still here. The best example is without a doubt the ending piece "It May Be A Fire", one of John Lodge's finest contemporary tunes. It brings back the elements from some of their earlier work with a more updated sound, but without the electronic edge that resonates throughout most of this album.

My only complaint about this release would have to be the piffly lyrics on "I Just Don't Care", probably the only bad song on here. Also, I don't care for the studio version of "The Other Side Of Life" nearly so much as for the Red Rocks rendition and other live versions I've heard. But overall, "The Other Side Of Life" is just fun to listen to. Understandably, more mature and/or more serious fans may find this music to be a joke and we all have our preferences, but this masterpiece is certainly one of mine. Don't let the negative reviews scare you and listen with an open-mind as well as with a curious soul. You may be surprised.

This is the album where the horrid, cheesy, predominant musical influences of the 80's grabbed the Moodies by the necks, and what results is shallow, irritating and forgettable tunes that are not worthy of this truly great band.

I give it 2 stars instead of 1 because 1) "Your Wildest Dreams" is a great song and 2) this album's two singles brought the band considerable commercial notoriety, which helped keep interest in the band among the general public alive.

This really is a sad album though. Ray Thomas is entirely absent, Graeme Edge is virtually absent, and former Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz is way too dominant here, infesting the album with whiny, incessant, excessive electric keyboard playing. The song "Talkin' Talkin'" is a great example of this; Moraz's playing is the equivalent of him scratching his nails against a chalkboard. His playing was perfectly nice on "Long Distance Voyager" and "The Present," but I'm guessing he didn't have much influence in the band, and stayed in the background mostly. Here he's given freedom to experiment and all hell breaks loose.

John Lodge is at his worst here. His contributions includee "Talkin' Talkin'", a couple of boring, forgettable ballads and a braindead, monotonous rock and roll tune called "Rock and Roll Over You," which mostly consists of the senseless lyric "Like a rock I'm gonna roll over you" OVER AND OVER AGAIN for almost five minutes.

I Know "The Other Side of Life" was a hit, and its the only vaguely listenable song on the album save for "Wildest Dreams," but I still don't really like this version. The song is annoyingly monotone and far too long. It's MUCH better live; try the "Night at Red Rocks" recording, which breathes some life into a seemingly dead song.

As for the rest of the album... "I Just Don't Care" is perhaps the most unremarkable ballad Justin Hayward has ever written for the Moodies, and "The Spirit" and "Slings and Arrows" are absolutely awful. The next two albums definitely had their share of problems, but they shine brightly compared to this one.

Perhaps like me, your attention has come to this album after a long time off. I was pleased to find something of a classic. As good as the Moodies have been, they could also come across as stolid or, ahem, sitting at the wheel. Before transitioning toward pleasant adult-contemporary mediocrity, they managed to bring the synth-pop goods as well as anyone else in '86, which in their case meant juicing up the tempos and even putting some swagger in songs like "Running out of Love" and "Slings and Arrows." It played off their considerable synthesizer strengths (assisted by David Bowie's producer, Tony Visconti), and it remains a summer treat.

As far as the ballads, "I Just Don't Care" is a tune I'd forgotten about and came off sappy -- the title seemed to describe my attitude or Justin Hayward's toward the song. But after a few days of involuntary humming, it's become endearingly sappy, a specialty that few musicians know of besides Stevie Wonder. The album closes on "It May be a Fire," not quite as affecting as "Love is on the Run" from Sur la Mer, but it effectively caps off the last great album they would pull together.

This is hardly the Moody Blues at their deepest, but give 'em a break. The whole album is almost ridiculously tuneful, and some songs that should raise my ire (thanks for the word on the street tonight, dude!) breeze right along. If you're still looking for the old hippie profundities, the Moodies have plenty of albums in that vein to accommodate you, and if you're still fixated they can't help you anymore. While Justin Hayward's Moving Mountains from '85 outclassed this album, The Other Side of Life presents a fun other facet that you could stand to re-visit again soon.

This album was a watershed moment for the Moodies. Having survived a change of membership with Mike Pinder (and just as significantly, a producer change from Tony Clark to Pip Williams), they were definitely revitalized by the success of their tour and album for Long Distance Voyager. The Present in 1983, showed a bit of a slow in their momentum, they already seemed to be in 'coasting' mode, with a small but noticeable drop in energy. There just wasn't as much attention paid to detail in comparison to LDV, and the songs were a little weaker, relying on synth gimmickry to carry some of the music. By the time they recorded TOSOL, I would think the record company had definitely noticed that The Present hadn't sold as well (as LDV), I'm sure there were subtle hints to try and sound like 'the latest trend' and in all fairness I'm sure they were listening to what was on the radio (and those days, MTV) and thinking, "we've gotta try that".

They changed producer AGAIN to Tony Visconti, and the direction the band went in was a very obviously commercial one, and what was even then derided as synthesiser soup, but at least one reviewer I remember was kind enough to call it 'elegant techno-slush'. Which it is. Like most of the music out in 1986, it sounds like everything is played by a computer, because it is. Tony Visconti was a big fan of using this method to record (and at times it sounds great, but overall gives the album a cold edge). At this point, there is much less attention to detail and instead lots of keyboard lines that sound more like breezy pop music than their traditional orchestral roles. Patrick Moraz complained that he didn't have much to do because a performance would get determined and recorded, quantized, and he wouldn't have to work on that track anymore. I imagine the drummer would say the same thing. Listen to the evolving textures of "Talking Out Of Turn" or "Meet Me Halfway", played with REAL bands, and using the keyboards to augment and smooth out the sound. Unlike using brassy synthesisers to ANCHOR the sound, as Visconti does in most of these songs, in particular the cruel and unusual "Rock and Roll Over You".

And last but not least, Ray Thomas is absent from this CD, at least to my ears. I don't know if he's singing some backing vocals somewhere but he doesn't have any writing credits or sing any songs. I don't know if this is because he just wasn't interested at the time, or this was influence from the record company (ok, you get 3 bowls of M&Ms backstage per gig, and we'll let you do one song that is not by Justin and John! Just one!).

But still, there is some truly great music here. Their R&B influence has never sounded as good as in "Running Out Of Love", greased up with some oddly fitting progressive rock riffs by Moraz (and an simple, but EXCELLENT guitar solo.) The title track is very good, with a typically excellent vocal hook by Justin and a great guitar solo. "The Spirit" is a strange song, with compelling harmonies, key twists and tempo twists, and one of Patrick Moraz' best solos ever, his manic style tempered by trying to fit into a pop group. "Slings and Arrows" is very odd sounding as well, incorporating a number of seemingly disparate styles (and a ridiculous baritone), but somehow it all works. "It May Be A Fire" is a simple song by John that is at least not as sappy as he can be, but Justin Hayward's soaring guitar leads bring it to life.

As for the rest of the songs, "Your Wildest Dreams" was the hit. It's likeable, has a nice melody, if a bit predictable; the synthesised bass adds to its clarity and gives it a modern feel. Synthesised bass is used to good effect on "I Just Don't Care", which is otherwise a pretty bland song by Justin. "Talkin Talkin" is a bit better, with some half-decent harmonies (and a creative way to end the song!) "Rock N Roll Over You" is a pretty horrid song by John Lodge, who seems to be behind a number of reprehensible 'rockers' in their 80s version of the band. This song was his most wretched attempt so far, but he actually surpassed it on Sur La Mer's "Here Comes The Weekend". Better to invoke Dead or Alive than Bananarama I guess. Maybe the admittedly funky 'bass solo' redeems it.

Overall, this isn't a bad album. It's not comparable to The Present or LDV, let alone their classic 7 albums. But it's still worth listening to, there are more good songs than bad songs. After this album, they just turned to using sequenced keyboards to flesh out their songs and having everything just done by Justin, John, and Tony, and the resulting albums (Sur La Mer, Keys Of The Kingdom) were more suitable for blasting at the Vatican to get Noriega to come out, than listening to for pleasure.

This album is exellent and receives 5 stars because of the album's concept. I believe that the Moody Blues are the only band on this earth that can create an album with such a concept and get away with it. "The Other Side of Life" has a 'driving beat' but does have more effect on the Red Rocks CD. "Your Wildest Dreams" has great vocal work. "Rock & Roll Over You" is one John's best rock songs for the age in which it was directed. Although "Talkin' Talkin'," "I Just Don't Care," and "The Spirit" keep the album somewhat alive, they just don't have the effect like previous works. The albums OCTAVE and THE PRESENT are predicessors to this concept, and kind of LONG DISTANCE. But THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE is a true gem, showing the groups ability to reach out to generations and capture original magic that would leave our world empty. The reviewer before was correct, without this album the Moodies would be left behind in traffic on the road of music. By the way, "It May Be A Fire" and "Running Out Of Love" are pretty good. Have a blast listening to this one. Open your mind and enter The Other Side of Life, tonight!