Customer Reviews

Time Traveller

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are a few drawbacks to this otherwise incredible collection of Moody Blues music. The first is that the group continued to produce albums after release of this set. Another is that the Moody Blues first seven albums were all concept albums, and purists will decry the missing music. However, the music captures much of the essence of the Moody Blues from their creation of the first true rock concept album, "Days of Future Passed," their contributions to progressive rock, climaxing in their most unusual album, "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour," and their steady transition to a pop ballad group.

Yet another drawback is that hardcore fans will already have most or all of the music in this collection, as I do. However, I still liked the collection as a different way of listening to the Moodies' music. Some rarities or alternative recordings would have been nice. Also, the original release had a live fifth disk that is difficult to find, which also reminds me to warn you that all the music on the four disks are the studio versions, not live.

Most Moodies fans date back to the "Classic 7" released in the 60s, "Days of Future Passed," "In Search of the Lost Chord," "On the Threshold of a Dream," "To Our Children's Children's Children," "A Question of Balance," "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour," and "Seventh Sojourn," each of which is amply represented in this collection. Each of these albums had a different concept. Each member of the five member band, Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Graeme Edge, Mike Pinder, and Ray Thomas, provided at least one song or, in the case of Graeme Edge, a poem, for each album. The music was marvelously bombastic with wonderful crescendos of percussion and pealing guitars and Mike Pinder's soulfully melodious mellotron, later chamberlain. Moodies fans continue to maintain that the contribution of the first seven albums to rock should be the Moodies entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, justifiably so.

The Moodies went on hiatus in 1974. John Lodge and Justin Hayward recorded an album, "Blue Jays," with a style so like the Moodies that six songs from that album are included. Justin Hayward also released the single "Blue Guitar," supported by members of 10cc, and that song is included.

The Moodies gathered in 1978 to record "Octave," the last album to feature the keyboard talents of Mike Pinder. Three songs from this album are represented. Also in 1978, Justin Hayward contributed the haunting and melancholy "Forever Autumn" to Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds" album, a hard to find song included here.

The Moodies released the final album that still retained a strong flavor of their early years in 1981, "Long Distance Voyager," with three songs represented.

"The Present," "The Other Side of Life," "Sur La Mer" and "Keys of the Kingdom" are represented by ten songs. Excluding "The Other Side of Life," these CDs are generally mellower with the exception of the occasional nod to contemporary music. "The Other Side of Life" is perhaps the weakest of all Moodies albums with frequently overwhelming keyboards and the two songs from that album are the best two from the CD.

Since this boxed set was released the Moodies have released more albums, including 1999s "Strange Times" and the 2003 Christmas album "December." While both albums have their strengths and weaknesses, the better tracks would be valuable in a future edition of this boxed set.

The Moody Blues have been releasing albums since 1967. The group has gone through several transitions, including the departure of Mike Pinder in 1978 to be replaced for a while by former Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz, and more recently the retirement of Ray Thomas. Graeme Edge is backed by a second drummer in concert. Their most influential years were in the 60s, and yet, the skill and the talent are still there. This collection remains the most comprehensive retrospective of the group and their incredible history. Regardless of whether you love the Moodies or despise them, they should not be ignored because of their contributions to the evolution of rock. Listen to this collection and look forward to the day the Moody Blues finally take their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Spanning from 1966 to 1992, this compilation is exhaustive. All the highlights the Moody Blues recordings are here with a gratefully remastered sound. The first CD contains three pre-"Days Of Future Passed" songs and the rest contains several cuts from all their albums. Highlights also include selections from Hayward/Lodges wonderful "Bluejays" albim as well as Hayward solo works. Disc four is where keyboardist extroadinaire stopped working with the Moody Blues, marking a significant loss in the groups etheral and spiritual sound, however, the magic still continues.

If you are lucky enough to find the five-disc set, you'll be treated to a nine song LIVE set from the "Red Rocks" concert. Unfortunately, several of the Box Sets exclude this CD, but it is worth hunting for.

The container is durable and attractive, containing a great narrative of the groups' history and some splendid photographs. Unfortunately, a complete discography and song list is missing, but this collection is so complete, that is easily forgiven.

This sprawling 71-track, 4-disc set is all the Moody Blues most fans will ever need. First released in 1994, the first two-and-a-half discs focus on the Moodies classic period (1967-1972) with the lineup of Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge. During that time they released seven albums:

DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED (disc-1, tracks 4-5)
IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD (disc-1, tracks 6-11)
ON THE THRESHOLD OF A DREAM (disc-1, tracks 12-20)
TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN (disc-2, tracks 1-9)
A QUESTION OF BALANCE (disc-2, tracks 10-15)
EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR (disc-2, tracks 16-20)
SEVENTH SOJOURN (disc-3, tracks 1-6)

It's no surprise that this box set leans heavier on these seven albums as they form the foundation of this band that has continued to sporadically record even ten years after this set was first issued. [Their most recent recording is 2003's holiday album DECEMBER.] The rest of disc-3 and disc-4 cherry pick highlights from the band's next twenty years culminating with three tracks from their then latest album, 1991's KEYS OF THE KINGDOM. There are also a few tracks from Hayward and Lodge's Bluejays project (disc-3, tracks 7-12) and two Hayward singles, "Blue Guitar" and "Forever Autumn," the latter from JEFF WAYNE'S THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.

There are few bonus or rare tracks. Disc-1 starts with two non-album singles, "Fly Me High" and "Love and Beauty," both released in 1967 and failed to dent the UK charts. [Missing is their 1966 UK single "Boulevard De La Madelaine."] "Cities" is the non-album B-side of "Nights in White Satin." The only other bonus track is "Highway," an outtake from the KEYS OF THE KINGDOM sessions that closes disc-4. [Note: The original pressings of this box set had a fifth disc which included a new recording "This Is the Moment" and eight songs recorded live at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in 1992.]

This box fills a nice niche for fans who want more than a greatest hits package, but don't have the deep pockets to purchase all of their studio albums. While there are those that would argue that their albums need to be heard in their entirety, this is a very satisfying look at the first twenty-five years of an amazing band. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Let me say right off that I am not a huge fan of box sets. Including this one, I own exactly three of them. Typically, if I really like an artist, I think that acquiring their back catalog is a better way to evaluate their music than some hodgepodge collection. But if someone is going to do a box set, they might as well do it right, which for me means sequencing it chronologically, having good sound quality, and providing background information on the music. "Time Traveller" does all of this admirably. The key question is: Who would be its best audience? Definitely not people who like just the Moody Blues' radio hits; although every hit of any consequence is here, the majority of the box contains album cuts, often huge swaths of them at a time. If you want greatest hits, there are several such albums available, and I would steer you in the direction of those. I am also sympathetic to the complaints of hardcore fans over a set like this; inevitably, some of your favorite songs will be omitted, and since there's only one previously unreleased track, you may not have the incentive to buy that might exist if more new-to-CD material had been included. Not that I would discourage longtime fans from buying this album, but be aware that what you're basically getting is a nice souvenir of the Moody Blues' long career; nothing less, nothing more. Now, for the rest of you...you like the Moody Blues, but not fanatically, maybe you have a couple of their albums, but don't want to spend hundreds of dollars acquiring every CD they ever made? "Time Traveller" is for you. It's a summary of their work with a lot more meat than a greatest hits collection. Some have complained about the inclusion of some of Hayward and Lodge's work apart from the rest of the group, but I found it a nice bonus. I was especially pleased to find "Forever Autumn," one of my favorite Justin Hayward songs. I have it on the Jeff Wayne "War of the Worlds" album, but there it is interspersed with the narration of the story. Here is just the song. A few words about technical aspects of the set: The packaging is excellent, with the four CDs inserted into the sides of a hardback book-like carrying case, and in the middle a booklet containing a lengthy essay on the group's career and the making of their albums up to the early 1990's. Comments from band members are liberally included in the essay. A separate section of the booklet lists all the songs on the CDs with complete writing, publishing, and production credits, and identifies the album or single the songs came from, and the dates of those records' original release. Illustrations include lots of photos of the group and pictures of all the album covers up to and including the Red Rocks live album. I haven't heard the remastered versions of the band's core catalog, but I found the sound quality of the discs here to be almost jaw-dropping after hearing some of this music only on vinyl, cassettes, or older CDs. And these CDs are positively crammed with music--over five hours of it, which is about the maximum you can fit on four discs. You'll definitely get your money's worth there. Casual and hardcore fans: caveat emptor. Everybody else who wants some Moodies in their collection, this is your ideal solution.

From "Days of Future Passed " to a foreseeable future reliving its past, the Moody Blues belong among a select few. It's a surviving 1960s band who literally became gypsies of a strange and distant time, veteran cosmic rockers satisfying a longing not only for sonic depth, but a sweeter taste of the 1960s it represented. (The Beach Boys and Grateful Dead, representing different romantic views of that era, were in the Moodies' league until deaths to key members.)

"Time Traveller" is 80 songs across 4 CDs and a bonus disc covering 25 years (1967-93) of the group's history, its broadest collection yet. But not necessarily the deepest; the set excludes "Go Now," or anything from the earlier Moody Blues lineup featuring Denny Laine. It has no rarities or alternate takes, its live tracks extras from 1992's top-selling "Live at Red Rocks" concert CD/video.

Even so, "Time Traveller" chronicles this resilient band's history with its beloved marriages of classical/pop ("Nights In White Satin," "Tuesday Afternoon") pop/psychedelic ("Ride My See-Saw," "Legend of A Mind," "Are You Sitting Comfortably") and rollicking AM hits (Question," Justin Hayward's still haunting "Story In Your Eyes" and Ray Thomas' "I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock and Roll Band)." This was all melded by the group's trademark between-song spoken, symphonic or Mellotron-played interludes. The group became equally beloved for ballads ("For My Lady," "New Horizons," I Know You're Out There Somewhere") which earlier this year formed their own collection.

In John Tracy's accompanying essay, Hayward admits "There's always been a certain amount of looking backwards within our music" And indeed, "Time Traveller" 's second half slows as the group understands and builds on its past legacy and fans expectations. Several exceptional singles served as backward glancing introductions ("Gemini Dream," "Your Wildest Dreams" with its semi-autobiographical video provided smoother, classier versions of what the similarly grandiose ELO had become.)

This eventually resulted in their music becoming pro forma (skip the Dennis Lambert/Brian Potter produced soccer anthem "This Is The Moment" or much from 1991's flat "Keys Of The Kingdom"). But it also made them a top world concert attraction the last 15 years musically time traveling nightly with or without a symphony orchestra (or a CD of new music, of which they have recorded one the last 10 years.)

"Time Traveller" may be the Moodies' best, most exhaustive choice for devoted fans But many may own these songs on individual CDs. Any number of collections are in print: those preferring the group's earliest progressive years should aim for 1974's still-effective "This is The Moody Blues." Those wanting concise versions of the band's classic rock hits should get 1996's "The Very Best of The Moody Blues" or the Moodies' entry in Universal's 20th Century Masters collection. The 2CD "Anthology" includes "Go Now" and may be the most effective, affordable bet. Even so, the Moodies deserved a box, and "Time Traveller" is an acceptable few hours or so forward into the past.

As an avid and passionate Moody Blues fan, I definitetly looked forward to a lavish boxed set treatment on this group. This set didn't dissappoint on some grounds and DID dissappoint on several.

First, the praise: Excellent sound, liner notes, and I loved the original mixes from Days Of Future Passed. They did manage to hit the high points from all their albums.

However, many opportunities were lost. As was already pointed out, the set opens with three songs featured on the out-of-print Prelude: Fly Me High, Love and Beauty, and the b-side of Nights in White Satin, Cities. However where are I Really Haven't Got The Time, and Leave This Man Alone (the b-sides to the first two Hayward-Lodge Moody singles)?

Where is the original stereo mix of A Simple Game (also from Prelude), the b-side to Ride My See-Saw? The only version available is the remix, edited by 30 seconds on This Is The Moody Blues.

Next, we have way too many tracks from Blue Jays. Space should have been used for solo works from Lodge, Pinder, and Thomas (who are overlooked).

Finally, the boxed set does manage pretty well to edit the conceptual albums down to suites around 20 minutes each. However, it is sloppy when it gives Every Good Boy Deserves Favour this treatment. One can hear the fade-out of Nice To Be Here under the intro to You Can Never Go Home.

Stick with the albums and wait for maybe a full career restrospect (that hopefully will gives us a generous treatment of the Denny Lane period as well!

Time Traveller is an excellent compilation with some minor problems. All of the Moodies' major hits are presented here, alongwith many lesser known and difficult to find pieces. Foremost among these are Fly Me High, Highway, and the magnificent Hayward composition "Forever Autumn."

The boxed set does a commendable job of representing all of the groups albums including the more unusual efforts like Prelude and the Hayward/Lodge collaboration, "Blue Jays."

A bit too much emphasis is placed on the later efforts like Keys of the Kingdom and Sur La Mer, which frankly are not the Blues' best work. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of some very good work off Every Good Boy Deserves Favor and others albums of that period. Additionally, the bonus "Live" disc will only appeal to those who really like the Blues' concert efforts which, while good, have never been their greatest strength.

Another disappointment is the sloppy job of remastering. This collection took a lot of work, so the producers should have taken the time to clean up cuts that were taken from the continuous run theme albums. It is somewhat distracting to have a song start with the fade-out from a previous cut, which happens in several cases.

Despite these minor criticisms, Time Traveller is well worth your time. The Moody Blues are still the Moody Blues, and the music offered here is marvelous. This is one collection that makes me wish there was a four and a half star rating but, lacking that, I've got to kick it upstairs.

Like a previous reviewer, many box-set buyers would be disappointed with a set like this from a favorite artist: one that lacks alternate takes, rarities or insights on artistic development. But the Moody Blues actually know their audience better than most artists do, and thus have assembled the perfect collection for them with "Time Traveller." Remember, these are the guys who in the nineties began performing concerts at midday and early evening, being sensitive to their aging followers' needs for child-care and getting home at a decent hour (no kidding; see New York Times article archives).

The Moodies' handlers rightly recognized that the band was never going to add significantly to their existing fan base. As a result, they kept their diehard, sixties-holdover fans in mind with this generous, comprehensive, but not-too-risky set. At heart, those fans weren't interested in much more than the "experience" they'd had of each album 'way back when (including visuals, album cover art, etc.). So the idea of expensively extricating and remastering "bonus tracks" and the like would be a an act of superfluity, if not a financial waste.

That said, the format of "Time Traveller" is perfect both for long-time fans of middle age (who would be put out at the idea of having to buy every single album) and casual fans who appreciated the Moodies' contribution to the soundtrack of their lives back in the day. (I fall somewhere in between, so take it from me. This is the collection to get.) The set includes all of their hits and the bulk of significant album tracks from the first seven albums (their culturally influential works), as well as a tasteful handful of picks from their later albums, long after the initial glory had passed.

So, why complain? "Time Traveller" is everything the typical Moody Blues fan could want...short of time travel back to an age when sci-fi, quasi-philosophical album covers meant something. And who wants that?

Although this is anexcellent compilation, I was somewhat disappointed with it. This is a Moody Blues box set and should be confined to the Moody Blues. There are a number of beautiful songs by Ray, as there were by Mike, which could have been included in the box set. The solo efforts of Justin and John from the Blue Jays LP could have been omitted. I feel there was too much focus on Justin and John and not enough credit given to Ray, Mike, and Graeme. I thought the bonus CD was excellent, especially A Legend Of A Mind. The live version sounded to me like a battle of the bands, definately a kick butt version. In my opinion, the bonus disc made up for my disappointment. Another awesome song not included on the Keys of the Kingdom CD was Highway. This is an excellent song which I crank everytime.

"Time Traveller" is the Moody Blues' most comprehensive anthology since their 1975 compilation, This Is the Moody Blues (2-cd Set). Almost every composition from their extensive (1967-1992) catalogue, including early gems found only on their 45 rpm records like "Fly Me High", a song that Justin Hayward initially offered to the Animals, is featured in this 4-CD album. It's so thorough in fact one could actually end up listening to it as frequently as their original albums. Although the original albums, especially the core seven, are by far the 'best of the Moody Blues' in terms of mixing, content and concept.

The bonus (5th) CD - for those fortunate enough to obtain it - contains mostly live concert performances with symphonic arrangements similar to their Red Rocks album, but with previously unrecorded live versions of "Emily's Song", "Legend Of A Mind", "Say It With Love", "New Horizons" and others. The 48-page booklet documenting the history of the band is insightful and full of photographs.

If "Time Traveller" has any weakness, it would be the exclusion of such Ray Thomas songs as "And The Tide Rushes In" and "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" which are as good as any of the tracks featured here. Missing are tracks from the "Caught Live + 5" album, such as "What Am I Doing Here?", "Please Think About It", "Gimme A Little Somethin'", "Long Summer Days" and "King And Queen". So too are many of the songs from the Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge solo albums which would have easily complemented the Blue Jays tracks. Who knows? One day their record company might just convince the guys to compile a boxed set consisting of tracks from their solo albums, but hopefully one more equally devoted to the other members, not just songs from Lodge and Hayward. After all, the Moody Blues were originally one of the most democratic of bands in respect to sharing song-writing duties.

Despite this shortcoming, "Time Traveller" is a must have boxed set for any Moody Blues fan.