Good moods

Good moods

April 11, 2002

By Mark Bialczak
Staff writer

Justin Hayward knows that to many, many people, the mention of The Moody Blues immediately brings to mind the number seven.

There's the 1972 album, ''Seventh Sojourn,'' which gave the world hit songs ''Isn't Life Strange'' and ''I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band).'' And there are the six albums that came before that, starting with the debut ''Days of Future Passed'' in 1967.

Included on that batch of records were hits ''Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon),'' ''Question'' and ''The Story in Your Eyes.''

''Fundamentally, our success is based on the first seven albums,'' the singer and guitarist says during a recent phone conversation. ''They've become part of people's lives. People love the music of their youth.''

But to Hayward and a lot of the devoted Moody Blues fans who will gather at the Landmark Theatre on Tuesday night to hear Hayward and band mates John Lodge, Graeme Edge and Ray Thomas, the magic certainly didn't stop there.

''The thing is, we've got a few different kinds of eras,'' Hayward says, ''a few styles of recording, and a few different things we've learned over the years.''

In addition to that first glorious burst, when the Mellotron met the rock world, ''In the early '80s we had another incarnation.''

That one included hits ''Gemini Dream'' and ''The Voice.''

''Then in the late '80s,'' Hayward continues.

That gave fans ''Your Wildest

Dreams'' and ''I Know You're Out There Somewhere.''

''Then we had the Red Rocks Amphitheatre,'' he says. That 1993 concert album paired the Moody Blues and their music with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

''That's a few different phases,'' Hayward concludes.

So the Moody Blues keeps charging onward, touring and making new music. The studio album ''Strange Times'' came out in 1999. In 2000, they released ''Live at the Royal Albert Hall,'' also a PBS TV special, teaming them with again with a symphony orchestra. And the 2001 IMAX film ''Journey Into Amazing Caves'' featured two new songs written by band members for the film.

The soundtrack album includes Hayward's guitar work on other songs, too.

''New Age stuff. Nobody ever buys it. But I give it to all my pals, and they love it. It's quite interesting, acoustically and electrically,'' Hayward says.

And a new studio album is almost finished, Hayward reports.

''It's just a question of when we deliver it and how we deliver it,'' he says. ''Now it's all about marketing. I'll be damned if we let this one go without the marketing.''

It's not that they're looking for a new label.

''No, Universal has our whole catalog. We signed one contract, with Decca, back in the '60s. Decca was bought out by PolyGram. Then PolyGram was bought out by Universal. We just stay there and meet the new boss. They all say, 'I love the Moody Blues.' Then we all say, 'Where was the promotion?' ''

The process of writing the music, Hayward says, has remained pretty consistent over the decades.

''That's still going on about things in your life. Things that move you,'' he says. ''That's the starting point, at least for me. I find the subject that gives me a little bit of inside feeling.''

Once in the studio, though, things are vastly different.

''Things completely changed between (1991's) 'Keys of the Kingdom' and 'Strange Times,' '' Hayward says. ''Now we have a lot of samples. We sampled the Mellotron stuff from years ago. There's a lot of editing and moving things around.'' (A Mellotron is an electronic keyboard instrument that uses tapes of recorded sounds, especially of orchestral instruments.)

Now, too, the musicians may not even see each other in the studio because their parts are recorded separately and edited together.

''It's easier because you don't have to wait for everybody to get it right on a take. That first (album), we just had a day to record. That made it tough. Once we got successful, they gave us a studio and unlimited time. We'd do about 40 takes. That would take days. But it did bring out a performance in us. Now you just have to make sure everybody peaks individually,'' he says.

''In the old days, you played together so much you learned it cold,'' Hayward says.

Not that this bunch has much of a problem getting ready for a tour.

''This time, we'll rehearse about an hour,'' he says. ''That's because we know the stuff, what works, what doesn't work.''

What works, he says with a chuckle, is The Moody Blues. Still.

''If you'd told me in the beginning that we'd be doing this for 35 years, I'd never have believed you,'' Hayward says. ''But it becomes your whole life. The main thing is, it's fun. It's hard to turn down work, and it's hard to turn down fun.''