The Moody Blues Album: “Time Traveller”

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.

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.

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?

"Time Traveller" is the Moody Blues' most comprehensive anthology since their 1975 compilation,

. 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

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.