The Moody Blues and Procol Harum

Have you ever heard of One Hit Wonders? Well, The Moody Blues are NOT one of these bands. They may not be well-known among younger generations, but still at this point today, you can hear at least four of their biggest songs on the radio. "Nights In White Satin", "Tuesday Afternoon", "Your Wildest Dreams", "The Voice". Throw in a fifth song with "I Know You're Out There Somewhere". Yes, The Moody Blues have created a musical legacy in a way that solidifies them as a band with a number of hit songs and albums. However, if you talk to most of the young people (90s Kids and younger), The Moody Blues are pretty unknown unlike The Beatles. I don't know what the future holds for newer generations preserving The Moody Blues, but I hope there can be a spark of hope for this band (and the other band here). In the mid-1960s, The Moody Blues started out with Denny Laine as their musical leader. They recorded a number of songs, but none of them made the band a huge sensation like The Beatles. All of this changed in 1967 when Justin Hayward came along and, from "Days Of Future Passed" to "Seventh Sojourn", The Moody Blues became a worldwide sensation. The most notable thing about The Moody Blues from 1967 to 1972 was Mike Pinder playing the Mellotron, a most beautiful instrument that sounded like an orchestra in a box. Where most bands included the Mellotron on maybe one song (The Beatles - Strawberry Fields), The Moody Blues included the Mellotron constantly on their Classic 7 albums and "Octave". If you ask me, the Mellotron is the most beautiful instrument I have ever heard, especially when it's played alone on "The Voyage" or when Mike Pinder played it alone to an audience in 2010. Oh, what a very unique sound that only The Moody Blues had, and oh, how great it was that the world took notice. After 1972, the band took a hiatus, only to reform in 1978 with "Octave", the last album to feature Mike Pinder and the Mellotron. After his departure, the band carried on and produced four albums in the 1980s. These records sounded more like everyone else, but the music was still good and the world paid attention. Since the end of the 1980s, The Moody Blues gradually phoned home. With only three studio albums from 1991 to 2003 and the remaining members eventually retiring. In all likelihood, there will never be another studio album or another tour from The Moody Blues. However, this band was a good live act (I was fortunate enough to see them in 2016) and these guys made a great number of songs. If you can dig into every song from 1967 to 1988, I hope you can see that this band was very talented and they created so much more than those few hit songs we hear on the radio. The Other Band: The same thing can be said about the other band on this playlist - Procol Harum. Now, unlike The Moody Blues, Procol Harum could be defined as a One Hit Wonder. From 1967, their first big single was a song called "A Whiter Shade Of Pale". Oh, what a great song it is from a band that featured talented musicians (with Gary Brooker and Keith Reid and others who contributed so much to their sound). From the beginning, Procol Harum started out with a big hit song... but the worldwide attention did not last. From 1968 to 1977, Procol Harum continued to release a series of albums. Some of them gained a fair amount of success, especially "Grand Hotel", one of my favorites. However, in 1977, the band decided to split after line-up changes and a lack of chart success (even though "Something Magic" is a great album, too.) Throughout the 1980s, not a single Procol Harum album came out. It could be for worse, it could be for the better as a number of artists came out with the most embarrassing music of their lives in that decade. Thankfully, no such thing occurred for Procol Harum in the 1980s. In 1991, Procol Harum came back with a new album, "The Prodigal Stranger". The record didn't sound like their earlier medieval music, but they still had their face of the group - Gary Brooker - and the world paid attention for a little bit. Alas, it would be the final time the world paid attention. After 1991, Procol Harum rarely made new music. Since then, we've had "The Well's On Fire" in 2003 and "Novum" in 2017. Both of these albums have their good qualities, but only the most diehard fans (mostly Baby Boomers) have really paid attention. As it stands today, "Novum" will likely remain the final Procol Harum album. A few years later, Gary Brooker passed away in 2022 and Keith Reid passed away in 2023. Today, Procol Harum is no more... but the WONDERFUL MUSIC of Procol Harum is still available and, while it may take a few listens, I hope that the songs in here can show anyone out there that Procol Harum made, not just one, but a LOT of fantastic songs. 👍👍👍👍👍 Procol Harum and The Moody Blues. Two bands to definitely remember from the 1960s.