My #12 All-Time Favorite Album: In Search of the Lost Chord by the Moody Blues

IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD, from 1968, is the Moody Blues' follow-up to their highly acclaimed Days of Future Passed and is my #12 all-time favorite album.  Yet it wouldn't be until the 1990s when I finally got around to hearing it in its entirety, although I was vaguely familiar with two of its tracks, Ride My See-Saw and Legend of a Mind, from album rock radio in years gone by.  That first song I mentioned, coupled with the preceding track Departure, would become a common bumper music feature of the late Art Bell's wildly popular late-night paranormal talk radio show, but it stands well on its own.  In Search of the Lost Chord is very thematic, focused on Eastern philosophy and religion, particularly that of India. That's cool with me since I tend to be a sucker for mystical stuff...just lay off the dogmatism, please. And all five band members not only had strong creative roles in the different songs, but they also sang (or spoke) on them. Here are my takes on the tracks as they appear on the record...

DEPARTURE--drummer Graeme Edge composed several spoken pieces for the Moodies...this one muses on the possibility of transcending our usual senses to perceive reality on all its levels... 

RIDE MY SEE-SAW--John Lodge's song expanding on Edge's prose poem, very enthusiastic and a rocker as well...

DR. LIVINGSTONE, I PRESUME--Ray Thomas, my favorite from this group, sings about the idea that we're all searching for something...not just the famous discoverers from the past...

HOUSE OF FOUR DOORS--I interpret this four-part composition by Justin Haywood as doors leading to various stages of personal enlightenment...leading into one of the trippiest songs ever recorded...

LEGEND OF A MIND--you may know this one from its lyrics "Timothy Leary's dead" but Ray Thomas...this is his song...assures the listener the promoter of LSD was alive and well, at least back then.  A profound instrumental rabbit role experience in the song's middle with flute, guitar and mellotron is not to be missed.  I have mixed feelings about this masterpiece because of its pro-drugs stance...

VOICES IN THE SKY--a slow, sweet song by Justin Haywood...just the same, I'm not sure I want to hear "voices in the sky"...

THINKING IS THE BEST WAY TO TRAVEL--keyboardist Mike Pinder's song title sounds cool, but it also seems like he's promoting drugs as the way to go faster than light: not cool as far as I'm concerned...

VISIONS OF PARADISE--Lodge and Thomas collaborated on this somber piece with a lot of Eastern sounding instrumental background...

THE ACTOR--Haywood's best song on the album, in my opinion...he's introspective here about a lost relationship, very emotional and heartfelt...

THE WORD/OM--Edge wrote the spoken preamble The Word, Pinder provided the vocals both for it and his song Om, which is about the Hindu sacred word...a little too religiously dogmatic for my tastes, thank you...

Next week: my all-time #11 favorite album...