The Moody Blues

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More About

• The Moody Blues
• Graeme Edge
• John Lodge
• Justin Hayward
• Timothy Leary

Emerging at the height of the British Invasion, the Moody Blues scored an immediate hit with "Go Now," a catchy ballad with a classic Merseybeat sound. By 1967 the band had undergone a seismic shift that still keeps the Moodys afloat four decades later: A few personnel changes and the addition of a Mellotron (an early synthesizer) prompted explorations of rock and pop suffused with symphonic orchestrations and cosmic lyrics. That year's Days of Future Passed remains the band's high-water mark, yielding the indelible tunes "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights in White Satin," which have turned up virtually anywhere a spacey soundtrack is needed. A half-dozen more albums in a similar vein followed into the early '70s, with many solid songs that have, a little surprisingly, stood the test of time, including pop philosophizing ("Question"), quirky bits ("Timothy Leary's Dead"—he wasn't at the time), and the prevailing space oddities. Today the Moodys core of Justin Hayward, Graeme Edge, and John Lodge essentially creates a time warp while revisiting those days of future past. (photo by Matt Becker)
Thu., Aug. 6, 7 p.m., 2009