Moody Blues - On the Threshold of a Dream (Reis)

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: Music

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the original stereo mix of this 1969 classic from the UK Pop/Prog pioneers featuring nine bonus tracks including alternate mixes and extended versions of songs from the album, two songs recorded for John Peel's Top Gear and two songs recorded for The Tony Brandon Show. Previously released as an SACD disc, this regular CD issue features sleeve notes and rare photographs. 22 tracks. Decca
Released in 1969, just eight months after In Search of the Lost Chord, Threshold continues the Moody Blues's journey as cosmic seekers but in a less exotic manner. Here, Justin Hayward packs away the sitar and the band has swept most of the mystical and Eastern influences under the Kilim rug, replacing them with a science-fictional search for meaning and futuristic production methods. As on two earlier albums, Graeme Edge regales listeners with esoteric poetry, this time adding a whimsical, ironic edge to his ponderous verse. The songs have also undergone a similar overhaul, allowing the band's talent for melody to overcome the psychedelic whirls that embellished the earlier albums. John Lodge's assertive bass takes control of the bucolic "Lovely to See You," Roy Thomas's deceptively cheerful "Dear Diary," and the upbeat "Lazy Days," which also contains an unexpected lyrical sting. Indeed, the entire album is underpinned with a wistful melancholy as the grandiose rockers capture the bittersweet fleeting moments of the '60s. --Jaan Uhelszki