album rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Progressive rock / orchestral rock / psychedelic rock / concept album. Days of Future Passed is the second studio album by The Moody Blues, released on 17 November 1967 by Deram Records (a subsidiary of Decca). It is widely cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and music historians as one of the first albums of the progressive rock genre and one of rock music's first concept albums. The album marks a decisive creative turning point for the group, and is the first to feature guitarist and singer Justin Hayward (who replaced Denny Laine) and bassist John Lodge (who replaced Clint Warwick), the two central creative forces of the band's classic era. It is also the first to feature producer Tony Clarke, who would collaborate with the Moody Blues for the next twelve years, and keyboardist Mike Pinder playing Mellotron — the instrument that would become central to the group's sound. The album's genesis was accidental: Decca's new subsidiary Deram, having developed an enhanced stereo recording technology called the 'Deramic Sound System', commissioned the Moody Blues to record a rock version of Dvořák's 'New World Symphony' to showcase it. Instead, producer Tony Clarke, impressed by the band's new original material, and engineering the album with Derek Varnals, persuaded the label to let the group record their own compositions. Conductor and arranger Peter Knight adapted the songs for the London Festival Orchestra and devised orchestral bridges between the band's tracks. The result — 'neither classical nor pop' — so puzzled Deram that they almost refused to release it. The album is structured as a journey through a single day, from dawn to night: 'The Day Begins', 'Dawn: Dawn Is a Feeling' (Mike Pinder), 'The Morning: Another Morning' (Ray Thomas), 'Lunch Break: Peak Hour' (John Lodge), 'The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) / Time to Get Away' (Justin Hayward / John Lodge), 'Evening: The Sun Set / Twilight Time' (Mike Pinder / Ray Thomas), and 'The Night: Nights in White Satin' (Justin Hayward). The closing track 'Late Lament' is a spoken-word poem by drummer Graeme Edge.
Label: Deram Records (UK), released 17 November 1967. Catalogue: SML 707.
Producers: Tony Clarke and Michael Dacre-Barclay. Executive producer: Hugh Mendl. Engineer: Derek Varnals. London Festival Orchestra conducted and arranged by Peter Knight.
Recording studio: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, UK (October–November 1967).
Critical reception: Reception on release was mixed. Rolling Stone dismissed it as music 'constantly marred by one of the most startlingly saccharine conceptions of beauty and mysticism that any rock group has ever affected.' New York magazine called it 'a ponderous mound of thought-jello.' However, the album was subsequently reassessed: Spin cited it as a classic of progressive rock; Rolling Stone included it in its essential albums of 1967; and it has been described as 'one of the defining documents of the blossoming psychedelic era.' Justin Hayward's 'Nights in White Satin' became a massive international hit on re-release in 1972.
Commercial success: The album was a slow-build commercial success, eventually finding a large audience as progressive rock established itself in the late 1960s. On re-release in the United States in 1972, 'Nights in White Satin' reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, driving renewed attention to the album. It has since sold millions of copies worldwide and has never gone out of print. The 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2017), remastered from original master tapes and supervised by Justin Hayward, was accompanied by a live album recorded with orchestra in Toronto.
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