Quad LP/Tape Poll Moody Blues, The: Days Of Future Passed [Q8, QR]

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Rate "Days of Future Passed"

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5: So-so

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Bad Sound, Bad Mix, Bad Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    6

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
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Originally released (in stereo and very rare mono) in 1968 in the USA, and the sixth (and last) of the 'Original 7' to be issued in quad.


Side 1:

1. The Day Begins
2. Dawn: Dawn Is A Feeling
3. The Morning: Another Morning
4. Lunch Break: Peak Hour

Side 2:

1. The Afternoon: a) Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) [Tuesday Afternoon]; b) (Evening) Time To Get Away)
2. Evening a) The Sun Set b) Twilight Time
3. The Night: Nights In White Satin

ED :)
 
Would've voted higher than an '8' except the missing overdubs are kinda obvious if you're familiar with the original stereo and mono mixes, which have all the music. There's not a lot missing, just a few overdubs here and there. Today someone could probably 'fly in' the missing parts and get the mix closer to the original, but it's still a solid effort.


ED :)
 
I actually thought they did a better job with this album than Question. Not being a huge Moodys fan I liked Question better, but there were other bands I liked even more. This album kind of put them on the road to the Mellotron and always using "strings" on stuff. Nice concept; good album.
 
Listening to this again today, probably because it was about May 1968 I first heard it, a subliminal thing, perhaps. Anyway, on the quad version, one of those missing parts is the woodwind overdub by Ray on the break during "Evening (Time to Get Away)" which is very glaring. Without those parts, all you get is Graeme's drums, John's bass and Mike's piano. There are little 'glitches' like that scattered around, but thankfully not enough to kill the remix, which is what happened to LOST CHORD, as we so know (I'd still like to hear the tracks that were mixable to quad, with "Legend of a Mind" and "Ride My See-Saw" two that were allegedly 'complete' enough for quad release. Sigh).

Added note, and ironic: Peter Knight's orchestral passages are full and complete, the difference between recording an orchestra and recording a pop/rock band that would later overdub or add some parts that could not be found later to assemble an equally 'correct' quad mix. In other words, classical/orchestral music like Mantovani got the stereo treatment and approach from the outset of stereophonic recording, but pop/teen/rock was treated entirely differently, and in this instance, we can hear the differences at the advent of serious multi-track advances for rock recording. Had the handling and assemblage of tape sources been better, perhaps less (or any) would have gone MIA. This, despite the DSS 'Deramic Sound System' (heh) applied to other albums (all of them, IIRC, mood music background stuff).

ED :)
 
Strange, huh? But I assumed at the time that it was to match up the timing of each side of the Q8/Q4 (and isn't there a repeat of a section of "Another Morning"?)

'Dead air' due to time disparities explains why so many Q8's had a reshuffling of tracks relative to the vinyl edition--to get the timings of each side as close as possible. Later on, artist and labels would issue cassettes with such 'gaps' and explain it away as 'artistic integrity' and I liked that. I mean, how hard is it to push the 'forward' button on your deck? Why reshuffle and change the sequencing the artist intended? For record companies and manufacturers, to keep the consumer happy, but also to cut down on the volume of tape needed per duplication.

And although it has nothing to do directly with this album, it should be noted that Mike Pinder's synth/mellotron washes on THRESHOLD, which opens the album and ends each side, were used to give the Q8/QR uninterrupted sound from start to finish (on the stereo vinyl, the trail-out groove simply repeated itself if not in automatic mode--a nod to SGT. PEPPER'S 'international' Side 2, of course).

ED :)
 
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