| Great Songs Despite The Melancholy! (review from amazon.com) |
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This is my final review of a 2008 remastered "core 7" Moody Blues cd. Seventh Sojourn follows in the tradition and downcast mood of the previous album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour from 1971. However, on Seventh Sojourn, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The much needed break for the band was in sight. I don't think any of them knew how long a rest they would need. But, the melancholy of EGBDF was followed by a spiritual awakening of sorts for the band on SS. It would become clear on the individual songs of Seventh Sojourn. There is an optimism present, even though the sadness over the shape of the world ran deep. On EGBDF, they were just so fatigued and had no time to be pensive. They had no opportunity to think clearly. On Seventh Sojourn, there is a lot of introspection and soul-searching in the songs. I love this album, even though I will oftentimes favor listening to the more peppy AQOB or the last cd of studio wizardry in TOCCC. I will end my last review of a "core 7" 2008 remaster with a list of my favorites. They are the following:
1. A Question of Balance
2. To Our Children's Children's Children
3. Days of Future Passed
4. Seventh Sojourn
5. In Search of the Lost Chord
6. On The Threshold of a Dream
7. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Don't get me wrong! I love all seven of the core albums in each of their own unique ways! I think the list is determined more by how often I will listen to a cd, more than the degree to which I like it. They all seven deserve their own merits and are all worthy. I can't wait until the next round of remasters from Octave to Keys of the Kingdom are released. They all six need to be remastered, each to a varying degree, but I look forward to reviewing them when the time comes!
Sincerely, Rick Whiteley
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| Masterpiece (review from amazon.com) |
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| This album is the Moodies' masterpiece. All their first seven albums are brilliant but this one is outstanding. All songs are fantastic. This edition is also special because of the inclusion of the beutiful song called 'Island'.
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| the pinnacle (review from amazon.com) |
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| What a fantastic catalogue of music these guys have created. To me this album is the smoothest and most polished of all their albums. Every track is good and they all blend in to each other to give this CD a real entity of its own. The songwriting, singing, arrangements all hit the right chord (sounds corny but their 'search for the lost chord' was over when this collection of songs came together. I think this album has a different feel to any of their others which makes this one fantastic and most of the others ranging from imaginative/creative to a bit bland on a couple of later efforts. One of the most enduring bands of all time with a very steady line-up for continuity. Classic album.
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| The Moody's at Their Best (review from amazon.com) |
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| This has always been my favorite Moody Blues album. I recently upgraded to SACD capability and had to get this release to see if I could tell the diff from the old stuff. I'm not the audio expert that so many of the reviewers of this release obviously are, so I will just say that the sound quality and speaker separation are awesome! If you like the Moody's and have a good sound system, then you should check this one out.
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| I'm starting to wonder... (review from amazon.com) |
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Is it possible that with the three different mixes available on these SACD hybrids that certain folks are listening and reviewing the wrong versions?
The 16bit CD version is most likely the one to be neglected in mastering on these re-releases- as the main focus was the Super Audio 24/96 and the Quad (surround) mixes 4.0. The 16bit CD version was included just so it could be marketed as playable on a wide variety of systems. To hear the supposed ultimate stereo version you must have an SA player hooked up properly. I get the impression that the 16 bit CD version was treated to the aweful maximum loudness routine without much attention to its skewing of the delicate moodies mix. Whereas the SA 24/96 version was left to it's natural state. I must admit that with all the repetitous liner notes... one would expect that they would tell their devoted audience of fans who have bought these records several times over, what the process was that presents us with these new versions. What a glaring omission and quite honestly insulting! This is a very confusing time to be a music consumer... the manufactures seem to want us to be in the dark as they are chasing money making scheams over truly caring for these archives. Big business gets us again.. excuse my cynic ... sometimes he's out of control! Quality control was lax on these releases and it was an easy way to make money without having to actually remix these albums from scatch into 5.1 surround (spending hundreds of thousands of dollars)... Hmmm... Let's just use the old Quad tapes! That's suspect right there. I suppose if the surround format continues to grow, they plan on re-releasing it again finally remixed for surround and not an easy and cheap quad left over. Sometimes I wish I could figure out a way to watch over this so it's done for the fans who buy it and not the execs and management who profit from it. I love the Moody Blues but I am disappointed in this low budget attempt at throwing us scraps. Even the cover art quality looks second hand. Somebody in the Moodies camp must care!!! ...STEP UP my friend!!!! It is like spraying windex on the mona lisa to clean it up? Cut it out!!!!
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