Every few days, I will be playing the next successive song from the Moody Blues' second album,
Days of Future Passed. Released in 1967, this is an epic "concept album" - an expression of an ordinary person's day from waking their up all the way through to the night. It is a beautiful mix of late 1960's rock and their charming and dreamy psychedelic style. Most endearing, an orchestra plays in various sections and performs interludes between songs.
Each song builds on one another, and because of the interludes, I generally dislike playing individual songs. To an ordinary person hearing a song for the first time, it may seem strange. The lack of context takes away from the listener's experiences.
This album really must be played in its entirety to fully appreciate it! Also, you might recognize "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights in White Satin" - those are two songs that made it onto music radio stations over the years.
You can read more about this album here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Future_PassedI first heard this album in my car when I was driving cross-country around the USA at age 23 in 1994. Bernie, my best friend from high school, loaned me the album in an audio cassette. I distinctly remember enjoying them during my week exploring southern New Mexico and Arizona... the hot weather, the sandy vistas, chocolate brown mountains, the cacti, sagebrush, the sleepy small western towns, all that ... it became part of me.
I fell in love with the desert! Looking back, it was then that I knew in my heart I would return west someday. Six months later, I left my childhood town in New Jersey and spent 2.5 years in New Hampshire, another very special time in my life, but after that I packed everything I owned in my little Honda CRX and returned west. I had no job, only a few acquaintences and some money in my pocket.
When I hear these pieces from
Days of Future Passed, my mind always returns to that wonderful time in the Southwest. I play these songs loudly in my living room. They stir my soul. When I arrived to this region in 1997, fate, God's will, or whatever you want to call it, led me to Colorado instead of southern New Mexico, my intended destination. For eleven years I have called this snowy and mountainous state home. I know I have created a good life and modest name for myself as "Colorado Guy," but Colorado has been a detour. Deep down inside, my soul longs for the hot desert. The pull is intense sometimes. I do not know what the future holds, but I would be surprised if I never spend significant time in Arizona and/or New Mexico. Someday. When the time is right.
In the meantime, I'll enjoy listening to this album now and then. :)
-Steve
P.S. I start with "The Day Begins" on Thursday afternoon, October 23.
P.P.S. I'll throw in a photo of New Mexico and Arizona. Both of these were taken during my bike ride across America in February/March 2008.
Myself in the desert (Quartzsite, AZ) - "Day 5"
Blythe, CA to Quartzsite, AZ
Carrizozo Peak (Carrizozo, NM) - "Day 18"
San Antonio, NM to Carrizozo, NM