They may sing a song that says that they’re “just singers in a rock and roll band,” but progressive rock band Moody Blues betrayed those lyrics during their two hour set before an appreciatively packed Nokia Theatre. (On a side note, one of the benefits of going to a concert of Baby Boomers is that they are now too arthritic to stand up and to dance in front of you for too long, and they gingerly sit down after only 20 seconds!) Yes, the venerable band was on the forefront of mixing rock with elements of classical, folk and jazz, and they are still deft in their instrumental and vocal execution of songs such “Gypsy” and “Nervous.” But what remained in your mind as you walked out after hearing their encore of “Ride My See Saw” was that these guys really knew how to write a tune, and it’s amazing that no other vocalist, be it in pop or jazz, is working on a Moody Blues/Justin Hayward songbook.
Hayward as well as bassist John Lodge and 72 year old drummer Graham Edge (“I’ve survived the 60s twice!” He joked) are still alive and well, and they wisely supplemented themselves with a stalwart team that included a two keyboardists, a flutist and a second drummer, all who added verve and textures to the vocal harmonies and drive to the rhythm. The mix of male and female vocal harmonies along with flute on material such as “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” reveals a present generation of arrangers that “knew not Joseph” and are left in the foreign land of vocal groans and sighs. None of that for these chaps; Even during the frenetic pieces such as “Peak Hour” or the yin and yang from kinetic to pastoral on “Question” the velvety mix of synthesizer and voices is as warm as Ellington’s sax section.
As to songwriting, in a day when everyone is covering Beatles material, it’s inconceivable that no singer is delving into material such as “Tuesday Afternoon”, “You and Me,” or one of the greatest crafted post WWII love songs “The Story In Your Eyes.” Through all of the grandiose psychedelia and sonic imagery that the Moodies displayed both then and now, Hayward displays that he has a way with a tune that is second to none. As Gershwin once said, his goal was to have the man on the street whistling his tunes on the way out of the theatre. Hayward and the Moody Blues showed Friday night that they’ve also accomplished that mission.
www.nokiala.com