Customer Reviews

On The Threshold Of A Dream

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I play this recording over and over. The orchestration and lyrics are magical. Excellent road cd for a long drive.

Looking back, and listening to many great albums over the past 35 years or so, there are certain ones that never get old, never get dull, or become dated. Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti comes to mind. Floyd's Wish You Were Here, Simon & Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme, Rush's Permanent Waves, The Doors' debut...among others. I hesitate to use the word 'masterpiece' because it is so overused (and mostly associated with garbage), but these are true masterpieces in music, both for the awesome song writing, original melodies, as well as the AHEAD OF IT'S TIME PRODUCTION! The Moody Blues' On the Threshold of a Dream is right up there with all of them. All 5 members contribute to its content, with Tony Clarke at the helm. It is an experience to listen to this album. If you have never heard it, prepare yourself, because someday in the future, you will remember where you were when you first heard what is possibly the greatest musical work ever made (and I don't say that about just anything....this album is wonderful). Folks...this thing was released 35 years ago! And to think these 5 men were 20 something year old kids at the time. Totally unbelievable. And how sad it is to know that there are millions of young people worldwide who have never, and probably will never, experience this true ...forgive me...masterpiece!

Excellent music and excellent sound quality. If you care about these two things, get yourself some SACDs and something to play them on. Many Playstation 3 units before the most recent ones will work (check to be sure though) and most if not all of the latest Sony Blu-Ray players work too (i.e. the 2010 models just released). SACD is awesome technology for music lovers especially jazz and classical for which there are a lot of releases every month. Enjoy!

I was first introduced to a few songs from this album when I purchased the Singles+ 2-disc set of the Moody Blues. Those songs were "Lovely to See You", "Dear Diary", and "Never Comes the Day". They also happened to be some of the only songs on that compilation not to be edited. Another song I'd heard before I bought the album was "Lazy Day", which I heard on the Musicchoice classic rock station on my Comcast digital cable. I will do a brief review of the songs that make this album worth purchasing rather than getting some compilation.
"In the Beginning"-once their album is opened up with a poem by Graeme Edge just as on the next album. As usual it's used as an intro to the next song or if you will the first song
"Lovely to see You" a rocker by Justin Hayward who normally rights romantic ballads. To be honest this song actually gets a little boring. I know it's included on at least three of there compilations and you can hear it live on A NIGT AT RED ROCKS, but there's other better songs on the album like
"Dear Diary" by Ray Thomas. It's a very relaxing song and it also features a flute solo. You can hear him saying something towards the end of the song, but you can't really understand what it is he's saying.
"Send Me No Wine" and "To Share Our Love" are two back-to-back songs by John Lodge. They are not really filler but they also don't really go anywhere except seques on to the next song. These two are also the only contributions by John. Kind of a regression since his big hit with "Ride my See Saw" on their previous LP "In Search of the Lost Chord", but he would do much better in the next album and the ones that followed.
"So Dee Within You" by Mike Pinder is a fun song to listen to. It happened to have been covered by the Four Tops along with another song penned by Pinder "A Simple Game" which was the B-Side to the aforementioned "Ride My See Saw" both produced by Tony Clarke.

Note: In the liner notes of the CD I think it's the first one to have a picture of each member with their name in a caption. I don't if DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED does because I only have it on vinyl. There is a photo of Clarke their producer with a caption to as he was considered to be the six member of the band at that time.
On to the second side of the album
It starts off with "Never Comes the Day" by Justin Hayward. It starts of slow and gets louder in the chorus. It's one of those songs of his like "Tuesday Afternoon" and "The Other Side of Life" that just repeat the same lyrics after the chorus. You can hear a live version of this song on CAUGHT LIVE +5 another CD I own. They still perform it to this day although you wont hear it on either of the last two live albums.
"Lazy Day" is another great song by Ray. It's a good song to listen to on a Sunday afternoon.
On both of the last two songs you can hear him playing the harmonica which is kind of rare.
"Are You Sitting Comfortably" was co-written by Justin and Ray. This is one of the best songs on the album. You can also hear it live on CAUGHT LIVE. It then segues onto a poem by Greame Edge titled "The Dream"- not much to say I'm not good at critiqing poetry but it's a pretty damn good.
Have You Heard pt.1/The Voyage/Have You Heard pt.2 is Pinder's masterpeice. It doesn't hold up very well in concert, but its an example of what you can do with the mellotron and since then keyboard and synthesizers have improved drastically.
The best songs here are by Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder.

this album is great. the first few songs are pretty good: the upbeat "lovely to see you", followed by the lovely and wonderfully mellow "dear diary" and then the laid back "send me no wine". "to share our love" is rather irritating though.

but the album hasn't really even started yet. to me, the album _really_ begins right when "so deep within you" begins. wow! one of the greatest moody blues songs. you wouldn't think it'd get any better, until you hear "never comes the day", which is without a doubt the greatest most beautiful song on the album. these two songs are the power of this album, and right at the center.

and then there's another lovably mellow song "lazy day", and by far the mellowest, "are you sitting comfortably?" a few words, and then a nice ending with "have your heard" with the awesome instrumental in the middle

i love this album. almost as good as "in search of the lost chord"..

De los 4 discos de que lanzaron en los 60, Threshold es el más simple musicalmente hablando, dejando a un lado la recargada sicodelia de Search y la experimentación sonora de To Our Children. Siempre se ha criticado a los Moody Blues de repetirse álbum tras álbum, lo que no me parece justo, y en todo caso no se puede acusar a un grupo en el que 4 integrantes componen y cantan en forma casi equitativa.

Comenzando por Hayward, su aporte aqui no está a la altura que nos tiene acostumbrados, sus 3 temas son buenos, en especial la rockera Lovely To See You y la balada que comparte con Thomas Are You Sitting Comfortably?, pero definitivamente no brilla como antes o después. Ray Thomas en su particular estilo de hacer canciones con aires infantiles aporta Dear Diary, con un buen bajo y su distorsionada voz, en tanto Lazy Day es tal vez su mejor canción con los Moody. John Lodge se encarga de la rockera To Share Our Love y la country Send Me No Wine, ambas agradables sin ser espectaculares. Graeme Edge hace sus típicas introducciones de poesía esotérica y para el final dejo a Mike Pinder, sin lugar a dudas el más místico, experimental y grandilocuente del grupo, quien retoma sus influencias orientales en So Deep Within You.

Mención aparte merece su trilogía Have You Heard (Partes 1 y 2) y The Voyage, la que se inicia como una balada sicodélica con similitudes a Pink Floyd para desembocar en el viaje, 4 minutos de fantasía instrumental en la que abunda Mellotron, órgano, piano y percusion, tras lo cual vuelve el mismo tema de introducción, un gran final para un disco que si bien no aporta mucho a la evolución del grupo, deja algunas joyas para recopilaciones futuras.

The Moody Blues had a wave of successful albums late 60's, early 70's. This was released 1969 and features some gorgeous ballads and uptempo tracks:

The tracks to look out for are:

2. Lovely to See You
3. Dear Diary
4. Send Me No Wine
5. To Share Our Love
7. Never Comes the Day
8. Lazy Day

I love this band, and feel blessed to know their music!

As with most Moody Blues albums, the listener is treated to a unique introduction ("In The Beginning"). In the late sixties, singles were a way to promote albums. Hayward's "Lovely To See You" (U.S.A.) and "Never Comes The Day" (U.K.) were not high markers on the charts, but a good indication of what this classic album had to offer.

Thomas provides the 'near' spoken word song, "Dear Diary" and Lodge gives us the pleasant, but tepid rocker "Send Me No Wine". The other songs on the album maintain the surrealistic mood with an almost hypnotic pace. Mike Pinder orchestrated the legendary sequence of "Have You Heard, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2" with "Voyage" in between; cementing the Moody Blues mellotron sound and securing the group it's psychedelic status.

This is considered to be one of the most popular albums produced by Tony Clarke; "On The Threshold Of A Dream" was the Moody Blues first #1 album. This positive collection ensured that the group was a self contained unit and not a flash in the pan. It is a beautiful piece of work.

With their third album, 1969's "On The Threshold Of A Dream," the Moody Blues shifted gears once more, going from the psychedelic sounds of "In Search Of The Lost Chord" to a more cosmic, spacey, otherworldy feel. The end result is another classic Moodies album, with everyone in the band contributing excellent tracks. Drummer Graeme Edge's strong spoken-word intro, "In The Beginning," along with it's spooky keyboard lead-in & clock sound effects, instantly sets the mood. Guitarist Justin Hayward's "Lovely To See You" is a classic melodic rocker (and the band have used it to open many of their concerts). Flautist Ray Thomas' slow-shuffler "Dear Diary" is a memorable gem, one of Ray's finest compositions. Bassist John Lodge hands in a fine pair with the country-flavored atmospheres of "Send Me No Wine" and the rockin' "To Share Our Love," and keyboardist Mike Pinder's seductive "So Deep Within You" is one of *his* best contributions to the Moodies, and a mighty powerful song. Hayward's "Never Comes The Day" is a gorgeous ballad, Thomas' "Lazy Day" has an endearing childlike quality to it, and Hayward's "Are You Sitting Comfortably" is another luscious, dreamy song. Finally, after Edge's fine poetry of "The Dream," comes Pinder's astonishing, classic mini-epic of "Have You Heard (Part One)/The Voyage/Have You Heard (Part Two)," an amazing, heavenly journey into cosmic rock. The band sound fantastic on this album, and there's not a dull track anywhere. With "On The Threshold Of A Dream," the Moody Blues deliver another progressive rock classic.

It seems to me this album is a bit underrated by some reviewers--and this doesn't surprise me, because it took me a few listens to get into it, unlike Days of Future Passed. However, I did come to like it quite a bit.

As with Days of Future Passed, a Ray Thomas composition jumped immediately to the forefront--"Dear Diary" was perhaps the biggest highlight on the album for me. This makes a wonderful song indeed for listening to out and about while people-watching. While it definitely picks up on a sense of isolation from the rest of society, it does so without going into excessive venom and resentment, and with the catchy, almost bluesy guitar stylings, and beautiful flute solos, it is a great laid-back listen. The other striking feature of this song is that Mr. Thomas' vocals sound almost like a shockingly good (though rather less bitter) Roger Waters impression! The similarity is quite striking indeed, especially when he starts talking: "Somebody exploded an H-bomb today..." Surely unintentional on Mr. Thomas' part, it is quite an ear-opener to notice.

"Lazy Day" also can be quite strange for a Pink Floyd fan because of the Roger Waters resemblance--as if the same voice with an entirely different technique. I enjoy the effect from the second vocal line that seems to echo in the background, and the other layered vocals. It is not "Dear Diary", perhaps, but enjoyable.

"Lovely to See You Again" has almost a CSNY vibe to it, with the harmonies and clear rock beat, and is a pleasant listen. "To Share Our Love" also had a feeling reminiscent of CSNY, and so these songs seem like a matched set to my ear. Both are quite enjoyable.

"So Deep Within You" has some of the album's most pleasant vocals--it might be said to have a strong "period" sound, but it seems to represent the *best* of its time. The same could be said for "Are You Sitting Comfortably", especially due to its percussion. Personally, I am reminded of songs like "Dust in the Wind" when I hear it.

"Never Comes the Day" is musically the most striking--the chord progression starting with the lines "But you will help me tonight..." is absolutely fascinating to me.

The album's weak point was for me "Send Me No Wine". The song has a rather folkish, almost country sound to it that I find distateful (others may appreciate it--I personally dislike that kind of music); as with another reviewer, this song set me in such an awful mood on my first listening that I was ill disposed towards the entire album. Subsequent listenings pinpointed the problem, and in my opinion it is really this one song that causes any trouble--so I skip it.

I also have to admit that I expected a clearer concept, when I first heard "In the Beginning", and was vaguely disappointed when it turned out to be less unified. The sequence from "The Dream" to the second "Haven't You Heard" (I'd like to make a point here that "relaxing" should not be automatically equated with "boring"--I do not find this boring) is quite beautiful indeed. Although the Mellotron sounds dated and awkward to modern ears, it is my understanding that it could be a very tempermental instrument to work with, so I respect Mr. Pinder for having the patience to get some pretty good sounds out of it.

My suggestion is, if you are looking for a more unified, tightly-constructed concept album, you may fare better with Days of Future Passed--but if your main interest is some good music, then don't overlook Threshold. Had the option been available, I would have rated this a 3.5, but because I feel its merits outweighed its deficiencies, I've rounded up to 4.