Days of Future Passed
Studio album by The Moody Blues with the London Festival Orchestra
Released	14 December 1967
Recorded	May 9, 1967-June 29, 1967
Genre	Symphonic rock
Length	41:34
Label	Deram / Polydor
Producer	Tony Clarke
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
The Moody Blues chronology
The Magnificent Moodies (1966) Days of Future Passed (1967) In Search of the Lost Chord (1968)
Alternate CD Cover
Released in 1990 by Polydor as Deram 820 006-2.

Days of Future Passed, The Moody Blues' second official album (released in 1967), was their first of what would be a succession of concept albums. It was also the first to feature Justin Hayward and John Lodge, who would play a very strong role in directing the band's sound in the decades to come. Utilizing the London Festival Orchestra primarily for epic instrumental interludes between songs, Days of Future Passed moved the Birmingham band away from its early R&B roots (as displayed on its debut album with soon-departed future Wings member Denny Laine) into uncharted rock territory, making them the early pioneers of both classical and progressive rock.

Originally, the Moodies label, Deram, had wanted them to record a rock version of Dvořák's New World Symphony in order to demonstrate their latest recording techniques. Instead, the band (initially without the label's knowledge) decided to focus on an album based on an original stage show that they'd been working on.

The concept of both the stage show and the album was very simple, tracing an "everyman's day" from dawn to night, from awakening to sleep. The seven tracks spawned two hit singles: "Tuesday Afternoon", which on the album was actually titled "The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)", and "Nights in White Satin" which hit No. 2 five years after the LP's original release. Both remain radio mainstays across various formats and de rigueur performances in concert.

The project was almost doomed to failure as executives at Deram Records felt that combining rock and symphonic music would both alienate rock fans and enrage symphonic fans. The album's subsequent success led to other criticism about implied drug use, especially with such lines as "the smell of grass just makes you pass into a dream" and "those gentle voices I hear explain it all with a sigh." Despite such early criticism, Days of Future Passed paved the way for progressive offerings from other bands and remains one of the Moody Blues' most popular releases ever.

The original packaging credited the orchestral parts to "Redwave/Knight". "Knight" was conductor Peter Knight, while "Redwave" was an imaginary name representing the Moody Blues themselves. (Knight built the orchestral parts around themes written by Hayward, Thomas, Pinder & Lodge). Also, the packaging failed to give titles or credits for Edge's poems "Morning Glory" and "Late Lament".

In March 2006 the album was remastered into SACD format and repackaged as a 2 CD Deluxe Edition.

Original vs. later mix

In 1978 the album was remixed due to deterioration of the master tapes. The original mix, which is generally considered superior by fans, has never seen a CD release. All CD versions, even remasters, use the later mix. However, the 1990 greatest hits package "The Story Of The Moody Blues/Legend Of A Band" CD compilation, seems to contain the original mix of "Nights In White Satin".

The ways in which the later mix departs most noticeably from the original are:

• "Dawn Is A Feeling" begins (after the orchestral intro) more abruptly, and there is less echo on Mike Pinder's vocal on the bridge, making it stick out.
• The orchestral intro "Lunch Break" goes on about 20 seconds longer before fading out.
• The transition from the band to the orchestra in "Forever Afternoon" is cleaner, making it almost seem as if one flute is playing throughout.
• The bridges to "Time To Get Away" have John Lodge singing alone; all the backing vocals on that part have been lost. Also, at the end of the piece, the words "Evening, Time to Get Away" are repeated only twice where they were repeated three times on the original mix, and the mellotron overdub, which was essentially the same as the one in the middle section, is absent. (In the quad mix, the mellotron is also missing from the middle section.)
• The piano in the instrumental sections of "Sunset" is gone. Also, the reverb on the last word ("Through the night") is very different.
• The backing vocals on "Twilight Time" are heard through the entire song instead of only coming in at strategic points.
• "Night In White Satin"; after the :13 orchestral prelude, the rhythm section (Moody's instruments) comes in right on-time and in-step following the correct meter of the orchestra. This seems to correct the seemingly "off-step" segue of the two pieces on the original-mix.
• There seems to be an attempt of "noise-reduction filtering" over-laying only the rhythm section parts of the album's first mix. This seems to cause an "imbalance" of orchestra vs. band throughout. The 1978 re-mix endeavored to correct this, however in some minds of loyal fan base, the "mysteriousness, murky, ghostly & dark" sound of the original mix was severely compromised in doing so.

Original track listing

Side one

1. "The Day Begins" – 5:51
   • "The Day Begins" (Peter Knight) – 4:08
   • "Morning Glory" (Graeme Edge) – 1:42
2. "Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling" (Mike Pinder) – 3:49
3. "The Morning: Another Morning" (Ray Thomas) – 3:56
4. "Lunch Break" – 5:29
   • "Lunch Break" (Peter Knight) – 1:53
   • "Peak Hour" (John Lodge) – 3:40

Side two

1. "The Afternoon" – 8:23
   • "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" (Justin Hayward) – 4:48
   • "Time To Get Away" (Lodge) – 3:35
2. "Evening" – 6:40
   • "The Sun Set" (Pinder) – 3:17
   • "Twilight Time" (Thomas) – 3:23
3. "The Night – 7:39
   • "Nights in White Satin" (Hayward) – 5:39
   • "Late Lament" (Edge) – 1:48

Additional SACD Deluxe Edition tracks

1. "Tuesday Afternoon" – 4:20 alternate mix
2. "Dawn Is A Feeling" – 2:19 alternate version
3. "The Sun Set" – 2:49 alternate version without orchestra
4. "Twilight Time" – 2:27 alternate vocal mix
5. "Night In White Satin" – 4:26 mono mix from single released November 1967
6. "Fly Me High" (Hayward) – 2:54 Recorded March 30, 1967; released as single May 1967
7. "I Really Haven't Got The Time" (Pinder) – 3:07 Recorded March 30, 1967; released as b-side May 1967
8. "Love & Beauty" (Pinder) – 2:23 Recorded July 17, 1967; released as single September 1967
9. "Leave This Man Alone" (Hayward) – 2:58 Recorded July 17, 1967; released as b-side September 1967
10. "Cities" (Hayward) – 2:23 Recorded July 17, 1967; released November 1967 as b-side to "Nights in White Satin"
11. "Long Summer Days" (Hayward) – 3:12 Recorded May 19, 1967 and released on [[Caught Live + 5]]
12. "Please Think About It" (Pinder) – 3:40 Recorded June 29, 1967 and released on [[Caught Live + 5]]
13. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Bennie Benjamin/Gloria Caldwell/Sol Marcus) – 2:23 live May 9, 1967 for BBC Saturday Club
14. "Love & Beauty" – 2:12 live September 20, 1967 for BBC Easybeat
15. "Leave This Man Alone" – 2:52 live September 20, 1967 for BBC Easybeat
16. "Peak Hour" – 3:22 live September 20, 1967 for BBC Easybeat
17. "Nights in White Satin" – 3:48 live January 1, 1968 for BBC Dave Symonds
18. "Fly Me High" – 2:45 live January 1, 1968 for BBC Dave Symonds
19. "Twilight Time" – 2:08 live January 1, 1968 for BBC Dave Symonds

Personnel

• Justin Hayward: Guitars, piano, keyboards, vocals.
• John Lodge: Bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals.
• Mike Pinder: Keyboards, Mellotron, Piano, vocals.
• Ray Thomas: Flutes, Horns, percussion, keyboards, vocals.
• Graeme Edge: Drums, percussion.
• Peter Knight: Conductor, Arrangements.
• The London Festival Orchestra.

Production

• Tony Clarke: Producer, Realization.
• Derek Varnals: Engineer.
• Hugh Mendi: Executive Producer, Liner Notes.
• Michael Dacre-Barclay: Realization.
• David Anstey: Cover Design, Cover Painting.
• Steven Fallone: Digital Remastering.

References

Reed, John (1999), Days of Future Passed Re-release liner notes, London, England: The Decca Record Co. Ltd

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