Great Rock Albums of 1981: Moody Blues- Long Distance Voyager

Now onto the next album of 1981 and another story from my past. This won't be a military story although I was serving then. This was a case of "It always happened when I was there" type of thing." It's like the case when I visited the Styx "Cornerstone" album where every time I went through the back gate of the base, the bar across the road always had "Babe" blasting out of its juke box. In this scenario, every time I was on leave or a weekend, 72 hour or 96 hour pass, I would meet my friends at a bar called Bob and Dan's. It's not there anymore but it did serve some really tasty fried mushrooms. It seems that for a good chunk of the year, every time I was in there, it would play "Gemini Dream" by the Moody Blues. It was one of those songs that rapidly grew on me and it provided a good back ground atmosphere inside the bar.

Saying that, the entire 1981 Moody Blues album "Long Distance Voyager" provides a good listening atmosphere whether you're sitting in a bar, driving or just chilling at home. The album straddles the gap between 1970s concept progressive rock and the more sythnesiser sound more in line with the 80s. I hear both of these in the album. The two singles, "Talking Out of Turn" and the one from Bob and Dan's deliver the more 80s sound while "In My World" is the more 70s. The combinations work throughout the album very well giving us an good solid progressive album and I do like the closer, "Veteran Cosmic Rocker."
Track Listing:
1. The Voice
2. Talking Out of Turn
3.  Gemini Dream
4. In My World
5. Meanwhile
6. 22,000 Days
7. Nervous
8. Painted Smile
9. Reflective Smile
10. Veteran Cosmic Rocker

[caption id="attachment_2115" align="aligncenter" width="242"] The Moody Blues[/caption]

Justin Hayward- guitars, vocals
John Lodge- bass, vocals
Ray Thomas- vocals, flutes, harmonicas
Graeme Edge- drums
Patrick Moraz- keyboards

I have the CD to Justin Hayward's "War of the Worlds" so it's good to see that he is still on the go  and making enjoyable music. He has been doing so for many years now both with the Moody Blues and solo. "Long Distance Voyager" adds another note to his credit.

Next post: Greg Kihn Band- Rockhinroll

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