Threshold 2901
Producer: Pip Williams
Track listing: The Voice / Talking Out of Turn / Gemini Dream / In My World / Meanwhile / 22,000 Days / Nervous / Painted Smile / Reflective Smile / Veteran Cosmic Rocker
July 25, 1981
3 weeks
Fallowing the success of its first Number One album, 1972’s Seventh Sojourn, and two years of touring, the Moody Blues went on a four-year hiatus. The compilation This Is the Moody Blues and Caught Live Plus Five, released in 1974 and 1977, respective, proved there was still an audience for the veteran British band. But it was 1978’s Octave, the band’s first studio album in six years, that showed the Moodies were still a significant creative force. As singer/guitarist Justin Hayward explains, “A lot people thought we were finished, but it did surprisingly well.”
Octave climbed to number 13 and went on to sell more than a million copies. If that success surprised some, Long Distance Voyager had to be a shock. Nearly a decade after the Moodies first reached the top of the Billboard album chart, the veteran British act proved its staying power by doing it for a second time.
Long Distance Voyager marked a few firsts for the Moodies. It was the group’s first album without producer Tony Clarke, who stopped working with the Moodies during Octave after a decade-plus association with the band. It was the first Moodies appearance by former Yes member Patrick Moraz, who replaced founding member Mike Pinder after the completion of Octave. It also marked the first and last time the Moody Blues recorded as a group at their own Threshold Studios in West Hampstead, London. “Although I made Blue Jays with John Lodge and made my own solo albums in the studio, we’d never actually recorded a Moody Blues album in this wonderful studio,” Hayward recalls.
Although the album credits the string performance on Long Distance Voyager to the New World Orchestra, Hayward admits that no such troupe really exists. “The album wasn’t recorded with an orchestra at all,” he adds. “There were some string overdubs, so we just made up the name.”
The group’s changing lineup and experimentation with drum machines gave them “a slightly different dimension” and updated the Moodies’ trademark sound for the ’80s. “Mike leaving opened the door for myself and John to play a lot more keyboards,” Hayward says. In addition, working with new producer Pip Williams also changed the group’s dynamic. “Pip is a detail man,” Hayward says. “He would tell us exactly the right notes to play,” whereas Clarke had been known as a big-picture man but didn’t get into the details.
Two singles were released off Long Distance Voyager: “Gemini Dream” peaked at number 12, while “The Voice” reached number 15. “The material on Long Distance Voyager was very strong and stands up today, much more so than some of the other material that we have done,” Hayward says.
In addition, the album also marked a spiritual rebirth for the Moodies. “We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs,” he recalls. “It was like being in a gang again. Most people join groups so they can be in a gang. With Long Distance Voyager we had that feeling again of all being together.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of July 25, 1981
1. Long Distance Voyager, The Moody Blues
2. Mistaken Identity, Kim Carnes
3. Hi Infidelity, REO Speedwagon
4. Street Songs, Rick James
5. Hard Promises, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers