The Present

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Customer Reviews:

Let Me Present 'The Present' [Posted on 2007-06-08]
Contrary to what I had been led to believe, this is a very good album, much to my surprise and delight. I won't go so far as to call it the best thing the Moody Blues have ever done, but it is very, very good indeed. The Moodies were in fine form on every level and the more I listen to it the more I appreciate it. Why it wasn't more successful or popular is beyond anything I can figure out. IMO, 9 out of the albums 10 tracks are outstanding songs. At least 5 of these should have literally burned up the charts when this album came out. 'The Present' is just as good as 'Long Distance Voyager'. In doing my review, I am going to very briefly give my take on each song, along with a yes or no vote.

1 Blue World- NO. I have honestly tried to like it. It just doesn't touch me, something very rare in a Justin Hayward song.
2 Meet Me Halfway- YES. Vintage Hayward & Lodge harmony- sooo good.
3 Sitting At The Wheel- YES. Rockin' Johnny in a feel-good song.
4 Going Nowhere- YES. Great vocal by the fabulous Ray Thomas- 'nuff said.
5 Hole In The World- YES. Lovely and clever instrumental by Lodge.
6 Under My Feet- YES. Very good, "under"-appreciated song by John Lodge.
7 It's Cold Outside Of Your Heart- YES. Hayward got to me real good.
8 Running Water- YES. J. Hayward struck again- hard this time.
9 I Am- YES. Ray's glorious voice again. Lovely song w/ Messianic theme.
10 Sorry- YES. I'm "sorry" it had to end as Ray Thomas was magnificent!

The Present is truly a great piece of work from The Moody Blues, that for some reason was either disliked or simply ignored. Only God knows why.

A Fine Early Eighties Effort [Posted on 2007-06-30]
I bought this album the day it came out in 1983. It wasn't the same as Long Distance Voyager, but there were similarities. Four songs on the first side, six on the second, last part of the album belonged to Ray Thomas. My friends told me after I heard the first single that'd I'd be disappointed- that was Sitting at the Wheel. I still think it's a great song and if you can find the 7 and a half minute "dance" mix, get it, because it shows how the Moodies music could be with the times and yet still be so much better. And the opening track is a great Hayward tune that unfortunately we'll never get to hear in concert.

My favorite tracks are Meet Me Halfway-- a great Hayward/Lodge contribution, Going Nowhere, Running Water and the two Thomas' tunes I Am and Sorry. Sorry sounds like something written by a man on the verge of divorce and I AM has the retro-mysticism that made the Moodies famous. The Lodge section Hole in the World and Under My Feet are nice additions to this album as well. The only down side to this album is the Hayward song "It's Cold Outside of Your Heart." I'm a huge Justin Hayward fan- I have all his solo albums, including some bootleg stuff, but there are times when he'll write a tune that just doesn't have it. Not that it isn't presented well.

My understanding is that the group boycots all these songs from their concerts because of production issues- things being added and/or subtracted without their consent or knowledge. Which is too bad-- it would be nice to hear the brilliant harmonies of Hayward/Lodge on Meet Me Half Way live.

The average music fan out there may not appreciate this album, but Moodies fans will be quite fond of this. I know I certainly am.

Better than I remembered [Posted on 2007-08-29]
3.5 stars

This was a follow-up to their #1 album, Long Distance Voyager, and I think these guys climbed such heights with LDV that they set themselves up to fail on this one. At least, that was my initial impression. If memory serves correctly, I gave this a try a couple of times when it was initially released, and then set it aside and started listening to LDV again.

With the iPod revolution, I've started listening to some of my older music again, and I thought I'd give this another shot. What I discovered was that *I* had been expecting The Moody Blues to produce another LDV, and so was disappointed to get The Present. That was most unfortunate, because while The Present doesn't stand up head-to-head with LDV, there's a lot of worthy music here.

I'll admit, though, that I still found Blue World and Meet Me Halfway lacking and disappointing - bland music that doesn't really go anywhere. I'd always loved Sitting at the Wheel from the first time I heard it, and found that to be the same again. With different lyrics, it might have been a bigger hit for them. What I discovered was that Going Nowhere, It's Cold Outside of Your Heart, and Sorry (and perhaps I Am) were very notable songs. In fact, I've listened to Sorry by itself about eight times in the last two weeks alone.

The lesson, if there is one, is this: don't expect your favorite bands to give you exactly what they gave you before. You might miss out on some good music.

That said, many bands, when they release an album that becomes their "biggest hit ever" do try and duplicate that success. I think that Journey did it (unsuccessfully) - every song they released from Frontiers had a parallel on Escape.

I'm glad I gave this another go.

Difficult to find [Posted on 2007-09-09]
I had never heard of this cd, came across it browsing your site. There was fast shipping and the product got here still sealed.

Overlooked Album [Posted on 2008-06-03]
An intermediate quality album by the prolific group, I still think it a necessary addition of supporters of The Moody Blues.

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