"Days of Future Passed" by The Moody Blues (Jan., 1968)

Dad's Take:

This is one of my desert island discs, one of the seminal prog rock masterpieces, a blend of rock and roll and classical that leads the listener through a day, morning to night. It was a complete surprise to those who knew the Moody Blues as a relatively minor British R&B band, known primarily for their biggest hit, 1964's "Go Now."

One of the biggest changes between "Go Now" and "Days of Future Passed" was the addition of two new band members, Justin Hayward and John Lodge. These two set the direction of the Moody Blues throughout their classic period and beyond.

Fittingly, the record begins with an overture, "The Day Begins," which starts with an orchestral crescendo that informs the listener that this is not going to be your typical rock and roll record. The "story" itself begins with a poem, echoed by it's near twin at the end of the record, a brilliant set of bookends. The record moves through song after song of orchestral rock and roll, leading us through the day. Along the way, we get the classic "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday)," better known as "Tuesday Afternoon." At the end, of course, is the even more classic "Nights In White Satin," a hit at least twice, and the final song of many dances I attended as a kid.

But those aren't the only worthwhile songs here. The moody (blue) "Dawn Is A Feeling," the wild "Peak Hour," and one of my favorite tracks on the record, "Time To Get Away." It's a record that lends itself well to multiple listenings, with a musical depth most normal people don't fully catch the first time through.

Do the Moody Blues present rock and roll? The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame don't seem to think so, but there's no question that, despite the orchestrations, this record has R&B roots, blended with mid-sixties psychedelia and art rock. It's a wonderful record, and I can't imagine life without it.

Brad's Take:


This was my first time listening to a Moody Blues record. I can't imagine that all of their stuff sounds like this, especially this classical. But either way, this is great, and definitely something new to our list.

The orchestral pieces on this album are fantastic. "The Day Begins" was probably my favorite of the classical songs, or interludes, whatever you want to call them. The instrumentation sounds so big and full on these recordings. They're gorgeous and listening to them actually makes me want to listen to an entire classical album right now.

Days of Future Passed isn't only classical music though. It's got some rock songs too. "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday)" is a track I recognized immediately. I've heard this song many times in random places. I think I remember a recent commercial using that song, in fact. One of my favorites is "Dawn Is A Feeling."

Aside from "Forever Afternoon," this isn't an album of singles. I feel like this is an album that needs to be listened to as a whole. It's no surprise that their record label was a little hesitant on releasing this. It's different than anything we've reviewed so far from this era. It's different, but I love it.

I wouldn't expect the classical music to run so smoothly with the rock songs, but (somehow) it works magically.

"Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" by Ray Charles (April 1962)

Dad's Take:

Country music has never had this much soul. As much as I like Ray Charles, I've never given this album its due because Ray is at his best when singing gospel-tinged soul. Well, the laugh was on me. These might be country songs, but Ray still delivers his trademark sound.

You know the title of the album is a little misleading as soon as you hear the opening notes of Ray's take on the Everly's classic "Bye, Bye Love." The highlight for me is the final track, where Ray takes that old standard, "That Lucky Old Sun," and lifts it up among the best of Negro spirituals. Good luck finding a more moving version of that song.

Nobody sings like Ray Charles, and these soulful, brassy, bluesy renditions of country songs are about as soulful as music gets. This is a great album, despite a kind of lame title and less-than-exciting cover.

How can you not share the pain of "I Love You So Much It Hurts"? And who doesn't get a thrill when listening to the classic "I Can't Stop Loving You" and the almost-identical "You Win Again"? This record moves country music out of the honky tonks and into the smoky bars of the "colored" neighborhoods, improving the songs in the process. Even Hank Williams's "Hey, Good Lookin'" becomes a soul classic. As the civil rights movement heated up, I'm sure the rednecks were thrilled to see their music taken over by the guys at the back of the bus. This is a ballsy record, and it works amazingly well. Maybe Ray couldn't eat at the same restaurants, attend the same schools, or drink from the same water fountains, but he could take the most white music of all and give it gospel-tinged soul. And guess what? The whites ate it up. This record was number one for 14 weeks and remained on the chart for almost two years, falling only three weeks short of that mark.

I'm pretty sure this is the only Ray Charles album on our list, and it deserves to be there. This record contains everything good and soulful about Mr. Charles's music, no matter what the title might lead you to believe.

Brad's Take:


When I saw that this was next on our list, I got really excited. I've never listened to a full Ray Charles album before, but I've always wanted to. I didn't know where to begin so I guess this is a good place to start, with a "classic."

The first song, "Bye, Bye Love", kicks the album off with a bang. It's a fast rockin' 2 minute song, made popular by the Everly Brothers. That song leads right into the slower "You Don't Know Me" and this song really shows what this album's all about. It's a mid-tempo song with more soul than a pair of shoes.

Reading about the recording process, it's interesting how Ray picked the songs to do. Apparently, he was given about 250 songs from popular country artists from the time, and then Ray listened to each one to decide which ones he wanted to remake, giving it that Ray Charles flavor.

I never realized how great Ray Charles actually was. I've always known him as a classic artist, but I've never given him a real chance myself. I love his voice on this album. He sounds young and full of raw emotion and soul. Some songs are better than others, but overall this is a solid 3 and a half stars from me.

The Platters, by The Platters (May, 1956)

Dad's Take:
The Platters are one of those mellow vocal groups that bring romance to their era and, undoubtedly, to their share of back seats. Everybody knows their smooth ballads. This group could sing. They are a great example of the fun, sometimes overwrought vocal stylings of their day. Straight singing wasn't always enough. They had to sing with style. And that makes this record drip with cool.

It's hard to find many better vocal groups. Those soaring ballads are well written and have interesting musical arrangements that combine doowop and jazz. When the Platters sing a song, you believe them. If they say they're sorry, or they ask for mercy, or they try to seduce you with a song, it's hard to say no.

What surprised me on this record, though, is that they were much more versatile than you might think based on the handful of hits that make the oldies compilations. They can even rock, like they do on "I Wanna." I don't think I've ever heard that side of them before. You don't hear a lot of it here, either. As you'd expect from the Platters, ballads rule this scene, Gene.

Regardless of who is singing lead on each song (and the whole group gets their chances to shine), you get a quality performance, whether on new rock 'n' roll ballads or explorations of the Gerschwins and other classics.

This is just a quality record from start to finish, the prototype for R&B mellowness for decades to come. There aren't many hits. "My Prayer" might be the only one. But, unlike most records of the day, it also doesn't feel like there's a lot of filler here. Every song is good. Ever performance is golden. And this is about as good as make-out music can get.

Brad's Take:
The Platters are a group I've been listening to for a few years. Whenever I'm in the mood for some doo-wop music, The Platters song "Only You" is always one that I make sure to listen to. I was kind of disappointed that that song wasn't on this because I really wanted to listen to it when I saw that The Platters were next on the list. I've never listened to this album before though so I was especially excited to check out some Platters songs I'm not really familiar with.

This album is pretty much just what I expected. There's only a couple songs that I've heard before, but it's 12 tracks of perfectly solid vocal performances. These guys could really sing! Something that I admire so much in older music is the fact that studio magic was pretty much non-existent at the time. This is 100% talent. There is no auto-tune or compression on the vocals to make them sound perfect and on key. The Platters and all of the other vocal groups from back in the day were just insanely good at singing. Singers these days couldn't pull this kind of stuff off now without over-production done on their voices. I have great respect for the singers from these classic doo-wop groups.

There really isn't much else to say about this album. It's The Platters doing what they do! Incredible vocal harmonies over music that you can snap your fingers to... or make out to. That is in no particular order, by the way.