Moody Blues- In Search of the Lost Chord- Justin Hayward, John Lodge, the late Graeme Edge

The Moody Blues’ third album, and their anticipated follow-up to the groundbreaking Progressive Rock classic Days of Future Passed, was In Search of the Lost Chord.  Released in July 1968, …Lost Chord unfolded like a sweeping cinematic epic playing in the panorama between your ears. The antithesis of a Top 40 band, nevertheless the album contained underground radio classics “Legend of a Mind”, “Ride My See Saw”, and “Voices in the Sky”, peaking at an impressive #5 sales in their native UK and Top 25 sales in the US. Justin Hayward, Graeme Edge, and John Lodge co-host here In the Studio. Listening to five decades of Moody Blues music distilled back-to-back,  it’s surprising how consistent their musical vision  remained regardless of musical trend or fashion, and singer/songwriter/guitarist Justin Hayward modestly acknowledges that critics either loved them or crucified them for it. “At least we’ve been #1 without being outrageous,” Hayward chuckled in my classic rock interview. “It’s the larger-than-life things that happen in this (entertainment) world, but that’s why we’ve made a point of not following any trend or any fashion, just doing our own music and trusting our own judgment and doing what we wanted to do. We’ve been under a lot of pressure to compromise. We’ve never given in to that pressure.”

Moody Blues bass player/singer/songwriter John Lodge explained why the band started their own Threshold label way back in 1969 after the success of In Search of the Lost Chord. “Total artistic control. No financial reasons. Actually, having our own record company has cost us a lot of money over the years, but it set  a precedent for exactly what we wanted to do with our music. Everything had to be right. And not just the music, we didn’t want anything to look like it was a sham or a hype.” Over a half century of recording and live performing, the Moody Blues  racked up practically every award and measurement of musical excellence, and now with their long-deserving Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, it leaves no question as to their legitimate claim as one of rock’s most endearing, and enduring, groups. Following In the Studio‘s two previous rockumentaries exploring the band’s almost accidental invention of Progressive Rock with Days of Future Passed  followed by a #1 seller worldwide five years later with Seventh Sojourn,  we  reconvened Moodies singers/ songwriters Justin Hayward and John Lodge with drummer/ band co-founder Graeme Edge in this classic rock interview to chronicle the prolific period in between. This edition is dedicated to Graeme Edge, who passed away in November 2021 at the age of 80. –Redbeard