Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

062: The Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn (1972)

Seventh Sojourn is music to bask in and feel with your pores as well as your ears.”

Steve Ditlea, Rolling Stone

It’s our third holiday episode, so why not sit comfortably and talk about a third Moody Blues album? By 1972, The Moody Blues had successfully transitioned their sound from the ’60s to the ’70s without losing their ability to generate top-5 charting albums in both the U.S. and the U.K., but they were also on the verge of total burnout that would lead to them taking a six-year hiatus between new studio albums. Seventh Sojourn is the last entry in the band’s core period before they went on break, and it has some of the band’s very best material despite not having any poetry or a single second of Mellotron. Come listen to John, Rich, Amanda, and Phil indulge themselves with an album they know and love from the podcast’s unofficial mascot band, and especially listen for when Amanda confesses to the single hottest take in the history of Moody Blues podcasting.

Miscellany

  • The band has said that the theme for this album is based on the Canterbury Tales, in which a group of people from different backgrounds get together at an inn and tell stories that may or may not be connected to one another. So basically there’s no theme at all. 

  • Amanda misremembered the setlist from the 2017 concert. “I’m Just a Singer” was the opener, and they closed with “Ride My See-Saw,” as they have done at every show since approximately 1968. 

  • As John mentioned, you can hear Producer Mike’s explanation of the Chamberlin in our Helium episode

  • Producer Mike would like you to know that Amanda’s opinion of “Isn’t Life Strange” and John’s opinion of “When You’re a Free Man” coincide with his own.

  • The full list of Hayward Specials: 

    • Tuesday Afternoon

    • Never Comes the Day

    • The Land of Make-Believe

    • Running Water

    • The Other Side of Life 

Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • Phil Maddox (moderator)

  • Rich Bunnell

  • John McFerrin

  • Amanda Rodgers 

Seventh Sojourn tracklist

  1. Lost in a Lost World

  2. New Horizons

  3. For My Lady

  4. Isn’t Life Strange

  5. You and Me

  6. The Land of Make-Believe

  7. When You’re a Free Man

  8. I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band) 

Other clips used 

The Moody Blues:

  • Question (This Is the Moody Blues mix)

  • Here Comes the Weekend

  • I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band) (Live 2017)

  • Ride My See-Saw

  • Island

  • Who Are You Now (Hayward & Lodge)

  • You and Me (Beckthorns Backing Track) 

Others:

  • Genesis - Who Dunnit?

  • The New Pornographers - Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile

  • R.E.M. - Texarkana

Band/album personnel 

  • Justin Hayward - vocals, guitars

  • John Lodge - vocals, bass, acoustic guitar

  • Ray Thomas - vocals, flute, tambourine, saxophone (?), oboe

  • Graeme Edge - drums, percussion, vocals

  • Mike Pinder - vocals, Chamberlin, piano, harmonium

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • The Moody Blues - Lost in a Lost World (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Seventh Sojourn and other albums by the Moody Blues at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.

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