Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

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

094: The Moody Blues - A Question of Balance (1970)

“It was quite refreshing, actually, doing the A Question of Balance album … getting back to that place where we could just get a bunch of songs together with a bit less instrumentation going on, that we could just sit around in a room and play.”

Justin Hayward

After going more than a full calendar year without covering a Moody Blues album, Discord & Rhyme has reverted to its truest self with this episode on A Question of Balance, the 1970 album that the band created after realizing they needed to start recording more songs they could actually play live. Join us as we discuss the band’s most democratic and often weirdest album, one where the band tried to figure out how to make the transition from the 60s to the 70s and tried to make sense of all of the world’s problems simultaneously. They didn’t completely succeed with either of these tasks, but they did a fine job nonetheless with both, and this made for an interesting album that we had a fun time talking about.

Miscellany

  • In the biblical book of Acts, chapter 27, the apostle Paul is shipwrecked in Malta, and the sailors throw all the wheat overboard in order to lighten the ship. They did not quite fill the sea with grain, however.

  • If you need further evidence that Mike Pinder was the coolest of the Moody Blues, he was reportedly the only member of the band to be memorialized by the Plaster Casters.

  • We got a lot of information about the making of A Question of Balance from the Winter 1996 issue of Higher & Higher

  • According to an interview in Bass magazine, John Lodge’s inspiration for those super busy bass lines he loves came from the boogie-woogie piano style of people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. 

  • We still haven’t found out for sure whether the Moody Blues ever toured with a Moog, but it seems unlikely, since it had many of the same tuning issues as the Mellotron. Amanda watched the film of their Isle of Wight concert and there were no Moogs detected; “Melancholy Man” had assists from Ray Thomas and Justin Hayward to substitute for the Moog noises and it’s a fantastic performance

  • Whenever we cover the Moody Blues next, which will definitely happen at some point, chances are we’ll venture past the core 7 period and hit you with those tasteful Moraz synths. 

Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • Phil Maddox (moderator)

  • Rich Bunnell

  • John McFerrin

  • Amanda Rodgers 

A Question of Balance tracklist 

  1. Question

  2. How Is It (We Are Here)

  3. And the Tide Rushes In

  4. Don’t You Feel Small

  5. Tortoise and the Hare

  6. It’s Up to You

  7. Minstrel’s Song

  8. Dawning Is the Day

  9. Melancholy Man

  10. The Balance 

Other clips used 

The Moody Blues:

  • Mike’s Number One

  • Gypsy

  • Gypsy (Caught Live + 5 version)

  • Question (1989 version)

  • Question (single mix)

  • Eternity Road

  • Minstrel's Song (Live at the Isle of Wight version)

  • New Horizons

  • Nothing Changes

  • Question (Live at the Isle of Wight version) 

Others:

  • England World Cup Squad - Back Home

  • Heart - Crazy on You

  • Glen Campbell - Question

  • Insane Clown Posse - Miracles

  • Large Professor - The Break

  • Jan Harvey - It’s Up to You

  • Takeshi Tateishi - Level Start (from Mega Man 2)

  • Pink Floyd - Welcome to the Machine

  • Paul Mauriat - Melancholy Man

  • Gökhan Abur - Yalnız Adam

Band/album personnel 

  • Justin Hayward - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin

  • John Lodge - vocals, bass

  • Ray Thomas - vocals, flute, tambourine

  • Graeme Edge - drums, percussion, ASMR on "Don't You Feel Small"

  • Mike Pinder - vocals, Mellotron, Moog synthesizer, piano, harpsichord, maracas, acoustic guitar

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 - And the Tide Rushes In (this episode only)

You can buy or stream A Question of Balance and other albums by the Moody Blues at moodybluestoday.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

This website and all episodes' discussion/commentary © 2018—2024 Discord & Rhyme. Excerpts from recordings appearing in episodes are included for purposes of review only, and all rights to such material remain property of their copyright holders. Please note that we make a good-faith effort to ensure all information included in these episodes is accurate, but if we get something wrong, let us know at discordpod@gmail.com and we will print a correction in the show notes. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Website design by Amanda Rodgers. Thank you for visiting, and keep as cool as you can.

Powered by Squarespace