Last time we discussed the peak and decline of The Moody Blues and in particular the studio part of the album Caught Live + 5. I was going to stop with their studio material at that point, but several readers asked me to complete the Mark II band by including the music and my critique of Octave, Mark II’s eighth studio album.
For details about the production, release, and artwork on this record, please use the link just provided. I think that you can already tell that I am not wild about this record, but it does have its moments.
I do find it to be exceedingly weak in comparison with their canonical material, and the passing of the Mellotron and Chamberlin leaves it without the signature, hauntingly beautiful sound of The Moody Blues. Another thing that really bothers me is that they had a studio musician to sit in, and to me that is the antithesis to the canonical albums. His name was R. A. Martin, and he played the exceedingly annoying saxophone parts and some less annoying horns. In any event, we should just jump into the music.
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