Upon release in the 1960s and early '70s, every Moody Blues album had a song that made you take notice. Arty and orchestral, the Moody Blues had a sound like no other act beaming through the FM, they served as a link between the Beatles  and the progressive Brits of the '70s such as Pink Floyd. Lyrically thy connected with the love crowd while musically dabbling in a realm separate from most of pop music.
Significantly, they somehow managed to limit the number of times they went over the top.
Like other British acts of the day, Kinks and the Who most notably, they were rooted in American R&B and needed to develop a unique sound to garner attention. They scored a hit single, “Go Now,” made key changes in personnel and then flourished in an art-rock realm that had no predecessors.
They were a consummate album act, releasing only one or two singles per album. They had a minor masterpiece in “Days of Future Passed,” which features the gorgeous “Tuesday Afternoon” and the majestic “Nights in White Satin,” and the ambitiousness of the recording remains visceral 40 years later. (The spoken parts are a bit dated, but so be it).
The Moody Blues catalog of seven albums released between November 1967 and November 1972 was reissued this week by Universal Music. It struck me that they deserve a new appraisal, a look through the prism of 2008, a time when the orchestrated music of the Moody Blues  is something of a blueprint for music back in favor.
About 15 years ago, I reviewed for the L.A. Times one of their shows in which they were backed by an orchestra and playing all of “Days” plus the hits. Overall experience was not as good as it could have been, a result of song selection, performance and songwriting. The editor suggested that I make it about the material and note that their material is not on the level of Lennon-McCartney. Then again, whose is?
After spending a week of listening to the Moody Blues, here are my observations.

ALBUM: Days of Future Passed
DETAILS: Released in November 1967, it entered the album chart in May 1968 and hit No. 3 in 1972 after "Nights in White Satin" was released as a single.
THE HIT: "Nights in White Satin"
BONUS TRACKS:  A BBC version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"; five singles from the year preceding the album's release; and four alternate versions
MUSICAL REVELATION: "Peak Hour."
LINER NOTES REVELATION: Initial concept was a rock version of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony
ALL MUSIC GUIDE REVIEW: “Refreshingly original …  sandwiched among the playful lyricism of "Another Morning" and the mysticism of "The Sunset," songs like "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Twilight Time"  were pounding rockers within the British psychedelic milieu, and the harmony singing (another new attribute for the group) made the band's sound unique.” Four and a half stars (out of five).
NEW OVERVIEW: A remarkable mixture of classical and Broadway overtures, the song cycle about the periods in a day only sounds dated in the spoken word mumbo-jumbo. "Tuesday Afternoon" is the most resilient song in their catalog, never losing its luster over the last 40 years.