Bruce Lester and Scott Elliott knew todays pop quiz answer: British Decca Records subsidiary label Deram released the Moody Blues masterwork album Days of Future Passed on November 10, 1967. Among the first concept recordings, it was a brilliantly innovative fusion of rock and symphonic music. All but two of the tracks were more than five minutes long. Nights In White Satin was 7:41. Initially, Decca executives opposed releasing the album, as Ray Thomas explained. Every Tuesday, record producers took all their wares and went before the record company executives to play what they had done that week, to determine what they thought was worth backing. They were very strict, but we were lucky because a guy called Walt Maguire, who was an executive with London Records, which was American Decca, was at the meeting. [Producer] Tony Clarke went in and he put Days of Future Passed on and the Decca executives sat through it and they said, What the hell is that? You spent a whole week -- a whole week, mind you -- in the studio. Walt Maguire said, I think its fantastic! If youre not going to release it over here, give it to me, because I am. The Decca people said, Well, we spent all that studio time, we might as well release it, Ray told us for Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 2. American AM top 40 radio stations, accustomed to playing records under three minutes long, werent sure what to do with it. But it was perfect for newly emerging progressive rock FM radio stations, many of which let the entire album play without interruption. Days of Future Passed became a must-have album for the hip listeners of FM rock stations. Nights In White Satin gave the band a long-awaited singles hit, reaching No. 19 on the British charts in January 1968.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 23:32:06 +0000
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