CoronaVinyl Day 204 (M): A Question of Balance by The Moody Blues

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "M," and apparently I own four Moody Blues albums, so we might as well knock one out.  Today's selection is their sixth studio album, 1970's A Question of Balance.  As you can see, it has a sweet gatefold album cover with various chaotic scenes that are apparently in the sky above a beach.  It's what you'd expect from a prog band.

The Moody Blues formed in 1964 in Birmingham, England.  Future Wings bassist Denny Laine was a founding member, but left the band after two years.  They started as an R&B band before changing their direction in 1967 and becoming pioneers of art rock and prog rock.  They've always been one of those bands that I kind of forget about, perhaps because I'm not a huge prog fan.  That said, when I looked at their discography, I was surprised at how many of their songs I know, thanks to years of steadfast classic rock radio listening.

A Question of Balance was apparently written to kind of dial back their then-usual psychedelic/prog sound and make songs that would be easier to play live.  I can't tell if they succeeded or not because there's still a lot going on here musically.  All five band members contributed songs to the album, and lead vocal duties are shared among four of them.  Whatever they did, it worked, as the album went to #3 on the Billboard album chart and #1 on the UK album chart (matching their highest-charting albums on both charts to that point).  The album eventually went platinum in the U.S.  They only released one single from the album, "Question," which went to #2 on the UK pop chart, #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 (their third Top 40 hit), #1 in The Netherlands, and #8 in Canada.

The band would go on to have success throughout the '70s and even into the '80s, both in the U.S. and UK (and elsewhere).  All told, they had nine studio albums that reached the Top 20 of the Billboard album chart, five of which were Top 5, including two #1s.  In the UK, they had 8 Top 10 albums, including three #1s.  However, the band's singles charted better across the pond than they did in their native UK.  On the UK pop chart, they had 9 Top 40 hits, including three Top 10s and one #1.  On the Billboard Hot 100, they had 13 Top 40 hits, including three Top 10s (the latest of which came in 1986 with "Your Wildest Dreams," which went to #9).  They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

The Spotify version of the album contains six extra tracks, including a previously unreleased track and alternate or demo versions of five album tracks.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Question"

Written and sung by guitarist Justin Hayward, the first track on the album is one of my favorite Moody Blues songs, probably because it's one of the more rocking songs.  It goes back and forth between frantic acoustic rock (supplemented by brass) and slower, more poppy parts.  I have always enjoyed the drum fill that sounds like knocking after the line "Why do we never get an answer / When we're knocking at the door?"

Favorite song from Side 2:  "The Balance"
Written by drummer Graeme Edge and singer/flutist Ray Thomas, the last song on the album is orchestral psychedelic song with quiet, spoken-word verses by keyboardist Mike Pinder and louder, singalong choruses sung by everyone, and the song kind of crescendos towards the end, until fading away.