Hayward spoke to AllMusic simply because the spring leg of his US tour was winding down (go to his official web site for a whole set of upcoming dates), and mentioned his latest single, if he helped trailblaze prog rock, and the Moody Blues basic that grew to become a US smash hit 5 years after its preliminary launch.
How has the tour been going so far?
“Brilliantly. The company may be very happy, the promoters are more than happy. I am very comfortable.”
Which songs stay your favourite to carry out dwell?
“Effectively, there’s a number of songs that I would not be capable to get off stage with out taking part in. And that is nice. However we preserve altering the arrange fairly a bit. I like ‘By no means Comes the Day,’ as a result of Karmen [Gould] can play the harmonica, which is nice. And I just like the track ‘Blue World.’ You understand, we by no means actually did that within the Moodies, and I really feel that the model we’re doing on stage now’s a lot more true on the file.”
Let’s focus on the brand new single, “Life in a Northern City,” which is the previous Dream Academy track. Had been you a fan of the track previous to overlaying it?
“I can not say that I used to be a giant fan of the track, however when Mike [Batt] talked about it to me, oh, a few years in the past, there was a file firm occupied with releasing one other model of Traditional Blue, an album that I did with Mike, which was in style songs achieved with an orchestra with out a rhythm part, achieved with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. And we acquired to know the route of the orchestra very nicely. After which this topic got here up once more, and we simply went again to our previous record of songs that we thought would work nicely on this format. And I believe ‘Life in a Northern City’ was close to the highest. It wasn’t at the highest, but it surely was close to the highest. And we talked about it to the director of the London Philharmonic. They’d a day free – or three hours free – that they may give to us. So, that is the way it took place. I believe it actually suited my voice, and I believe it is a pretty file.”
Have you ever performed the track dwell but, and in that case, how does it slot in with the opposite songs?
“I have not performed it dwell but, I simply have not had time. I believe the issue with my present isn’t what I play, it is what I pass over. And each time I recommend placing one thing into the present, the opposite children are actually, y’know, ‘Oh, I like that.’ After which I say, ‘Sure, however we now have to drop so and so.’ ‘Oh no, I like that!’ So, it is a dilemma.”
Do you agree that the Moody Blues helped trailblaze prog rock and likewise artwork rock?
“No. I believe we simply went our personal means. I wasn’t conscious of any collective known as prog rock. Or onerous rock, for that method.”
Trying again, may you inform that it was a particular time for music if you had been first developing within the ’60s, particularly in England?
“Effectively, it was a particular time for teams who had well-recorded albums – the late ’60s. The early ’60s was nicely recorded singles. The late ’60s and ’70s grew to become well-recorded albums, that folks collected. And simply by pure coincidence, Decca, our label, had been sensible at that. Their curiosity was promoting their radiograms and stereo recordings. They’d their very own urgent plant, and so they wished to have in style music, as in style as in stereo, as classical music, as a result of they owned the second largest classical catalog on the earth. Which was why, ultimately, they had been purchased by [the music label] Deutsche Grammophon. So, the stereo side was crucial to us, and it simply occurred to coincide with the delivery of FM radio in America. So, after we got here to America in ’68, we got here with an album [Days of Future Passed] that sounded lovely in stereo. Not simply the drums on the proper and the vocals on the left – that was disgraceful.”
Who would you credit score for making the transition from the recognition of singles to albums? Was it the Beatles or one other band from the ’60s?
“Effectively, the Beatles all the time launched albums, however they had been typically mono albums. Each observe was mono, and I’d purchase the mono as a result of I felt the mono was higher. And I do not even know that they launched stereo variations of Rubber Soul and A Arduous Day’s Evening. In the event that they did, it was later. However no, it was Decca who led the way in which in that. And I’ve to present credit score to a person known as Hugh Mendl who was an government producer at Decca, who actually believed in us after we had nothing – no royalty, no energy. We had a debt, really, to Decca, as a result of they’d purchased some tools or one thing like that. However yeah, Hugh Mendl conceived that entire Days of Future Handed factor.”
Which Moody Blues album are you most happy with total?
“I believe The Different Facet of Life. As a result of Tony Visconti was at his finest. To have success at age 40 once more, which I used to be, and to be on TV and to be acknowledged for the primary time…no one knew who we had been. We weren’t celebrities or personalities. However to be acknowledged on the street, not a lot with my title, however, ‘Hey, you are the Moody Blues man!’ That was good. And I believe the viewers that got here to us within the 80s are the mainstay of the viewers we have got now.”
And likewise, which solo album are you most happy with total?
“I nonetheless like Songwriter, the primary one. As a result of I used to be ‘Free finally! Free finally!'”
What do you recall in regards to the writing of “Nights in White Satin”?
“I got here residence from a gig one evening, figuring out that the opposite guys anticipated me to have a track for rehearsal the subsequent day. And I sat on the facet of the mattress and wrote the 2 verses of ‘Nights in White Satin.’ And I used to be on the finish of 1 huge love affair, the start of one other. And these items are fairly significant if you’re, y’know, 19 years previous. And it simply form of poured out of me. I’ve spent my life attempting to clarify that track, and I do not make an excellent job of it. However each phrase means one thing to me.”
Had been you stunned when the one grew to become an enormous hit in the USA in 1972, 5 years after its preliminary launch?
“Completely, completely. I believe they did not even launch it within the States, to start with. It was ‘Tuesday Afternoon’ they launched. However there have been one or two individuals who believed in it as a single, and one or two individuals who resigned as a result of it was a single – within the promo division. They only could not see it in any respect. However I used to be stunned. I am nonetheless stunned. I acquired in a cab yesterday and the man did not know who I used to be, however there it was on the radio. I did not inform him. He would not have believed me, anyway.”
And what in regards to the track “Tuesday Afternoon”?
”Tuesday’ was written as a part of Days of Future Handed. As soon as Hugh Mendl and Michael Dacre-Barclay and us had agreed on this theme of the day within the life with [composer] Peter Knight…who we by no means really performed with. The orchestral sounds on our songs are simply Mellotron. Then we form of whacked up the occasions of the day. Mike had already written ‘Daybreak Is a Feeling.’ I might already written ‘Nights in White Satin.’ And so I put the hand up for ‘The Afternoon,’ figuring out that Hugh and Michael Dacre-Barclay had actually set on this theme. And also you keep in mind, this was an illustration stereo file. It wasn’t a full value file. So, I went out to my mother and father’ home in Wiltshire, went out into the nation with my guitar on a Tuesday afternoon, I had a canine known as Tuesday, as nicely – bizarrely – and smoked some wacky baccy and wrote ‘Tuesday Afternoon.'”
Earlier than, you talked about the Mellotron. Do you agree that the Moody Blues helped popularize that instrument?
“I do not know whether or not we popularized it. I do not assume anyone else used it. Who else used it after us? Graham Bond? However Mike mastered it. And he took out the entire sound results. It was meant as a sound results instrument, actually like a Spike Jones form of factor. And he took out all of the Spike Jones form of stuff and duplicated it and quadruple-ated it at residence. So, you already had the form of strings and brass and choral double tracked. And he needed to roll his fingers over the keyboard, as a result of he solely had eight seconds for each be aware. Fucking sensible. And it made my songs work. Piano did not. I imply, ‘Fly Me Excessive’ was okay, and it was a pleasant recording, however as quickly as he performed Mellotron on my songs, they labored.”
And what do you keep in mind in regards to the writing of the track “Query”?
“I had one other session that the blokes anticipated me to have a track for on a Saturday. And on the Friday evening at two o’clock within the morning, I nonetheless did not have something. However I did have two songs in C. And one was in regards to the people who we had been taking part in to in America, since you nonetheless had the draft. And in England, it had simply stopped – the conscription. Mike was caught by conscription due to his age, however none of the remainder of us had been. And so, y’know, the turmoil that was occurring then with younger folks. We had been a bunch of these younger folks. We did not characterize it. We simply had been it. And so it was expressed in that track. After which I had a form of love track, a drama, a tragedy, if you happen to like, that had occurred to me. And once I put them collectively, they only appeared to work. And I took it into the studio the subsequent day, and not one of the different guys ever questioned that it might need been two songs. I do not assume they even know to at the present time! You are most likely gonna inform them! Effectively, really, there’s no one left a-fucking-live, so it would not matter, actually.”
Are there any modern-day music artists you take pleasure in listening to?
“Oh, there’s so many. There’s all the time a child strolling down the road with a terrific track in his coronary heart that’ll flip me on. I am again to the times of shopping for singles. Y’know, I hear a line, I Google it, I purchase it. I have not listened in the present day, simply been on the street all day in the present day. There can be although. One thing will flip me on in the present day.”
Future plans?
“I acquired some issues already began that I might like to complete with Alberto [Parodi] in Italy in the course of the summer season. I am out once more within the fall, I am becoming a member of a cruise – which appears to be an annual factor. And I am taking part in within the UK, once more. Cannot get sufficient of me, gluttons for punishment. And in Holland and in Belgium. I like my musicians – I am very fortunate to have virtuosos taking part in with me who love this music. And the stage present is de facto right down to them.”
