JUSTIN HAYWARD
''SPIRITS OF THE WESTERN SKY''
FEBRUARY 26 2013
66:32
1/In Your Blue Eyes/4:08
2/One Day, Someday/4:23
3/The Western Sky/6:53
4/The Eastern Sun/4:12
5/On the Road to Love/(Justin Hayward, Kenny Loggins)/3:33
6/Lazy Afternoon/3:54
7/In the Beginning/3:37
8/It's Cold Outside of Your Heart/4:00
9/What You Resist Persists/4:31
10/Broken Dream/5:54
11/Captivated by You/3:51
12/One Day, Someday/6:14
13/Rising/0:22
14/Out There Somewhere/(Peo Haggstrom, Justin Hayward, Carl Ryden)/2:46
15/Out There Somewhere/(Peo Haggstrom, Justin Hayward, Carl Ryden)/8:06
Tracks By Hayward, Except As Indicated
Tracey Ackerman/Vocals (Background)
Frederic Arturi/Keyboards
Alison Brown/Banjo
Paolo Costa/Bass
Barry Crabtree/Banjo
Jill Crabtree/Vocal Harmony
Anne Dudley/Orchestra
Glen Duncan/Fiddle, Violin
Peo Haggstrom/Keyboards
Andy Hall/Dobro
David Harvey/Mandocello, Mandola, Mandolin
Jan Harvey/Vocal Harmony
Aubrey Haynie/Fiddle
Justin Hayward/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Keyboards, Programming, Vocals
Kenny Loggins/Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals (Background)
Timothy May/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Lele Melotti/Drums
Patty Mitchell/Vocal Harmony
Carl Ryden/Keyboards
Andy Todd/Bass
REVIEW / AMG
by James Christopher Monger
Spirits of the Western Sky, Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward's first solo outing since 1996's View from the Hill, offers up a well-stocked selection of songs that pay homage to all eras of his meal-ticket band while introducing elements of rural folk and country into the mix. Lyrically simple, yet warm and soulful, songs like the gently fingerpicked "Eastern Sun" and the expansive title track should please "Watching and Waiting"-era Moody fans, while twang-tinged, dobro-propelled ballads like "It's Cold Outside of Your Heart" and "What You Resist Persists" retain the autumnal sentimentality that always resides in the heart of a Hayward composition, despite their folksy, Nashville trappings.
BIOGRAPHY / AMG
by Bruce Eder
Justin Hayward (b. Swindon, October 14, 1946; full name David Justin Hayward) got his first guitar at age nine. In 1965, he joined pre-Beatles English rocker Marty Wilde as a member of his backing band, the Wilde Cats. By the end of 1965, Hayward had four songs that he felt ready to record on his own, which led him to former skiffle king-turned-producer Lonnie Donegan. It was Donegan's intention to record the songs himself, but Hayward insisted upon recording them, and Donegan duly agreed to serve as producer. Released by Pye Records on the last day of 1965, Hayward's solo recording debut "London Is Behind Me" vanished from sight without a trace. The follow-up, "I Can't Face the World Without You," was released by Parlophone on August 26, 1966, to similar results. It was at this same time that Hayward answered Eric Burdon's ad for a lead guitarist. But Burdon had already filled the spot, and offered the Moody Blues -- who were in the market for a new guitarist/singer to replace Denny Laine, who had quit earlier that year -- their pick of responses filling mail sacks in his office. Hayward's letter was picked out by Ray Thomas, and he was called by Mike Pinder. A meeting between the two, and a subsequent meeting with the band, brought Hayward into the Moody Blues lineup permanently.
For the first six months, the group continued doing the R&B-based repertory that they'd been known for prior to Hayward's arrival. Gradually, however, they began to work new songs into their stage act and their recording schedule, which took a big jump when the group was picked by Decca/London Records to participate in a stereo-demonstration record mixing rock and orchestral sounds. The resulting album, Days of Future Passed (1967), revived the band's fortunes, not least through the success of a Justin Hayward song called "Nights in White Satin." Although Hayward proved he could also rock out, he quickly became established as the romantic/mystic of the band, known not only for "Nights in White Satin" but songs such as "New Horizons" and "Your Wildest Dreams."
Hayward's career as a solo artist began in 1977 with the release of Songwriter, which displayed a somewhat leaner and more lively, acoustically textured sound than his work with the Moody Blues. He followed this up in 1980 with Night Flight, a major departure from his work with the group, with very much of a belated disco sound. During the next several years, Hayward devoted much of his attention to the revived Moody Blues, who had a full touring and recording schedule in front of them. His Moving Mountains (1985) was strongly reminiscent of his earlier work with the band from the start of the 1970s. Since then, when he is not working with the band and writing new material (his "Your Wildest Dreams" reached number nine in America in 1986), Hayward seems to devote his time to reviving older Moody Blues songs in solo settings, as on the 1994 release Classic Blue in which he sings Moody Blues songs with orchestral accompaniment. A guitarist of great skill and a unique sound, Hayward remained one of the few stars of the 1960s who retained a devoted international following into the 1990s, though most critics -- as with the Moody Blues -- had ceased to consider him a serious contemporary artist.
OFFICIAL SITE
TO THE TOP
''SPIRITS OF THE WESTERN SKY''
FEBRUARY 26 2013
66:32
1/In Your Blue Eyes/4:08
2/One Day, Someday/4:23
3/The Western Sky/6:53
4/The Eastern Sun/4:12
5/On the Road to Love/(Justin Hayward, Kenny Loggins)/3:33
6/Lazy Afternoon/3:54
7/In the Beginning/3:37
8/It's Cold Outside of Your Heart/4:00
9/What You Resist Persists/4:31
10/Broken Dream/5:54
11/Captivated by You/3:51
12/One Day, Someday/6:14
13/Rising/0:22
14/Out There Somewhere/(Peo Haggstrom, Justin Hayward, Carl Ryden)/2:46
15/Out There Somewhere/(Peo Haggstrom, Justin Hayward, Carl Ryden)/8:06
Tracks By Hayward, Except As Indicated
Tracey Ackerman/Vocals (Background)
Frederic Arturi/Keyboards
Alison Brown/Banjo
Paolo Costa/Bass
Barry Crabtree/Banjo
Jill Crabtree/Vocal Harmony
Anne Dudley/Orchestra
Glen Duncan/Fiddle, Violin
Peo Haggstrom/Keyboards
Andy Hall/Dobro
David Harvey/Mandocello, Mandola, Mandolin
Jan Harvey/Vocal Harmony
Aubrey Haynie/Fiddle
Justin Hayward/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Keyboards, Programming, Vocals
Kenny Loggins/Guitar (Rhythm), Vocals (Background)
Timothy May/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Lele Melotti/Drums
Patty Mitchell/Vocal Harmony
Carl Ryden/Keyboards
Andy Todd/Bass
REVIEW / AMG
by James Christopher Monger
Spirits of the Western Sky, Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward's first solo outing since 1996's View from the Hill, offers up a well-stocked selection of songs that pay homage to all eras of his meal-ticket band while introducing elements of rural folk and country into the mix. Lyrically simple, yet warm and soulful, songs like the gently fingerpicked "Eastern Sun" and the expansive title track should please "Watching and Waiting"-era Moody fans, while twang-tinged, dobro-propelled ballads like "It's Cold Outside of Your Heart" and "What You Resist Persists" retain the autumnal sentimentality that always resides in the heart of a Hayward composition, despite their folksy, Nashville trappings.
BIOGRAPHY / AMG
by Bruce Eder
Justin Hayward (b. Swindon, October 14, 1946; full name David Justin Hayward) got his first guitar at age nine. In 1965, he joined pre-Beatles English rocker Marty Wilde as a member of his backing band, the Wilde Cats. By the end of 1965, Hayward had four songs that he felt ready to record on his own, which led him to former skiffle king-turned-producer Lonnie Donegan. It was Donegan's intention to record the songs himself, but Hayward insisted upon recording them, and Donegan duly agreed to serve as producer. Released by Pye Records on the last day of 1965, Hayward's solo recording debut "London Is Behind Me" vanished from sight without a trace. The follow-up, "I Can't Face the World Without You," was released by Parlophone on August 26, 1966, to similar results. It was at this same time that Hayward answered Eric Burdon's ad for a lead guitarist. But Burdon had already filled the spot, and offered the Moody Blues -- who were in the market for a new guitarist/singer to replace Denny Laine, who had quit earlier that year -- their pick of responses filling mail sacks in his office. Hayward's letter was picked out by Ray Thomas, and he was called by Mike Pinder. A meeting between the two, and a subsequent meeting with the band, brought Hayward into the Moody Blues lineup permanently.
For the first six months, the group continued doing the R&B-based repertory that they'd been known for prior to Hayward's arrival. Gradually, however, they began to work new songs into their stage act and their recording schedule, which took a big jump when the group was picked by Decca/London Records to participate in a stereo-demonstration record mixing rock and orchestral sounds. The resulting album, Days of Future Passed (1967), revived the band's fortunes, not least through the success of a Justin Hayward song called "Nights in White Satin." Although Hayward proved he could also rock out, he quickly became established as the romantic/mystic of the band, known not only for "Nights in White Satin" but songs such as "New Horizons" and "Your Wildest Dreams."
Hayward's career as a solo artist began in 1977 with the release of Songwriter, which displayed a somewhat leaner and more lively, acoustically textured sound than his work with the Moody Blues. He followed this up in 1980 with Night Flight, a major departure from his work with the group, with very much of a belated disco sound. During the next several years, Hayward devoted much of his attention to the revived Moody Blues, who had a full touring and recording schedule in front of them. His Moving Mountains (1985) was strongly reminiscent of his earlier work with the band from the start of the 1970s. Since then, when he is not working with the band and writing new material (his "Your Wildest Dreams" reached number nine in America in 1986), Hayward seems to devote his time to reviving older Moody Blues songs in solo settings, as on the 1994 release Classic Blue in which he sings Moody Blues songs with orchestral accompaniment. A guitarist of great skill and a unique sound, Hayward remained one of the few stars of the 1960s who retained a devoted international following into the 1990s, though most critics -- as with the Moody Blues -- had ceased to consider him a serious contemporary artist.
OFFICIAL SITE
TO THE TOP
2 comments :
Thanks for the quick repost! You are the best.
ziggi
The best.... are blog friends, you included. Thanks.
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