JUSTIN HAYWARD
''SONGWRITER''
FEBRUARY 1977
54:35
01 - Tight Rope/00:04:48
02 - Songwriter (Part 1)/00:03:32
03 - Songwriter (Part 2)/00:02:33
04 - Country Girl/00:04:00
05 - One Lonely Room/00:05:17
06 - Lay It On Me/00:02:54
07 - Stage Door/00:05:09
08 - Raised On Love/00:03:12
09 - Doin' Time/00:04:22
10 - Nostradamus/00:06:31
11 - Wrong Time, Right Place/00:02:31
12 - Marie/00:03:48
13 - Heart Of Steel/00:03:21
14 - Learning The Game/00:02:10
Tracks By Hayward, Except 14 By Buddy Holly
Clem Cattini /Drums
Mel Galley /Guitar
Justin Hayward /Brass, Composer, Drums, Guitar, Horn Arrangements, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, Producer, String Arrangements, Synthesizer, Vocals
Peter Knight /Strings
Dave Holland /Unknown Contributor Role
Ken Freeman /Unknown Contributor Role
Peter Knight /Strings
Peter Morgan /Unknown Contributor Role
Terry Rowley /Unknown Contributor Role
David Snell /Harp
A.J. Webber /Unknown Contributor Role
REVIEW
by Bruce Eder
Hayward has always been at his best as a mystical/romantic, and Songwriter is the solo album that best displays these qualities around a relatively lean sound. From the gentle, lullaby-like "Raised on Love" to the ethereal mystical "Nostradamus," the album is a beguiling collection of material, more personal than his work with The Moody Blues. The material is richly scored, yet lean enough to seem like chamber music next to The Moody Blues' rock symphonies.
MORE REVIEW
By Bruce Eder
Justin Hayward's Songwriter was the best of the solo albums to come out from the members of the Moody Blues during their 1974-1978 hiatus, and it has held up better than any of the others, a fact reflected in that it not only managed to stay in print on CD longer than any of the others, but was reissued in significantly upgraded sound with three superb bonus tracks in May of 2004. First and foremost is "Wrong Time, Right Place," a driving electric rocker with a great beat and a wryly ironic lyric, which was recorded for Songwriter but lost before the album was assembled; the follow-up single "Marie," an electric ballad with a rich, dramatic vocal performance by Hayward, surrounded by several layers of electric and acoustic guitars; and "Heart of Steel," an ornate slowie with some intelligent and restrained synthesizer work. The new annotation answers many questions concerning the album and its origins, and the producers have also included the bonus track from the old CD edition, Hayward's surprisingly effective rendition of Buddy Holly's "Learning the Game."
BIOGRAPHY
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.
''SONGWRITER''
FEBRUARY 1977
54:35
01 - Tight Rope/00:04:48
02 - Songwriter (Part 1)/00:03:32
03 - Songwriter (Part 2)/00:02:33
04 - Country Girl/00:04:00
05 - One Lonely Room/00:05:17
06 - Lay It On Me/00:02:54
07 - Stage Door/00:05:09
08 - Raised On Love/00:03:12
09 - Doin' Time/00:04:22
10 - Nostradamus/00:06:31
11 - Wrong Time, Right Place/00:02:31
12 - Marie/00:03:48
13 - Heart Of Steel/00:03:21
14 - Learning The Game/00:02:10
Tracks By Hayward, Except 14 By Buddy Holly
Clem Cattini /Drums
Mel Galley /Guitar
Justin Hayward /Brass, Composer, Drums, Guitar, Horn Arrangements, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, Producer, String Arrangements, Synthesizer, Vocals
Peter Knight /Strings
Dave Holland /Unknown Contributor Role
Ken Freeman /Unknown Contributor Role
Peter Knight /Strings
Peter Morgan /Unknown Contributor Role
Terry Rowley /Unknown Contributor Role
David Snell /Harp
A.J. Webber /Unknown Contributor Role
REVIEW
by Bruce Eder
Hayward has always been at his best as a mystical/romantic, and Songwriter is the solo album that best displays these qualities around a relatively lean sound. From the gentle, lullaby-like "Raised on Love" to the ethereal mystical "Nostradamus," the album is a beguiling collection of material, more personal than his work with The Moody Blues. The material is richly scored, yet lean enough to seem like chamber music next to The Moody Blues' rock symphonies.
MORE REVIEW
By Bruce Eder
Justin Hayward's Songwriter was the best of the solo albums to come out from the members of the Moody Blues during their 1974-1978 hiatus, and it has held up better than any of the others, a fact reflected in that it not only managed to stay in print on CD longer than any of the others, but was reissued in significantly upgraded sound with three superb bonus tracks in May of 2004. First and foremost is "Wrong Time, Right Place," a driving electric rocker with a great beat and a wryly ironic lyric, which was recorded for Songwriter but lost before the album was assembled; the follow-up single "Marie," an electric ballad with a rich, dramatic vocal performance by Hayward, surrounded by several layers of electric and acoustic guitars; and "Heart of Steel," an ornate slowie with some intelligent and restrained synthesizer work. The new annotation answers many questions concerning the album and its origins, and the producers have also included the bonus track from the old CD edition, Hayward's surprisingly effective rendition of Buddy Holly's "Learning the Game."
BIOGRAPHY
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.
