| Blue Jays | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 10 March 1975 (US) 14 March 1975 (UK) | |||
| Recorded | June–December 1974 at Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London | |||
| Genre | Rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 47:12 (LP) 50:48 (CD) | |||
| Label | Threshold | |||
| Producer | Tony Clarke | |||
| Justin Hayward chronology | ||||
| ||||
| John Lodge chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Blue Jays | ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
Blue Jays is a 1975 album by Justin Hayward and John Lodge. It was recorded and released during the Moody Blues' five-year hiatus.
During work on the Moody Blues album that was to follow Seventh Sojourn ,bandmates Lodge,Mike Pinder,Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge summoned Hayward and producer Tony Clarke out of a recording session to call off the project. The tension-fraught recording of Seventh Sojourn and subsequent world tour had left the band exhausted and relationships frayed. Pinder,who had emigrated to the United States,was not happy in England and was determined to return home to California. According to Hayward:
I was under a lot of pressure from Decca to come up with something to release. So I actually went to America to do something with Mike [Pinder],between the two of us. Then Tony Clarke and John [Lodge] turned up at Mike's house as well. Mike took me in the other room and said,"I don't want to work with anybody else. I'm out of this project." So then it became me and John and Tony Clarke,and we made an album called Blue Jays. [4]
The album was recorded,between June and December 1974,at Threshold Westlake Audio Studios in West Hampstead,London. [4]
On 10 March 1975 Blue Jays made its debut in the form of a staged playback of the album at Carnegie Hall. Hayward and Lodge wanted to pipe the music into the street,but New York police said they feared a traffic jam. [5] A short tour of the UK followed in November and December 1975. A recording of the 12 December show at Lancaster University,featuring Trapeze members Mel Galley (guitar) and Dave Holland (drums),is included in the 2013 Timeless Flight box set.
The track "Blue Guitar," originally released as a non-album single credited to Hayward and Lodge in September 1975 but performed by Hayward with the band 10cc,with John Lodge on bass guitar,was added to the album upon its re-release on CD in 1987. Hayward said,"After a couple of years,John and I had made the Blue Jays album and we were looking for something to release to promote it and I remembered this track and I brought it out and played it to John and our producer Tony Clarke. They liked it but thought it needed something so we took it back to our studio and John added some bass onto it and Tony mixed it in a really nice way and anyone who’s interested will notice it's got dual production credits of 10cc and Tony Clarke." [6]
The single stayed in the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks in 1975,peaking at No. 8 on 15 November. [7]
In 2004 the album was remastered and released on CD with the same bonus track.
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [8] | 26 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [9] | 19 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [10] | 13 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [11] | 17 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [12] | 12 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [13] | 16 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [14] | 4 |
| US Billboard 200 [15] | 16 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI) [16] | Gold | 100,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964. The band initially consisted of Graeme Edge (drums), Denny Laine (guitar/vocals), Mike Pinder (keyboards/vocals), Ray Thomas (multi-instrumentalist/vocals), and Clint Warwick (bass/vocals). Originally part of the British beat and R&B scene of the early–mid 1960s, the band came to prominence with the UK No. 1 and US Top 10 single "Go Now" in late 1964/early 1965. Laine and Warwick both left the band in 1966, with Edge, Pinder and Thomas recruiting new members Justin Hayward (guitar/vocals) and John Lodge (bass/vocals). They embraced the psychedelic rock movement of the late 1960s, with their second album, 1967's Days of Future Passed, being a fusion of rock with classical music that established the band as pioneers in the development of art rock and progressive rock. It has been described as a "landmark" and "one of the first successful concept albums".
Days of Future Passed is the second studio album by English progressive rock band the Moody Blues, released on 17 November 1967, by Deram Records. It has been cited by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and others as one of the earliest albums of the progressive rock genre and one of rock music's first concept albums.
A Question of Balance is the sixth album by the Moody Blues, released in 1970. The album reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom and No. 3 in the United States.
On the Threshold of a Dream is the fourth album by the Moody Blues, released in April 1969 on the Deram label. The album reached the top of the album charts, the group's first No. 1 album in the UK. According to guitarist Justin Hayward, "I think Threshold is the defining album for the Moody Blues. And it's the one in the '60's that you would find in people's homes when you went, they would have that album."
David Justin Hayward is an English musician. He was the guitarist and frontman of the rock band the Moody Blues from 1966 until that group's dissolution in 2018. He became the group's principal vocalist and its most prolific songwriter over the 1967–1974 period, and composed several international hit singles for the band.
In Search of the Lost Chord is the third album by the Moody Blues, released in July 1968 on the Deram label.
To Our Children's Children's Children is the fifth album by the Moody Blues, released in November 1969.
Seventh Sojourn is the eighth album by the Moody Blues, released in October 1972. The album reached No. 5 in the United Kingdom, and became the band's first American chart-topper, spending five weeks at No. 1 there to close out 1972.
Octave is the ninth album by the Moody Blues, released in 1978, and their first release after a substantial hiatus following the success of the best-selling Seventh Sojourn in 1972. Released after a considerable break, which saw The Moody Blues returning in an era of punk music and disco, Octave produced a reduced commercial outcome for the band, but reached No. 6 in the United Kingdom and went platinum in the United States, where the album reached No. 13. The album produced the hit single "Steppin' in a Slide Zone", which hit No. 39 in the US, in addition to "Driftwood". The album's title is a musical pun: it references both the notion of an octave; and as a word derived from the Latin octavus it refers to this being the eighth album by this line-up of the Moody Blues.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is the seventh album by The Moody Blues, released in 1971. The album reached No. 1 on the British album chart, in addition to a three-week stay at No. 2 in the United States, and produced one top-40 single, "The Story in Your Eyes".
Eyes of a Woman is the second English-language solo studio album by Swedish singer and former ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog, and her eighth studio album overall. It was released in March 1985.
Graeme Charles Edge was an English musician, songwriter and poet, best known as the co-founder and drummer of the English band the Moody Blues. In addition to his work with the Moody Blues, Edge worked as the bandleader of his own outfit, the Graeme Edge Band. He contributed his talents to a variety of other projects throughout his career. In 2018, Edge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.
The Present is the eleventh album by the Moody Blues, released in 1983. This was the group's last original studio album to be released on their custom label, Threshold Records.
Caught Live + 5 is a live album by The Moody Blues, consisting of a 12 December 1969 live show at the Royal Albert Hall and five previously unreleased studio recordings from 1967 to 1968.
Time Traveller is a box set by British rock band The Moody Blues, released in 1994.
"Never Comes the Day" is a 1969 single by the progressive rock band the Moody Blues. It was written by band member Justin Hayward, and was the only single released from their 1969 album On the Threshold of a Dream.
Anthology is a compilation album by the progressive rock band the Moody Blues. It was released in the US on 20 October 1998. It was not released in the UK until 2001 under the title The Collection with different artwork but with the same tracks as the US release.
Anthony Ralph Clarke was an English rock music record producer and guitarist. Born in Coventry, he is best known for producing The Moody Blues from 1966 to 1978.
Gold is a compilation album by The Moody Blues, released in 2005 by Polydor Records as part of Polydor's Gold series.
"A Simple Game" is a 1968 song by the progressive rock band the Moody Blues. Written and sung by Mike Pinder, it was released as a non-album B-side to "Ride My See-Saw", a track from the album In Search of the Lost Chord. The song was produced by Tony Clarke and arranged by Arthur Greenslade. The track was included in the band's 1974 compilation, This Is The Moody Blues, remixed and with an earlier fade than on the single. It was also included, with its original mix and length, in the 1987 compilation Prelude.
