Hayward spoke to AllMusic simply because the spring leg of his US tour was winding down (go to his official site for an entire set of upcoming dates), and mentioned his latest single, if he helped trailblaze prog rock, and the Moody Blues traditional 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 very happy. I am very completely happy.”
Which songs stay your favourite to carry out reside?
“Effectively, there’s a couple of songs that I would not be capable to get off stage with out taking part in. And that is wonderful. 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 tune ‘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 document.”
Let’s talk about the brand new single, “Life in a Northern City,” which is the previous Dream Academy tune. Have been you a fan of the tune previous to masking it?
“I can not say that I used to be a giant fan of the tune, however when Mike [Batt] talked about it to me, oh, a few years in the past, there was a document firm thinking about releasing one other model of Classic Blue, an album that I did with Mike, which was widespread songs executed with an orchestra with out a rhythm part, executed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. And we received to know the path 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 feel ‘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 feel it actually suited my voice, and I feel it is a pretty document.”
Have you ever performed the tune reside but, and if that’s the case, how does it slot in with the opposite songs?
“I have not performed it reside but, I simply have not had time. I feel the issue with my present shouldn’t be what I play, it is what I omit. And each time I counsel placing one thing into the present, the opposite children are actually, y’know, ‘Oh, I like that.’ After which I say, ‘Sure, however we have now 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 in addition artwork rock?
“No. I feel we simply went our personal means. I wasn’t conscious of any collective known as prog rock. Or laborious rock, for that method.”
Wanting again, might you inform that it was a particular time for music once you have 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, have been good at that. Their curiosity was promoting their radiograms and stereo recordings. They’d their very own urgent plant, they usually wished to have widespread music, as widespread as in stereo, as classical music, as a result of they owned the second largest classical catalog on the planet. Which was why, ultimately, they have been purchased by [the music label] Deutsche Grammophon. So, the stereo facet was essential 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 stunning 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 have been usually 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 Hard Day’s Night. 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, truly, to Decca, as a result of they’d purchased some tools or one thing like that. However yeah, Hugh Mendl conceived that complete Days of Future Handed factor.”
Which Moody Blues album are you most happy with general?
“I feel The Other Side 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 person knew who we have 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 feel 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 general?
“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 house from a gig one evening, realizing that the opposite guys anticipated me to have a tune for rehearsal the following day. And I sat on the aspect 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 once you’re, y’know, 19 years previous. And it simply form of poured out of me. I’ve spent my life making an attempt to elucidate that tune, and I do not make an excellent job of it. However each phrase means one thing to me.”
Have been you stunned when the one grew to become an enormous hit in america in 1972, 5 years after its preliminary launch?
“Completely, completely. I feel 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 simply could not see it in any respect. However I used to be stunned. I am nonetheless stunned. I received 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 tune “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 truly performed with. The orchestral sounds on our songs are simply Mellotron. Then we type of whacked up the occasions of the day. Mike had already written ‘Daybreak Is a Feeling.’ I would already written ‘Nights in White Satin.’ And so I put the hand up for ‘The Afternoon,’ realizing that Hugh and Michael Dacre-Barclay had actually set on this theme. And also you keep in mind, this was an illustration stereo document. It wasn’t a full worth document. So, I went out to my dad and mom’ 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 suppose anyone else used it. Who else used it after us? Graham Bond? However Mike mastered it. And he took out all the 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 house. 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 good. 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 tune “Query”?
“I had one other session that the fellows anticipated me to have a tune 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 those who we have 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 have been. And so, y’know, the turmoil that was occurring then with younger individuals. We have been a gaggle of these younger individuals. We did not signify it. We simply have been it. And so it was expressed in that tune. After which I had a form of love tune, a drama, a tragedy, should you like, that had occurred to me. And after I put them collectively, they only appeared to work. And I took it into the studio the following day, and not one of the different guys ever questioned that it may need been two songs. I do not suppose they even know to this present day! You are in all probability gonna inform them! Effectively, truly, there’s no person left a-fucking-live, so it would not matter, actually.”
Are there any modern-day music artists you get pleasure from listening to?
“Oh, there’s so many. There’s all the time a child strolling down the road with an excellent tune 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 at this time, simply been on the street all day at this time. There will likely be although. One thing will flip me on at this time.”
Future plans?
“I received some issues already began that I would like to complete with Alberto [Parodi] in Italy throughout the summer time. 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 actually right down to them.”