The 40 Essential Albums of 1967

In September 1967, the Moody Blues were asked by their label to record an adaptation of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony - as a stereo- demonstration LP. The struggling Moodies, a former white-R&B band that had gone without a hit since 1965, instead created their own orchestral song cycle about a typical working day, highlighted by singer-guitarist Justin Hayward's ballads, "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" and "Nights in White Satin." Days of Future Passed (released in the U.S. the following year) is closer to high-art pomp than psychedelia. But there is a sharp pop discretion to the writing and a trippy romanticism in the mirroring effect of the strings and Mike Pinder's Mellotron.