The Moody Blues – Threshold of a Dream – Live at the Isle of Wight Festival, Blu-ray (1970/2010)
Performers: Graeme Edge, Mike Pinder, Justin Haward, John Lodge, Ray Thomas
Chapters: Threshold of a Dream, Return to the Island, Isle of Wight Pop Festival 1970, Tear Down the Fances, Early Beginnings: Bo Diddley, The Mellotron, Psychedlia & Change, Intro to the Concert, Gypsy, Tuesday Afternoon, Never Comes the Day, Tortoise and the Hare, Question, The Sunset, Melancholy Man, Nights in White Satin, Legend of a Mind, Encore: Ride My See Saw, Reflections, Late Lament
Director: Murray Lerner
Studio: Eagle Vision EVBRD33361 [6/22/10]
Video: Cropped for 16:9 1080i HD
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, DD 5.1, PCM 2.0
No region code
Length: 79 minutes
Rating: ****½
I’m sure fans of the Moodies are very thankful that Murray Lerner and a bunch of other cameramen filmed much of the group’s appearance at the 1970 British festival, when they performed in front of around 600,000 young people who had all come to the island by boat from the mainland. Of course it was shot in 16mm – even a unique event like that wouldn’t have qualified for 35mm. But with many different cameramen and angles. There have been a number of Blu-ray music performances now sourced from 16mm. One might think any improvement over standard DVD would be minimal considering the source images, but aside from the expected graininess, the images look fine – though I didn’t have the DVD version to compare. The DTS lossless surround is clearly derived artificially from the original stereo, so we’re not going to have the trippy hi-res surround field found on the seven Moody Blues albums that have come out on Mercury/Polydor SACDs nor their earlier albums for DTS using surround sound on DVD. In fact, since it muddies things up a bit and the surround channels are only pseudo-ambience, you might want to just use the PCM stereo option.
Since there was less than an hour of 16mm footage of the band performing at Wight, Lerner opens with about 20 minutes of new video shot recently of the five band members 40 years later. There is an interesting examination of exactly what the Mellotron was and how it worked and influenced pop music in general, courtesy of former band member Mike Pinder. The closing number, Ride My See Saw incorporates a collage of footage from some of the very first TV appearances by the Moodies, along with other concerts during their 40-year career.
The talented Moodies were ahead of most other bands of the day with complex vocals, unusual harmonies, intelligent use of electronics (especially the Mellotron), and lyrics that fit in perfectly with the moods and interests of their fans. Near the end of the program drummer Edge recites the opening voiceover from their first album, Days of Future Passed, and it sounds like great poetry – certainly better than the often silly lyrics of many rock hits.
The 14 music tracks give a fine idea of the band’s diversity and musicality. The opening Gypsy is a fine showcase for the rather mystical sound of the Mellotron. The Sunset is a tune by Pinder from Days of Future Passed, using flute and string accompaniment on the Mellotron, and paired with appropriate photography of the sun going down at Wight. The flute and strings combination returns for the tune Melancholy Man, with Pinder doing the vocal from his Mellotron keyboard. It’s a thoughtful and emotional tune. The Moodies do a couple tunes from their then-new album A Question of Balance: Minstrel’s Song and Question. Being new to them, these vocals are a bit off, but not badly. Of course their big hit Nights in White Satin gets a huge response from the huge crowd, and again Ray Thomas contributes a fine flute solo. The one tune that seems highly dated is Legend of a Mind, an homage to their hero Timothy Leary. It does fit in, however, with the reputation of the Moodies as sounding even better stoned.
— John Henry
