Timeless Troubadours: The Moody Blues Music and Message - Softcover

Whitfield MD, Dr Charles; Whitfield, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935827154 ISBN 13: 9781935827153

Publisher: Muse House Press/Pennington, 2013

Synopsis

                           New - Updated  Expanded  Edition  
With the feedback from our readers we expanded our first edition's content. We have fixed the few errors and rare factual inaccuracies we had found.

Several readers asked that we look at and make meaning about more of their songs. We have done that with three (see next page): 'Question,' 'New Horizons,' and 'I'm just a singer' (in a R&R band).

Just after completing this book we went on their first "Moodies Cruise" and now include a summary of our experience there. We obtained the new Timeless Flight box set that was released three months after this book and listened to the CDs and watched its DVD video material. We also read their extensive accompanying "coffee table" sized book. We have read the many online comments on this box set and have included a relevant few of them in our 7 page review of this large box set.

Some readers commented on our interpretations of the Moodies' lyrics as not being the final word, which we had already acknowledged. We have always been open to others' interpretations and even set up a website for readers to add theirs. We had never proposed that ours were the only understandings. We have also reflected on the lyrics the way they fit into our long experience helping people heal and healing ourselves. There is a great gift to knowing the Moodies' message.



This is a landmark book by two long-time Moody Blues fans. In this book we examine and bring to light the music and message of this great band of poets and musicians who have produced hit music for almost 50 years!. 

Here's a little on what our book is about and the areas that we explore:  

• How they are unique among bands and music groups  
• What critics and others have said  
• The nature of their musical magic and message  
• How the Moodies' words and music work, song by song  
• Using 7 levels of listening to their music  
• Why listening to their music raises our consciousness  
• How their fans have listened consistently for so long  
• Why they have excelled for nearly five decades   

About this title

From the Author:

Alone or together, we have written about 18 books, mostly on consciousness, the human condition, trauma, healing, recovery and spirituality. In these we rarely referred to music. This is our first book where we do. We chose the Moody Blues because of how we have been so moved by their words and music over the decades. Of all the rock and popular groups of the 1960s and beyond, we see their music and message as being at the top.

As we focused on their lyrics, we realized that their message and our message is the same. We describe that message throughout Timeless Troubadours. In this book we revisit the 1960s from what we have learned since then as ordinary folks and as clinicians, writers, and teachers. From that we have come to understand and see the true purpose of this life here on Planet Earth expressed so we can better know the territory. For example, materialism is a detour, power corrupts and the media and drug industry numb us to what is real. The Moody Blues express what is real and exploring that has been our goal throughout our other writing.

From the Back Cover:

As the publishers, we feel that the best possible description of this book comes from one of the Moody Blues. Here is band co-founder, keyboardist and vocalist, Mike Pinder's review of this book...(From the Foreword)

"It was very interesting to read Charles and Barbara Whitfield's interpretations of our music and message.

They suggest clear and useful ideas and ways for those who are newly exploring our music and for the many who have been on this journey with us from the beginning.  

I have always been interested in the broader qualities of music to inform, heal, raise consciousness and uplift. This was often on my mind when I wrote a song or painted the backdrop for others in the band with counter melodies and my Mellotron.  

In contrast to most observers of our music, I saw how the authors here delve below the surface and give us an enjoyable interpretation of our words and music. They examine essentially their every aspect. Not only do they address our lyrics from a scholarly and poetic perspective, but they offer us some insightful and sometimes surprising interpretations of them beyond what many listeners and fans may consider.

Music has changed our world. It has the potential for reaching within, opening our minds and our hearts to the power of Universal Love. It transforms, strengthens, relaxes, teaches and enlightens us.  

The Whitfields realize these truths and give us a strong base from which to experientially understand them. They integrate the many positive messages of our words and music by giving us a clear and constructive map of healing that is on the cutting edge of psychology, consciousness studies and spirituality.

Memories are also closely associated with music. I have always thought that we hang our memories on the shape of sound. With memorable melodies, counter melodies and instrumentation we were able to create soundscapes for many to hang the best memories of their lives.

Those of us who remember the 1960s and beyond will appreciate their attention to the detail of our works and the history of how it all came about.

They show us how the Moodies have expressed, preserved and continue to remind us of the message and wisdom of the 60s by keeping it so alive. And how there was a natural spirituality that still lives in all of us and that is manifested in our descriptions of Love."

-Mike Pinder March 2013

About this edition

• Publisher: Muse House Press/Pennington
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1935827154
• ISBN 13: 9781935827153
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 232