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."Murley, Mark. August 29, 2003. Hayward on Threshold. Spring/Summer 2004. Higher & Higher. Issue 46/47.
Background The album was recorded in January 1969 after concluding the group's first tour of North America. Released in April 1969, nine months after its predecessor, In Search of the Lost Chord and seven months before its successor, To Our Children's Children's Children, the album marked a busy time of rapid creative output from the band. Guitarist Justin Hayward remembers, "We were on a fast train in the '60s with our heads down, plowing away at this stuff, never really doing that much on the road. Just going back in the studio and moving forward."
Writing Like its predecessors, On the Threshold of a Dream is a concept album, but carries a looser theme than Days of Future Passed and In Search of the Lost Chord. The album's title reflects the hopes of the flower power zeitgeist and Woodstock free-love era, and the hope that society was on the cusp of a new era of consciousness, a new enlightenment. The title was coined by Mike Pinder in conversation with his friend and BBC presenter David Symonds. Pinder remembers, "About halfway through making the album, when we were kicking some titles around, I remember talking about how here we are, we'd just come through '67 in kaftans; everybody was out in the street and it was a fun time, and flower power and all that kind of thing. So, we were thinking, 'Hey, we're on the brink of a new consciousness, a new way of looking at things.' And so we were talking about that, and it was like we were 'on the verge of a human dream, a dream of humanity', and Dave said 'threshold', and I came up with 'of a dream', and it was like perfect."Murley, Mark. October 2002. Pinder on Threshold. Spring/Summer 2004. Higher & Higher. Issue 46/47. Guitarist Justin Hayward continues, "We probably were [taking ourselves too seriously]. But quite rightly. To do what we were doing we had to believe in it. It was from the heart. But at the time we got the reputation for that. I felt I was speaking for a lot of other people in the late '60s. I wanted to write about our search for enlightenment, as simple as that. I'm still kind of doing it."
Bassist John Lodge remembers the band's creative process, how each member would bring ideas to the group related to the album's theme, and then work on the songs together as they produced the album: "Collectively we all had the same subject. But because we were all different people and we all played different things and would sound differently, every song was different even though the subject was the same." He continues, "When we came into the studio, we had a coffee table; we used to sit around there and talk about a song. If I had written a song I wanted on the album, I played it to the rest of the guys when we sat around that table, and everyone around that table would put their interpretation into that song. As soon as you played the song to the rest of the guys, it really became a Moody Blues song. You had total faith in the rest of the guys that they were going to be as creative as they can be in making that song work to its highest degree."
The album begins with a spoken word introduction inspired by René Descartes's philosophical argument Cogito, ergo sum, where the narrator questions and then confirms his own existence, and then questions the meaning of his existence. Written by drummer Graeme Edge, keyboardist Mike Pinder remembers the introduction's production being a collaborative effort among the group's members.Silverstein, Robert. Thinking Is (Still) the Best Way to Travel. 2000. MWE3 Features. "In the Beginning" features three characters, listed as "First Man", "Establishment" and "Inner Man" in the printed lyrics provided in the album gate-fold sleeve. Hayward takes the role of a slightly bemused lone person who confirms his own existence. Edge, a mocking establishment figure, confirms the first man's existence, but insists his purpose is to be a cog in a corporate machine. The first man sheepishly asserts that he thinks his existence is about more than that, finding encouragement from his "Inner Man, spoken by Pinder, who tells him to "keep cool" and "keep thinking free."
The upbeat "Lovely to See You" opens the album. With its welcoming lyrics, the song later served as a concert opener during the later part of the group's career.
The lyrics of "Dear Diary" reflect on a feeling of being unable to relate to the world as it rushes by around you. The song presents a bit of cutting social commentary by closing with a mundane diary entry recounting a day of posting letters and window shopping followed by a subdued recounting that "Somebody exploded an H-bomb today...But it wasn't anybody I knew" as the song fades out. Engineer Derek Varnals remembers Thomas adlibbing the final narration during recording. When mixing the album, Varnals was careful to fade out the track at the right moment for maximum effect: "Yeah, we wanted to keep that in because it was witty and quite amusing. All we had to do was to get the timing right on the fade out. We didn't want it to be too loud - it had to be part of the fade, and I think we got it right."Murley, Mark. The Making of 'On the Threshold of a Dream'. Spring/Summer 2004. Higher & Higher. Issue 46/47
The upbeat "Send Me No Wine" and "To Share Our Love" are both written by bassist John Lodge. The lyrics of "Send Me No Wine" reflect a country music style. Varnals suggests, "'Wine' is really a country and western song. When you play it, imagine it slower, with some of the repetition taken out. Listen to the song and note that the Mellotron parts are very much like a pedal steel guitar as well."
Mike Pinder's "So Deep Within You" was later recorded by the Four Tops with instrumental backing by members of the Moody Blues.
Side two opens with Hayward's "Never Comes the Day", an ode to unrequited love. He remembers the song being influenced by his struggles to find meaning in his life at the time: "It was quite a difficult time in my life. It was a real painful situation for someone who was as young as me then. I wasn't quite sure about my own life and what I was doing and what was weird and where I was living and the people around me, including the people in the group. I was just kind of questioning everything and at the same time trying to live out some of the philosophies of the time. It was a time of strong philosophical roads and routes that people were writing about. It was a kind of age of enlightenment and searching for enlightenment." The song's plaintive mood builds to a crescendo with an exhortation for listeners to share their feelings with each other. He explains, "I felt it needed to build to something that was happier and more optimistic. It just came naturally to me. I like dynamics in songs: light and shade. I liked starting quiet and getting loud." The song employs an open G tuning, which Hayward remembers learning while touring with Richie Havens: "I learned a lot in those early years about chords, open tunings. "Question," which is a big open C tuning, and "Never Comes a Day," an open G. We played a few times with Richie Havens, and he showed me quite a few tunings backstage at gigs on that lovely good old guitar of his."
Ray Thomas' "Lazy Day" and Hayward's "Are You Sitting Comfortably" introduce a mood of drowsiness, preparing the listener for the album's centerpiece, Mike Pinder's "Have You Heard" suite.
"Lazy Day" incorporates a bit of satire, poking fun at those who while away their days in a sense of contentment. With the line "must be lamb today because beef was last week" the re-release liner notes describe the lyrics as "an acerbic comment on the average Sunday for the British working man".Powell, Mark. Liner notes essay, 2006 On the Threshold of a Dream SACD Deluxe Edition. The contentment of the verses is contrasted with ethereal yet cynical backing vocals: "It's such a crying shame / Week after week the same / That's how your life goes by / Until the day you die"
According to Hayward, "Are You Sitting Comfortably" is "about storytelling, but elevated to a bit of a psychedelic story". Its lyrics recall the days of medieval minstrels, featuring finger-picked guitar and lyrics full of vibrant imagery including "a fleet of golden galleons on a crystal sea" and the "glorious days of Camelot" while Merlin casts a spell of slumber. The song takes its first line from a popular children's show, Listen with Mother, that always began with the same line and became associated with the phrase. "Are You Sitting Comfortably" was written towards the end of the sessions, and apart from "The Dream", was the last track recorded for the album. Hayward remembers, "I already had the guitar riff and the chord sequence, and I had the first line and the title. And then we just took it from there. Ray contributed a lot of lyrics. I know the first thing he did was that second line, "A fleet of golden galleons, on a crystal sea," which is a very Ray Thomas phrase."
Mike Pinder's recitation of Graeme Edge's poem "The Dream" introduces the album's dream sequence. Its words suggest that just as new life springs from death in nature, a spirit of love and selflessness can help society realize its dream and achieve enlightenment. Edge explains, "My job back then was to write a poem that kind of hinted at all of the various themes to make sure that people's heads were pointed in the right direction."
"Have You Heard" dates from at least 1966, when an early version appeared in the band's live set. Its lyrics repeat the album's theme of enlightenment. The song bookends "The Voyage", an instrumental piece that builds with Mellotron-produced orchestral strings and reaches a crescendo with a repeated melody on piano before cellos lead a transition back to a reprise of "Have You Heard". Varnals remembers the introductory section of "The Voyage" being influenced by Also sprach Zarathustra, having been used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was released several months before the album's sessions. The track took three days to record, with Mike Pinder largely working alone on Mellotron, with overdubbed cellos, piano and other instruments played by the group.
At the end of the "Have You Heard" reprise, the album concludes with the droning electronic sound that opens the album. Produced by Mellotron, the sound plays continuously into the album's run-out groove, causing it to play continuously until the record player's tonearm is lifted.
Recording The album was recorded from 12 to 31 January 1969, once again at Decca's Studio One at their West Hampstead studio with producer Tony Clarke and engineer Derek Varnals, employing the studio's newly installed Sculley 8 track recording equipment. Final mixing on the album was completed on 3 and 4 February. The sessions typically ran from the afternoon until well into the night, with the creative team sequestering themselves inside of the studio. Producer Tony Clarke remembers, "We brought in carpets and lamps and ashtrays and recorded in the dark. It had to be comfortable and cozy. The sessions tended to go from midday until midnight."