A Question of Balance

Album Review

This is essentially the same release as the 2006-vintage hybrid SACD/CD single-disc European release of A Question of Balance, but without the multi-channel surround-sound SACD layer on the disc, just the remastered CD audio (which is pretty impressive on its own terms). The Moody Blues were deliberately aiming for a harder, leaner sound on this album than their previous work, and so there is far less of a huge mass of instruments, layer-upon-layer, to deal with, and it makes the stereo mix much more competitive with the multi-channel version. As on the hybrid release, the bonus tracks consist of one Michael Pinder outtake and the original mixes of a handful of tracks that were modified for the final edit of the album, plus an alternate mix of "Question," the hit off the album (which had actually been recorded a bit earlier). One of the ironies about the Moody Blues' history from around this time is that, after recording this album in a way that specifically allowed all of the repertory to be performed on-stage (as opposed to the studio-bound songs on their preceding album, To Our Children's Children's Children) and touring for that album, not a single live gig seems to have been officially recorded — one would have thought that someone, at the record label or in the group's management contingent, if only for reference purposes, might've thought to get a tape recorder running (even at 15 ips) one or two nights to preserve something after all that effort to boost their stage repertory and sound — which might have given us a live cut or two or three to appreciate today (this reviewer brings it up here because he knows, from personal experience, that the band on that accompanying tour and doing this repertory, especially numbers such as "Tortoise and the Hare," were on fire some nights, and maybe most). Still, given what is available, this is a great representation of the album, though most serious fans will have already picked up the 2006-vintage SACD/CD import. [This version of the CD contains bonus tracks.]