Page "The Moody Blues" Paragraph 29

The Moodies toured the US and Europe during much of 1979.

By 1980 they were ready to record again, this time bringing in producer Pip Williams.

Moraz was retained as the band's permanent keyboardist, though Pinder had originally understood that he would continue to record even if not touring with the band.

Pinder attempted legal measures to prevent the new Moody Blues album from reaching the public without his contributions, but he was not successful, and ultimately, he never returned to the fold.

Nevertheless when released in 1981, Long Distance Voyager was a colossal success, reaching No. 1 on Billboard and going Top 5 in the UK.

The album yielded two hits, " The Voice ", ( No. 15 US ) written by Hayward, and " Gemini Dream ",( No. 12 US ) written by Hayward and Lodge.

John Lodge's " Talking out of Turn " also charted in the US reaching No. 65.

Edge provided " 22, 000 Days " ( featuring Thomas as lead voice with Hayward & Lodge ) while Thomas ' own contributions were the final portion of the set with his singing on the final two songs ; " Painted Smile ", " Reflective Smile " ( a poem narrated by a DJ friend of the band ) and " Veteran Cosmic Rocker ".

By now, the mellotron had long been set aside as their primary keyboard instrument on their studio albums and the band embraced a more modern, less symphonic approach, though still retaining a lush keyboard-led sound as Moraz gave a more contemporary edge to their sound.

In live concerts the mellotron would still be used heavily by Patrick Moraz until the mid-1980s, strikingly also on songs which originally did not originally feature the mellotron.

The marketing formula for the band demanded from this time forward that a Justin Hayward song would be used to lead off their studio albums, as his material was the most popular.

Hayward had always written most of their hit singles, followed by Lodge, however from this point onwards Hayward had to carry far more of the composing burden, most notably in Pinder's absence.

Also Ray Thomas ' song contributions began to diminish soon after, Hayward and Lodge also then teaming up to provide songs in addition to their own compositions.