Graeme Edge died from an unknown cause today. Edge had been playing the drums in English progressive rockers The Moody Blues for 50 years. Edge was 80.
Edge joined The Moody Blues at the band’s formation in 1964. The Moody Blues’ first incarnation was a blues and ’60s British pop outfit nominally led by guitarist Denny Laine. This version of the group reached the U.S. Top Ten in 1964 with “Go Now.” Subsequent efforts at a follow-up hit failed to click, and in 1966 Laine left the group. He returned to the group several years later, as the guitarist for Wings.
The three remaining members — Edge, keyboardist Mike Pinder, and vocalist/flutist Ray Thomas — recruited old friend John Lodge to play bass. Following Eric Burdon’s recommendation to Justin Hayward, guitarist Justin Hayward joined the band. The new lineup moved away from the original lineup’s sound, adding melodic psychedelic touches via Pinder’s increasing use of the Mellotron and emphasizing Thomas’ flute playing. The band’s big break came in 1967 when their record label asked them to record a rock version of Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony as a means of showing off the label’s freshly developed recording technology. The answer is stereo. They tried it and convinced the label. After a few attempts, they recorded an album with original material. Their arrangements relied heavily on orchestrated passages by London Festival Orchestra studio musicians. The result was 1967’s Days of Future Past, which contained Hayward’s “Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)” and “Nights In White Satin.” Neither of the songs nor the album were an immediate hit, but they drew sufficient public attention to get the ball rolling.
Edge, in addition to his drumming, often contributed one or two spoken word pieces to every Moody Blues album. Sometimes narrated himself, but most of the time Pinder read them. He also started writing lyrics, as heard in “After You Came” from 1971’s Each Good Boy deserves Favor. The band piled up the hits through 1972’s The Seventh Sojourn. The five musicians agreed to take a rest after a long tour that lasted into 1974 in promotion of the album. Each party released solo albums. Hayward, Lodge and Lodge recorded an album. Edge recorded two albums along with Adrian Gurvitz, guitarist.
They reunited again in 1977 and issued their first album, “The Band”. OctaveIn 1978, Pinder was included in the group, despite him leaving during recording. Undaunted, with new keyboardist Patrick Moraz along for the ride, the band embarked on a hugely successful run throughout most of the ’80s. The band may have been better known as Justin Hayward and Friends in retrospect. Hayward had written most of the songs. Moraz eventually left the group, but the band lost its relevance as an original music creator. However, it still continued to perform for fans regularly. Thomas left the group after he was diagnosed with cancer and died in 2018. The band was also inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Edge made the announcement at the close of a concert to commemorate the fifty-year anniversary of the band’s founding. Days of Future PastThat he would be retiring. Hayward, Lodge and others decided later to close the band.
They were not a popular band; in fact, they received hardly any criticism. They infuriated the critics by showing how little they mattered in shaping public opinion, as for decades, crowds flocked to concerts despite the band’s minimal showmanship. It was the music that mattered, music touching on light classical themes within an unfailingly melodic rock context, all laced together with a lyrical bent rooted in a very ’60s search for answers to life’s mysteries. The Moody Blues earned the title given them by a writer, one which Thomas wove into a song on 1981’s Long Distance VoyagerThe veteran cosmic rockers.
Good luck, Graeme Edge.
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