The Moody Blues - "The Voice"

(Debuted August 8, 1981, Peaked #15, 17 Weeks on the Chart)

The British Invasion brought some significant changes to pop music in the 1960s, but changes in taste and generational shift have a way of altering the landscape. By the early 1980s, many of the bands that came ashore in the wake of The Beatles were nothing more than a pleasant memory. There were exceptions: The Rolling Stones were as vital as ever in 1981, The Who had not yet given their first farewell tour (though they clearly lost something when Keith Moon died) and The Kinks were still making solid albums. In the case of The Moody Blues, they evolved with the times.

In the late 1960s and early 70s, The Moody Blues experimented with classical music as they developed a unique sound. After a short hiatus in the mid 70s that saw various members work on their own projects, they returned in 1978 and featured more of an electronic sound that was more keyboard-oriented. That would be a very good thing as the 1980s dawned.

"The Voice" was the song that led off the group's 1981 Long Distance Voyager LP. It was partially a concept album inspired by the Voyager spacecraft that had made news in 1980-'81, so many of the songs were given an ethereal quality that pointed to the Cosmos. It was written by Justin Hayward, who also sings the lyrics.