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Paul A. Harris is a free-lance writer. Moody Blues/St. Louis Symphony Where: Riverport Amphitheatre, Earth City Expressway at I-70 When: 8 p.m. Sunday How much: $25-$35, reserved seats; $20, lawn seating Information: 968-1800
MORE THAN a quarter of a century ago, the Moody Blues pioneered the symphonic rock sound in their landmark album "Days of Future Passed." But the truth of the matter, admits guitarist John Lodge, is that the whole thing came about almost by coincidence . . . with the help of a little chicanery on the part of the Moodies.
This summer, the Moody Blues are reviving that facet of their music in a series of live performances with symphony orchestras. Sunday night, they'll appear at Riverport Amphitheatre armed with new orchestral arrangements of such Moody Blues classics as "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Ride My See-Saw," which they'll perform with the St. Louis Symphony.
According to Lodge, the primary thrust for the 1967 collaboration between the Moodies and the London Festival Orchestra (under the late arranger/conductor Peter Knight) came from their record company - whose interests were totally commercial.
"We had written a stage show," Lodge recalled, "and within that stage show were the songs of `Days of Future Passed.' It was something very new at the time. All our tunes, previously, were really covers of American songs - rock 'n' roll, of course, was American. But we had decided just to perform our own songs, and we wrote all the songs that became `Days of Future Passed.'
"Just after we started performing those on stage, the record company - Decca Records, in the United Kingdom - wanted to do a sampler album, combining what they called `a pop group' with an orchestra, to demonstrate...