An extraordinary year in music was 1967. The Beatles gave us “Sgt. Pepper.” Jimi Hendrix gave us “Are You Experienced.”

Jefferson Airplane gave us “Surrealistic Pillow.” One album, however, was to change the feelings people sought in music. An English group known as The Moody Blues would create a vision of sound through one album alone.

“Days of Future Passed,” one of the major highlights of progressive rock, creates a vision of the “stages of the day,” from early morning to late at night. Orchestral arrangements are flooded in with the group’s original form of rock music. This shows throughout the entirety of the album.

It begins with silence and suddenly bursts with strings and horns of the London Festival Orchestra as “The Day Begins.” All the transitions of each piece flow perfectly as The Moody Blues begins their skilled writing with “Dawn is a Feeling.” The dawn gently flows into “Another Morning,” as it seems to create a sense of leaving home to start another busy day at work. But that busy morning doesn’t last long as a “Lunch Break” takes place, with the rushing of the orchestra to and fro as to replicate the speed of moving feet rushing from place to place.

“The Afternoon” seems to be at a more peaceful pace now as everything and everyone is relaxed and back at their usual places.

In these songs, The Moody Blues develops certain lyrics and phrases that make you comprehend their own meanings. The “Evening” itself settles down to indicate that the sun is setting, and soon it will be nighttime. The final track “The Night” brings around to The Moody Blues’ most popular song, “Nights in White Satin,” and explains the ending of another day and that tomorrow lies around the corner.

The album did not gain popularity until 1972 when The Moody Blues had already become a household name in the annals of progressive rock. From there, it has achieved widespread success from and critics and audiences, some claiming it to be the best album of The Moody Blues.

“Days of Future Passed” is a fun, psychedelic romp through all the hours of the day and proves to set an example of how progressive music would lead on to be become one of the most popular types of music in the ‘60s and ‘70s.