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Gemini Dream

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"Gemini Dream"
Single by The Moody Blues
from the album Long Distance Voyager
B-side"Painted Smile"
Released19 May 1981
RecordedSpring 1980[1]
Genre
Length4:09 (album version)
3:46 (single version)
LabelThreshold
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Pip Williams
The Moody Blues singles chronology
"Driftwood"
(1978) 		"Gemini Dream"
(1981) 		"The Voice"
(1981)
Music video
"Gemini Dream" on YouTube

"Gemini Dream" is a song written by Justin Hayward and John Lodge that was released by The Moody Blues on their 1981 album Long Distance Voyager and also as the lead single from the album. It reached number 12 on the US Hot 100, as well as number 1 on the Canada RPM Top 100 Singles chart. It ranked as the 28th biggest Canadian hit of 1981.

Background

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"Gemini Dream" was the first of three singles released from Long Distance Voyager, with "Painted Smile," another track from the album, on the B-side. Two more songs from Long Distance Voyager, "The Voice" and "Talking Out of Turn," were subsequently released as singles after the album's release."[2]

"Gemini Dream" was written jointly by the band's lead guitarist Hayward and bassist Lodge, both of whom won an ASCAP songwriting award for it.[3] While Hayward and Lodge had collaborated on a duet album outside of the Moody Blues in 1975 called Blue Jays, "Gemini Dream" was the first song performed by the Moody Blues that they had written together.[2]

The song developed out of a jam session.[1] Hayward said:

We started grooving on that particular beat – I suppose it's about 115 or 120 [beats per minute], something like that, perhaps a bit faster – and then what came out was a sort of guitar riff, and [drummer] Graeme [Edge] was a real four-on-the-floor beat – boom-CHA-boom-CHA – that kind of thing, and John [Lodge] was doing an eight to the bar. And we had headphones on and were shouting silly things, sort of like a joke. The song itself developed out of us sort of saying "Oh, that's quite good,' and remembering this groove."[1]

As they developed the lyrics they tried to make it a song about touring that would be meaningful to fans but also a love song.[1] Lodge had wanted to give the song the title along the lines of "Touring the USA" and Hayward wanted to call it "Backstage Pass", but they didn't think either was right, and eventually settled on "Gemini Dream", since "Gemini" represented the two personalities.[1]

Lyrics and music

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Most of the lyrics of "Gemini Dream" are about a rock band while touring, but also lyrics are also about shared love.[2][4] The Star Press critic Kim Teverbaugh said that "It is about the band getting back together and taking to the road.[5] Lodge remembers:

I wanted to write the song saying, let's get back on the road. Be who we want, because I'm a musician. I like to play. I like to perform. We had a band which could really perform, and I really wanted to get back on the road. So it's 'long time, no see. Short time for you and me.' I had that in my brain. And actually the first incarnation of it, roughly, it was called "Touring America", not "Gemini Dream". But that was like the engine that started us on that road, Long Distance Voyager.[6]

Detroit Free Press critic Bruce Britt described the music as having "a hybrid folk-disco sound."[7] Ottawa Citizen critic Bill Provick compared its sound to ELO.[8]

Hayward and Lodge sing lead vocals in harmony.[1][2] Long Distance Voyager was the Moody Blues' first album since Patrick Moraz replaced Mike Pinder as the keyboardist, and so "Gemini Dream" was the first single released with Moraz.[1]

Reception

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Record World called the song a "majestic rocker with just a touch of disco."[9] Billboard said the band was "in super form" and called the song a "dance-beat propelled track that is highlighted by crisp, clear vocals and the group's patented orchestral sound."[10]

Upon the album's release, Teverbaugh felt "It most likely is the best song this year will produce" and noted that the song sounded a little like ELO.[5] Post-Gazette critic Gary Graff described it as sounding like "Lipps, Inc. meets the Electric Light Orchestra."[11] Sacramento Bee critic Bob Sylva said it "possesses a clever, very Hall & Oates-like vocal harmonies between Justin Hayward and John Lodge that's a delight."[12] News-Democrat critic Roger Schlueter joked that "Rock fans will probably see 'Gemini Dream' as [Long Distance Voyager's] saving grace much as they saw 'Peak Hour' as one of the best cuts Days of Future Past had to offer," noting that "the beat and vocals are straight-forward."[13]

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as the Moody Blues' 10th greatest song, calling it "a canny update of their core sound" and saying that it "set a template for the glossy-sheened prog-pop of Asia and the '80s-era retooled Yes."[14] Allmusic critic Dave Connolly felt that it "does sound dated in today's post-Xanadu landscape."[15] Music journalist Geoffrey Freakes described the song as "synth-pop", combining ELO-like melodies and harmonies with the Human League-like rhythm and synth hook, which he says is "a strange concoction that hasn't dated particularly well."[2]

John Lodge version

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Lodge released a live solo version of the song in 2021, recorded in Las Vegas, as a single and on his album The Royal Affair and After.[3] Lodge said of the release after COVID-19 lockdowns:

'Long time no see'...those opening words to Gemini Dream resonate even more with me today – what was true in 1981 has become true again in 2021. The song is about balancing 'twin' lives – touring musicians, and non-touring musicians. I finished my tour on March 8, 2020, and was in lockdown within days, but I never expected to be off the road for this long...Although this was a forced 'sojourn', it was a creative time, writing and recording new songs and a time well-spent with family, but as the song says, "the time is right" to get back on the road. Let’s keep that Gemini Dream alive for all of us…..and thank you for keeping the faith.[3]

Chart performance

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Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Cushman, Marc (2021). Long Distance Voyagers: The Story of the Moody Blues Volume 2 (1980-2018). Jacobs Brown Press. pp. 20–21, 27. ISBN 9781735567358.
  2. ^ a b c d e Freakes, Geoffrey (2019). The Moody Blues: Every Album, Every Song. Sonicbond. pp. 78, 90, 92. ISBN 9781789520422.
  3. ^ a b c Bolwell, Richard (22 November 2021). "It's a 'Gemini Dream' For John Lodge as the Moody Blues' Bass Player Unveils New Single". NMPR. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  4. ^ Wilhelm, Rich (18 May 2021). "Meanwhile and Far Away: The Moody Blues' 'Long Distance Voyager' at 40". Pop Matters. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  5. ^ a b Teverbaugh, Kim (2 August 1981). "The Moody Blues Return to Prominence with Latest Album". The Muncie Star. p. B-10. Retrieved 2024-02-12 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ John Lodge on Days of Future Passed. The Strange Brew. Accessed January 24, 2024. https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/interviews/john-lodge/.
  7. ^ Britt, Bruce (26 July 1981). "Moody Blues is a big fish in heavy metal seas". Detroit Free Press. p. 6C. Retrieved 2024-02-12 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Provick, Bill (29 May 1981). "Elton, Moody Blues revive careers". The Ottawa Citizen. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-02-12 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. 30 May 1981. p. 1. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Elton John Has No. 1 Disc Again". The Indianapolis News. 10 June 1981. p. 26. Retrieved 2024-02-14 – via newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Graff, Gary (5 June 1981). "Records: Moodies score with new sound". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 24. Retrieved 2024-02-12 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Sylva, Bob (1 October 1981). "Records: In the cavern". Sacramento Bee. p. Out & About 7. Retrieved 2024-02-12 – via newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Schlueter, Roger (18 June 1981). "'Cosmos' earns five-galaxy rating". Belleville News-Democrat. p. 7C. Retrieved 2024-02-14 – via newspapers.com.
  14. ^ DeRiso, Nick (31 August 2013). "Top 10 Moody Blues songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  15. ^ Connolly, Dave. "Long Distance Voyager". Allmusic. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  16. ^ Library and Archives Canada, August 29, 1981
  17. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles of 1981 - December 26, 1981" (PDF).
  18. ^ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1981". Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  19. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
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