Justin Hayward & John Lodge - Blue Jays

Blue Jays is a collaborative studio album by English musicians Justin Hayward & John Lodge, originally released in March 1975 via Threshold Records.

After the release of The Moody Blues Seventh Sojourn (1972) album and subsequent world tour, the band members took a break from the band from 1974 until 1977 to pursue other solo projects.

In 1975 Hayward and Lodge released the very successful Blue Jays album which was produced by Tony Clarke and recorded at the Moody’s studios in West Hampstead, London. The album featured ten songs, five credited to Hayward, three to Lodge and two as collaborations.

The project was launched in highly unusual fashion with a playback (but not a live performance) in the historic surroundings of New York’s Carnegie Hall. “It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hayward later told Q magazine. “There’s John and me in the dressing room at Carnegie Hall and the house is full and all there is on stage is a record player with a couple of spotlights on it. And they say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen! The very first performance of Blue Jays!’ And then someone plonks the record on.”

Blue Jays was a big success on both sides of the Atlantic, eagerly embraced by long-time Moodies fans who had been starved of new material for three years. It reached No. 4 in the UK, spending an impressive seven weeks in the Top ten and fourteen in the Top 40. In America, it climbed to No. 16 in a 23-week chart run.

Billboard’s enthusiastic review of the album noted that its symphonic sound “brings back memories of the ‘Nights In White Satin’ days, with smooth, flowing cuts, powerfully soothing production and solo and harmony vocals that are reminiscent of the best of the Moodies…expect immediate FM play (response is already strong).” The magazine’s advice to record dealers was “Let the consumers know who this duo is and you’ve got a super seller on your hand”.

This album is a 2019 reissue on 180 gram black vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with a download code, pressed in Europe via Threshold Records.