Hi Jonny. Were you at all inspired by A Question Of Balance by The Moody Blues for other things you’ve written? I ask because your reference to Melancholy Man in Thirteen Storeys prompted me to listen to the full album a while back and I feel like I find new parallels between the album and your other works with each listen. I’d also be very interested in any thoughts you have on the album. Thanks!
I mean, I grew up on my dad's 70s prog collection (my first gig at age 13 was Uriah Heep's 30th anniversary show), so Moody Blues were pretty formative for me, yeah. They weren't quite up there with Pink Floyd, Deep Purple or Uriah Heep, which were my favourites, but "Melancholy Man" specifically has always stuck with me, and its definitely found its way onto more than one of my writing playlists.
Thanks so much for answering! I’m admittedly quite ecstatic that this was the ask of mine you chose to respond to as I’ve been writing a (extensively homebrewed) RPG based around both The Moody Blue’s A Question of Balance and The Magnus Archives for the past couple months. Needless to say, Melancholy Man stuck with me as well.
I’ve set my game in 1890s Toronto, Canada within the “Magnus-verse” with the hope that, once the campaign is finished, I’ll be able to hand each of my players a copy of A Question of Balance and they’ll be able to listen through the whole album as if it’s a musical interpretation of the story they’ve just played. Meaning, each song will be a source of direct inspiration and will correspond to a session, arc, or event that occurred within the game. We’re starting the first week of September and I hope to end in April.
If by chance you see this, would you like to add anything to the game? (Names, items, etc.)
Otherwise, thanks for the music recommendations! I grew up on my dad’s music as well (although he listened to more folk than prog) and I do regularly listen to Pink Floyd, especially after just recently watching an incredible cover band with said father.
Haven’t dug too much into Uriah Heep and Deep Purple though, so that’s next on my list.
Have a good one!
