Credit: Mark OwensMoody Blues singer/bassist John Lodge is preparing to launch a monthlong solo tour of his home country, the U.K., to support his 2015 album 10,000 Light Years Ago. In advance of the trek, Lodge has released a special single on CD and vinyl that features acoustic versions of the 1972 Moodies hit “Isn’t Life Strange” and his song “Simply Magic” from his solo effort.
Lodge tells ABC Radio that he initially made the acoustic recordings as a way to test out how he might present the songs in a live context.
“I went in the studio and recorded ‘Isn’t Life Strange’ and ‘Simply Magic’… with just acoustic guitar, flute and cello,” he explains. “I wanted to see the results…and I’m really excited.”
A limited number of signed copies of the single are available for purchase at Lodge’s PledgeMusic page, and he presumably also will be selling the discs at his upcoming U.K. trek, which gets underway September 3 in Stockton-on-Tees and runs through a September 30 concert in Birmingham.
After the solo outing, John will rejoin The Moody Blues for a series of fall U.S. dates, but he tells ABC Radio that eventually he’d also like to mount a solo tour of the States to promote 10,000 Light Years Ago.
“If everything goes well, I hope to bring it to the United States next year,” he says. “Because I want to perform these songs off…It’s important to me to be able to do that.”
Meanwhile, in a new video posted on his official Facebook page, Lodge reveals that besides 10,000 Light Years Ago material, his U.K. shows will feature performances of Moody Blues songs and some tunes from Blue Jays, his 1975 collaborative album with his Moodies band mate Justin Hayward.
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