''Natural Avenue'' is the debut solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by John Lodge of The Moody Blues, released in 1977 during the Moody Blues' five year hiatus. During the five years, Lodge also collaborated with Justin Hayward for an album titled '' Blue Jays''. While ''Natural Avenue'' wasn't exactly a hit, the album fared slightly better than Hayward's release of '' Night Flight'' three years later. Music critic Robert Hillburn gave the album a favourable review in the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

. The album's cover features artwork by English artist Roger Dean. The album was originally released on the London label in 1977. It was subsequently re-released on CD on the Threshold label in 1987. This release included one bonus track, "Street Café" (originally released as a single in 1980). It was released yet again on

Threshold Threshold may refer to: Architecture * Threshold (door), the sill of a door Media * ''Threshold'' (1981 film) * ''Threshold'' (TV series), an American science fiction drama series produced during 2005-2006 * "Threshold" (''Stargate SG-1''), ...

in May 1996, with the additional bonus track "Threw It All Away" (the B-side of the "Street Café" single).

Track listing

All tracks composed by John Lodge

Side 1

#"Intro to Children of Rock 'n Roll" – 1:04 #"Natural Avenue" – 3:56 #"Summer Breeze" – 5:22 #"Carry Me" – 5:42 #"Who Could Change" – 6:04

Side 2

#"Broken Dreams, Hard Road" – 4:33 #"Piece of My Heart" – 3:56 #"Rainbow" – 3:53 #"Say You Love Me" – 6:25 #"Children of Rock 'n Roll" – 4:31

1987 CD Bonus Track

"Street Café" – 4:02

1996/2014 Reissue CD Bonus Tracks

"Street Café" – 4:02
"Threw It All Away" – 4:17

*Both "Street Café" and "Threw It All Away" produced by

Pip Williams Philip Malcolm "Pip" Williams (born 7 October 1947) is a record producer, arranger and guitarist, best known for producing albums for Status Quo and The Moody Blues and acting as well as supervising the orchestra parts and orchestra arrangem ...

Personnel

*John Lodge – 6- and 12-string acoustic guitars (1–7, 9, 10), bass (2–10), harmonica (2), piano (5), vocals *Steve Simpson – Spanish guitar (1, 9), 6-string acoustic guitars (1, 3–6, 10), electric guitar (2, 6), vocals * Chris Spedding – electric guitar (5, 7–10) * Mick Weaver – piano & organ (2–6, 8–10), electric piano (7),

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(7) * Kenney Jones – drums & percussion (2–10) * Jimmy Jewell – saxophone (3, 6) * Mel Collins – soprano saxophone (2) *Martin Dobson – alto saxophone (2) *Brian Rogers Orchestra – (3–10) *Dennis Lopez – percussion (5) *Gary Osborne – vocals *John Richardson – vocals *Allan Williams – vocals *Billy Lowrie – vocals

Chart positions

References

* 1977 debut albums John Lodge (musician) albums Albums produced by Tony Clarke (producer) Decca Records albums Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders Albums with cover art by Roger Dean (artist) {{1970s-rock-album-stub