Welcome. As you know, the latest post is at the top, but this is near the end of the first half of the story. Please scroll right down to the bottom and start with Why You’re Here, then Something Happened That Changed Everything etc.

Something had to give. The MTV age had put the Moodies back on the map and they were in demand again, but still Justin was suffering personally.

The solution was to go to Red Rocks in Colorado with a full orchestra.

The significance of this site cannot be overlooked. Not only was it considered a sacred, spiritual place by the Ute tribe, it is bounded by Creation Rock, Ship Rock and Stage Rock. The significance of those names will become clear as I reach the second part of the story, as will the fact that the area of the amphitheatre in which they’d perform was called the Garden of the Angels, later renamed the Garden of the Titans – both meaningful references as you will learn. Those meanings were not lost on Justin.

The group came with high hopes for a breakthrough – especially Justin. His nervousness is evident in the video made that night – he sang the wrong words at one point – and his angst is clear when he sings New Horizons. He throws back his head numerous times to swallow the emotion that would threaten the delivery of the song, and his eyes are glassy.

The song itself – so rich with emotion – was written when Justin built his house on the sea in Cornwall, where he could look out to the west over the ocean to somewhere, someplace where she existed, unaware of his longing to find her.

He was paying a penance, he’d decided, for the circumstances of their death, and her refusal at that time to leave him. The weight of that thought sat so heavily within him and is so beautifully expressed in the song:

“Well I’ve had dreams enough for one, and I’ve got love enough for three.

I have my hopes to comfort me. I’ve got my new horizons out to sea.

But I’m never goin’ lose your precious gift – it will always be that way.

Cause I know I’m going to find my own peace of mind – someday.

Where is this place that we have found? Nobody knows where we are bound.

I long to hear, I need to see, cause I’ve shed tears too many for me.

On the wind, soaring free, spread your wings. I’m beginning to see.

Out of mind, far from view, beyond the reach of the nightmare come true.”

That moment proved how lonely a person can feel among the company of thousands. Ray glanced over with sympathy and concern before singing his own tribute to the situation – For My Lady. When Gordy Marshall, the group’s new supplemental drummer, smirked at Justin’s display of emotion, John shot him a look that quickly took it from his face.

But perhaps the most telling moment was when Justin introduced his song called Bless The Wings That Bring You Back. This is what he said:

“This was written for someone very special, who’s a long, long way away, but always in my heart.”

Was it a sacred place? Did forces come together to move things along?

Because they did. When the group continued their tour and played in a sudden cold snap that November 6th, 1992 in an ancient, elegant venue called Massey Hall in Toronto, a woman sat with her husband in the upper balcony. She strained forward, unable to sink back into her seat, listening, and wondering why her eyes would not leave the man in the middle of the stage.

It had begun again.