Justin Hayward & John Lodge: Blue Guitar

My two favorite members of the Moody Blues, Justin Hayward and John Lodge, released their collaboration “Blue Jays”; however, the second single, “Blue Guitar,” did not originally appear on the LP. It was, however, included on the 1987 CD reissue. Even though “Blue Guitar” was credited to both Hayward and Lodge, John Lodge did not appear on the original single release; however, his bass guitar was added to the 1987 CD issue.

The personnel on “Blue Guitar” single was actually Justin Hayward and 10cc. Hayward sang lead vocals and played lead guitar. The 10cc lineup included Lol Creme using a Gizmotron on his guitar, Graham Gouldman on bass, Eric Stewart on guitar, and Kevin Godley on drums. All four 10cc members contributed back-up vocals.

The “Blue Jays” LP did quite well charting at #4 on the UK LP charts and #16 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums. “Blue Guitar” performed better in the UK making the top 10 at #8; however, the US release barely scratched the surface by charting at only 94.

On the picture sleeve, the artwork depicted an artist’s rendition of Hayward’s red Gibson ES-335 done up in blue. At the time, Gibson did not have blue as a production color for this particular model. Upon seeing the picture sleeve, a Gibson exec ordered that a custom ES-335 be made up in blue and it was later presented to Justin Hayward.

Beale Street Blue & Pelham Blue ES-335 Models

Since then, Gibson has offered this guitar model in three hues of the color: Pelham blue, translucent blue, and Beale Street blue.