Rock, Metal

Moody Blues - A Question Of Balance (1970)

2010-06-06T09:30:58Z

Moody Blues - A Question Of Balance (1970)


01. Question (Justin Hayward) – 5:45
02. How Is It (We Are Here) (Mike Pinder) – 2:46
03. And The Tide Rushes In (Ray Thomas) – 2:57
04. Don't You Feel Small (Graeme Edge) – 2:38
05. Tortoise And The Hare (John Lodge) – 3:18
06. It's Up To You (Hayward) – 3:12
07. Minstrel's Song (Lodge) – 4:28
08. Dawning Is The Day (Hayward) – 4:22
09. Melancholy Man (Pinder) – 5:45
10. The Balance (Edge/Thomas) – 3:27

Bonus tracks on 2008 Threshold remaster:
11. Mike's Number One (3:36)
12. Question (Alternate Version) (6:08)
13. Minstrel's Song (Original Mix) (4:35)
14. It's Up To You (Original Mix) (3:19)
15. Don't You Fell Small (Original Mix) (3:02)
16. Dawning Is The Day (Full Original Mix) (4:36)

- Justin Hayward - guitars, vocals, mandolin
- John Lodge - bass, vocals
- Ray Thomas - tambourine, flute, vocals
- Michael Pinder - mellotron, vocals
- Graeme Edge - drums, percussion

The Moody Blues' first real attempt at a harder rock sound still has some psychedelic elements, but they're achieved with an overall leaner studio sound. The group was trying to take stock of itself at this time, and came up with some surprisingly strong, lean numbers (Michael Pinder's Mellotron is surprisingly restrained until the final number, "The Balance"), which also embraced politics for the first time ("Question" seemed to display the dislocation that a lot of younger listeners were feeling during Vietnam). The surprisingly jagged opening track, "Question," recorded several months earlier, became a popular concert number as well as a number two (or number one, depending upon whose chart one looks at) single. Graeme Edge's "Don't You Feel Small" and Justin Hayward's "It's Up to You" both had a great beat, but the real highlight here is John Lodge's "Tortoise and the Hare," a fast-paced number that the band used to rip through in concert with some searing guitar solos by Hayward. Ray Thomas' "And the Tide Rushes In" (written in the wake of a fight with his wife) is one of the prettiest psychedelic songs ever written, a sweetly languid piece with some gorgeous shimmering instrumental effects. The 1997 remastered edition brings out the guitar sound with amazing force and clarity, and the notes tell a lot about the turmoil the band was starting to feel after three years of whirlwind success. The only loss is the absence of the lyrics included in earlier editions. ---Bruce eder, allmusic.com

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Moody Blues - In Search Of The Lost Chord (1968)

2010-06-05T20:40:44Z

Moody Blues - In Search Of The Lost Chord (1968)


01. Departure (Graeme Edge) – 0:48
02. Ride My See Saw (John Lodge) – 3:39
03. Dr. Livingstone, I Presume (Ray Thomas) – 2:58
04. House Of Four Doors (John Lodge) – 4:12
05. Legend Of A Mind (Ray Thomas) – 6:37
06. House Of Four Doors (Part 2) (John Lodge) – 1:42
07. Voices In The Sky (Justin Hayward) – 3:30
08. The Best Way To Travel (Mike Pinder) – 3:11
09. Visions Of Paradise (Justin Hayward, Ray Thomas) – 4:15
10. The Actor (Justin Hayward) – 4:38
11. The Word (Graeme Edge) – 0:49
12. Om (Mike Pinder) – 5:41

Personnel:
* Justin Hayward – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, sitar,
 harpsichord, piano, mellotron, bass guitar, percussion, tablas
* John Lodge – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, cello, tambourine, snare drum
* Graeme Edge - drums, piano, timpani, tambourine, tablas, spoken vocal
* Ray Thomas – vocals, C flute, alto flute, soprano saxophone, tambourine
* Mike Pinder – vocals, mellotron, piano, harpsichord, acoustic guitar, cello, 
autoharp, bass guitar, tambura

In Search of the Lost Chord is the album on which the Moody Blues discovered drugs and mysticism as a basis for songwriting and came up with a compelling psychedelic creation, filled with songs about Timothy Leary and the astral plane and other psychedelic-era concerns. They dumped the orchestra this time out in favor of Mike Pinder's Mellotron, which was a more than adequate substitute, and the rest of the band joined in with flutes, sitar, tablas, and cellos, the playing of which was mostly learned on the spot. The whole album was one big experiment to see how far the group could go with any instruments they could find, thus making this album a rather close cousin to the Beatles' records of the same era. It is all beautiful and elegant, and "Legend of a Mind"'s chorus about "Timothy Leary's dead/Oh, no -- he's outside, looking in" ended up anticipating reality; upon his death in 1996, Leary was cremated and launched into space on a privately owned satellite, with the remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (another '60s pop culture icon) and other well-heeled clients. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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Moody Blues - Octave (1978)

2010-06-05T14:50:26Z

Moody Blues - Octave (1978)


01. Steppin' In A Slide Zone (John Lodge) – 5:26
02. Under Moonshine (Ray Thomas) – 4:57
03. Had To Fall In Love (Justin Hayward) – 3:39
04. I'll Be Level With You (Graeme Edge) – 3:44
05. Driftwood (Hayward) – 4:58
06. Top Rank Suite (Hayward) – 3:38
07. I'm Your Man (Thomas) – 4:17
08. Survival (Lodge) – 4:59
09. One Step Into The Light (Mike Pinder) – 4:26
10. The Day We Meet Again (Hayward) – 6:12

Personnel:
- Justin Hayward - vocals, guitar, keyboards
- John Lodge - vocals, bass, keyboards
- Ray Thomas - vocals, flute, tambourine
- Mike Pinder - vocals, organ,synthesizer
- Graeme Edge - drums, percussion, vocals

The Moody Blues' resumed work together after a four-year hiatus and delivered Octave in 1978, which quickly became a hit but has also proved to be a very problematic album. Picking up where he left off on Seventh Sojourn, bassist/singer John Lodge generated a hit single (and also a solid album opener) with the surprisingly edgy (for this band) rocker "Steppin' in a Slide Zone." And Justin Hayward's "Had to Fall in Love," "Driftwood," and "The Day We Meet Again" -- the latter their best album closer since "Watching and Waiting" -- are also up to the standard one would wish for (and a bit of a surprise, coming in the wake of two major solo projects that should have depleted his song bag). Additionally, Graeme Edge's "I'll Be Level with You" gives the album some harder rocking moments, but that's not the real reason for buying Moody Blues records; rather, it's the sweep, the overall body of music and vision, psychedelic and romantic, punched up with some solid rock moments, and it's this larger arc of the music that is missing here. Ray Thomas' two songs are lackluster compared with his earlier work; and Mike Pinder's "One Step Into the Light" is so limited in its scope, compared to his earlier album-defining mystical explorations, that he's barely a presence on the album (and he did quit the band in the course of completing this record). As well as not quite offering an album's worth of good songs, the whole album lacks the depth and scope of preceding releases; 1978 would have been a little late for an album steeped in psychedelia, but the MBs didn't quite have anything to replace the latter element in the mix. Octave has its moments, and even a few very good ones -- and two great ones, on "Steppin' in a Slide Zone" and the place where the chorus comes in on "The Day We Meet Again" -- but they're not supported by enough that's worthwhile. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn (1972)

2010-06-05T17:20:13Z

Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn (1972)


01. Lost In A Lost Word (Pinder) - 4:42
02. New Horizons (Hayward) - 5:10
03. For My Lady (Thomas) - 3:57
04. Isn't Life Strange (Lodge) - 6:00
05. You And Me (Hayward, Edge) - 4:19
06. The Land Of Make-Believe (Hayward) - 4:51
07. When You're A Free Man (pinder) - 6:05
08. I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock and Roll Band) (Lodge) - 4:17

Personnel:
- Justin Hayward - guitars, vocals
- John Lodge - bass, vocals
- Mike Pinder - chamberlin, vocals
- Ray Thomas - harmonica, flute, tambourine, vocals
- Graeme Edge - drums, percussion, vocals

Despite the presence of a pair of ballads -- one of them ("New Horizons") by Justin Hayward the latter's most romantic number since "Nights in White Satin" -- Seventh Sojourn was notable at the time of its release for showing the hardest-rocking sound this band had ever produced on record. It's all relative, of course, compared to their prior work, but the music is comparatively stripped down here, and on a lot of it Graeme Edge's drumming and John Lodge's bass work comprise a more forceful and assertive rhythm section than they had on earlier records, on numbers such as "Lost in a Lost World," "You and Me," and "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock & Roll Band)." The latter, authored by Lodge, was -- along with Lodge's "Isn't Life Strange" -- one of two AM radio hits that helped drive the sales of this album, issued in early November of 1972, past all previous levels. Indeed, it was with the release of this album that the Moodies achieved their great commercial success in America and around the world, with a "Grand Tour" that kept them on the road for much of the year that followed. The irony was that it was all about to end for them, for years to come, and the signs of it were all over this record -- Seventh Sojourn took a long time to record, and a lot of the early work on it had to be junked ("Isn't Life Strange" was one of the few early songs to get completed); it was clear to all concerned except the fans that, after six years of hard work in their present configuration, they all needed to stop working with each other for a time, and this was clear in the songs -- many have a downbeat, pensive edge to them, and if they reflected a questioning attitude that had come out on recent albums, the tone of the questioning on songs like "Lost in a Lost World," "You and Me," and "When You're a Free Man" had a darker, more desperate tone. Perhaps the group's mostly youthful, collegiate audience didn't notice at the time because it fit the mood of the times -- the album hit the stores in America the day before Richard Nixon's landslide presidential re-election victory (the culmination of events behind the scenes that would subsequently drive him from office). But the members were not working well together, and this would be the last wholly successful record -- difficult as it was to deliver -- that this lineup of the band would record, as well as the last new work by the group for over five years. And oddly enough, even amid the difficulties in getting it finished, Seventh Sojourn would offer something new in the way of sounds from the group -- Michael Pinder, in particular, introduced a successor to the Mellotron, with which he'd been amazing audiences for six years, in the form of the Chamberlin, which is all over this album. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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Moody Blues - The Magnificent Moodies (1965)

2010-06-05T17:18:45Z

Moody Blues - The Magnificent Moodies (1965)


01. I'll Go Crazy (James Brown) – 2:08
02. Something You Got (Chris Kenner) – 2:49
03. Go Now! (Larry Banks, Milton Bennett) – 3:09
04. Can't Nobody Love You (James Mitchell) – 3:59
05. I Don't Mind (James Brown) – 3:24
06. I've Got A Dream (Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich) – 2:49
07. Let Me Go (Denny Laine, Mike Pinder) – 3:11
08. Stop (Denny Laine, Mike Pinder) – 2:02
09. Thank You Baby (Denny Laine, Mike Pinder) – 2:26
10. It Ain't Necessarily So (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Heyward) – 3:18
11. True Story (Denny Laine, Mike Pinder) – 1:42
12. Bye Bye Bird (Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Dixon) – 2:47

Personnel:
* Denny Laine - guitars, harmonica, vocals
* Mike Pinder - piano, organ, vocals
* Clint Warwick - bass, vocals
* Ray Thomas - percussion, flutes, vocals
* Graeme Edge - drums, percussion
+
* Elaine Caswell – percussion

The pre-psychedelic Moody Blues were represented in England by this album, which is steeped in American soul. The covers include songs by James Brown, Willie Dixon, and Chris Kenner, plus the chart-busting "Go Now" (originally recorded by Bessie Banks), interspersed with a brace of originals by lead singer/guitarist Denny Laine and keyboardist Mike Pinder, and one Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich number, "I've Got a Dream." The shouters, like "I'll Go Crazy" and "Bye Bye Bird," will be the big surprises, showcasing the rawest sound by the group, but "I've Got a Dream" shows a lyrical, harmony-based sound that is vaguely reminiscent of the Four Tops (which is ironic, as that group later cut a single of the latter-day Moody Blues original "So Deep Within You"), while "Thank You Baby," a Laine/Pinder original, offers them doing a smooth, dance-oriented number with some catchy hooks. The group's sound is good and loud, and Laine was a phenomenal singer, though the band lacked the charisma and built-in excitement of such rivals as the Rolling Stones and the Animals. This album is more interesting than its American equivalent, but also not as good, since it leaves off such single sides as "Steal Your Heart Away" and the Pinder/Laine "From the Bottom of My Heart," the latter being the best side this version of the group ever recorded. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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Moody Blues - The Other Side Of Life (1986)

2011-01-01T12:01:20Z

Moody Blues - The Other Side Of Life (1986)


1. Your Wildest Dreams 
2. Talkin' Talkin'              play
3. Rock 'N' Roll Over You 
4. I Just Don't Care            play
5. Running Out Of Love 
6. The Other Side Of Life 
7. The Spirit 
8. Slings & Arrows 
9. It May Be A Fire

Line-Up:
- Justin Hayward / guitars, vocals
- John Lodge / bass guitar, vocals
- Patrick Moraz / keyboards
- Ray Thomas / harmonica, flute, vocals
- Graeme Edge / drums, percussion

The Moody Blues' best album in five years benefited mostly from the presence of the Top Ten single "Your Wildest Dreams," authored by Justin Hayward, which turned their status as survivors from the '60s psychedelic era into a plus, with a great beat to boot; it also debuted with a very entertaining video featuring young British psychedelic rockers the Mood Six playing the young Moody Blues to promote the song on the newly dominant MTV and rival video outlets. Unfortunately, nothing else that Hayward or anyone else turned in for this album was remotely as catchy, and, in fact, much of the rest of the album -- apart from the closer, John Lodge's "It May Be a Fire," which recalls his and Hayward's collaboration on the Blue Jays album -- shows signs of a group running on empty creatively. Ray Thomas is totally absent as a songwriter, and Graeme Edge and Patrick Moraz between them offer one lackluster song. Lodge and Hayward together furnish a pair of serviceable if not dazzling rockers, "Talkin' Talkin'" and "Slings and Arrows," the latter benefiting from a great beat, chorus, and vocal arrangement more than anything in the lyrics, but their "Running Out of Love" is a terrible song with a great chorus; and Lodge's "Rock 'n' Roll Over You" ultimately runs about a minute too long for its own good, and mostly succeeds in recalling older (and better) hard rock numbers by him, such as "Gemini Dream" and "Stepping in a Slide Zone." And Hayward's title track is more lugubrious than lyrical. The album, thanks to the video and the single, was good enough to tour off of, and help pull in the group's most enthusiastic audiences in a half-decade, but this would end up being much more the high-water mark commercially for their post-'70s work than a fresh start. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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Moody Blues – Days Of The Future Passed (1967)

2009-10-12T13:09:03Z

Moody Blues – Days Of The Future Passed (1967)


01. The Day Begins (Redwave, Peter Knight) - 5:50
02. Dawn: Dawn Is A Feeling (Mike Pinder) - 3:48
03. The Morning: Another Morning (Ray Thomas) - 3:55
04. Lunch Break: Peak Hour (John Lodge) - 5:29
05. The Afternoon - 8:23 including: 
a). Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) (Justin Hayward) 
b). Time To Get Away (John Lodge)
06. Evening - 6:40 including: 
a). The Sun Set (Mike Pinder)
b). Twillight Time (Ray Thomas)
07. The Night: Nights In White Satin (Justin Hayward) - 7:24

Mike Pinder - mellotron, piano, tambura, gong, vocals (including spoken)
Ray Thomas - flutes, percussion, piano, vocals
Justin Hayward - acoustic & electric guitars, piano, sitar, vocals
John Lodge - bass, vocals
Graeme Edge - drums, percussion, vocals
The London Festival Orchestra
Peter Knight - conductor

This album marked the formal debut of the psychedelic-era Moody Blues; though they'd made a pair of singles featuring new (as of 1966) members Justin Hayward and John Lodge, Days of Future Passed was a lot bolder and more ambitious. What surprises first-time listeners -- and delighted them at the time -- is the degree to which the group shares the spotlight with the London Festival Orchestra without compromising their sound or getting lost in the lush mix of sounds. That's mostly because they came to this album with the strongest, most cohesive body of songs in their history, having spent the previous year working up a new stage act and a new body of material (and working the bugs out of it on-stage), the best of which ended up here. Decca Records had wanted a rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" to showcase its enhanced stereo-sound technology, but at the behest of the band, producer Tony Clarke (with engineer Derek Varnals aiding and abetting) hijacked the project and instead cut the group's new repertory, with conductor/arranger Peter Knight adding the orchestral accompaniment and devising the bridge sections between the songs' and the album's grandiose opening and closing sections. The record company didn't know what to do with the resulting album, which was neither classical nor pop, but following its release in December of 1967, audiences found their way to it as one of the first pieces of heavily orchestrated, album-length psychedelic rock to come out of England in the wake of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's and Magical Mystery Tour albums. What's more, it was refreshingly original, rather than an attempt to mimic the Beatles; sandwiched among the playful lyricism of "Another Morning" and the mysticism of "The Sunset," songs like "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Twilight Time" (which remained in their concert repertory for three years) were pounding rockers within the British psychedelic milieu, and the harmony singing (another new attribute for the group) made the band's sound unique. With "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights in White Satin" to drive sales, Days of Future Passed became one of the defining documents of the blossoming psychedelic era, and one of the most enduringly popular albums of its era. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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Moody Blues – Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971)

2010-11-05T11:31:15Z

The Moody Blues – Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971)


01. Procession
02. The Story In Your Eyes        play
03. Our Guessing Game             play
04. Emily’s Song
05. After You Came
06. One More Time To Live
07. Nice To Be Here
08. You Can Never Go Home
09. My Song

Personnel
Justin Hayward – vocals, guitar, sitar
John Lodge – vocals, bass
Ray Thomas – vocals, flute, tambourine
Graeme Edge – electric and acoustic drums
Mike Pinder – vocals, synthesizer, mellotron, harpsichord, organ

The best-realized of their classic albums, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was also the last of the group's albums for almost a decade to be done under reasonably happy and satisfying circumstances -- for the last time with this lineup, they went into the studio with a reasonably full song bag and a lot of ambition and brought both as far as time would allow, across close to four months (interrupted by a tour of the United States right in the middle). Virtually everywhere you listen on this record, the lush melodies and the sound of Michael Pinder's Mellotron (augmented here by the Moog synthesizer and a brace of other instruments) just sweep over the music, and where they don't, Justin Hayward's guitar pyrotechnics on pieces like "The Story in Your Eyes" elevate the hard rocking side of the music, in tandem with John Lodge's muscular bass work -- which still leaves plenty of room for a cello here, and a grand piano there, on top of Ray Thomas' flute, and Graeme Edge's ever more ambitious percussion. "Emily's Song." "Nice to Be Here," and "My Song" are among the best work the group ever did, and "The Story in Your Eyes" is the best rock number they ever cut, with a bracing beat and the kind of lyrical complexity one more expected out of George Harrison at the time. Sad to say, the group would never be this happy with an album again -- at least not for a lot of years -- or with their commitment to being a group, though they would leave one more highly worthwhile album before taking a hiatus for most of the rest of the 1970s. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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The Moody Blues - Ballads (2003)

2011-02-18T09:36:10Z

The Moody Blues - Ballads (2003)


01. Nights in White Satin
02. Tuesday Afternoon
03. Voices in the Sky
04. Never Comes the Day
05. Watching and Waiting
06. Dawning Is the Day
07. For My Lady
08. New Horizons
09. Isn't Life Strange (Full Version)
10. Blue Guitar                        play
11. Driftwood [Full Version]
12. Forever Autumn
13. Your Wildest Dreams
14. Lean on Me (Tonight)
15. Haunted                            play
16. I Know You're Out There Somewhere
17. Nervous

- Justin Hayward - vocals, guitar
- John Lodge - vocals, bass
- Graeme Edge - drums
- Norda Mullen - flute

This single-CD compilation, which is not made up exclusively of Moody Blues material -- Justin Hayward's solo hit "Forever Autumn" and the Justin Hayward/John Lodge "Blue Guitar" are also included -- is a pretty neat assembly of some of the most lyrical and romantic numbers in the band's 43-year history. The first nine cuts are drawn from the "classic seven" albums made between 1967 and 1972, and include the unorchestrated single mixes of "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" -- such is the nature of the material, that one would hardly guess from listening to it that the Moody Blues were known for their heavy psychedelic sounds during this period, but that's okay -- that material is well represented on their completed albums and in various compilations, whereas this is more of a distillation. The rest comes from the group's post-1973 history, including the complete version of "Driftwood," and extends up through their late-'90s work. The sound is excellent, and while there is no annotation to speak of the collection itself is so enjoyable that it's possible to overlook that oversight by the producers. ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

The Moody Blues - założona w 1964 roku brytyjska grupa rockowa. Założycielami zespołu byli Ray Thomas i Mike Pinder, do których dołączyli Clint Warwick, Graeme Edge i Denny Laine. Grupa połączyła elementy muzyki klasycznej z rockiem.

Wydany w 1967 drugi album "Days of Future Passed" przedstawił ogromną zmianę stylu muzycznego grupy. Grupa przez wiele lat swojego istnienia zachowała swoje łagodne symfoniczne brzmienie.

Zespół zawiesił działalność w 1974, w związku z podjęciem solowych karier przez jego muzyków, by wznowić w 1978 i 1981 roku działalność. --skarock.pl

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The Moody Blues - Gold (2005)

2011-02-12T09:55:59Z

The Moody Blues - Gold (2005)

CD1
01. Tuesday Afternoon 
02. Nights In White Satin 
03. Ride My See-Saw                      play
04. Legend Of Mind 
05. Voices In The Sky 
06. Lovely To See You 
07. Never Comes The Day 
08. Gypsy (Of A Strange And Distant Time) 
09. Candle Of Life 
10. Watching And Waiting 
11. Question (
12. Melancholy Man 
13. The Story In Your Eyes               play
14. Lost In A Lost World 
15. New Horizons 
16. Isn't Life Strange 
17. I'm Just A Singer (In Rock'N'Roll Band) 

CD2
01. Remember Me My Friend (single edit) 
02. Blue Guitar 
03. Steppin' In A Slide Zone 
04. Had To Fall In Love 
05. Driftwood 
06. Forever Autumn 
07. The Voice 
08. Talking Out Of Turn 
09. Gemini Dream 
10. Blue World 
11. Sitting At The Wheel 
12. Your Wildest Dreams 
13. I Know You're Out There Somewhere 
14. Say It With Love                         play
15. Bless The Wings (That Bring You Back) orchestral mix 
16. Strange Times                            play
17. December Snow

Musicians:
Justin Hayward - vocals, guitar, mandolin 
Graeme Edge - drums, percussion 
John Lodge - vocals, bass
Mike Pinder - vocals, mellotron
Ray Thomas - vocals, flute, tambourine.

The Moody Blues are a UK-based rock band best known for their smash hit "Nights in White Satin" which has sold millions of copies around the world.

Initially a somewhat gritty British Invasion outfit who had scored a UK chart-topper with their second single "Go Now", the Moody Blues soon transformed into arguably the first progressive rock band at the popular level. Their 1967 album Days of Future Passed marked the beginning of a transformation that was enthusiastically greeted by record-buyers in the late 60s and early 70s. They were among the first to incorporate the Mellotron, which became a staple of experimental rock until it was eclipsed by the Moog synthesizer. Their intellectual approach and vocal harmony style suggested that rock and roll could go beyond the rough, street-level sound of its origins (a development which led to the term "rock" itself). The Moody Blues concocted a sonic approach that has been embraced by succeeding generations of fans.

The Moody Blues get the two-disc treatment on the latest installment of Polydor's surprisingly thorough Gold series. Rather than just assemble the usual suspects around staples like "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Story in Your Eyes" (which are here), the compilers dove deep into the group's career, providing tracks from solo recordings like "Remember Me My Friend" from Justin Hayward and John Lodge's excellent Blue Jays album and their gorgeous follow-up single, "Blue Guitar," as well as lesser-known late-'70s/early-'80s cuts from Octave, The Present, and Sur la Mer. Gold also includes some of the superior, somewhat neglected album tracks from the group's heyday, such as "Never Comes the Day," "Candle of Life," and the beautiful "Watching and Waiting," any of which could have been singles, and the last a far better track than the oft-compared "Nights in White Satin." Also significant is the dramatic improvement in the sound on these newly digitized tracks, which take full advantage of 24-bit mastering and are vastly superior even to the same cuts on 1996-vintage remastered versions of the group's first seven albums -- textures, timbres, instruments, and musical parts that were formerly buried in the mixes of the songs and only hinted at in playback are suddenly audible in sharp relief here (which leads one to ask when those, plus Octave -- which was out of print as of the start of 2005 -- and the other later albums, might be due for another upgrade). Listeners looking for an easy, affordable, and comprehensive guide to the Moodies will be hard-pressed to find anything better outside of 1994's Time Traveller box set, and its sound quality can't match what one hears on this set. ~ James Christopher Monger & Bruce Eder

During the 90's, they toured with a number of orchestras, beginning with the Red Rocks concert in 1992. Their most recent studio album, December, was released in 2003, followed by a double live album in 2005, Lovely To See You. To date they have sold over 50 million albums worldwide, produced numerous solo albums, and continue to tour. Some of you may feel submerged by all these golden, anthologia and best of CDs. In superb quality and contrast, The Moody Blues Gold from Polydor, I feel, is a must have. The package contains 2 full CDs with some of their better known songs (34 of them) and some very elegant surprises such as Bless the Wings, Driftwood, Lost in a Lost World, Forever Autumn, Strange Times, December and many more. For me, Mr Justin Hayward is one of the best songwriter and a master craftsman with words and chords in rock music. One of the most inspired and touching song from him is New Horizons; a prime example of unique classy music representing one of the greatest rock songs of all time. All of this is at an excellent price with great recording quality (in contrast to some others). Also, I was genuinely surprised by the 19 page booklet containing good photographs and a very nice writing style. All in all, I would recommend this to any young or old beginner with The Moody Blues and all those fans. Superbly done for a very good price and adequate representation and recording. Oh! and if you have a chance to see them live (they still tour extensively in the USA and in Canada by the way) they play most of these songs down to the last note. One of the best professional acts in rock music that deserves to be seen. –Roger Levesque

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