Customer Reviews

Hall Of Fame (Live at Royal Albert Hall 2000)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have followed The Moody Blues since 1981, and have them live several times. When I listened to this CD I was impressed by the overall sound quality and performances, which are far superiour to their last live recording, the somewhat sloppy and rushed "Red Rocks". This time The Moodies are much more coordinated and comfortable with the orchestra, and it really shows. However, thre are some downsides to this album. Firstly, two of the tracks are heavily edited (butchered!) "Isn't Life Strange" is missing the entire second verse, in an obvious, glarring edit job! And worse yet, the only Ray Thomas song featured on the entire album, "Legend of a Mind" is literally chopped in half! "Legend" is missing Ray's great extended flute solo that has been a highlight of all of those Moody Blues shows that I have seen over the years! It was this "solo" section that really made the live version of "Legend" different and more exciting that its 1968 studio version, now this great concert moment is completely lost! Another downside to this album is the song selection. Not that there are any BAD songs here, but this is almost the exact same track listing as the "Red Rocks" album from several years ago, and even the "Greatest Hits" album! At the show from which this CD is taken, The Moodies played John Lodge's classic "Steppin' In a Slide Zone", the energetic "Strange Times", and Graeme Edge's new "spoken word" piece "Nothing Changes" Why were these songs not included in place of songs that have already been featured on BOTH of The Moodies official live albums? ("Caught Live" being the other) Wouldn't this be a better "value for the money" for those who collect every Moodies release? I'm glad to see that at least three of the new songs from 1999's "Strange Times" HAVE been included here, "English Sunset", "Haunted", and Lodges beautiful "Words You Say", which really makes good use of the orchestra. But why were the other new tracks not included? I believe that some of the famous "oldies" should have been set aside to make room for some tracks that we haven't heard live before. Also, room needed to be made for the COMPLETE version of Ray's "Legend Of a Mind", which was NOT featured on the "Red Rocks" CD in ANY version. All in all, this could have been an excellent album, and is one up to a point, but I will always feel let-down and dissapointed when I hear those incomplete versions of "Legend" and "Isn't Life Strange".

Moody Blues performances have always been about the music - no gimmicks, no fake emotions - and this is fine a collection from their recent tour when, once again, they were in fine form. For a foursome of some 35 years, unlike many other 'troopers' peddling muscial nostalgia, the Moodies' new songs stand up to the old favourites, especially 'Haunted" and 'Words You Say' - indeed few other bands would risk playing 25% new songs and dropping some of their back catalogue from their act. Sure, there are numbers we wanted to hear and it's sad that the solos in 'Singer in a Rock and Roll Band' and 'Legend of a Mind' had to be cut to fit on the CD, but this is a great performance and, while some may think the reaction of the English audience quiet, at least it was genuine and from the heart. The recording is crystal clear and a rich, bassy sound unlike the more lacklustre, thin and muffled sound of 'Red Rocks'. The Moodies still have much to offer, both in terms of recording new material and touring - long may they keep us on the threshold of our dreams.

The Moody Blues Hall Of Fame (ARK 21)

After an 8 year dry spell with no new studio Moody Blues albums (excluding Best Of/Hits packages which seemed to grow & release themselves from inside they're former label offices and the excellent Live At Red Rocks) this is the 2nd new release since the latter in 2 years. The first was Strange Times the MB's first new studio album in 8 years (read my review) and now from the MB's new label ARK 21 we have Hall Of Fame. Yes this is another live album recorded at the Royal Albert Hall on May 1st, 2000 on the MB's U.K. 2000 tour. This album is another live greatest hits package with the MB's backed by The World Festival Orchestra this time around. Additional musicians on board as the Mb's band are Paul Bliss & Bias Bushel (keyboards), Gordon Marshall (drums/percussion), Susan Shattock & Tracy Graham (backing vocals). Well, why do I find this new live album interesting even though it contains 99% of the same old' same? First off it includes a killer version of "Legend Of A Mind" from the MB's ancient pyschedelic days of past. Thankfully they resurrected this gem and Ray Thomas who don't get to sing lead that much is magnificent and the band still plays it with the old pyschedelia (minus the substances at work now). "Haunted" & English Sunset" both from the Strange Times album excel and work perfect into the MB's new live set. Let's hope they stay. Second, they are much looser and a tad rawer as opposed to doing the usual polished, monkey suits play em' and leave em', take the money and run routine. Something, which they have been accused of over the years since they started doing the oldies but goodies, hits shows. Justin Hayward's voice is a bit scratchier and rawer (whether he had a cold or he developed a new style), he still sings like a prince and pulled it off. The same goes for his guitar work. His solos still buzz with a sting but sadly he still sounds as though he wants to stretch and rock out more but is restricted. The angst comes through and I love it! This attitude gives the songs a new approach and new life. This album will appeal to every MB fan and should be of interest to the younger new fans just discovering the band. Why? Because of Justin's voice & guitar work. Another fine album added to the MB's canon of brilliant work. A+.

I was disaapointed in the sonic quality of this CD. I bought it because I had enjoyed the PBS broadcast of the concert but after listening to the CD on both my trucks CD player and an excellent home stereo system I think it is a poorly engineered recording. Maybe the broadcast was done with the DVD version.

I've always enjoyed all the Moodies "live" material (Red Rocks, Caught Live +5, radio concerts, bootlegs,) and especially Hayward's solo release "Live in Capistrano". This is by far the worst "live" material this classic band has ever released.

Why? First of all, blame the band itself. They're overworked from all their concerts; this CD lacks any kind of energy or enthusiasm by the members. Outside of "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Haunted", Justin Hayward's voice labors the rest of the show. "I Know You're Out There Somewhere", "In Your Wildest Dreams" and "Story in Your Eyes" are simply awful. Hayward is singing them in a totally different key (and sometimes tempo) to compensate for his overworked voice. And unlike previous "live" material, John Lodge's songs are more tolerable than Hayward's this time around.

The second problem with this CD is on the mixing and production. Because the crowd noise is so faint and the vocals are so far up front, one starts to think this CD could pass for a rehearsal in the studio rather than a "live performance". There's too much bass and very little keyboard as well. The sound could also use more reverb, especially in Hayward's voice. When you attend a Moodies show, reverb is a key ingredient to many of their stage numbers. With this CD, we hear reverb on Lodge's material but not on the others. As a result, many of the songs featured here suffer from a total flatness.

The third problem with this CD is that we're shortchanged on the material. The so-called "Overture" is drastically truncated and how about adding "The Voice" or Ray Thomas' flute solo on "Legend of A Mind". This release is the shortest of all previous Moody Blues "live" CDs. One could easily add another 5 or 6 minutes of material before CD overload. Did they ever consider a double CD?

How disappointing for a band of this caliber to release something so dismal. At least this time, the Moodies didn't plug their merchandise on the sleeve insert like their recent "Strange Times" CD. The packaging of this CD is also scant (no pictures, text, etc.). I'm sure the music critics will have a field day with this release. How sad. Please Moody Blues, start making better musical and business decisions. You have a catalog of exceptional music and you can do better! Making mistakes like this at the end of your career is bad for your reputation.

I saw 3 shows on the "Strange Times" tour, and was very excited when a tour concert album was released. But boy was I PISSED when I got it!

First off, the whole point of this tour was to promote their new album, "Strange Times." 5 songs from that album were performed on tour; only 3 are on this cd. Why? To make room for greatest-hits tracks that were already included on Red Rocks, showing a total disregard for the real fans and catering instead to the masses who might buy one Moodies cd in their whole life. They actually had the audacity to omit "Strange Times" and "Nothing Changes" to make room for tracks we all have on the Red Rocks cd.

Second, they butchered two of the best tracks. I was very excited to see "Legend of a Mind" included, as it was inexplicably left off the Red Rocks cd though it has always been an absolute highlight of their stage show for me. But, in order to cram everything on the one cd, the bastards sliced Ray's ENTIRE FLUTE SOLO out of that song and also the ENTIRE MIDDLE VERSE of "Isn't Life Strange." They should've released a double album or gotten rid of tracks that are already on Red Rocks. God forbid we should have a cd that doesn't have "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" or "Wildest Dreams" on it. If they can cut out "The Voice" they can cut out a couple more. To their credit, they did include "Story In Your Eyes," which was left off Red Rocks. They really ought to include as many songs that would be unique to this album as possible. How about "Steppin' in a Slide Zone," which was added to their show after Red Rocks and was performed throughout this tour?

Third, I saw the Moodies with and without an orchestra on this tour and they were better without, because their own instruments were more prominent and the band was more relaxed and got into it more, not having to worry about timing things just right with the orchestra. Since we already have the Red Rocks cd, why not record a show sans orchestra? The orchestra on this album is sluggish anyway. The "Overture" (why couldn't THAT have been omitted so that we didn't have to cut down LOAM and ISL??) is painfully slow, for example.

I still have to give it three stars because, extremely poor song choice decisions aside, I can't deny that the cd sounds great. In many ways the sound is superior to Red Rocks. I like these versions of "Wildest Dreams" and "Nights in White Satin" in particular better than the Red Rocks versions. And the three new songs that did make the cut, "English Sunset," "Haunted" and "Words You Say," sound fantastic. Having fresh live renditions of these great new songs is worth the price of the cd. It was because of them that I own a copy of this despite my many complaints about it.

Still, I think that, if another Moodies live album is released, it ought to be a double album so as to include everything. We really didn't need another greatest hits live cd! I hope the next Moodies live album is made with the FANS in mind. If it weren't for us die hard fans, the Moodies would not have been touring at all.

I've been a Moody Blues fan since the mid-eighties "comeback" (I'm only 25), and I own all of their studio albums on CD. I'm not usually a big fan of live albums, but I saw this one on TV, and was blown away by the Moodies' performance. I believe this is a much better live account of them than the "Red Rocks" performance. Justin's voice sounds wonderful here; I thought it seemed a bit off at spots on the "Red Rocks" CD. My favorite tune from this performance is the beautiful version of "Isn't Life Strange". I highly recommend this CD. They're truly legends.

A frequent listener of beethoven.com, I requested a selection from the Moody Blues with Orchestra, and the dj played a selection from this cd.

I noticed in the reviews the differences noted between this and the Red Rocks concert. So, I tried this one and it is excellent. All the old Moodies cuts are here, well done, especially I'm Just A Singer, Nights in White Satin, Legened of A Mind, Question and a wonderful finale on Ride My See-Saw.

Introduced to some of their newer material, I was blown away by fine cuts of English Sunset and Words You Say.

Orchestra provides great backdrop with great Overture.

The album from Royal Albert Hall on the 1st of may 2000 is a new record for the collection of classics. This is very honest to the sound and atmosphere to the live performance which has not been caught before. The world symphonic orchestra performed well though I wondered why not the London symphonic from 'Days' ? The producers and the MB themselves could have had more from the latest album and included the poetry, flute and tracks that made them uniqe and progressive. Hopefully its more on the video - Because its really unecessary to leave anything out. Nevertheless I rate it with five stars because to be fair they could actually played all night.

Review no.42.Hard for me to believe,but I think this CD might be like only the second ever release of the Moody Blues I've ever had.'Hall Of Fame' was recorded on May 1,2000 at London's famed Royal Albert Hall.With a total of fourteen tracks,I found myself being wrong about assuming these guys always play the exact same set year after year.Turns out they have several live CD's and DVD's available that I wasn't aware of.From what I've seen they maybe switch around like three or four tunes on each tour they do.Some material on this disc that I don't remember,but was somewhat impressed with were the well-written "English Sunset" and "Haunted".One cut I do recall from the '80's was "I Know You're Out There Somewhere"(always have enjoyed the Mtv video).Of course,their classics are here to fully experience,like "Tuesday Afternoon","I'm Just A Singer(In A Rock&Roll Band)",the ultimate hopeless romantic theme of all time "Nights In White Satin","Legend Of A Mind","Question" and possibly one of the better psychedelic tunes to have ever made it big "Ride My See-Saw".Line-up:Justin Hayward-guitar&vocals,Ray Thomas-flute&vocals,John Lodge-bass and Graeme Edge-drums,Gordon Marshall-keyboards backed by the World Festival Orchestra.Believe that flutist/founding member Ray Thomas had recently retired due to health reasons.Not sure if they could stand to lose another member.Let's hope we don't have to find out.Great progressive album rock,that is a must-have.Superb sound mix.