Customer Reviews

Magnificent Moodies

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been eagerly awaiting Repertoire's new updated "Magnificent Moodies" (REP-5077), which arrived today.

Tracks are:
1.I'll Go Crazy
2.Something You Got
3.Go Now!
4.Can't Nobody Love You
5.I Don't Mind
6.I've Got A Dream
7.Let Me Go
8.Stop
9.Thank You Baby
10.It Ain't Necessarily So
11.True Story
12.Bye Bye Burd
13.People Gotta Go
14.Steal Your Heart Away
15.Lose Your Money (But Don't Lose Your Mind)
16.It's Easy Child
17.I Don't Want To Go On Without You
18.Time It On My Side
19.From The Bottom of My Heart (I Love You)
20.And My Baby's Gone
21.Everyday
22.You Don't (All The Time)
23.Boulevard De La Madeleine
24.This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)
25.Life's Not Life
26.He Can Win

The original Moody Blues recordings have always sounded murky and second (or third) generation, and unfortunately, although they DID make some sonic improvements, they still sound pretty awful. (I read somewhere that Mike Pinder, an original member was quoted as saying that these sides were professionally recorded on multi-track and he doesn't know why they don't sound better....)

Here's what they fixed:

"I've Got A Dream" - brighter than other reissues...more like other tracks.
"Stop", "Everyday" and "You Don't" - they got rid of most of the tape hiss.
"People Gotta Go" - a rare track only issued on a 1966 French E.P. It was recorded at the final Laine session.

Here's what they HAVEN'T fixed:

"Boulevard De La Madaleine" - I believe that is the correct spelling...not Madelaine and this track NEVER faded in (taking nearly 20 second to get up to the proper audio level....only after John Tracy did the original Decca/London anthology in 1988. BEFORE that reissue, the UK single, the US single and the rechanneled track on "World Of" LP did NOT fade in.)

John Tracy's late 1980's reissues, besides containing silly liner notes, had an engineer that enjoyed fading in tracks that started at full volume. (This is occured on "Something Better" by Marianne Faithfull and "Laughing Fit To Cry" by The Fortunes.)

So....their reissue is about the best I've heard on CD, and contains all 26 tracks The Denny Laine-era Moody Blues recorded...but not the sparkling quality I've come to expect from Repertoire.

Pity....a major disappointment for me....The Denny Laine Moody Blues sessions are among my favorite 1960's UK recordings....BUT STILL WORTHWHILE BUYING.

Before the mellotrons, concept albums and psychedelic imagery, The Moody Blues were a rock-solid Mersey Beat band that found their initial success during the British Invasion with their first hit single "Go Now".
"The Magnificent Moodies" was the only album that The Moody Blues released during this period along with a handful of singles that mostly went nowhere. Looking back, although this has somewhat become an underrated and not so talked about period in the band's history, "The Magnificent Moodies" is still a solid release and ranks up there with anything by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who.
The latest reissue "The Magnificent Moodies" features all 12 tracks from the original mono album along with 14 bonus tracks from the same period. It basically includes everything that was released by the original band and essentially offers a complete history of the music of the early Moody Blues.
In addition, the remastered sound is amazing which makes all other reissues redundant. If you've never owned or heard the original Moody Blues and/or if you thought the band's history started with "Days Of Future Passed", this latest reissue of "The Magnificent Moodies" is the ideal place to start.
After the release of this album as well as several flopped singles, both Denny Laine and bassist Clint Warwick left the band to be replaced by Justin Hayward and John Lodge who paved the way for The Moody Blues as we know them today. This early period of the band quietly slipped into obscurity.

Everybody knows about the Moody Blues of "Nights In White Satin" fame, but what about the *original* R&B Moody Blues who had one lone hit in 1965 with "Go Now" and featured Denny Laine on guitar & vocals and Clint Warwick on bass, back when "Days Of Future Passed" wasn't even a blip on the band members' minds? "The Magnificent Moodies" represents the entire recorded output of the first Moody Blues group on a single CD, comprising the "Magnificent Moodies" album itself and a whole plethora of British singles, all recorded between 1964 and 1967, back in the days when the Moodies were a rhythm & blues combo. Along with Laine & Warwick are three men who would make the transistion to the famous, prog-rock Moody Blues group: keyboardist Mike Pinder (strictly on piano here, no mellotron yet!), flautist/vocalist Ray Thomas and drummer Graeme Edge, and the band's material comprises of half original songs and half covers. What I love about the first incarnation of the Moody Blues is that their music is fun, fun, fun, and the band's musical chemistry is outstanding. Denny Laine is a great, soulful singer & guitarist, while Clint Warwick is a fine bassist. As for the trio more well-known to Moody Blues fans, they shine on this material, too. Mike Pinder's piano-playing is simply fantastic, Ray Thomas' voice (mostly on backing vocals) is beautifully rich, his flute-playing & tambourine-smacking wonderful, and, of course, Graeme Edge's drumming is excellent. In short, these guys sound GREAT together.And the songs? There's a big 25 of them on this disc, so I'll just name a few favorites: the group's classic lone hit, the jaunty "Go Now" (a British #1 and US #10), pretty much sums up in one song what the original Moodies were like. If you like what you hear in "Go Now," then I know you'll like the rest of their stuff. And I LOVE "Go Now." I also love such catchy nuggets as "I Go Crazy," "Something You Got," "It's Easy Child" (great piano solo from Pinder on this one), "Steal Your Heart Away," "This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)," and the R&B rave-up "Bye Bye Bird." Ray Thomas gets a marvelous debut lead vocal on "It Ain't Necessarily So," and the final song, "Boulevard De La Madelaine," a Pinder/Laine original, is a beautiful number. Heck, I dig the whole CD---I'd spotlight for you every single song on it if I had the space.Alas, the Moody Blues Mach 1 were never able to replicate the chart success of "Go Now," and both Denny Laine & Clint Warwick would bail out of the band soon after (I don't know what became of Warwick, but Laine would later play guitar with Paul McCartney in Wings). As for Pinder, Thomas and Edge, they would recruit Justin Hayward on guitar & vocals and John Lodge on bass, and carry on as an R&B group for a few more months before deciding that the band needed to change musical direction completely. And the rest, as they say, is history! But it all started here with these early recordings. To sum up: if you're a fan of the prog-rock Moody Blues but you *don't* like mid-60's British R&B, then perhaps this CD is not for you. But on the other hand, if you're a more open-minded (and open-eared) Moodies fan and you'd like to hear the very beginnings of the band (as well as the earliest music with Mike, Ray, and Graeme), then you're definitely in for a treat with "The Magnificent Moodies." The first incarnation of the Moody Blues were and ARE magnificent, as this collection proves. Long live the magnificent, original Moody Blues! You guys have not been forgotten.

Given that this is basically the only pre-Blue Jays Moody Blues it has been give 4 stars but because in truth it does not have every song recorded prior to Justin/John it was given only 4 stars.

This is unfortunately the only good representation of early Moody Blues available in print(why is this?); influenced heavily by R&B as interpreted by Mike Pinder/Denny Laine/Ray Thomas/Gramae Edge/Clint Warwick. "I'll Go Crazy/ Something you got" are good examples of the early sound with the tortued vocals of Laine and "I dont mind" featuring the vocal/piano powers of Mike Pinder. While "From the Bottom of my heart" and "Stop" two great Pinder/Laine originals, allow for the recognition of the maturing writing talents and vocal harmonies which would later become hallmarks of the '67-'72 Moodies which were much more commercial.

Unfortunately the lack of really good liner notes takes away from the package as a whole as does the surprisingly poor quality of the only Top Ten single the band had at this time which was Go Now. The overall sound quality of the recordings from '64-'66 are really good but the poor quality of the single is unfortunate.

One last item that kept this selection from rating a fully deserved five stars is that somewhere in Europe there is a complete collection of works from the period '64-'66 which is so inclusive it even contains the B-side single 'Cities' by Hayward (probably why this collection cannot currently be found/contractual concerns) but more importantly it does contain EVERY song recorded prior to the departure of Denny Laine. I believe the original import label was GEMA from Germany it was a double vinyl collection which had incredibly clean audio, try to find it on vinyl if you can I don't seem to be able to find it in any other medium.

The original Moody Blues -- guitarist and principal vocalist Denny Laine, pianist/vocalist Mike Pinder, drummer Graeme Edge, bassist Clint Warwick and Ray Thomas (wind instruments, vocals) -- had only one hit single in 1965. That song, a cover of Bessie Banks'"Go Now", would prove impossible to follow up. Neither the following singles or the LP "Magnificent Moodies" would come close to reaching the top 40 in the US or the UK.

Repetoire has now reissued the 12 track album on this CD, along with 14 other tracks that had been released only on singles, many only in Europe -- all the songs recorded by the first lineup. This reissue is the first to contain the French EP track, "People Gotta Go", by far the rarest Moodies track. It's pretty typical British Invasion music, with the primary distinction being that the sound is centered more on Pinder's piano than guitar.

When listening to this stuff, it's understandable why this version of the group never really made it -- they weren't all that good. Laine was a very soulful vocalist and Pinder an OK pianist, but the guys, even for the era, were very limited musicians. Some of the covers sound pretty thin, and Laine/Pinder weren't exactly Lennon/McCartney in the songwriting department. Besides the wonderful "Go Now", there are only three other tracks that rank up there as classics. "Time Is On My Side" is a more upbeat version than that by the Stones; "From the Bottom of My Heart" is a haunting acoustic number; and "Boulevard de la Madeleine", their next to the last single, is a gorgeous ballad. This is the only track here that hints at any progression or sophistication from the band. By the time it came out, though, Laine and Warwick had left, resulting in two key replacements that would eventually catapult the group to a new level of sucess.

Moodies hardcores will want this CD. Otherwise, very few Moody Blues fans would consider it worth the effort, even though there are a few gems here.

If you can't get enough of the mid 60s British Invasion
this collection of the Moody Blues' London years
is a fine investment. You get all their fabulous singles;
Go Now, Stop!, This Is My House, etc and you get some fine
R AND B standouts such as I'll Go Crazy, Bye Bye Bird and
My Baby's Gone. Fine, raw-edged pop and a glimpse of the British Invasion band that went unnoticed by many. Great Denny Laine.
I file them right in there with Them, Nashville Teens, Manfred Mann and the Zombies.

A brief note to Jay Kuczma: Please don't call the Moodies "Merseybeat"! They (like me) are proud Brummies - i.e. natives of Birmingham, NOT Liverpool! That's like calling the Velvet Underground a "West Coast" band! That aside, I agree with the comments on the CD.

The early Moody Blues, with Denny Laine (of WINGS) were an R&B group whose sound was vastly different to what they became after he departed. This CD contains their only album, THE MAGNIFICENT MOODIES, in its entirety, plus the "A" & "B" sides of their first 4 singles (which preceded the LP). The mono mix here is a VAST improvement over the previous "electronic stereo" LP where I first heard some of these songs! (Early US Rolling Stones albums had the same problem.) Only "Go Now" sounds "off"-- ironic, as out of the 25 songs they recorded together, it was the ONLY "hit". THIS new reissue (on Repertoire) is strangely without their last 3 singles (the ones recorded after the LP) ... WHY??? (I'd have given this 5 stars if it was complete like the earlier London CD.) I love to program the songs in the order they were released, and without those last 6 tracks an important part of the band's "evolution" is MISSING!

My faves include "Something You Got", "I've Got A Dream", "It Ain't Necessarily So", "It's Easy Child", "From The Bottom Of My Heart" (somehow this one always reminds me of a spaghetti western), and especially "Steal Your Heart Away"-- their very first single, and one of my all-time favorite Denny Laine songs!

The Magnificent Moodies is a laudable effort to keep alive the material of the Mersey Beat Moody Blues. This group featured Denny Laine and Clint Warwick, prior to the arrival of Justin Hayward and John Lodge.

Go Now! is the only really recognizable cut on the collection, although half a dozen others are pleasantly respectable. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough good material here to make the disc particularly memorable or noteworthy.

It is interesting to speculate where the group might have gone had Laine/Warwick stuck it out, but this collection doesn't help much. Many of the cuts have a tired sameness to them, and there is no discernable direction to the material. It almost seems as though the producers were stretching to find enough songs to make the album viable.

Listeners should remember that this is an entirely different group than the Hayward/Lodge Moodies. Try to resist the very unfair comparison between this short-lived, Mersey Beat quintet and the classically styled group that commandeered their name.

This is not a bad collection, it just isn't a particularly good one. In the end, The Magnificent Moodies is little more than a curiosity, a musical intersection wherein five very talented musicians crossed paths on their way to very different destinations.

The Moodies started as a combo of Brummies Mods, studying religiously the black scene of the era, James Brown, Sonny-Boy Williamson and Gloria Banks (whose "Go Now" became a number one hit statesides). Their Lead singer, Denny Laine, co-wrote the bulk of their repertoire before leaving the band in 1967. This release includes their debut album, 12 r'n'b tunes very representative of the mid-sixties english sound ( check also the Nashville Teens) plus their entire production before embarking on a drastic change of musical direction under the baton of their new singer, Justin Hayward. Denny Lane will join later Wings to become one of their pivotal members.