Prelude [Import]

The Moody Blues | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 30, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Polygram Int'l
• ASIN: B0000072AI
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,184 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Fly Me High

2. I Really Haven't Got The Time

3. Leave This Man Alone

4. Love And Beauty

5. Cities

6. A Simple Game

7. Gimme A Little Somethin'

8. Please Think About It

9. Long Summer Days

10. King And Queen

11. What Am I Doing Here

12. Late Lament

Editorial Reviews

1987 compilation for the British Invasion icons. 12 tracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent non-album tracks from the Moodies' greatest period, August 26, 2000

By 

Michael Paulsen (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prelude (Audio CD)

This collection is well worth owning to hear these excellent recordings made shortly after Justin Hayward and John Lodge joined The Moody Blues (thus completing their classic line-up). These cuts from '67 and '68 are the missing link before and after DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED. Early cuts like "Fly Me High", "Leave This Man Alone" and "I Really Haven't Got the Time" (the only really cheesy tune on this collection) retain hints of the old Denny Laine-era Moody Blues, but Mike Pinder's soon-to-be-infamous mellotron is introduced on "Love and Beauty", before DAYS was recorded. What's also interesting is that Justin Hayward and Mike Pinder write the majority of these songs, demonstrating that John Lodge was still finding his songwriting "feet".

This CD is worth owning if only for "King and Queen" and "What Am I Doing Here" -- two beautifully haunting, melancholic pieces in a classic Heyward vein. Elsewhere, Lodge's sole contribution, "Gimme' a Little Somethin'", is quite good, as is Pinder's brilliant "A Simple Game", which was released as the b-side to "Ride My See-Saw" in '68 around the time of IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth it for the serious Moodies fan, February 14, 2001

By 

Matt Walsh (Pepperell, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prelude (Audio CD)

I give this 5 stars not because all the songs are extraordinary, but because it's such a wonderful thing to get all the non-album tracks from a great band's classic period on one little cd, without having to buy countless box sets and compilations.

The first four tracks consist of two unsuccessful singles and their b-sides from before this group's first album, the celebrated "Days of Future Passed." This was after an earlier incarnation of the Moodies, a fairly forgettable R&B group with one hit ("Go Now") whose complete works (more or less) are captured on the "Magnificent Moodies" cd. These four songs featured the lineup that became famous, with newcomers Justin Hayward and John Lodge, but the songs still lean toward typical British pop. The next two tracks are fantastic. They are the great b-sides of "Nights in White Satin" and "Ride My See-saw": "Cities" and "A Simple Game" (respectively), the second of which was latered covered (with backing vocals from the Moodies themselves) by the Four Tops.

The next five tracks are out-takes from the late 60's, which are also available on "Caught Live +5," an early live album with those five rarities as bonuses. They are quite good; two of them: (Hayward's "King and Queen" and "What Am I Doing Here") are so good that it's a wonder they never made it onto an album. My guess is that the democratic division of songwriting contributions from the five band members prevented Hayward from contributing as many songs as he maybe could have.

The final track is a head-scratcher. It's "Late Lament," drummer Graeme Edge's poem, which is featured at the end of the complete version of "Nights in White Satin." On that album, "Late Lament" (and "Morning Glory," another Edge poem earlier in the album) are placed at the end of the first and last songs without being credited on the sleeve or (later) being presented as separate cd tracks. Graeme Edge is given no credit for writing them, and the names of the poems are not revealed. This is the first time that this song (which so many people have enjoyed without knowing what it was) has been presented as a separate track, except the live recital on the "Red Rocks" album (though I think "Prelude" was released first.) I can understand the reasoning, though it still seems slightly out of place.

Oh well... anyway, this is your one cd for all of the Moodies out-takes and non-album tracks currently available, except the much later "Highway," which is available on both the Anthology and Box Set.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musical rarities from a GEM of a band!, July 3, 2001

By 

Deborah Fisher (Wenatchee, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prelude (Audio CD)

PRELUDE offers the die-hard "Moody maniacs", like me, a musical "prelude", if you will, of the lads in their early years. Rare, unreleased songs, B-sides, and their early singles are part & parcel of this collection. I found this CD just as much a treat to listen to as every one of their albums. With songs like "Fly Me High", "I Really Haven't Got the Time", or "Gimme a Little Something" to start you dancing, or the melancholy tones of "Cities", how can a few million Moodies' fans be wrong?