The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues was a rock group from the United Kingdom that formed in Birmingham in 1964. Their first voice was Denny Laine, who would later be Paul McCartney's partner in Wings. Also participating in the group were Graeme Edge (drums), Ray Thomas (flute and vocals), Clint Warwick (bass and vocals) and Mike Pinder (keyboards and vocals).

Their beginnings were as a typical R&B band from England at the time, and they released their first single, Steal Your Heart Away, in September 1964. It was not until their second single, Go Now with the Moody Blues, when they tasted the honeys of success and sales, which allowed them to go on tour, to the Americas and release their first LP, The Magnificent Moodys (Go Now in North America).

After the first album, Denny Laine gave way to Justin Hayward (guitar and vocals), and John Lodge (bass and vocals) also joined the group. His second work, Days of Future Passed (1967), represented an enormous change in musical approaches and was a huge success. Today it is considered one of the best albums in history, having been reissued many times. The album contained one of his most successful songs, Nights in White Satin.

The conception of the album was a combination of successes and coincidences. The record company was looking for a rock version of Antonín Dvořák's symphony New World Symphony. Intended to enhance and make profitable the new stereo devices in the studios. The Moody Blues, without knowledge of the symphony and with the keen eye of the producer, Tony Clark, turned it into a personal work (with the orchestra perfectly assembled); a concept album that was the most representative album of what was called psychedelic rock in those years.

Other successful albums were On the Threshold of a Dream (1969), A Question of Balance (1970) or, his last great success, Long Distance Voyager(1981). The rest is history, with the Moody Blues running into the XXI century, with changes (Mike Pinder left the band; Ray Thomas retired from music) and reconversions, but converted into rock classics.

History

The story of The Moody Blues began in Birmingham, England, where they were one of the most successful bands of that time, ^{[citation needed]} then called The Riot and The Rebels (1962), its founders Ray Thomas (harmonica and vocalist) and Mike Pinder (keyboards and vocalist). Pinder leaves the band, first for a performance with Jackie Lynton and then to do his military service in the army. In May 1963, he and Thomas reunited and formed a group called The Krew Cats, with which they got some contracts on the continent, especially in Germany, where English rock bands were popular. Upon their return to the United Kingdom, in November 1963, Thomas and Pinder decided to form a professional group, and to that end they took on the task of recruiting other members of some of the most successful groups working in Birmingham. This included Denny Laine (guitar and vocals), Graeme Edge (drums) and Clint Warwick (bass and vocals). They made their debut in Birmingham, England, in May 1964. They were quickly noticed by Tony Secunda, a rock star manager, and hired their services, becoming their manager. Immediately, they went on a long tour that concluded with a contract at the Marquee Club in London, which led to an arrangement with the English record label Decca Records, when the group was still barely six months into their formation.

The group's first single, Steal Your Heart Away, released in September 1964, did not appear on the British hit parade. Their next single, 'Go Now', released in November 1964, met all the group's expectations and more, reaching first place in England. In America, it placed at number 10. The band's desire is to continue in the line of success, but it was easier said than done. Despite their efforts to write another milestone and access the American market, after this version of Go Now, The Moody Blues did not have another similar success. In the late spring of 1965, frustration is palpable within the band. The group decides to make their fourth single, From the Bottom of My Heart, an experiment with a different sound; Unfortunately, the single ended up at number 22 on the British hit chart in May 1965. Finally, the routine of walking the road without success accumulates the tensions that the group faced and this is too much for Warwick, who leaves the band in the spring of 1966; In August of the same year Laine had also left. Warwick is replaced by John Lodge, and later Justin Hayward joins, two fundamental pieces in the future of the band.

The regrouped Moody Blues set out, first of all, to stay afloat financially, and decided to play mainly in Europe, occasionally recording a single. The expected takeoff occurred when Deram Records, a Decca Label label, in 1967, decided that it needed a long-playing record to promote its new Deramic Stereo sound system. The Moody Blues are chosen for the proposed project, and they are commissioned to prepare the arrangements for a rock version of the classic New World Symphony, by Antonín Dvořák; They immediately convinced the producer and the engineer to abandon the proposed material and allow the group to use a series of their own compositions that they called “An archetypal day, from morning to night.” They accepted, and, using the tapes of the new music made by the band, with symphony orchestra arrangements performed by conductor Peter Knight, the album Days of Future Passed (1967) was made, which It became a milestone in the group's history. The mix of rock and classical sounds was new; At first he confused the record company, but he was convinced and the album was produced and released. This album, and his Nights in White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon, harmonically linked to the album, resulted in the following album, In Search of the Lost Chord (1968); In this new project the band discards the orchestra in favor of the mellotron, which quickly became part of the band's sound. In 1969 two new albums were released, On the Threshold of a Dream and To Our Children's Children's, Children; the group finds itself doing something important, and that's how they feel about it themselves. They work in the studio with a new process called overdubbing; With it, they began to create music that really corresponded to the work of 20 or 30 members of The Moody Blues.

The band is in a stage of metamorphosis and begins a new life with the album A Question of Balance (1970), where the group makes the decision to play in concerts, reducing its dependence on the overdubbing system, thus leaving the responsibility of the work in the group and making their sound heavier. The result of this decision is the album called Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (1971), perhaps one of the group's best albums, which is followed by Seventh Sojourn (1972).. The tension of touring, performing and recording work for five solid years begins to take its toll, and at the end of an extensive international tour, the band decides to take a break that ultimately lasts another five years. During this period of time without a reunion of the group, Hayward and Lodge recorded a very successful duet album, Blue Jays (1975), while the other members of the band made only single albums.

In 1977 the group decided to reunite to record again; However, Pinder, who had moved to California during the band's hiatus, only joined them to record the album Octave (1978), but did not participate in the tours to present the album. himself, being replaced in them by the musician Patrick Moraz, an excellent keyboardist, who performs his work with great success. With this album, The Moody Blues once again appears on the hit parade lists on both continents. The group continues the temporary inertia of work with a new album, called Long Distance Voyager (1981), more popular and successful than the previous one; They continued with The Present (1983), a work well received by the group's fans, but by this time a schism was beginning to develop between the band and the critical community. Although they continued to reach the mid-range of the charts and even rose reasonably close to the top with Hayward's single 'In Your Wildest Dreams'; (1986), which is completed as a full-length album by The Other Side of Life (1986), an album made by the entire group. In the late '80s, The Moody Blues were on the edge of their musical energy; They perceived themselves as a nostalgic group that had already reached its best times, but having a very large audience; Even so, they released one more album, called Sur La Mer (1988).

The decade of the nineties once again gave us more of the music of The Moody Blues, and they began it with Keys of the Kingdom (1991). In 1994, a compilation four-CD set called Traveller Time (1994) was released by his record label. A new effort came to fruition with an album called Strange Times (1999), which was followed by an album recorded at a live concert that the group gave at the Royal Albert Hall (2000) that finally placed them in the place of honor they deserved, being recognized by the entire English and world musical community, and finally, in 2001 they were offered their most recent recording, which was called Journey to Amazing Caves (2001), an album of very fine music that tells us that the strength and power of the magic of The Moody Blues continues. In the spring of 1997, PolyGram released remastered and updated versions of all of the group's classics, from albums released in the late '60s and '70s, with radically improved sound and new liner notes offered by recollections by the group's members. It should be noted that on one occasion Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra mentioned The Moody Blues as one of the bands that most influenced him.

Members

• Graeme Edge – drummer, percussion, choirs (1964–2018)
• Ray Thomas – flute, harmonic, saxophone, percussion, voice (1964–2002)
• Mike Pinder – keyboards, voice (1964–1978)
• Denny Laine – guitar, voice (1964–1966)
• Clint Warwick – low, voice (1964–1966)
• Rodney Clark – low, voice (1966)
• Justin Hayward – guitar, voice (1966–2018)
• John Lodge – bass, guitar, voice (1966–2018)
• Patrick Moraz – keyboards (1978–1991)

Discography

• The Magnificent Moodies / Go Now! (1965)
• Days of Future Passed (1967)
• In Search of the Lost Chord (1968)
• On the Threshold of a Dream (1969)
• To Our Children's Children's Children (1969)
• A Question of Balance (1970)
• Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971)
• Seventh Sojourn (1972)
• Octave (1978)
• Long Distance Voyager (1981)
• The Present (1983)
• The Other Side of Life (1986)
• South the Mer (1988)
• Keys of the Kingdom (1991)
• Strange Times (1999)
• December (2003)