The Moody Blues have undergone numerous personale changes over the last 35+ years. These have been given "Mark" designations. There are four distinct "mark" versions of Moody Blues. Viewing convenience, I have placed bookmarks, though I think it would be best to read history from beginning to end. :-)
The "Mark I" Moodies consisted were formed by Denny Laine in 1963, under the name The M & B 5. Rumor has it the name "Moody Blues" came from Mike Pinder, whose favorite song was "Mood Indigo". This nascent version of a band that would later achieve world fame in lush, extravagant orchestrations and concept albums, was a struggling Rhythm & Blues act that played cheap tours and wore matching blue suits, playing other peoples' songs. Their only album, entitled The Magnificient Moodies contained their only successful hit, "Go Now!" They were, sadly, destined for failure.
LINE-UP:
After "Go Now!" fell from the
charts and the Moodies were unable to follow up with another hit,
the band fell into disarray. Laine exited to pursue a solo
career, and Warwick left because "he had a lot personal
problems" (Ray Thomas in Legend Of A Band) Ray called
his old buddy John Lodge to fill in for Clint, and the other two
set to work finding a lead guitarist/singer Eric Burdon (famous
for The Animals, of "House of the Rising Sun" fame) was
putting the Animals back together, and Justin Hayward had sent in
an application (not knowing it was the Animals--he just wanted to
get into a band), albeit a little too late. Burdon had already
found a suitable guitarist. So Burdon passed Justin's application
on to Mike Pinder, who contacted Justin. Justin, only 19 at the
time, had already had 3 years' experience on the professional
music scene, although Justin jokingly claims that he was
"in" only because "I had [my own] guitar and
amp."
Smart choice on their part, one could say. Justin has become one of rock and roll's most fertile songwriters, and has elevated the band to a level of success exceeding the Mark I Moodies--and giving them the staying power to last 33+ years
This version of the band, sometimes called The Classic Seven Era because of the seven concept albums they released in six years, (arguably the best--some say the Moodies became little more than a parody of their original selves when Mike Pinder exited in 1978; others say the music got better with time. It's all a matter of opinion) blossomed when their chance-recording album DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED sold with incredible power. John Lodge has described it as a unique album; "It became one of those albums that you had to have in your collection. That didn't necessarily mean you went out and bought it in the weeks necessary to get it into the charts." True enough, DAYS has continued to sell steadily over the last 32 years, and no concept album prior to, or following its release has hit upon so vivid a theme with such intensity. In a way, it was the forefather of New Age. DAYS also includes the band's highest-charting single in their entire catalog, a song that broke all the rules: the sublime Hayward gemstone "Nights In White Satin" (also in DAYS' lineup is another Hayward gem, also very popular and one of the songs by which they are identified to the general population, "Tuesday Afternoon")
The next album, IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD featured all five members playing as a mini-orchestra. Between the five of them, more than 33 completely different instruments were used in the recording. This includes Justin Hayward on a sitar.
Over the course of the subsequent albums ON THE THRESHOLD OF A DREAM (1969), TO OUR CHILDRENS CHILDRENS CHILDREN (1969), A QUESTION OF BALANCE (1970), and EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR (1971) the band grew bolder and bolder in their musical styles and their exploration of musical concept. But touring relentlessly in between studio sessions began to wear them out, and nerves ran thin. After the release of 1972's SEVENTH SOJOURN, the Moodies embarked upon the their last tour as the Mark II Moodies. At the end of the tour, the band officially took a long sabbatical to rest up the nerves, or in Hayward and Lodge's case, to busy themselves with solo projects. Hayward and Lodge paired up for the album BLUE JAYS (which is often lumped by Moodies fans into the line-up of Moody Blues albums, even though Thomas, Pinder and Edge were absent from it entirely) in 1974, and following that, each embarked upon his own solo project: Hayward with 1977's SONGWRITER and Lodge with 1978's NATURAL AVENUE. Ray and Graeme also set out to make solo records. Ray released FROM MIGHTY OAKS and WISHES HOPES AND DREAMS. Graeme formed The Graeme Edge Band and released two albums KICK OFF YOUR MUDDY BOOTS and PARADISE BALLROOM. Pinder remained in anonymity, trying to rediscover himself.
Eventually, having had four years' time to learn their place in the world, and to learn that the whole of the Moody Blues was far greater than the sum of its parts, four of the five band members began to long for the old days with each other, and when in 1977, their label released a compliation album entitled CAUGHT LIVE + 5, which sold very well, in addition to 1974's greatest hits double-decker long player, THIS IS THE MOODY BLUES (featuring songs from all seven albums). In 1978, the five of them got together again to record. This album, OCTAVE, was the last album to feature Pinder.
Even having four years' time off could not cure Pinder of his developed loathing of touring, and shortly after the completion of OCTAVE, refused to sign the contract, and quietly exited the band.
To this day, all band members regret losing Mike. Justin in particular has said on various occasions that he had developed a close relationship with Mike over the years, and that he greatly admired Mike's songs. Not being in the Moody Blues meant that Pinder was destined to not see much of his old bandmates from this point on.
LINE-UP:
OCTAVE signified the end of more than just one era. Not only was Pinder now out of the group, but in the middle of the LP's recording processes, amid numerous problems and annoying impediments, the Moodies' producer Tony Clarke -- often referred to as the Sixth Moody Blue -- who had been such an integral part of the Mark II Moodies' sound, had to quit the project due to emotional stress. His marriage was falling apart and he could no longer concentrate. The album was completed without him.
Patrick Moraz, formerly of Yes and Refugee, was conscripted into the Moodies to play keyboards for 1981's LONG DISTANCE VOYAGER. The next two albums, LONG DISTANCE VOYAGER and THE PRESENT (1983), sound dramatically different from the Classic Seven, and so much alike each other, mainly because the producer on both albums was Pip Williams. Ironically enough, both albums also end the same way: with a set of two or three songs written by Ray Thomas that intermingle with each other. But even Williams was not to last.
1986 signified a revival of sorts. Top Ten success of the single "Your Wildest Dreams" sparked a renewed interest in the band. While LONG DISTANCE VOYAGER had sold the most records world-wide hot off the press, THE PRESENT's mediocre chart performance had labeled the band Has-Beens. 1986's THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE, fronted by the single "Your Wildest Dreams", changed that. THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE also sports a brilliant new sound, streamlined from their original orchestral sounds. There is still heavy synthesizing (which was very very common in those days of yore in the middle Eighties) in great part to the new producer, Tony Visconti, who had helped Justin with his third solo album release MOVING MOUNTAINS the year before. Unfortunately, THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE was also the album where Hayward and Lodge's dominance began to really show. For the first time ever, Ray Thomas is noticeably absent from everything but the cover art. The only singers are Hayward and Lodge themselves. THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE also contains a rare collaboration from someone other than Justin and John: Graeme Edge and Patrick Moraz wrote "The Spirit".
This trend was continued on to full-extremes for 1988's SUR LA MER. SUR LA MER has even been called BLUE JAYS PART TWO because each of the ten songs on that album is a Hayward, Lodge, or Hayward AND Lodge composition. Ray AND Graeme are both absent from all but the credits as being members of the band.
LINE-UP:
By 1989, the Moodies and Moraz were fed up with each other, and Moraz was either fired, or quit. Moraz would eventually file a law suit, claiming to have been denied promised credit. To this day, little is said from any member of the band about Patrick, and all words spoken about him are general and guarded.
1991 saw in the album KEYS OF THE KINGDOM,
which closes with a very emotional Justin/Ray composition called
"Never Blame The Rainbows For The Rain". This song's
lyrics, which speak vaguely of mortality and desperation, also
allude to the end of an age, with:
The last whispered wish of age
Is to live it all again
So never blame the rainbows for the rain
This album has its own milestone: it had not one but three different producers. Tony Visconti produced only four of the 12 tracks.
Also significant about this final version of the Moodies is that by this point, they had gathered together a rather large touring back up band. In late 1992, the band laid down yet another milestone: they performed in concert at Red Rocks Arena, with a full lights show, their entire entourage, and a bonus: they were backed by all 88 pieces of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. This event was videotaped and released on PBS, and also recorded as an album, entitled A NIGHT AT RED ROCKS WITH THE COLORADO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. The band then began a nationwide "orchestra" tour, playing at a majority of the stops with a local orchestra (far cheaper than to tour with their own orchestra). 1994 had its own triumph in Moodyland -- the release of their 80-song 4-disc Box Set, TIME TRAVELLER, which featured on some limited editions a bonus fifth CD with eight previously-unreleased cuts from the Red Rocks concerts, and Justin Hayward's version of "This Is The Moment" done for SOCCER ROCKS THE GLOBE.
TIME TRAVELLER contains not only songs from each of the 13 studio albums, it also includes three pre-DAYS songs: "Fly Me High" (their first single as the Mark II version; legend also states that Justin originally offered this song to Eric Burdon in his application, but Burdon wasn't interested), "Love And Beauty", and "Cities" (the flip side of 1972's rerelease of "Nights In White Satin" which went to #2 in the American charts). Also included on TIME TRAVELLER are five cuts from BLUE JAYS, as well as "Forever Autumn," the song Justin sang for Jeff Wayne's WAR OF THE WORLDS in 1978, and as a bonus, a never-before-released song from KEYS OF THE KINGDOM sessions with Tony Visconti, a little gem called "Highway". In 1996, a restless Justin, never having been comfortable being idle, became fed up with waiting for his fellow bandmates to make up their minds what they were going to do about the increasing demand for new Moodies material, and set to work on his fifth, and best, solo album, entitled THE VIEW FROM THE HILL. With this album as a foil, Justin was able to vent his feelings in his songs (he wrote nine of the album's eleven tracks -- two of which in collaboration with part of his entourage; the other two were composed by keyboardist Paul Bliss and producer Phil Palmer.) Justin then embarked upon a tour of Borders bookstores. His success earned him respect and moderate fanfare, and to his own surprise, his bandmates supported him 100%. Justin said in an interview that they "understand my need to express myself through my songs" since the Moody Blues so rarely ever record. He also added that Graeme's reason for not minding an iota was that "'whenever they interview you, they ask about us [The Moody Blues]!'"
Shortly after THE VIEW FROM THE HILL was
released, the other three members finally got a grip on their
situation and announced their intention to record another studio
album, to the delight of fans worldwide.
That album, STRANGE TIMES, took three years to complete. To this day, fans are still baffled as to what took the album so long. Right up until the very end, STRANGE TIMES seemed determined to never land on the market. No fewer than three different release dates were announced, and by the time the album actually did land on the market on August 17th, fans all over were rabidly chomping at the bit.
Mere weeks before the album's release, someone on the internet got an MP3 version of the single "English Sunset", and posted it online. The online Moodies communities buzzed with analyses of the song. Reviews and predictions ranged widely from "they've sold out!" outrage, to "they've gotten with the times!" delight.
STRANGE TIMES, the longest of all 14 Moodies albums, clocking in with 14 songs, the majority of which are over four minutes in length (Ray's sole contribution, "My Little Lovely" written affectionately for his toddler grandson, was unnervingly short at under two minutes in length), seems to be a farewell of sorts. In a way, it seems to be their acknowledgement that they have come full circle and are now officially through.
The final track, entitled "Nothing Changes" is a misty-eye throwback to the Core Seven days, because it is a Graeme Edge poem, that neatly wraps up 33 years of relentless touring, recording, laughter, friendship, love, and an abundance of music, in a very pretty little package. Graeme is a master of poetics, and the poems says so much in so little space. An acknowledgement that they are no spring chickens, STRANGE TIMES is an emotional acknowledgement of their age and experience. After all, each member of the band is in his fifties.
The album is also loaded with subliminal references to immortality, making it every bit as much a concept album as DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED was, even if it isn't as lucid. Immortality is a very, very good subject for them now. They tackled the idea 30 years earlier in TO OUR CHILDRENS CHILDRENS CHILDREN, which seemed presumptious for rambunctious 20-year-olds; now, with thirty more years under their belts, they bring it up again, and this time, they sound sagacious.
Well, maybe they aren't immortal, but their music is timeless, and timelessness is the key to Immortality.
In more recent news, two new songs, Hayward/Lodge compositions, WE CAN FLY and the instrumental WATER were released in 2001 on the soundtrack to the IMAX film, JOURNEY INTO AMAZING CAVES.
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This page was last updated January 7, 2002
