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Recently got into this band and their classic era stuff is so awesome. Their stuff on vinyl has been amazing with the Mellotron ringing through my house.

Oh, don't get me started. My other favorite band along with the Beach Boys. I adore their music.

They need a reunion as well, its rare that a band has all its members still alive at this point. What is the deal with Mike Pinder?

Well, if you want to be picky, technically all of the members except for Clint Warwick (bassist during the 1964-66 "Mark 1" Moodies, the Go Now era) are still alive.

Mike Pinder's departure from the band was a long, drawn out process. The band were in a personal rut during the Seventh Sojourn period, mainly due to the rigors of touring and some other personal problems. Mike Pinder was the one most affected by this. After Seventh Sojourn was released the band toured the world in throughout much of 1973 and the beginning of 1974. After the tour ended in 1974 the band was worn out and, despite pressure from Justin Hayward to continue, decided to go on hiatus and work on individual projects for a while. Each member made solo records during the hiatus, and Justin Hayward and John Lodge recorded the Blue Jays album during this period, as well.

By the time the band reconvened in late 1977 (and Decca saw fit to release the Caught Live +5 record, which angered the band), Mike had moved to the United States, married, and started a family. The rest of the band were ready to record, as usual, but Mike's refusal to leave Los Angeles resulted in the Moody Blues moving their entire entourage (including producer Tony Clarke) to Los Angeles in order to record what would become Octave.

The sessions were, to put it mildly, disastrous. The initial sessions had to be cancelled midway through when a torrential rainstorm sent a series of mudslides down through the studio and rendered it unusable. To complicate matters, Tony Clarke's marriage fell apart, and he had to return to England to deal with an impending divorce. The band moved the sessions and started recording in Mike Pinder's garage studio, but the tension had already reached a fever pitch. Mike had a lot of trouble relating to the rest of the band, culminating in a furious screaming match between Graeme Edge and Mike that led to Mike dropping out of the sessions before completion. The four-piece band (spearheaded by Justin and John) finished the album themselves, including the keyboard parts.

A disastrous press conference in England before the 1978 tour featured Tony Clarke "sitting in" as Mike Pinder in order to give the impression that all five were back together, however, the Decca press agent mentioned at the end of the conference "Mike Pinder currently absent back in the States", much to the band's distaste.

When time came to tour the Octave record (and with some of their highest ticket sales ever), Mike was initially up for the touring, but only got as far as a final meeting and contract signing before admitting he couldn't bear to go out on the road. He claimed later on that the band agreed that he would work in the studio and a session musician would perform live in his place. The session musician hired for the job was ex-Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz.

By the time came to record Long Distance Voyager in 1980, Patrick had already been given full membership in the band. Mike Pinder's first news of the album's release came in the form of advertisements he saw in a local newspaper. He filed suit to stop the band from releasing the record without his contributions, but was unsuccessful.

I wouldn't say there is bad blood between Mike and the other Moodies, but he seems very content to do his own thing. I'd love to see a reunion, but with both Mike and Ray Thomas enjoying their respective retirements, I doubt it would happen.

Thanks for the detailed infomation, I found the Mark 1 moodies album for really cheap and find it awkward R&B like a lot of British Invasion bands. I miss Mike and Ray in the band, recent live performances, while still good, are missing the awesome flutes and mellotrons that Ray and Mike brought to the band. A reunion performance once or twice would be all I want if they reunite. Finally, the caught live album has those crazy falsettos that I found amazing to listen to.

I'd love to see a reunion but both Ray and Mike seem to be very content doing their own thing. I'm very doubtful it would happen. There isn't a lot of looking back when it comes to the Moody Blues.

I could tell that from interviews with the band, the LPs are where the band lives on. The early albums just put me into another world with awesome production and the band singing deep lyrics.

What albums of theirs do you have?

Go Now!, Days of future passed, in search of the lost chord, On the Threshold of a Dream, To Our Children's Children's Children, and long distance Voyager.  I just started my collection, but Moody Blues vinyl in good condition is easy to find because of people avoiding the Moodies and prog. rock like the plague because Rolling Stone told them to.

Good to start with. All of the 1967-72 albums are essential. The 1975 Justin/John Blue Jays album is a worthy purchase. Justin's 1977 Songwriter LP is also very good. 1983's The Present is pretty good. After that, the albums are ok to ehhhhhhh from The Other Side Of Life through Keys Of The Kingdom. 1999's Strange Times is VERY good, probably their best since Long Distance Voyager.

Will check those out, the 1980s albums are different with Patrick Moraz on keys and the MTV comeback.

Oh yeah. You can make a very good 80 minute CD with the best of the 1986-91 albums, but it's hard to escape crap like Running Out Of Love and Once Is Enough.

Will still check them out for myself, Patrick Moraz sounds like quite the character from what I have heard.

He was. He still is. Patrick was always an excellent keyboardist. However, the fact still remains that the man was (and still is) a HUGE egomaniac who was, to put it bluntly, too much for the egomania that ruled (and later splintered) Yes.

His departure from the band in 1991 (during Keys To The Kingdom recording sessions) came after a good five or so years of internal strife that, luckily, the Moody Blues were able to keep out of the press until Patrick decided to sue them, claiming "unpaid royalties". Patrick's original condition upon joining the band was that he would be paid on a gig-by-gig basis. The rest of the band wanted him as a full member (and he is actually introduced as "our new brother" in 1978 live gigs by Ray Thomas), but Patrick basically shot himself in the foot by allowing himself only a glorified sideman role, which excluded him from any "unpaid royalties", since, technically, he was not a "member". By 1986 he started skipping gigs left and right, and the band had to hire Bias Boshell as a second keyboardist to cover Patrick's inconsistent appearances. Soon afterwards, the band decided just to keep Bias on because he was actually willing to show up and play. When Patrick found out, he attempted to sue the band in 1991 for something like $10 million, but the trial (also aired on Court TV in the United States) soon turned into a circus, with Patrick taking all manner of cheap shots at the band and avoiding questions or giving misleading answers. In the end, he won, but only about $240,000. He has been estranged from the Moody Blues ever since, and all releases in recent memory credit him only as "additional keyboardist".

He's the only real villain in the Moody Blues story, especially after a comment he made about Justin Hayward ended up in the press.

"That Justin Hayward...he'd cut his mother's throat if it meant he'd get ahead in life."

This is what Justin Haywards says about that.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MR0X0bGqYo

That's some great footage, isn't it? Live recordings of the band before 1970 are exceedingly scarce. More are always welcomed.

I've seen recent interview clips of Pinder, and it's a shame he won't rejoin (er, be taken back) because he looks great! With his shaven head he actually looks younger than he did in the band's heyday, and he's very articulate, bright and full of life.

One of the all-time great bands.

Was forced to go see them a million years ago by my parents, and it was a life altering event!

And sure, Octave might be a disaster but it did provide us with this lovely chunk of Justin man-crush magic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cO-g6orYGI&feature=related

I wouldn't say Octave was a disaster but it was definitely a case of working within less than cordial conditions. It basically sounds like the solo albums that the individual members did during the hiatus.

Yeah but:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cO-g6orYGI&feature=related   :3d

This is the best discussion on the Moodies I've ever seen, and it's on Smiley Smile, carry on - lots I didn't know.

I've seen them live twice in recent years on UK tours and they are great entertainment. Nothing serious, just a great night out.

IMHO 'Seventh Sojourn' is the last great Moodies LP (and it is a real classic), I've never been able to get into 'Octave' or after, although some of the songs come off well enough live.

Best record of them all - 'To Our Children's Children's Children'. Wonderful.

The 2 CD remasters from a couple of years are exemplary.

Didn't you get to meet Patrick Moraz?

All of their 1967-72 albums are pretty much flawless, although I'd give the edge to Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Procession is probably the best art rock instrumental of all time. The band is firing on all cylinders; every member has some great material to contribute. Justin's The Story In Your Eyes is an absolute classic. John's Emily's Song and One More Time To Live are great, lesser-played tunes. Mike's My Song is the best thing he ever wrote for the Moodies.

I need to buy their early 1970s albums where they made an effort to write songs that could be performed live.

Ha! Yes! It was hilarious!

I was living in San Pedro and I guess he was renting some huge half empty mansion in Palos Verdes and was doing a gig at the local, punk rock type coffehouse/venue where me and all my punk-ass friends would hang out. I didn't and don't talk about it much, but I'm a massive Yes freak, so I couldn't help but notice all these posters for Patrick's new album (Windows Of Time) and fliers for his gig literally plastered on every wall, telephone pole, window in town. So, we where hanging out in front of the coffeehouse one night and I hear this booming voice with this weird accent, and I look up the street and it's Patrick Moraz wearing this hugest fur coat I've ever seen and more bling than Mr. T.  He's heading our way trailed with his entourage of really young and fey indie-musician types. Moraz sees that I recognize him so he walks right up to me and asks "yes"? I ask him "Hey, if I run and grab my copy of Relayer (I lived right round the corner) will you sign it for me"? He raises his finger in the air and shouts "NO! Buy my new album: Windows Of Time"! ... I go, "OK, well, will you sign THAT"? He says "Come to my show and I will"! I said, "No thanks"! So, he moved on with a dismissive frown.

I actually didn't get to see his gig. His over-promoting paid off and it was too crowded. But we walked past and could hear some killer stuff he was doing. Friends said it was a great show and that he told all kinds of hilarious stories.

I knew some prog rock drummer guy who was hanging out with Moraz at the time and he said the house he was living in was basically empty and he was sleeping on a blow-up mattress and had all these random keyboards in various states of disrepair that he was trying to sell everyone.

You know, all of the stuff said about how the band hit a wall with To Our Children's Children's Children is kind of misleading. The "official" story is that the band only was able to perform Gypsy in concert and therefore had to come to terms with the excesses of their sound and come up with leaner arrangements. However, if you look into the band's 1973-74 touring period, they played four tunes from that album - the shows all opened with a medley of Higher and Higher and Out and In, and later in the sets they played both Watching and Waiting and Eternity Road. Eternity Road even came back into the setlists during the 90s when the band toured with symphony orchestras, and Higher and Higher returned in 2003 (probably to give Graeme something more to do since they dropped his previous spotlight, Nothing Changes, from the sets). The songs weren't so much unable to be played live but it's hard to separate those songs from the whole. It's easily their most unified of concepts.

I agree! Even though Seventh Sojourn is awesome: Every Good Boy might be their absolute peak. You Can Never Go Home Anymore is my fave Justin song ever, After You Came might be Grahams best, My Song is a stunning album closer, (Though When You're A Free Man Again is Pinder's peak, in my book) One More Time To Live is also Lodge at his best.

Plus, the album jacket alone can't be beat!

What a story, almost seems like a plot to a Wes Anderson film. :lol

Thats awesome they actually did more of those songs live, this band has a lot of myths like the BBs do.

I heard there was some disappointment with the band about the failure of 'Watching And Waiting' as a single. It was thought by the band that this one would actually top 'Nights In White Satin' as a hit record. It flopped. Maybe that put a shadow on the album, of which the second side, in particular, is the most unified thing they did. Wonderful stuff.

I only recently got hold of the Mort Garson 'Cosmic Sounds' LP, which various Moodies have always given as a key influence on them. It's not just the silly narration on that LP that was co-opted at times, it's the sound of the record, elegant, atmospheric. Very evident in songs like the wonderful 'Eternity Road'.

EGBDF is certainly beautifully packaged, as all the albums were (although Seventh Sojourn's grey/brown sleeve is a bit bleak, in some ways reflecting the music) - but IMHO it's possibly the weakest of the seven. However it does have 'You Can Never Go Home' on it, which is a magnificent song.

'My Song' and 'After You Came' are overblown, again IMHO.

You're right about 'When You're A Free Man' though. Superb track. Cold War melodramatic rock, one of the few instances of this genre!

It's tough picking the weakest of the Classic 7...probably the closest would be A Question of Balance, but it's still a great LP.

I've been listening to some of my live Moodies bootlegs, mostly from the 1970-74 period. They were quite an underrated live band, despite having to downsize their studio arrangements to fit the live context. The Caught Live +5 album does them a bit of a disservice, since it was not the band on one of their better nights (rumors of drug use are substantiated). The Isle of Wight 1970 disc is a much better document of them live during the early 1970s.

It's fun to hear those lush studio arrangements stripped down to be played by five men onstage. Stuff like Tortoise and the Hare and After You Came became vicious rockers in concert.

The moodies are really underrated as a self- contained rock unit.

They are! I'd like to see them release some more live recordings from their heyday, if they indeed exist. Apparently, they have a reference tape from the 1973 tour that could possibly be released. And pretty much every tour since 1970 until 1997 had gigs recorded for radio broadcast.

It'd be nice if they could release the 1970 Philadelphia gig; it's easily one of their best gigs. It was played on the radio in Philly at the time, but the only bootlegs are either recorded off-air from the radio, or audience tapes. They should also release the 1979 Seattle gig, with a bunch of Octave material and, of all surprises, The Balance. There's a San Diego gig from '94 that has Eternity Road, as well. I hope that these will be properly released one day. Their live albums have always sold pretty well.

The more great live material released, the better because the Moodies get a bad rap as a studio only "boring prog-rock band"

The Moodies are one of the REAL units in rock history!

Sure Justin had the best voice/is the best looking, but they ALL wrote and played an integral part in what the band was. No one guy has all the best songs either. Each guy contributed their own share of classics (yes, even Edge)!!

They were a true group effort, that's why when they tour now, its easy to tell the missing presence of Pinder and Thomas.

I used to work with this old man who was from England.  He told me a couple stories and call me foolish but I actually believe the guy.  The stories weren't 'good enough' to be fake. 

He claimed that he used to know the Moody Blues when they were first getting started, he let them borrow his van to do shows for a while or something like that.  If he was lying about that, I don't think he made up a good enough story, leading me to believe it was true.

He also claimed that he used to see John Lennon in bars all the time.  He said they'd play shows, and John would stay around and drink, and get in fights with everybody.  To test his lie, I asked him what Paul was like, he said he wasn't sure because Paul didn't usually hang around after the shows.  Seems to me if he was lying, he would have lied and said he knew Paul too. 

Who knows.  Anyways, everytime I see the moody blues I think about him saying he let them borrow his van, lol. 

Just caught hold of this thread - and I LOVE The Moodies as well. Fave album ? TOCCC ... but in addition to the classic 7 as they are referred to I always rated both Long Distance Voyager and the Blue Jays project, and I can always recall being bitterly disappointed in both Octave and The Present. From thereon I stopped buying them ... but I'll tell you the ONE THING that has really bugged me. There has NEVER been a definitive biography on the band. That would be a fascinating read and a MUST-HAVE ! I do remember one being mooted a few years back... but nothing ever appeared. Any insight as to why ? I can just imagine one in the context of The Byrds 'Timeless Flight' package ...

Any chance of Denny Laine rejoining the Moodies?

and why would he do that ? He was never in the band with Justin or John, Mike and Ray are no longer there, and they certainly no longer play the r'n'b style he originally performed with them. He may have been an original but he's got no relevance to the 'Moody Blues' as they are known today or their musical style. Despite his obvious musical abilities, and I've got nothing against him - I loved the stuff he did with Wings, but ... no need.

Listened to TOCCC last night. (First time in quite a while) and it's now my new fave of the classic 7!!!! :)

So many great songs on it, and I think it has the best flow of any Moodies album!

TOCCC is my favorite too- actually one of my favorite albums by anybody. Funny thing- for years I interpreted the theme of the album as being death and the possible afterlife (which totally works). It was 20 years later that a fellow Moodies fan told me it was all about space travel. Side note: the very first LP I ever bought was Every Good Boy because I loved Story In Your Eyes from the radio.

I think there's a bit of both concepts in it. It's a bit multi-faceted. Great album.

Seventh Sojourn on vinyl is one of my favorites right now. Mike Pinder's chamberlin upgrade really changed the sound in a positive way.

What was the deal with the Caught Live +5 album ? I heard that the band weren't to keen on it's release ... was it a contract filler or something ? I think it's a really strong album, although it would have been nicer to make it a complete four sides of concert ... but I guess the inclusion of 5 previously unreleased tunes was a marketing/sales ploy. What did the band actually say at the time of release ... and are there any quality SB recordings circulating from their early 70's shows ? Never seen any ...

They weren't particularly thrilled with it when the recording was made in 1969 (allegations of drug use were confirmed by the band), and Decca only released it once the news of the band's reunion became public to test the waters for the continued commercial viability of Moody Blues product. The whole concert is actually on the album; the only reason for the five studio recordings was that the album would have been three-sided without them and I doubt they were going to attempt another Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief.

As far as quality soundboards, the band released their set at the Isle of Wight from 1970 a couple years ago, which is pretty good. I have a radio broadcast (more accurately recorded by pointing a microphone at a radio) from Philadelphia in late '70 and a 35 minute excerpt of a radio broadcast from VPRO in '72 when they played in Amsterdam. There's a rumor that the band has a tape of one of the 1973 gigs, but it's never come to light and I doubt it will be released.

Are there any great books on the history of the Moody Blues?

Shame about that 73 gig - would've loved to have heard that one. I've been contemplating the IOW CD but was put off when I heard the somewhat 'ragged' version of "Tortoise & Hare". Maybe it was just a bad day for me - I shall try again ! As for a book on the band - I'd love to read one - and have actually been contemplating that as my next project once my BREAD biography hits the shelves ...  :smokin

Luckily, many of the audience tapes from the 1970-74 period are quite listenable. There aren't many from 1973-74; only four from '73 and two from '74. Look for a gig from those years to hear more tunes from To Our Children's Children's Children played live, specifically Higher and Higher, Out and In, Eternity Road, and Watching and Waiting.

The more "To Our Children's Children's Children" played live, the better. This album is one of my favorites with deep themes about time.

... and I'm guessing that by 73/74 the set list would've been long enough to fill out FOUR sides of vinyl  :lol

I love these guys too.Saw them as early as 1970 and at least 6 times since. They deserve to be in the Hall Of Fame.

The remix of Days of Future Passed is very different than the original LP.

And the mono mix of 'DOFP' is different again - another one of those mid-1960's albums mixed seperately to mono and stereo. The mono mix is much punchier and I have it on vinyl.

The mono mix of 'In Search Of The Lost Chord' is also very different, and again superior, IMHO.

I wonder if they could restore the original 1967 mix on CDs with fly-ins and other fixes used on the smile box set.

The original 1967 mix of Days of Future Passed never "ceased to exist"; it actually still exists but the band just doesn't want to do anything with it. A copy from a German production master has been circulating for years. It's about the closest we'll ever get.

I should get that copy or I need to find a great sounding vinyl copy and do a needle drop with my ion turntable. I like the remix on CDs, I just want to hear the original mix with on my ipod with headphones to compare with the remix.

Mike Pinder's studio in Malibu Ca, later called "Indigo Ranch" where they did Octave, was the nicest
studio I have ever seen, up on a hill overlooking the pacific ocean, it was several miles from the
nearest store, and about 40-50 miles north of Los Angeles proper. The studio had two guest houses
and an engineer living on the premises. You could comfortably sleep perhaps 8 people. It wasn't
the kind of studio, where you would just drop by for a two hour overdub session.

They had a nice kitchen, and you would move up there for a week or a month, Neil Young, a lot of
the "Country Rock" people worked up there, Oingo Boingo.

But yeah mudslides, fires, in fact i think the place burned down a couple years ago.

Pinder sold the place to Richard Kaplan and his partner Mike Hoffman., the tracking room was amazing
designed by Pinder and had no right angles, it was like a dome in Taj Mahal or something, peaceful
Bob cats and coyotes, there are actually a couple of houses nearby on the road, so its' remote, but
there is civilization within 25 minutes The Surfers Paradise cove and Brian Wilsons old malibu house
aren't that far away.


They had two beautiful Studer 24 tracks, some kind of old board with great eq, lots of outboard gear
a world class microphone collection, and Kaplan was a great engineer.

Whatever the problems with Octave and Mike Pinder, Pinder had some money, he owned a studio
which he probably sold for a mint.  I think he had had it with being in the Moody Blues, maybe with
The great comback and success of Long Distance Voyager, he started having regrets, maybe he was
shafted by the guys, but he wasn't exactly suffering, he was in such a remote location, there was no
way the other four guys from England were gonna be able to work with him, unless he moved closer

I really liked John Lodge's writing, and Ray Thomas occasiional Timothy Leary type song.

If Thomas health would allow, and Lodge, Hayward, Edge and Thomas could make an album that wasn't
totally dominated by Hayward songs, I would be delighted. I don't see that happening or Pinder getting
back in the band...

But if you had been to Pinders remote studio, and the drive up the hill just to get there, and the distance
from town, it was a dirt road with a cliff on one side, no one would be able to make that drive everyday
and be happy. And the studio though nice was rustic, bunk beds, you really have to be motivated, to
go up there, to work, and get along with each other, you can't just leave and get a pizza or see a movie

I don't think Pinder ever intended to come back, until after they had another hit

Cool series of Videos from 2010 with Mike Pinder on the mellotron.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmw8B1QWfpg&feature=relmfu

Got in the Mark One moodies recently. Go Now shows Mike Pinder's talents on a regular piano.

Just found this thread. Very cool. I just recently got into the Moody Blues through a friend within the last few months. I saw them live a few weeks ago and it was a really good show.

I only have vinyl copies of DOFP, ONTHOD, TOCCC and just bought EGBDF. I can't get over how great the last half of the TOCCC album is. Did they ever perform Candle of Light live? It's one of my favorites.

I was going to start picking up their cds as well and was wondering if anyone had opinions on the sacds. I do have a sacd player but I listen in stereo (not 5.1) so I was wondering if the sacds are worth the price or if you'd just go with the redbook cd reissues. I've read both are compressed so I'm torn on what to get.

The SACDs are worth the purchase since the original quadraphonic vinyls are harder to find. It's a shame they never were released outside of the EU. The Redbook reissues are fine as well. The band has been remastering all of the albums so far but they seemed to have stopped at The Present.

Thanks for the info. I'll start getting the sacds while most of them are easy to find still.

The Moodies vinyls are the way to go. They had top of the line pressings!

I know, they all sound great except for some DOFP pressings from the 1970s.

Yeah, the Deram pressings were trickier, but any with the Threshold label are fab!!!

I still swear by my old gold CD of DOFP :p

You're probably gonna hate me for this, but every once in a while "Your Wildest Dreams" gets stuck in my head, and I become obsessed with it. Those backing vocals send me to heaven.

I'm not a fan of 80s Moody Blues but I really dig that song. Catchy as hell.

I freaking love that song!!!!!! One of the greatest pop hits ever!!!!

I really really really did the triage of Long Distance Voyager, The Present, and The Other Side Of Life!