The Moody Blues Album: “Anthology”

First, let me clarify an inaccuracy from a reviewer entitled: "A music fan from the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago."

Contrary to what was stated, The Moody Blues Anthology does include "Legend of a Mind," and "Lovely to See You." It is true that it is missing "Dear Diary."

I, though felt it is a better collection than the Best of the Moody Blues released in 1997. The edit of "The Story in Your Eyes" was unnecessary. It is restored here to its full length version of 3:05.

A couple of omissions which give it 4 stars instead of 5: I would have liked the addition of the Denny Laine "From the Bottom of My Heart" Also , "For My Lady" is far more essential than "Lost in a Lost World."

Other than that, it is the best sounding, best compiled collection of Moody Blues tunes.

The Moody Blues have been one of the legendary bands in music history. While they never have had that monster album or monster hit, they have built up a very nice music portfolio over 5 decades. One thing that helps the Moody Blues stand out among other artists is their ability to fuse an orchestral sound with a classic rock sound. As a result this fusion has helped the Moody Blues have a Progressive Rock sound while at the same time being able to have a classic rock sound. The Moody Blues emerged in 1966 - around the same time as when artists such as the Beatles ("Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band") and the Beach Boys ("Pet Sounds") were raising the bar for creative standards. The Moody Blues would bring their own style - such as the use of the Flute as well as incorporating a psychedelic sound. This would help them emerge creativity. The Moody Blues would maintain their sound until the 1980s, when they eventually would bring their sound more toward a mainstream pop sound. People also forget that they had an R&B sound when they first started out. The collection that gives you a very good snapshot of the Moody Blues career is the 1998 two-disc collection entitled "The Moody Blues: Anthology".

Anthology takes selections from 14 studio albums of the Moody Blues from 1966 to 1994. The only albums that are not represented (in this period) are the live ones and 1987's "Prelude". "Prelude" is an album that contains material from the early days of the Moody Blues not included on any album. While the Moody Blues do a very good job at representing their portfolio, it would have been good to include one or two songs from "Prelude". (this contains some early material that wasn't included on any other album). "Lost" songs usually have a place on an Anthology collection. However despite this shortcoming, this collection still has a lot to offer.

With greatest hits collections, I prefer the songs to be arranged chronologically on the collection. This allows me to see how the artist has progressed over time. Given the fact that the Moody Blues transformed from a Classic/Progressive/Psychedelic Rock sound to a more mainstream 80s pop sound, it is critical for any Moody Blues collection to be arranged chronologically. "Anthology" does a very good job in doing this. This transformation would occur on 1981's "Long Distance Voyager" (some say with the departure of keyboardist Mike Pinder that this change occurred). A valid argument can be made that "Gemini Dream" (from "Long Distance Voyager") has a Disco beat to it. Some are critical of this transformation by the Moody Blues, but I look at it as another angle the Moody Blues exercised their creative instincts.

I think "Anthology" stands out with the inclusion of "Go Now" and "Highway" - the first and last songs of the compilation. "Go Now" was from "The Magnificent Moodies" album and it really ties things back to the style of their R&B roots before they transformed to a Progressive Rock band. "Highway" is the last song on the compilation taken from their "Time Traveler" boxed set. In a way, the Moody Blues use this song to tie their 1980s pop sound back to their progressive rock sound of the late 1960s. It is a very underrated song, but a perfect song to wrap up a collection.

It is also worth noting there are two songs from the Justin Hayward - John Lodge (two founding members of the Moody Blues) duet offshoot, "The Blue Jays". These two songs are "Remember Me My Friend" and "Blue Guitar".

There are several other compilations out there. Here are some others that are out there that you may be considering and how "Anthology" stands up to them

"The Best of the Moody Blues": This is basically a single disc subset of "Anthology". All of the songs on this collection are also contained on "Anthology". Like "Anthology", it does order the songs in chronological order. All of the major songs are on here, however does not go as deep as "Anthology".

"Moody Blues Gold": This is a similar set - also in chronological order. It contains 34 songs. It is a comparable set to "Anthology", but does not contain "Go Now", "The Other Side of Life", and 1994's "Highway". It does include "New Horizons" (from "Seventh Sojourn"), "Had to Fall in Love" (from "Octave"), "Strange Times" (from "Strange Times") and "December Snow" (from "December"). This album is also in chronological order. One has to make a personal decision if this compilation is preferable to "Anthology". While this does include some newer material than "Anthology", I think "Highway" is a very good song to be omitted.

"Legend of a Band: Greatest Hits": This only contains 12 songs. They are not chronologically ordered. All of these songs are contained on "Anthology".

"Time Traveler": This is this the most complete set out there. It is a four disc "boxed set" containing 71 tracks. It does not contain "Go Now"". The songs are arranged in chronological order.

"20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection": Most of the "Millennium Collection" series disappoints me because they aren't very complete. This one is no exception as it only contains 11 songs - each of which is included on "Anthology". This does keep the songs in chronological order.

The liner notes are a bit of a mixed bag. As with most greatest hits collections, there are no lyrics. I do like how each of the corresponding album titles are listed for each of the tracks. Songwriting and production credits are included. However, I would have liked to see some sort of write-up to be included in this collection. This collection provided me with a excellent snapshot of the Moody Blues career. The deeper fan may want to invest in the 4-disc, "Time Traveler" set - but for the more casual fan, this should more than satisfy.

Way back in the mid 70's, as a teenager, I bought a double album hits collection by the Moody Blues, titles "This Is The Moody Blues". 30 years later, that vinyl is unplayable, so I decided to get an uodated CD collection. The perfect set (for me) would be to duplicate the mid 70's collection, and add "Forever Autumn" from the War of The Worlds. Anthology seemed to come the closest.

Disc one of "Anthology" has 13 of the 25 titles from "This is", plus 5 extras. I could've skipped the addition of "Go Now", it doesn't really fit with the rest, and the audio quality is horrible. Presumably, that's the way the original is, though. I'd gladly exchange any of the additions for the songs left off from "This is..." (Eyes of a Child, Dear Diary, Have You Heard, For My Lady, etc). That collection also had a several poems, which were fun, if a bit corny.

Disc 2 is stuff since the mid 70's, the key item for me is "Forever Autumn". I only had this on the War of The Worlds soundtrack, broken up with narration. The uninterrupted single version is a "must have". The rest of disc 2 is just fine, not as good (or at least not as familiar to me) as disc 1.

I'd probably go 4.5 stars if I could, this disc is ALMOST just what I was looking for.

Whatever happened to "This Is The Moody Blues", which had a far superior song selection taken from the main seven albums. I guess it fell prey to good old record company policy.

For me, the "Moody Blues Anthology" is a wonderful double CD, just like "This is The Moody Blues." This compilation is like a condensed version of "Time Traveller" with the addition of "Go Now."

It's nice that this set includes the full versions of "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights in White Satin" (with the orchestra, contrary to the shorter mixes featured on "The Best of The Moody Blues"). These are my favorite mixes of the tracks, featuring the "Days of Future Passed" CD mix of "Tuesday Afternoon" and the "Days of Future Passed" vinyl mix of "Nights." It's also nice to see that, on this occasion, "Nights" gives mention to "Late Lament," written by Graeme Edge, on the song list (Previously noted on the "Prelude" and "This is The Moody Blues" CD's).

The "Best of" mix of "Ride My See-Saw" is on here, so there is no cross-fade from the "Departure" track, on "In Search of the Lost Chord" ... This mix begins with the count in. There is just one Ray Thomas track on this release, which is "Legend of a Mind," one of my favorite Ray Thomas compositions (and awesome to listen to through headphones). Then, we get "Voices in the Sky," which should have appeared on the 1985 best of compilation featuring that song title as the name of the album!

Two more Justin Hayward tunes follow from "On The Threshold of a Dream," including, "Lovely to See You" and "Never Comes The Day" ... I love the way the first of the two songs is faded in, because we hear the choir and mellotrons that end out, "In The Beginning," from the original LP, a really cool effect.

Up next are three of my favorites, from "To Our Children's Children's Children," the 'mellotron-driven' "Gypsy," "Candle of Life," and "Watching and Waiting," and from "A Question of Balance," the original LP mix of "Question" appears, along with "Melancholy Man," which are two of the album's highlights.

It was also a treat to hear the single mix of "The Story in Your Eyes," originally from the "Legend of a Band" CD, which is a few seconds longer than the mix heard on "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour."

From "Seventh Sojourn," the two John Lodge classics, "Isn't Life Strange" and "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" end out the first disc. The original version of "Isn't Life Strange" appears here (not the remake on "Legend of a Band"), and "I'm Just a Singer" starts off with the loud, crashing drums, not the cross-fade from "When You're a Free Man," from the original LP. It was also a treat to get one more tune from "Sojourn," Mike Pinder's, "Lost in a Lost World."

Opening up the second disc is Justin Hayward and John Lodge's "Remember Me, My Friend," from "Blue Jays" ... Notice that the opening guitar riff lasts only three bars instead of four ... This is because the opening riff was cross-faded with the synthesizer from "This Morning," as heard on the "Blue Jays" album, so it was edited out.

"Blue Guitar," also makes another appearance on a "Best of" compilation, and it's a nice bridge between the "Blue Jays" track and the material from "Octave."

"Stepping in a Slide Zone" and "Driftwood" appear from "Octave," but because of the length of the CD, both songs are edited down a bit, with the sound effects from the intro to "Slide Zone" missing, and "Driftwood" fading out about a half minute earlier than the full version on "Octave."

Justin Hayward's "Forever Autumn" follows, creating a nice bridge between the timeline of "Octave," and "Long Distance Voyager."

From "Long Distance Voyager," the full length hits, "The Voice" and "Gemini Dream" are heard on this collection (Not the single edits from the "Voices in the Sky" compilation), but there is an edited version of John Lodge's "Talking out of Turn," which I first heard on the earlier CD version of "Voices in the Sky."

Excerpts from "The Present" include, "Blue World" and "Sitting at the Wheel." Once again, as heard on "Time Traveller," the end of "Blue World" is cross-faded with the intro to "Sitting at the Wheel."

From "The Other Side of Life," both the title track and "Your Wildest Dreams" appear ... While I was disappointed that "The Other Side of Life" didn't appear on "The Best of The Moody Blues," I'm glad to see that it is featured in this collection. :)

The pairing of "Sur La Mer's" "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" and "Keys of the Kingdom's" "Say it With Love" were nice, as they are played in the same chord, but a big surprise I've noticed was that the mix of "Bless the Wings That Bring You Back" was taken from the CD single mix of that track ... This mix features the orchestra, and lasts about four minutes instead of five. Until this release, this mix of "Bless The Wings" was very rare, so I'm glad it made a reappearance here.

The final track, "Highway," makes a reappearance here, since the "Time Traveller" Box Set, which debuted this tune ... I'm glad this track received some recognition, once again. :)

There was just one criticism I had on this release ... This was in regard to the edited down versions of "Driftwood" and "Talking out of Turn," which are better suited for the 2 CD set titled "The Singles+" (I'm not big on edited down songs, and those were two fine songs that should be left at their regular length). Since the full length mixes of the songs wouldn't fit the length of the overall CD, I would rather see them replaced by shorter songs like "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" and "This is The Moment." It's a shame that there was only one Ray Thomas composition that appeared on this collection ... At least two of his songs could have been featured, so I think "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" would have been a nice choice, too.

On the whole, this is an excellent double CD compilation for The Moody Blues, with a great selection of songs and outstanding sound quality. The inside of the CD booklet, featuring the two different colored planets behind the track list, made for a visual treat, as well! Thanks for reading! God Bless... :)