The Moody Blues Album: “Magnificent Moodies [1992 Bonus Tracks]”

Before the mellotrons, concept albums and psychedelic imagery, The Moody Blues were a rock-solid Mersey Beat band that found their initial success during the British Invasion with their first hit single "Go Now".

"The Magnificent Moodies" was the only album that The Moody Blues released during this period along with a handful of singles that mostly went nowhere. Looking back, although this has somewhat become an underrated and not so talked about period in the band's history, "The Magnificent Moodies" is still a solid release and ranks up there with anything by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

The latest reissue "The Magnificent Moodies" features all 12 tracks from the original mono album along with 14 bonus tracks from the same period. It basically includes everything that was released by the original band and essentially offers a complete history of the music of the early Moody Blues.

In addition, the remastered sound is amazing which makes all other reissues redundant. If you've never owned or heard the original Moody Blues and/or if you thought the band's history started with "Days Of Future Passed", this latest reissue of "The Magnificent Moodies" is the ideal place to start.

After the release of this album as well as several flopped singles, both Denny Laine and bassist Clint Warwick left the band to be replaced by Justin Hayward and John Lodge who paved the way for The Moody Blues as we know them today. This early period of the band quietly slipped into obscurity.

Given that this is basically the only pre-Blue Jays Moody Blues it has been give 4 stars but because in truth it does not have every song recorded prior to Justin/John it was given only 4 stars.

This is unfortunately the only good representation of early Moody Blues available in print(why is this?); influenced heavily by R&B as interpreted by Mike Pinder/Denny Laine/Ray Thomas/Gramae Edge/Clint Warwick. "I'll Go Crazy/ Something you got" are good examples of the early sound with the tortued vocals of Laine and "I dont mind" featuring the vocal/piano powers of Mike Pinder. While "From the Bottom of my heart" and "Stop" two great Pinder/Laine originals, allow for the recognition of the maturing writing talents and vocal harmonies which would later become hallmarks of the '67-'72 Moodies which were much more commercial.

Unfortunately the lack of really good liner notes takes away from the package as a whole as does the surprisingly poor quality of the only Top Ten single the band had at this time which was Go Now. The overall sound quality of the recordings from '64-'66 are really good but the poor quality of the single is unfortunate.

One last item that kept this selection from rating a fully deserved five stars is that somewhere in Europe there is a complete collection of works from the period '64-'66 which is so inclusive it even contains the B-side single 'Cities' by Hayward (probably why this collection cannot currently be found/contractual concerns) but more importantly it does contain EVERY song recorded prior to the departure of Denny Laine. I believe the original import label was GEMA from Germany it was a double vinyl collection which had incredibly clean audio, try to find it on vinyl if you can I don't seem to be able to find it in any other medium.

A brief note to Jay Kuczma: Please don't call the Moodies "Merseybeat"! They (like me) are proud Brummies - i.e. natives of Birmingham, NOT Liverpool! That's like calling the Velvet Underground a "West Coast" band! That aside, I agree with the comments on the CD.

The Moodies started as a combo of Brummies Mods, studying religiously the black scene of the era, James Brown, Sonny-Boy Williamson and Gloria Banks (whose "Go Now" became a number one hit statesides). Their Lead singer, Denny Laine, co-wrote the bulk of their repertoire before leaving the band in 1967. This release includes their debut album, 12 r'n'b tunes very representative of the mid-sixties english sound ( check also the Nashville Teens) plus their entire production before embarking on a drastic change of musical direction under the baton of their new singer, Justin Hayward. Denny Lane will join later Wings to become one of their pivotal members.

The Magnificent Moodies is a laudable effort to keep alive the material of the Mersey Beat Moody Blues. This group featured Denny Laine and Clint Warwick, prior to the arrival of Justin Hayward and John Lodge.

Go Now! is the only really recognizable cut on the collection, although half a dozen others are pleasantly respectable. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough good material here to make the disc particularly memorable or noteworthy.

It is interesting to speculate where the group might have gone had Laine/Warwick stuck it out, but this collection doesn't help much. Many of the cuts have a tired sameness to them, and there is no discernable direction to the material. It almost seems as though the producers were stretching to find enough songs to make the album viable.

Listeners should remember that this is an entirely different group than the Hayward/Lodge Moodies. Try to resist the very unfair comparison between this short-lived, Mersey Beat quintet and the classically styled group that commandeered their name.

This is not a bad collection, it just isn't a particularly good one. In the end, The Magnificent Moodies is little more than a curiosity, a musical intersection wherein five very talented musicians crossed paths on their way to very different destinations.