The Moody Blues Album: “Playlist Plus [Slipcase]”

Essentially what this latest Moody Blues anthology does is take 2005's 2-disc GOLD and tweaks it slightly. Here are the principle diferences.

PLAYLIST PLUS repeats 31 tracks included on GOLD. PLAYLIST drops three tracks from GOLD ("Forever Autumn," the stunning Justin Hayward single which went top 10 in the UK; and "Talking Out of Turn," and "Sitting at the Wheel," which reached No. 65 and 27 repsectively on the U.S. singles charts) then adds five others ("Dear Diary," "It's Up to You," "One More Time to Live," "You Can Never Go Home" and "My Song"). Because PLAYLIST has two more tracks than GOLD, the total playing time increases to about 172 minutes. This, of course, means that PLAYLIST must be spread over three discs, resulting in a list price that is nearly double that of GOLD. All things considered, GOLD offers more bang for your buck. However, both collections omit the pre-Hayward/Lodge version of the band and their mid-Sixties hit "Go Now." If you want that, go with 1998's ANTHOLOGY.

I had looked for this product for quite some time, after having first seen it in a Sam's Club Store and not purchased it. When I finally found it again to my joy one year later on Amazon.com, through a third-party seller, I was overjoyed. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed when the product arrived at my home with its cover of the 3-disc set extremely worn and in bad condition. While Amazon.com gave me a choice of returning the CD set for a full refund or taking $2.00 off its original price (which I opted for), I once again learned the lesson that "all that glitters is not gold," and that those of use who collect CDs and keep them and their covers in great condition, can never be certain that they will arrive so from Amazon.com and its subsidiaries. So, you could say that while liked the product very much, I hated its cover. Thank you.

The sound quality and listing of songs is excellent. However, the listing is lacking "The Other Side of Life", "For My Lady", "Fly Me High" and the "Minstrel's Song". Also, "Nights in White Satin" should be one of the shorter versions. I like the song to end at 5:37 minutes. There is no Moody compliation that contains all these songs in new remastered versions unless you purchase the newly released remastered albums. Even still, "The Other Side of Life" album has not been remastered.