Disco de The Moody Blues: “Singles+”

I love the Moody Blues and this album will not disappoint. The "Go Now" era tracks are a must-have. Unlike many other Moody Blues fans, I enjoy listening to these tracks as they show an evolution of the band. True, they sound like standard faire of Brit R & B influenced groups, but what a fantastic time period. Imagine the early Kinks and Pink Floyd stuff and you will get the idea. The rest is just incredible. The Question track is the same from my older Story of the Moody Blues LP, which I have not heard on CD before as they usually give the album version on collections. This particular single has a better sound/tempo. It was also great to hear Dear Diary, Watching and Waiting, and Eyes of a Child from the "classic Moodies" period, as well as Talking Out of Turn and Sitting At The Wheel from the "rebirth of the Moodies" period. If you own one Moody Blues collection, take a chance with this one as it is much more complete, much more affordable, much more sequential, and contains many more tracks with much more music than other Moody Blues collections.

Also, the 16 page color booklet is a useful and informative history of the band and the singles they created, complete with classic pictures of the band and pictures of the single sleeves.

Go Now and enjoy it!

This compilation includes every A-side single that charted in each of seven different countries - America, Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Sweden - except And my baby's gone (a top 20 French hit) but including Blue guitar and Forever autumn, two hits that Justin Hayward had without the Moody blues. Two other Justin Hayward hits, I dreamed last night (an American hit with John Lodge) and The eve of the war (a Dutch hit with Jeff Wayne), are omitted.

As well as all the hits, however minor, there are flop singles, B-sides and album tracks. So anybody who has looked through other Moody blues compilations, only to discover that one or more of their favorite minor hits is missing, look no further. You'll find it here.

The accompanying booklet includes chart details showing that they had a UK number one hit with Go now, a French number one with Melancholy man and a Dutch number one with Question. Nights in white satin, their most famous song, reached number two in France, Holland and America. I'm not sure what all this proves, except that the compilers have done their research.

Of course, all the classics are here, but this double-CD goes way beyond that. It starts with their first single, the flop Steal your heart away, and ends with I know you're out there somewhere from 1988. If you only buy one Moody blues collection, this is as good as any you are likely to find.

Track listing

1. Steal your heart away

2. Go now

3. I don't want to go on without you

4. From the bottom of my heart (I love you)

5. Everyday

6. Stop

7. Bye bye bird

8. Boulevard de la Madeleine

9. This is my house

10. Life's not life

11. Fly me high

12. Love and beauty

13. Nights in white satin

14. Cities

15. Tuesday afternoon

16. Voices in the sky

17. Ride my see saw

18. Lovely to see you

19. Dear diary

20. Never comes the day

21. Eyes of a child

22. Watching and waiting

23. Question

24. Candle of life

25. Melancholy man

26. Story in your eyes

27. Isn't life strange

28. I'm just a singer

29. For my lady

30. Remember me (my friend)

31. Blue guitar

32. Forever Autumn

33. Had to fall in love

34. Steppin' in a slide zone

35. Driftwood

36. Gemini dream

37. Voice

38. Talking out of turn

39. Sitting at the wheel

40. Blue world

41. Your wildest dreams

42. Other side of life

43. I know you're out there somewhere

I knew most of the Moody Blues' songs from a former roommate who was a big fan, but I didn't own any Moodies albums of my own, and wanted to get the most bang for my buck with my first purchase. So I went for this Dutch 2-CD set that covers everything from 1964's "Go Now!" to 1985's "I Know You're Out There Somewhere". The other Moodies best-of albums I've seen either ignored the years before Justin Hayward and John Lodge joined, or only included "Go Now!" In addition to having all the Hayward-Lodge classics, this compilation devotes almost half a CD to the Denny Laine era. Besides "Go Now!" (which was amazingly the Moodies' only U.K. #1 hit), there are great Laine/Pinder songs like "This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)", "Everyday", and "Life's Not Life". The set also includes highlights from the Moodies' 1973-78 hiatus: Hayward's gorgeous "Forever Autumn" from Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds" album, and "Blue Guitar" and "Remember Me (My Friend)" from the Hayward-Lodge "Blue Jays" project. Some of the singles are shorter than the album versions; this is most noticeable on "Question". "Isn't Life Strange" is still a full six minutes long. The version of "Nights in White Satin" is different from the one I've always heard on American radio, which included the strings; I'm assuming this is the original U.K. single. I don't miss the lack of Graeme Edge's "Late Lament" poetry, but you might. Some B-sides are included, like "Candle of Life" and "Melancholy Man" (apparently the latter was released as a single in France and went to #1 there), but sadly not "A Simple Game". A few non-singles, like "Eyes of a Child" and "Lovely to See You", also sneak in. Overall, this is a fantastic package for the asking price. As an odd perk, the CD booklet includes a chart of how high each single peaked in the U.K., U.S., France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

This is the collection made for those fans that are `singles' oriented. Every Moody Blues single and B-Side from 1965 through 1988 is included here. The Moody Blues often included a choice album cut for their B-Sides rather than a mediocre album track. You can see from the list that the best is here. There is always going to be a missing song from `any' collection, but it also a showcase for the songs they thought would be best representative from that time period. Please note that they expected the lovely, "Watching and Waiting" to be a huge hit on par with , "Nights In White Satin" but it only charted modestly. This collection contains twenty-one Billboard charted hits as well as those that didn't quite make it. Even if you have the "Time Traveler" Box Set, this double disc in invaluable. Unfortunately, it is not Remastered - yet.

The booklet is a little better than most compilations, in that it includes singles charts from many European countries. This gives a better impression where this group has been popular and when. Of all the many compilations this group has put out, this is a great "complete" singles anthology.

It's a shame to hear the few folks that did whine about this collection. I have many SACD and MFSL copies of The Moody Blues CDs as well as several of their compilations. In that light, I still feel that this compilation is a very good value with songs that cannot be found on any other compilation. In addition, this collection has versions that are not readily available. The quality is very good, and the price would not be much of a risk for anyone!! So, for anyone who wants to enjoy the Moody Blues, give this a shot!!