This album was originally released in 1984 and as such, was designed for the space limitations of vinyl. Apart from the remixed compilation This Is the Moody Blues (a 1974 double LP covering the classic years) and the odd foreign comp., this was the first-ever Moodies "hits" collection.
Back in the '80s, some non-US (import) CD's were made easily available as domestic purchases. Since the US edition of Voices hadn't yet been issued on CD, the UK issue became the more widely available and commonly known version.
The US and UK editions varied both in their track selection and sequencing. The US version featured 10 tracks, including "Sitting at the Wheel" (then the most recent US chart success) and unique cover art. The UK version featured a plain blue cover with the title logo, and 12 tracks, deleting Wheel in favour of "Talking Out of Turn", and adding "Never Comes the Day" and "After You Came". It's easy to quibble about what wasn't included, but one must remember the era in which the original album was compiled. Talking and "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" likely made the cut because Long Distance Voyager had been such a monster success just a few years before, especially when compared to its follow-up.
Voices was designed as a sampler, to give one a taste of the Moodies tunes they still heard on the radio. As such and what made it essential was that it featured many unique single mixes and edits which hadn't previously been made available in album form. These versions are often preferrable, due to the crossfaded nature of their LP counterparts. Most of them have become the standard versions used for other Moodies' comps since, but this was the only way to get them on LP, and later CD back in the day.
One noticeable mastering mistake: a digital dropout in the right channel at the beginning of I'm Just a Singer on the original UK CD, though that could be corrected by now.
...but my disk has a different song order than listed here. Although you could argue that this is not really a best-of collection, most of the songs are very enjoyable. If you ever enjoyed the "Long Distance Voyager" release, this CD has the best songs from that, plus great songs from the earlier releases. ONE MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT: the disk that I purchased has the short version of "Nights in White Satin", without the spoken "breathe deep the gathering gloom...." portion...bummer!
I'm SITTING AT THE WHEEL, listening to THE VOICE and have one QUESTION...Why aren't these guys in the hall of fame??? ISN'T LIFE STRANGE? Such meaning in their music...My GEMINI DREAM is to enjoy more NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN, and these guys should not be cast aside as DRIFTWOOD! Love this CD!
