Although
they're best known today for their lush, lyrically and
musically profound (some would say bombastic) psychedelic-era
albums and singles, the Moody Blues started out as one
of the better R&B based combos of the British Invasion.
The Moody Blues' history began in Birmingham, England,
where one of the more successful bands during that time
was El Riot and the Rebels, co-founded by Ray Thomas (harmonica,
vocals) and Mike Pinder (keyboards, vocals). Pinder left
the band, first for a gig with Jackie Lynton and then
a stint in the Army. In May of 1963, he and Thomas reunited
under the auspices of the Krew Cats. They were good enough
to get overseas bookings in Germany, where English rock
bands were the rage. Upon their return to Birmingham in
November of 1963, the entire English musical landscape
was occupied by 250 groups, all of them vying for gigs
in perhaps a dozen clubs. Thomas and Pinder decided to
try and go professional, recruiting members from some
of the best groups working in Birmingham. This included
Denny Laine (vocals, guitar), Graeme Edge (drums), and
Clint Warwick (bass, vocals). The Moody Blues made their
debut in Birmingham in May of 1964, and quickly earned
the notice and later the services of manager Tony Secunda.
A major tour was quickly booked, and the band landed an
engagement at the Marquee Club, which resulted in a contract
with England's Decca Records less than six months after
their formation. The group's first single, "Steal
Your Heart Away," released in September of 1964,
didn't touch the British charts.
Their
second single "Go Now," released in November
of 1964, fulfilled every expectation and more, reaching
number one in England; in America, it peaked at number
10. Following it up was easier said than done. Despite
their fledgling songwriting efforts and the access they
had to American demos, this version of the Moody Blues
never came up with another single success. By the end
of the spring of 1965, the frustration was palpable within
the band. The group decided to make their fourth single,
"From the Bottom of My Heart," an experiment
with a different sound. Unfortunately, the single only
reached number 22 on the British charts following its
release in May of 1965. Ultimately, the grind of touring
coupled with the strains facing the group, became too
much for Warwick, who exited in the spring of 1966, and
by August of 1966 Laine had left as well. Warwick was
replaced by John Lodge. His introduction to the band was
followed in late 1966 by the addition of Justin Hayward.
The
reconstituted Moody Blues set about keeping afloat financially,
mostly playing in Europe, recording the occasional single.
Their big break came from Deram Records, an imprint of
their Decca label, which in 1967 decided that it needed
a long-playing record to promote its new "Deramic
Stereo." The Moody Blues were picked for the proposed
project, a rock version of Dvorak's New World Symphony,
and immediately convinced the staff producer and the engineer
to abandon the source material and permit the group to
use a series of its own compositions that depicted an
archetypal "day," from morning to night. Using
the tracks laid down by the band, and orchestrated by
conductor Peter Knight, the resulting album Days of Future
Passed became a landmark in the band's history. The mix
of rock and classical sounds was new, and at first puzzled
the record company, but eventually the record was issued.
This album, and its singles "Nights in White Satin"
and "Tuesday Afternoon," hooked directly into
the musical sides of the Summer of Love and its aftermath.
In Search of the Lost Chord (1968) abandoned the orchestra
in favor of the Mellotron, which quickly became a part
of their signature sound.
By
the time of 1969's To Our Children's Children's Children,
the group found themselves painted into something of a
corner. Working in the studio with the process of overdubbing,
they'd created albums that were essentially the work of
20 or 30 Moody Blues. Beginning with A Question of Balance
(1970), the group made the decision to record albums that
they could play in concert, reducing their reliance on
overdubbing and toughening up their sound. By the release
of Seventh Sojourn (1972), the strain of touring and recording
steadily for five years was beginning to take its toll,
and following an extended international tour, the band
decided to take a break from working together, which ultimately
lasted five years. During this era, Hayward and Lodge
recorded a very successful duet album, Blue Jays (1975),
and all five members did solo albums. By 1977, however,
the group members had made the decision to reunite, a
process complicated by the fact that Pinder had moved
to California during that period. Although all five participated
in the resulting album, Octave (1978), there were stresses
during its recording, and Pinder was ultimately unhappy
enough with the LP to decline to tour with the band. The
reunion tour was a success, with Patrick Moraz brought
in to replace Pinder on the keyboards, and the album topped
the charts.
The
group's follow-up record, Long Distance Voyager (1981),
was even more popular, though by this time a schism was
beginning to develop between the band and the critical
community. Although they continued to reach the middle
levels of the charts, and even ascended reasonably close
to the top with the Hayward single "In Your Wildest
Dreams" (1986), the Moody Blues were no longer anywhere
near the cutting edge of music. By the end of the 1980s,
they were perceived as a nostalgia act, albeit one with
a huge audience. In 1994, a four-CD set called Time Traveller
was released. A new studio effort, Strange Times, followed
in 1999 and Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2000 followed
a year later.
