Fifty years ago this coming July, Decca released the modestly-titled The Magnificent Moodies, the first long-player from Birmingham band The Moody Blues.  It would prove to be the only album release for the original quintet, but the Moodies – including founding member Graeme Edge – are still going strong today.  The group’s landmark 50th has recently been marked by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint with the reissue of The Magnificent Moodies in a deluxe, 2-CD mini-box set format.

The most comprehensive chronicle yet of The Moody Blues’ first line-up, Esoteric’s reissue boasts the original album as newly remastered from the original tapes, plus all of the singles the band recorded between 1964 and 1966.  In addition, the set premieres 30 previously unreleased bonus tracks, including the band’s entire July 1964 Olympic Studios sessions, the surviving BBC radio sessions recorded in 1965, and nine tracks recorded in summer 1966 with producer Denny Cordell for an abortive second album.  The latter tracks have all been newly mixed from the original four-track masters.

Though today associated with the early days of progressive rock thanks to breakthroughs like the 1967 classically-influenced Days of Future Passed, the original group had a decidedly R&B bent.  Future Wings member Denny Laine (guitar, vocals, harmonica), Ray Thomas (vocals, harmonica, flute), Mike Pinder (keyboards, vocals), Clint Warwick (bass, vocals) and Graeme Edge (drums) came together in Birmingham circa spring 1964.  Thomas and Pinder had previously been associated with the band El Riot and the Rebels, which also featured another gentleman who would play a major role in The Moody Blues’ story – future member John Lodge.

The Moodies signed with the Ridgepride management company of actor/songwriter/jack-of-all-trades Alex Wharton (a.k.a. Alex Murray) who landed them a deal with Decca.  Though the band’s first single didn’t make much noise despite a promotional appearance on ITV’s Ready Steady Go!, the second one did.  “Go Now,” written by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett, and first recorded by Larry’s ex-wife Bessie Banks, was recorded by the Moodies with Denny Laine on guitar and lead vocals.  It reached No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart in January 1965, the same month they opened on a U.K. tour for Chuck Berry.  Weeks later, it entered the charts in the U.S., peaking at a still-impressive No. 10.  The Moody Blues would have had every reason to believe they had “made it.”  But another major hit wouldn’t be forthcoming for this iteration of the band.

The band’s next single, a cover of Jerry Wexler and Bert Berns’ “I Don’t Want to Go on Without You,” fared respectably with a No. 33 U.K. peak, but failed to generate the same excitement as “Go Now.”  (It was backed with Jerry Ragovoy’s “Time is On My Side,” which The Rolling Stones had just released in the U.K. as well.  Still, The Moody Blues were on the right track, sharing a bill with The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks and The Animals at the NME Poll Winners concert in Wembley in April 1965.

The Magnificent Moodies arrived in July 1965 on Decca, boasting “Go Now,” a number of Laine/Pinder original compositions, and some choice covers rendered in the band’s R&B/Merseybeat style: Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich’s “I’ve Got a Dream,”  Willie Dixon and Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Bye Bye Bird,” Chris Kenner’s “Something You Got,” James Mitchell’s “Can’t Nobody Love You” (a minor hit for Solomon Burke) and even “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from Porgy and Bess.   (One decidedly non-politically correct review of the LP, reprinted in the booklet which accompanies this edition, bore the headline: “Moodies Get Close to Coloured Sound.”  It was intended as high praise.)  Unfortunately, the album’s release coincided with a dispute with the Ridgepride management office which ultimately left them with no management and tenuous finances.

In September, they signed with Brian Epstein’s NEMS office, and kept busy – recording and releasing singles, opening for The Beatles on what would turn out to be the Fabs’ final U.K. shows, and taking an American trip that ended in a shambles due to visa confusions.  If The Moodies didn’t conquer America, they came close in France when “Bye Bye Bird” went to No. 1 in that country, leading to a series of successful live performances and television appearances there.

But Clint Warwick’s departure in summer 1966 kicked off a number of personnel shifts for the band even as they had returned to the recording studio with producer Denny Cordell to craft a sophomore album.  Warwick was replaced in July by Rod Clark, but by late September, Denny Laine announced his departure, too.  Within weeks, Clark followed Laine.  This led Edge, Thomas and Pinder to build a new Moody Blues – which would coalesce with the addition of old friend John Lodge and Justin Hayward.  The final single to feature Laine (“Life’s Not Life” b/w “He Can Win”) was issued in January 1967.  By the end of the year, the (new) Moody Blues would release Days of Future Passed, beginning the musical odyssey that continues to this day.

Esoteric’s clamshell-cased edition features a thick 24-page booklet with compiler Mark Powell’s notes providing a comprehensive chronicle of the band’s first two-plus years, including new quotes from Denny Laine and Graeme Edge.  Paschal Byrne has newly remastered all tracks on both discs from the original master tapes.  Both CDs are in mono except for the final nine tracks on Disc Two – the Denny Cordell sessions for the never-released second album – which are in stereo.  The set also includes three postcards and a foldout poster.

This magnificent reappraisal of The Magnificent Moodies is available now and can be ordered at the links below!

The Moody Blues, The Magnificent Moodies: Official 50th Anniversary Edition (Esoteric ECLEC 22473, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1: The Original Album and Singles

1. I’ll Go Crazy
2. Something You Got
3. Go Now
4. Can’t Nobody Love You
5. I Don’t Mind
6. I’ve Got a Dream
7. Let Me Go
8. Stop
9. Thank You Baby
10. It Ain’t Necessarily So
11. True Story
12. Bye Bye Bird
13. Lose Your Money (But Don’t Lose Your Mind)
14. Steal Your Heart Away
15. Go Now (First Version)
16. It’s Easy Child
17. I Don’t Want to Go On Without You
18. Time is On My Side
19. From the Bottom of My Heart
20. And My Baby’s Gone
21. Everyday
22. You Don’t (All the Time)
23. Boulevard de Madeleine
24. This is My House (But Nobody Calls)
25. People Gotta Go
26. Life’s Not Life
27. He Can Win

CD 2: Previously Unreleased Sessions 1964-1966 (all tracks previously unreleased)

1. Go Now (Second Version)
2. Lose Your Money (But Don’t Lose Your Mind)
3. Steal Your Heart Away (First Version)
4. I’ll Go Crazy (First Version)
5. You Better Move On
6. Can’t Nobody Love You (First Version)
7. 23^rd Psalm
8. Go Now
9. I Don’t Want to Go On Without You
10. I’ll Go Crazy
11. From the Bottom of My Heart (I Love You)
12. Jump Back
13. I’ve Got a Dream
14. And My Baby’s Gone
15. It’s Easy Child
16. Stop
17. Everyday
18. Interview with Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge/You Don’t (All the Time)
19. I Want You to Know
20. Coca-Cola Radio Commercial 1965
21. Sad Song
22. This is My House (But Nobody Calls) (First Version)
23. How Can We Hang On to a Dream (First Version)
24. How Can We Hang On to a Dream (Remake)
25. Jago and Jilly
26. We’re Broken
27. I Really Haven’t Got the Time (September 1966 Version)
28. Red Wine
29. This Is My House (But Nobody Calls) (Stereo Mix)

CD 1, Tracks 1-12 from The Magnificent Moodies, Decca LK 4711, 1965
CD 1, Tracks 13-14 from Decca single F 11971, 1964
CD 1, Track 15 previously unreleased
CD 1, Track 16 from Decca single F 12022, 1964
CD 1, Tracks 17-18 from Decca single F 12095, 1965
CD 1, Tracks 19-20 from Decca single F 12166, 1965
CD 1, Tracks 21-22 from Decca single F 12266, 1965
CD 1, Tracks 23-24 from Decca single F 12498, 1966
CD 1, Track 25 from Decca (France) EP 457117, 1967
CD 1, Tracks 26-27 from Decca single F 12543, 1967
CD 2, Tracks 1-7 are previously unreleased session outtakes
CD 2, Tracks 8-10 from Saturday Club, 12 April 1965
CD 2, Tracks 11-12 from Saturday Club, 3 May 1965
CD 2, Tracks 13-14 from Saturday Club, 1 June 1965
CD 2, Tracks 15-17 from Saturday Club, 21 September 1965
CD 2, Tracks 18-19 from Saturday Club, 9 November 1965
CD 2, Track 20 c. 1965
CD 2, Tracks 21-29 from Denny Cordell sessions for second album, 1966