The Moody Blues - The Second Disc

The Weekend Stream: October 11, 2025

October 11, 2025 by The Second Disc | 8 Comments

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week brings some super ’70s soul, some ’80s and ’90s throwbacks on the Broadway stage and more – including a tribute to one of the original Moody Blues we lost this week. Curtis Mayfield, The Makings of: A Curtis Mayfield Collection (Rhino) (Apple / Amazon) The documentary The Makings of Curtis Mayfield – directed by Grammy-winning R&B musician H.E.R. and featuring archival footage and conversations on the Super Fly hitmaker’s craft…

Categories:

The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Folk, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Alan Menken, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, David Longworth Wallingford, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis, Sam Moore, Slash, The Moody Blues, The New Christy Minstrels

The Weekend Stream: August 12, 2023

August 12, 2023 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. A short but intriguing selection of digital debuts this week includes rare ’00s rock, ’80s soul, ’30s jazz, a new take on a ’60s prog classic and some new surround mixes from one of Broadway’s greatest. 3 Doors Down, Away from the Sun (Deluxe) (Republic/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) Debut album The Better Life (2000) established Mississippi rockers 3 Doors Down…

Categories:

The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Jazz, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

3 Doors Down, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Leon Sylvers III, Stephen Sondheim, The Moody Blues

Children of the Revolution: New “Produced by Tony Visconti” Box Features David Bowie, T. Rex, U2, Badfinger, More

July 19, 2023 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments

In the course of a career spanning seven decades, Tony Visconti has produced seminal albums in the classic rock genre including high profile collaborations with David Bowie, T. Rex, Gentle Giant, Strawbs, and Badfinger. But Visconti’s C.V. runs much deeper, from folk (Ralph McTell, Tom Paxton) to musical theatre (Elaine Paige) and everything in between (Sparks). On October 20, Edsel will release the first large-scale tribute to Visconti’s enormous musical legacy. Produced by Tony Visconti has been curated by its subject. It will be available in a variety of formats including 4…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Everything Else, Pop, Rock

Tags:

Argent, Badfinger, David Bowie, Elaine Paige, Gentle Giant, Joe Cocker, Manic Street Preachers, Mary Hopkin, Procol Harum, Strawbs, T Rex, The Damned, The Moody Blues, The Move, Tony Visconti, U2, Various Artists

Release Round-Up: Week of May 12

May 12, 2023 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! Daft Punk, Random Access Memories: 10th Anniversary Edition (Columbia) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Daft Punk’s final album, 2013’s disco-flavored, multiple Grammy-winning Random Access Memories, welcomed such all-time luminaries as Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams, Giorgio Moroder, Paul Jackson, Jr., Nathan East, John “J.R.” Robinson, and Omar Hakim as well as contemporary greats Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas, and Animal Collective co-founder Panda Bear. Now, it’s time to “Get Lucky” with a deluxe 10th anniversary edition on…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Electronic, Jazz, Pop, Soundtracks

Tags:

APB, Bryan Adams, Cal Tjader, Celine Dion, Daft Punk, Michael Martin Murphey, Miles Davis, Rick Astley, Rick Springfield, The Kingsnakes, The Moody Blues

Grapefruit Round-Up: Cherry Red Imprint Reissues Cult Favorite from Oberon, Collects Prog and Classic Rock Sounds on New Box Sets

May 26, 2021 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Today, we’re looking at three recent releases from Cherry Red’s Grapefruit imprint! Grapefruit is continuing its series of 3-CD clamshell cases with two titles spotlighting the 1970s. Riding the Rock Machine: British Seventies Classic Rock, available now, is certainly one of the broadest such releases in Grapefruit’s series. Compiler David Wells sets out his mission statement in straightforward fashion: “[Such] is the reductive nature of radio station playlists and Spotify recommendations that it often feels as if the complete works of bands like Thin Lizzy and Status Quo – two acts who…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, Rock

Tags:

Argent, Electric Light Orchestra, Hawkwind, Mott the Hoople, Oberon, Roxy Music, Roy Wood, Status Quo, The Moody Blues, Uriah Heep, Various Artists, Yvonne Elliman

Look at the View: Cherry Red’s New Strawberry Imprint Collects Mod, Pop, Psych, and Freakbeat on “Halcyon Days”

February 3, 2021 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

Last year, Cherry Red’s RPM imprint closed up shop after almost 30 years and some 600+ releases. But a new imprint was announced to pick up where RPM left off: Strawberry. Its inaugural collection, Halcyon Days: ’60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul, and Freakbeat Nuggets has proved an auspicious debut for the imprint with big shoes to fill. The 3-CD collection traces the development of ’60s British soul and R&B from the mod period to the first flowering of psychedelia featuring a blend of names both familiar (The Animals, The Kinks, David Bowie,…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul

Tags:

David Bowie, Katch 22, Laurel Aitken, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Plastic Penny, Rod Stewart, The Artwoods, The Kinks, The Moody Blues, The Spencer Davis Group, The Yardbirds, Them, Various Artists, Wynder K. Frog

Play It Again: Esoteric Salutes The Moody Blues’ Ray Thomas with Anthology, Surround Mix

December 10, 2020 by Joe Marchese | 11 Comments

As a founding member of The Moody Blues, Ray Thomas (1941-2018) played the haunting flute solo on the band’s 1967 hit “Nights in White Satin.” He also was responsible for writing many of the Moodies’ most beloved songs including “Twilight Time,” “And the Tide Rushes In,” and “Legend of a Mind.” A multi-instrumentalist and singer, Thomas recorded two solo albums for the group’s Threshold Records label: 1975’s From Mighty Oaks and 1976’s Hopes, Wishes, and Dreams. This fall, Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint has compiled the best of Thomas’ solo recordings, with…

Categories:

News, Reviews

Formats:

CD, DVD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop

Tags:

Ray Thomas, The Moody Blues

Visions of Paradise: Moody Blues’ “In Search of the Lost Chord” Box Set Coming on Friday

November 1, 2018 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Moody Blues In Search of the Lost Chord Cover

Following last year’s 2CD/DVD reissue of The Moody Blues’ 1967 sophomore album Days of Future Passed, UMe is going even more deluxe for the Moodies’ next album, 1968’s In Search of the Lost Chord. Tomorrow, November 2, the label will reissue that seminal classic as a 3CD/2DVD box comprising alternate mixes, previously unreleased tracks, and more. Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas, Justin Hayward, John Lodge, and Graeme Edge, working with producer Tony Clarke, constructed In Search of the Lost Chord around various themes of search and exploration. Unlike Days of Future Passed, on…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, DVD, DVD-Audio, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop

Tags:

The Moody Blues

Review: “Fab Gear: The British Beat Explosion and Its Aftershocks 1963-1967”

June 26, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments

“Yesterday’s Gone”: the song by folk-pop duo Chad and Jeremy opens the first of the six discs comprising Cherry Red and RPM’s new box set Fab Gear: The British Beat Explosion and Its Aftershocks 1963-1967. It’s a most appropriate opener, as yesterday really was gone for an entire generation of artists swiftly rendered obsolete by the emergence of The Beatles. As the box eloquently explains, the Fab Four “in name, song, band structure, image, defined this new Beat music…Until 1967, when The Beatles reinvented pop again with Sgt. Pepper’s, Beat music –…

Categories:

News, Reviews

Formats:

Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul

Tags:

Chad and Jeremy, David Bowie, The Kinks, The Moody Blues, The Searchers, Various Artists

Release Round-Up: Week of November 17

November 17, 2017 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Queen, News of the World: 40th Anniversary Edition (UMC (U.K.) / Hollywood (U.S.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.) Queen’s sixth album, 1977’s News of the World, is being generously expanded for its 40th anniversary in a new 3CD/1DVD/1LP box set. The original album is presented on CD and LP. The first bonus CD, the entirely unreleased Raw Sessions, presents an alternate version of the original album from demos, outtakes and live cuts. The second bonus disc collects a further 19 relevant bonus tracks, including versions from archival live…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, DVD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Nights in White Satin: The Moody Blues’ “Days of Future Passed” Turns 50 with First Reissue of Original Stereo Mix

October 10, 2017 by Joe Marchese | 8 Comments

The 50th anniversary of The Moody Blues’ 1967 classic Days of Future Passed will be marked next month, on November 17, by UMe as a new deluxe edition featuring the CD debut of the original 1967 stereo mix and more. The band’s second album, Days of Future Passed paved the way for the birth of progressive rock with its overt classically-inspired elements – including its closing song, “Nights in White Satin,” which went on to become a rock-era standard. The London Festival Orchestra conducted by Peter Knight joined the band to bring…

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, DVD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock

Tags:

The Moody Blues

David Bowie, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, The Move Featured On “Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds” Box

November 9, 2016 by Joe Marchese | 3 Comments

Cherry Red’s Grapefruit imprint has continued its series of box sets – including Love, Poetry and Revolution and I’m a Freak Baby – with another musical journey through the world of British psych and rock. Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds is a more focused collection than either of those past two releases, concentrating solely on the U.K.’s psychedelic sounds of 1967. Of course, you won’t find selections from two of that year’s landmark psych-rock releases, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Their Satanic Majesties’ Request, here, but you will…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop

Tags:

David Bowie, Procol Harum, The Moody Blues, The Move, The Searchers, The Spencer Davis Group, Various Artists

The Second Disc’s 2016 Record Store Day Must-Haves

April 15, 2016 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 16, music fans and collectors will flock to their local independent record stores worldwide to celebrate both the sounds on those familiar round black platters and the cherished opportunity to shop for music in a physical retail environment. To many of us, both are a way of life. Each year around this time, we here at Second Disc HQ take a few moments to count down the titles to which we’re most looking forward to picking up! Our very own Mike Duquette kicks things off with his list of five,…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Vinyl

Genres:

Disco/Dance, Funk, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Big Star, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, James Brown, Madonna, Record Store Day, The Easybeats, The Moody Blues

Saturday On My Mind: Varese Has Easybeats, Moody Blues, “Dark Shadows” and More For Record Store Day

April 12, 2016 by Joe Marchese | 3 Comments

Vampires! Dragons! Keanu Reeves! Plus two revered pop-rock classics: Varese Sarabande has a little bit of everything on its five-title Record Store Day slate arriving this Saturday, April 16, in finer independent stores everywhere. Record Store Day may take place on a Saturday, but thanks to The Easybeats, it’s a Good Friday. Varese has the first-ever U.S. release of the Australian band’s debut U.K. album originally issued on United Artists Records. Good Friday was issued in the U.S. as Friday on My Mind after the album’s hit single, a Top 20 hit…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

John Powell, Record Store Day, Robert Cobert, The Easybeats, The Moody Blues

Magnificent! Esoteric Revisits The Moody Blues’ Debut With Lavish 2-CD Expanded Edition

January 21, 2015 by Joe Marchese | 7 Comments

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…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Genres:

Classic Rock

Tags:

The Moody Blues

Release Round-Up: Week of December 2

December 2, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

B.J. Thomas, Home Where I Belong/Happy Man (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) B.J. Thomas, You Gave Me Love/Miracle (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Linda Jones, The Complete Atco-Loma-Warner Bros. Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Five Stairsteps, Our Family Portrait/Stairsteps (Expanded Twofer Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Unforgiven, The Unforgiven (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) Cowboy, 5’ll Getcha Ten (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 14—Boston Music Hall 11/30/73 & 12/2/73 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Theodore Bikel, Theodore Bikel’s…

Categories:

News, Release Round-Up

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, DVD

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Gospel, Pop, R&B/Soul, Soundtracks

Tags:

Leonard Bernstein, Pixies, The Five Stairsteps, The Moody Blues, Three Dog Night, Todd Rundgren

Release Round-Up: Week of June 25

June 25, 2013 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

The Beatles, Help! (Blu-Ray Disc) (Capitol/Apple) The Fab Four’s second film gets the hi-def disc treatment. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Three O’Clock, The Hidden World Revealed (Omnivore) Early works by power-pop legends The Three O’Clock shine on this new compilation, featuring cuts from their early works on Frontier Records and 10 unreleased tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Omnivore) Released on limited colored vinyl for Record Store Day this year, the soundtrack to this new Big Star documentary features 21 unreleased outtakes and new mixes…

Categories:

News, Release Round-Up

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets

Genres:

Soundtracks

Tags:

Big Star, Bob Marley, Steve Earle, Sylvester, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, The Three O'Clock, Vinyl

Every Good Box Deserves Favour: Moody Blues Planning Exhaustive CD/DVD Set (UPDATED)

April 30, 2013 by Mike Duquette | 7 Comments

ORIGINAL POST (3/18/2013): Although they’ve been passed over for accolades such as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the legacy of British rockers The Moody Blues will be celebrated in June with the release of Timeless Flight, a 17-disc deluxe career-spanning box set. Although the Moodies started out as your typical English-American blues-rock band (with a lineup that featured future Wings guitarist Denny Laine), they soon found great success on both sides of the Atlantic fusing traditional rock archetypes to classical stylings – anticipating the psychedelic and progressive trends of the years to…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets

Genres:

Tags:

The Moody Blues

Release Round-Up: Week of July 19

July 19, 2011 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

Ramones, Ramones / Leave Home / Rocket to Russia / Road to Ruin (Rhino) 180-gram vinyl reissues of the first four Ramones records! The first 500 to buy them from Rhino directly (as seen in this post) get replica 45s with each album, too. (Official site) Andrew Wood, Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story (Hip-o Select/A&M) A late, underrated icon in the early days of grunge gets his due with this triple-disc set, featuring the acclaimed DVD documentary of his life and career (which gives the set its name) plus a remastered and expanded version of Malfunkshun’s first…

Categories:

News, Release Round-Up

Formats:

Genres:

Tags:

Malfunkshun, Peter Paul and Mary, REO Speedwagon, Ramones, Rush, The Beastie Boys, The Moody Blues, The Velvet Underground, Vinyl

Invasion of the Return of the ICON Series

July 11, 2011 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

You know, it took some time, but Universal’s ICON series is really coming into its own. What began as a limply-packaged, uber-budget-oriented series of single-artist compilations – not a patch on the label’s previous 20th Century Masters and Gold series – is really emerging into something unique. It’s just a shame it took this many tries to work out the kinks. Ha ha ha! Who am I kidding? The newest batch of ICON titles, due for release next Tuesday, July 19, is boring. You have a compilation by John Lee Hooker that leaves off…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Genres:

Tags:

The Moody Blues, The Velvet Underground