''The Magnificent Moodies'' is the 1965 debut album by

The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The g ...

, first released in the UK, and the first and only album featuring their R&B line-up of guitarist

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

, bassist

Clint Warwick Clint Warwick (born Albert Eccles; 25 June 1940 – 15 May 2004) was an English musician known as the original bassist for the rock band the Moody Blues. Life and career Warwick was born in Aston, Birmingham, England. He was drawn to music dur ...

, keyboardist

Mike Pinder Michael Thomas Pinder (born 27 December 1941) is an English rock musician, and is a founding member and original keyboard player of the British rock group the Moody Blues. He left the group following the recording of the band's ninth album '' ...

, flautist–percussionist

Ray Thomas Raymond Thomas (29 December 1941 – 4 January 2018) was an English multi-instrumentalist, flautist, singer, founding member and composer in the English progressive rock band the Moody Blues. His flute solo on the band's 1967 hit single "Night ...

, and drummer

Graeme Edge Graeme Charles Edge (30 March 1941 – 11 November 2021) was an English musician, songwriter and poet, best known as the co-founder and drummer of the English band the Moody Blues. In addition to his work with the Moody Blues, Edge worked as ...

. Lead vocals were shared by Laine, Pinder and Thomas. The album is a collection of R&B and Merseybeat songs, including "

Go Now "Go Now" is a song composed by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and first recorded by Bessie Banks, released as a single in January 1964. The best-known version was recorded by the Moody Blues and released the same year. Bessie Banks version The ...

", produced by

Alex Wharton Alex Wharton (born 1939), later also known as Alex Murray, was part of the singing duo the Most Brothers with Mickie Most, and later, co-manager and producer of the Moody Blues. Singing and acting career The Most Brothers worked in the famous ...

, which had been a Number 1 hit single earlier that year. For the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

release, on London Records, with the title of ''Go Now – The Moody Blues #1'', four songs were replaced and the tracks re-ordered. The American and Canadian versions also incorrectly title three songs.

Release history

The album did not make the '' Record Retailer''/''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' chart even though it reached number 5 in August 1965 in the '' New Musical Express'' album chart. The U.S. album did not make the '' Billboard'' chart. It did however reach number 8 in Finland during the spring of 1966. The sleeve notes on the original UK release include an (undated) review by

Virginia Ironside Virginia Ironside (born 3 February 1944) is a British journalist, agony aunt and author. Born in London, she is the daughter of Christopher Ironside, painter and coin designer, and Janey Ironside who was the first professor of fashion design at t ...

, music critic of '' Daily Mail'', which concludes, "With the Moody Blues, all you need to write is "MAGNIFICENT" in pink lipstick and leave it at that"; and a prose poem by Donovan recommending the band. All the tracks on the UK release were produced by Denny Cordell, except for "Go Now", which was produced by Alex Wharton.Liner notes on Decca 4711. Laine and Warwick left the group in 1966, and were replaced by guitarist

Justin Hayward David Justin Hayward (born 14 October 1946) is an English musician best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the rock band the Moody Blues. Hayward became the group's principal lead guitarist and vocalist over the 1967–1974 ...

and bassist John Lodge respectively. At the height of The Moody Blues' U.S. success in 1970, Deram Records reissued the U.S. version of the album with a new cover and title, ''In the Beginning'' (DES-18051). As with the original album, the reissue did not chart. In the early 1980s, a double compilation album entitled ''A Dream'', which included the entire ''The Magnificent Moodies'' LP along with the A and B sides of Moody Blues singles released between 1965 and 1967 (prior to the release of the ''

Days of Future Passed A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two sola ...

'' album) was issued in much of western Europe, but only available on import in the UK. In 1985 Intermediate Records reissued the album on vinyl and cassette as ''Go Now'', with a mixture of songs from the original UK and US albums plus songs that would eventually be included as bonus tracks on the CD issues. Decca Records UK first issued ''The Magnificent Moodies'' on CD in 1988 with 13 bonus tracks, with mastering by Anthony Hawkins.

Repertoire Records Repertoire Records is a German record label from Hamburg, Germany, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 1970s. The chairman is Thomas Neelsen. See also * List of record labels File:Alvin ...

issued an abridged version of the CD in the 1990s with only seven bonus tracks. In 2006 the CD was reissued again, this time with 14 bonus tracks including the rare "People Gotta Go" not found on the 1988 Decca version. The CD also included, for the first time, a speed-corrected and undistorted version of "Go Now". The 2006 Repertoire CD was remastered by Eroc, who was the leader of the 1970s German rock band Grobschnitt.

Track listing

British version

All lead vocals by

except where noted

United States and Canada version

50th Anniversary Editions

On 15 December 2014,

Esoteric Recordings Esoteric Recordings is a UK independent record label specialising in 1970s progressive rock, folk, psychedelic, and jazz-rock reissues as part of Cherry Red Records. Its releases include both catalogue reissues and new works from artists who ...

issued a single CD version (ECLEC 2474) as well as a 2-CD deluxe edition (ECLEC 22473) of the album in honor of its upcoming 50th anniversary release. The single CD version and the first CD from the deluxe edition are identical and both versions utilize the original UK album artwork. Tracks 1-12 on the single CD version and the first CD from the deluxe edition are from the original British album. The remainder are bonus tracks of A-Side and B-side of singles released around that time, a song from their French EP and a previously unreleased version of

. Tracks 1-7 on the second CD are previously unreleased from 1964-1966 sessions, tracks 8-20 are from the BBC's '' Saturday Club'' sessions and the remaining tracks are from the 1966 Denny Cordell sessions. All tracks are in mono except for tracks 21-29 on CD 2, which are in stereo.

Musical personnel

The Moody Blues

– vocals, percussion,

flutes The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, harmonica *

– guitars, harmonica, vocals *

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

– piano, organ, backing vocals *

– drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional personnel

*Elaine Caswell – percussion

Technical personnel

Denny Cordell Dennis Cordell-Lavarack (1 August 1943 – 18 February 1995), known as Denny Cordell, was an English record producer. He is notable for his mid-1960s and early 1970s productions of hit singles for The Moody Blues, Leon Russell, The Move, Procol ...

- producer * A. Wharton - producer ("Go Now") *Nicholas Wright - photographer (UK issue) *Shirley Scott-James - designer (UK issue) * Donovan,

- sleeve notes (UK issue)

Charts

Release history

References

External links

"The Magnificent Moodies" - cover images
at discogs.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Magnificent Moodies 1965 debut albums The Moody Blues albums Decca Records albums Albums produced by Denny Cordell