Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a 50th Anniversary Remastered Edition of the debut album by The Moody Blues, "The Magnificent Moodies”.
Now associated as being pioneers of pro-gressive orchestral rock, the Moody Blues had another life between 1964-1966, as one of Britain’s finest Rhythm and Blues influenced acts. With a line-up of Denny Laine (Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica), Ray Thomas (Vocals, Harmonica, Flute), Mike Pinder (Keyboards, Vocals), Clint Warwick (Bass, Vocals) and Graeme Edge (Drums), the band signed to a London based management company who leased recordings to Decca Records. Their second single, a cover version of Bessie Banks’ ‘Go Now!’ was a huge chart success across the world. Their debut album, "The Magnificent Moodies” was released in1965 to great acclaim and tours with The Beatles eventually led them to become part of Brian Epstein’s management stable…

Former Yes and Moody Blues keyboardist Patrick Moraz mixes numerous Latin and rock rhythms together via his lively synth work, resulting in a full-flavored, energetic album. Not typical sounding to say the least, there are hints of funk and marimba, Caribbean and South American styles, and even flamenco, all guided by Moraz's whirlwind keyboard playing. Inspired by the Brazilian ballet, each song dances with piquancy and flow, never repeating the same rhythms or sounds while at the same time introducing a wide variety of percussion instruments. Andy Newmark's drums add dimension to the fiery patterns conjured up on "Dancing Now" and "Incantations," raising the musical temperature of both tracks. Delightful additions of marimbaphone, cello, gongs, tam-tams, and even castagnets jump in and out of all the songs, fusing both a modern and a primitive sound together…

Progressive rock bands stumbled into the '80s, some with the crutch of commercial concessions under one arm, which makes the Moody Blues' elegant entrance via Long Distance Voyager all the more impressive. Ironically enough, this was also the only album that the group ever got to record at their custom-designed Threshold Studio, given to them by Decca Records head Sir Edward Lewis in the early '70s and built to their specifications, but completed while they were on hiatus and never used by the band until Long Distance Voyager (the preceding album, Octave, having been recorded in California to accommodate Mike Pinder), before it was destroyed in the wake of Decca's sale to Polygram. In that connection, it was their best sounding album to date, and in just about every way is a happier listening experience than Octave was, much as it appears to have been a happier recording experience…

In Search of The Lost Chord (1968). "In Search of the Lost Chord" is the album on which the Moody Blues discovered drugs and mysticism as a basis for songwriting and came up with a compelling psychedelic creation, filled with songs about Timothy Leary and the astral plane and other psychedelic-era concerns. They dumped the orchestra this time out in favor of Mike Pinder's Mellotron, which was a more than adequate substitute, and the rest of the band joined in with flutes, sitar, tablas, and cellos, the playing of which was mostly learned on the spot. The whole album was one big experiment to see how far the group could go with any instruments they could find, thus making this album a rather close cousin to the Beatles' records of the same era…

This single-CD compilation doesn't do too much more than scratch the surface of the band's sound at its most popular points, but it does do one thing that no prior Moody Blues compilation ever did – it includes "Go Now," which, as the notes point out, is still the group's top-charting single in England. What it doesn't do is get "Go Now" in really good sound (no one seems to have a proper master source) or include their even better follow-up single, "From the Bottom of My Heart." Still, this body of work is pleasing and, thanks to its extension back to the original lineup, even a little bit informative, and it was the first Moody Blues compilation to be mastered in 20-bit audio.

Hall of Fame is a live album by the progressive rock band The Moody Blues. It was recorded at a concert performed at the Royal Albert Hall, which included backing by a live orchestra. The album was released on 8 August 2000. It is the second Moody Blues live album to feature a live orchestra, with the first being A Night at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. This is the last live release to feature Ray Thomas. A decade on, all but "Overture" and "Legend of a Mind" appeared on the budget release Live at the Royal Albert Hall with the World Festival Orchestra released by Sony Music Custom Marketing Group in the United States. Backed by the large string ensemble, the Moody Blues perform a cross section of their hits, both new and old. Included here are such songs as "Tuesday Afternoon," "The Story in Your Eyes," "Nights in White Satin," and more.