THE LONDON FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
The London Festival Orchestra was established in the 1950’s as the ‘house orchestra’ for Decca Records. In 1980, it was incorporated as an independent performing orchestra under Ross Pople. At least in the world of pop music, the orchestra is best known for providing accompaniment to the Moody Blues for their landmark 1967 album Days of Future Passed. (More from Wikipedia)
That’s what it says: The Magnificent Moodies. This record was released in 1965 and was the first album by the Moody Blues. Like many of the British Invasion bands, they started out as a crackerjack rhythm and blues band, and the U. S. release of the album has a different cover and some variation in the songs. Their next album, Days of Future Passed was completely different from The Magnificent Moodies; it is maybe the first rock album to feature a symphony orchestra (the London Festival Orchestra to be exact). The band did not tour with an orchestra though until their landmark concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in 1992 with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
(September 2012)
