THE MAGNIFICENT MODDIES
The Magnificent Moodies is the 1965 debut album by The Moody Blues, first released in the UK, and the first and only album featuring their R&B line-up of guitarist Denny Laine, bassist Clint Warwick, keyboardist Mike Pinder, flautist–percussionist Ray Thomas, and drummer Graeme Edge. The album is a collection of R&B and Merseybeat songs, including the cover of “Go Now”, produced by Alex Wharton, that had been a Number 1 hit single earlier that year. For the US release, on London Records, with the title of Go Now – The Moody Blues #1, four songs were replaced and the tracks re-ordered. (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. You can certainly be forgiven if you don’t think of them as a British Invasion band. Also, like me, you probably have difficulty imagining the Moody Blues covering songs by James Brown (two of them, no less), Willie Dixon and George Gershwin; but that is exactly what they do on this album. “Time Is on My Side” is included on the CD reissues as a bonus track; the song is best known from the Rolling Stones version of “Time Is on My Side”, their first Top Ten hit in the US (the song was written by Norman Meade). Their next album, Days of Future Passed was completely different from The Magnificent Moodies.
For some reason, almost from the beginning the Moody Blues completely turned their back on the music from their first album. For instance, their album Seventh Sojourn is actually their eighth album. This is even more surprising considering that the Moody Blues had a worldwide hit song from that album called “Go Now”. I used to hear that song on the radio from time to time, and the first time, I was amazed to hear the name of the artist. The lead singer on that track is Denny Laine, while the distinctive piano is performed by former Moody Mike Pinder. Laine would later become a key member of Paul McCartney’s band Wings.
(September 2012)
