Esoteric Recordings, a
label of the Cherry Red Records Group is pleased to announce the
release of an official 50th Anniversary edition of “The Magnificent
Moodies”, the 1965 debut album by The Moody Blues, on the 24th
November 2014. Now associated as being pioneers of progressive and
orchestral rock, the Moody Blues had another life between 1964 –
1966, as one of Britain’s foremost 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. The band’s 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. The band continued to record
a series of singles, enjoying further chart hits in the UK and
Europe, before Clint Warwick departed to be replaced by ROD CLARKE
and then finally dissolving in the Autumn of 1966 and reinventing
themselves stylistically with a new line-up including JUSTIN HAYWARD
and JOHN LODGE.
The official 50th anniversary reissues
consist of a Deluxe edition includes the original album, re-mastered
from the first generation master tapes, along with all the singles
the band recorded between 1964 and 1966 (including the rare “People
Gotta Go” – released only in France on an EP). Notably this
collection also includes 29 previously unreleased bonus tracks,
including the band’s entire July 1964 sessions at Olympic studios
in London produced by Alex Murray, all surviving BBC radio sessions
recorded in 1965 and nine tracks recorded in the Summer of 1966 with
producer Denny Cordell for a proposed but unreleased second album
(all newly mixed from the original four-track master tapes). The set
is packaged in a clamshell box, with a lavishly illustrated booklet
(with previously unseen photographs designed by Phil Smee) and essay
written by Mark Powell, three rare promotional postcards and a
poster.
There is also a single CD edition,
which features 15 bonus tracks (drawn from the band’s singles
released between 1964 & 1966). Both editions of “The
Magnificent Moodies” are the definitive statement on the formative
years of one of Britain’s greatest bands.
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