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This Is The Moody Blues | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | 25 October 1974 [1] | |||
Recorded | 8 October 1967 – 15 August 1972 | |||
Genre | Progressive rock, psychedelic rock | |||
Length | 94:18 | |||
Label | Threshold | |||
Producer | Tony Clarke | |||
The Moody Blues chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic [2] |
This Is The Moody Blues is a two LP (later two CDs) compilation album by the Moody Blues, released in late 1974 while the band was on a self-imposed sabbatical. Though all of the songs were previously released on albums (with the exception of "A Simple Game" which was a 1968 B-side), several of them are heard here in distinctly different mixes. Like the Moody Blues albums of the time – but unlike most compilation albums, including later Moody Blues compilations – the songs on this album segue seamlessly, without silence between tracks. On the original LP, this was true of the songs on each side; when the album was remastered for CD, each disc was also blended, so that "Legend of a Mind" segues into "In the Beginning", and "Watching and Waiting" segues into "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)".
The album was the first release to provide a separate name for "Late Lament", the symphonic coda and spoken poem that closes "Nights in White Satin".
This Is The Moody Blues was a commercial and critical success, reaching #14 in the United Kingdom and #11 in the United States.
Chart (1974-1975) | Peak position |
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Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [3] | 2 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [4] | 22 |
UK Albums (OCC) [5] | 14 |
US Billboard 200 [6] | 11 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Canada (Music Canada) [7] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [8] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [9] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in May 1964. The band initially consisted of drummer Graeme Edge, guitarist/vocalist Denny Laine, keyboardist/vocalist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ray Thomas, and bassist/vocalist Clint Warwick. Originally part of the British beat and R&B scene of the early–mid 1960s, the band came to prominence with the UK No. 1 and US Top 10 single "Go Now" in late 1964/early 1965. Laine and Warwick left the band by the end of 1966, being replaced by guitarist/vocalist Justin Hayward and bassist/vocalist John Lodge. They embraced the psychedelic rock movement of the late 1960s, with their second album, 1967's Days of Future Passed, being a fusion of rock with classical music that established the band as pioneers in the development of art rock and progressive rock. It has been described as a "landmark" and "one of the first successful concept albums".
On the Threshold of a Dream is the fourth album by The Moody Blues, released in April 1969 on the Deram label. The album reached the top of the album charts, the group's first No. 1 album in the UK. According to guitarist Justin Hayward, "I think Threshold is the defining album for the Moody Blues. And it's the one in the '60's that you would find in people's homes when you went, they would have that album."
David Justin Hayward is an English musician. He was the guitarist and frontman of the rock band the Moody Blues from 1966 until that group's dissolution in 2018. He became the group's principal vocalist and its most prolific songwriter over the 1967–1974 period, and composed several international hit singles for the band.
In Search of the Lost Chord is the third album by The Moody Blues, released in July 1968 on the Deram label.
To Our Children's Children's Children is the fifth album by the Moody Blues, released in November 1969.
Seventh Sojourn is the eighth album by the Moody Blues, released in April 1972. The album reached No. 5 in the United Kingdom, and became the band's first American chart-topper, spending five weeks at No. 1 there to close out 1972.
"Nights in White Satin" is a song by the Moody Blues, written and composed by Justin Hayward. It was first featured as the segment "The Night" on the album Days of Future Passed. When first released as a single in 1967, it reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and number 103 in the United States in 1968. It was the first significant chart entry by the band since "Go Now" and its recent lineup change, in which Denny Laine and Clint Warwick had resigned and both Hayward and John Lodge had joined.
Threshold Records was a record label created by the rock music group the Moody Blues. The name of the label came from their 1969 album On the Threshold of a Dream.
Blue Jays is a 1975 album by Justin Hayward and John Lodge. It was recorded and released during the Moody Blues' five-year hiatus.
Raymond Thomas was an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was best known as a founding member of the English progressive rock band the Moody Blues. His flute solo on the band's 1967 hit single "Nights in White Satin" is regarded as one of progressive rock's defining moments. In 2018, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.
Graeme Charles Edge 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 the bandleader of his own outfit, the Graeme Edge Band. He contributed his talents to a variety of other projects throughout his career. In 2018, Edge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.
Caught Live + 5 is a live album by The Moody Blues, consisting of a 12 December 1969 live show at the Royal Albert Hall and five previously unreleased studio recordings from 1967 to 1968.
Prelude is a 1987 compilation album by the Moody Blues consisting of tracks from 1967–1968, all but one of which were not included on albums.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the progressive rock band the Moody Blues, released in 1989. The band recorded new versions of "Isn't Life Strange" and "Question" with orchestration by the London Symphony Orchestra. The arrangements were overseen by Anne Dudley, who also produced the recordings with Justin Hayward and John Lodge. In 1990, only a year after its original release, the album was re-released as Legend of a Band: The Story of the Moody Blues with different artwork to coincide with the release of the home video documentary of the same name.
Anthony Ralph Clarke was an English rock music record producer and guitarist. Born in Coventry, he is best known for producing The Moody Blues from 1966 to 1978.
"Beyond" is a three-minute long instrumental song by the band the Moody Blues from their 1969 album To Our Children's Children's Children, a concept album about space travel. "Beyond" was written by the Moody Blues' drummer Graeme Edge. It was the Moody Blues' second fully instrumental song on one of their albums. The first was the song "The Voyage" from their previous album On the Threshold of a Dream. It was also the first released Moody Blues song written by Edge that did not involve spoken vocals.
Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 is a live album by the Moody Blues that consists of their live performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. The album was released in 2008.
Michael Thomas Pinder is an English musician. He is a founding member and the original keyboard player of the rock group the Moody Blues. He left the group following the recording of the band's ninth album Octave in 1978. Pinder is renown for his technological contributions to rock music, most notably in the development and emergence of the Mellotron in the 1960s decade. In 2018, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues. He is the last surviving member of the group's original five members.
Voices in the Sky: The Best of The Moody Blues is a greatest hits compilation for The Moody Blues, released in 1984.
Moody Bluegrass is a bluegrass music project that produced two tribute albums to the British progressive rock band the Moody Blues. The albums consist of bluegrass-style cover versions of Moody Blues songs performed by a variety of noted bluegrass and country music artists.