THE MAGNIFICENT MOODIES [AKA: THE BEGINNING]

Well, I really liked Tarkus1980 in depth review of this album here. At last somene did it! Because there is not much to say about it, at least prog wise. The Moody Blues MKI was not an outstanding band from hundreds of others at the time. Their repertoire is the usual: blues, R & B and soul covers, some merseybeat stuff and all. The only real highlight is the famous Go Now!, which deserverly was a big hit for them. The production was quite poor and the performances are ok. Mike Pinder´s playing however shows he was an excellent pianist already, with several tasteful breaks.

It´s hard to believe that this is the band that only one year after that would record such powerful and groundbreaking stuff as Days Of Future Past. Well, not exactly the same band, since guitarrist Denny Laine and bassist Clint Warwick would be gone and the classic line up would reunite for a string of important records. Still, it was a stunning achievement for such little time and such young outfit. They had a real special chemistry. However, the early Moody Blues were not. And I agree with the ones who think they were two completely different bands. It seems that even MB themselves see that way.

So in the end I found this CD a curio and nothing more. This surely for the collectors and completionists. One and a half star, rounded to two because of Go Now!