GO NOW - MOODY BLUES #1 [AKA: IN THE BEGINNING]

Like a lot of English R&B acts in the mid '60s, THE MOODY BLUES' first record featured different versions in the UK (where it was released as The Magnificent Moodies) and the US (re-named after their first big hit, Go Now). And like early records by THE KINKS and THE ROLLING STONES, this music featured plenty of covers interspersed with some original songs, all of which only hint at better things to come. Subsequent CD reissues have fleshed out the original tracklist with contemporaneous singles, so they're the better bet to own, but the sound quality is still limited by current standards. This also features a radically different lineup than most MOODIES fans are familiar with, notably guitarist/vocalist Denny Laine and bassist CLINT WARWICK. Although derivative of the English R&B movement, the original outfit did scratch at more ambitious pop arrangements on their original tracks (written by LAINE and MIKE PINDER); "From The Bottom Of My Heart," "Let Me Go" and "And My Baby's Gone" do stand out in the crowd. There are also some interesting guitar parts on here, such as the biting chords featured on "I Don't Mind" and the sustained sound used for "And My Baby's Gone" (which would be refined by PETER BANKS and STEVE HACKETT, among others). If the rest of the album is standard white R&B/skiffle, the band does hit upon some nice harmonies (e.g., "It's Easy Child) and renders some of the material warmly ("I've Got A Dream"). THE MOODY BLUES are no match for THE STONES, THE KINKS or The Who -- they mean well, and menacing they're not -- but attempts to "dirty up" their delivery on cuts like "Lose Your Money" and "I Don't Mind" give them more cachet than, say, HERMAN's Hermits. As for their big hit, "Go Now," the recording quality helps cast the song as a bygone curio; for all that, it's catchy, but I can't help thinking that a group like THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS could have done more with it.

Since the group embarked on a much different sound with "Days Of Future Passed", fans had best approach this record as an historical supplement to the band's subsequent work. It's better than the juvenilia found on "From Genesis To Revelation", and in line with the work found on THE KINKS' first album, so temper your expectations accordingly.

Not a prog album not even a proto-prog or a prog-related or whatever... only a disc from a British wannabe R&B band that should change their style completely some months after this work was released though with a different line-up.

Anyway the album is listenable with fair songs that amuse the listener. Band members show an average musicianship but production is weak what is surprising since other British invaders were receiving a VIP treatment at that time (1965).

Title-song (in fact a cover) is interesting and the tracks 'Let me go' and 'From the bottom of my heart' show some moments that remembers later MB's songs (a future passed?).

Since this album isn't progressive at all it serves only for collectors/fans. Total: 2 stars.