The Moody Blues Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (CD and DVD, Eagle Records, 2008) ****
The Moody Blues Hall of Fame (CD, Threshold/ Universal Records, 2008) ****
The Moody Blues Live at the BBC 1967 -1970 (CD, BBC Records, 1996) ****
The Moody Blues Transmissions 1966 - 1968 (CD, MCPS Records, 2008) ****
They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7
Active compensatory factors: Caught Live + Five was released in 1977 but it is made up of three sides live in 1969 at the Royal Albert Hall and five previously unreleased songs from 1967-1968.
The five previously unreleased songs (one from Lodge, one from Pinder and three from Hayward) all sit very comfortably in the Moodies soundscape.
They start with an amped up version of Gypsy and then deliver a tight, focused, energised set. Ray's Legend of a Mind is particularly effective in a live setting. On both of these first two live selections Mike Pinder's mellotron is a real star turn - delivering all those orchestral flourishes without an actual orchestra.
The Hall of Fame set is again from The Royal Albert Hall in London, but recorded in 2000, so it's great to compare it to Caught Live + Five. This time they had a real orchestra to help out (Mike Pinder was long gone by 2000). The versions are delightful on this live set and having an orchestra onboard certainly suits them.
Where do they all belong? As well as the above, my collection has some groovy DVDs of live shows: The Lost Performance - Live in Paris '70; A Night at Red Rocks (with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra); and a nifty documentary - Legend of a Band.
Genre: Prog rock
Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records (Caught Live), JB Hi Fi, Real Groovy Records
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Gypsy (Isle of Wight)
Gear costume: Legend of a Mind (Isle of Wight)
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Gypsy (Isle of Wight)
Gear costume: Legend of a Mind (Isle of Wight)
Active compensatory factors: Caught Live + Five was released in 1977 but it is made up of three sides live in 1969 at the Royal Albert Hall and five previously unreleased songs from 1967-1968.
The live versions are pretty faithful to the studio ones, albeit delivered with a musclier sound. The vocal blend is also a terrific feature of their live work in the late sixties. Amazing, given the comparatively primitive on stage monitors they had to use back then.
The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 is an obsession of mine (I collect anything I can find from it) and I was thrilled that The Moody Blues were in the line-up. They are ragged and magnificent during their set - all jagged guitars and Graeme Edge is on fire!
Side note - the expanded CD version is the better bet as the DVD has less songs. Still great to have the visuals though.
The compilations of their BBC and radio broadcasts are the subject of two double CDs: Transmissions 1966 - 1968 and Live at the BBC 1967 - 1970. There is some duplication along the way on these two sets but they both present a terrific alternative sound/look to their studio output from those years.
Where do they all belong? As well as the above, my collection has some groovy DVDs of live shows: The Lost Performance - Live in Paris '70; A Night at Red Rocks (with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra); and a nifty documentary - Legend of a Band.
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