Review by Bruce Eder
This album, which kicked around the American London Records catalog and record store browsers for decades, also fooled a couple of generations of the band's fans. This is the Moody Blues, to be sure, but it is the work of the original R&B-based lineup featuring Denny Laine on lead vocals and guitar, and Clint Warwick on bass, along with Mike Pinder (piano, organ), Ray Thomas (harmonica, vocals), and Graeme Edge (drums), who enjoyed a monster international hit with the R&B-style single "Go Now" in 1964. A lot of what's here is very good in that vein, from James Brown-authored soul-shouters to blues by Willie Dixon and Sonny Boy Williamson II, to the smoother, more Motown-like work like the exquisite "I Had a Dream" (co-written by Ellie Greenwich). But with the exception of "From the Bottom of My Heart" -- arguably the best unsuccessful single of the whole British Invasion -- which was a much more advanced single, and achieved some interesting timbral and dramatic effects within a soul framework, nothing here remotely resembles even the most rudimentary psychedelic sounds for which the band was known after 1966. For most fans of the latter, this is more an interesting artifact than anything else, though listeners who love the sounds of the British Invasion circa 1964 and 1965, especially the work of the Animals, the Rolling Stones, and the Zombies, may find a lot to enjoy here.
01. The Moody Blues - I'll Go Grazy (2:13)
02. The Moody Blues - And My Baby's Gone (2:24)
03. The Moody Blues - Go Now! (3:15)
04. The Moody Blues - It's Easy Child (3:16)
05. The Moody Blues - Can't Nobody Love You (4:06)
06. The Moody Blues - I Had A Dream (2:54)
07. The Moody Blues - Let Me Go (3:16)
08. The Moody Blues - I Don't Want To Go On Without You (2:48)
09. The Moody Blues - True Story (1:47)
10. The Moody Blues - If Ain't Necessarily So (3:24)
11. The Moody Blues - Bye Bye Bird (2:55)
12. The Moody Blues - From The Bottom Of My Heart (I Love You) (3:28)
I remember this LP well.. it was the American issue of their debut album, and by the time I started collecting LPs, already 20 years old and becoming a collectors item, as it never sold well at all in America. It said "Stereo" on the cover, but like most 60s London LPs it wasn't, not even "fake" stereo (thankfully). Like a lot of collectibles, after the 'net took hold it's playable value dropped greatly, since it was then so much easier to obtain clear source recordings for it via CD or UK LP needledrops. I had a pristine tape issued in 1968 of this album, though, so I still prefer the sound of it to the UK ones... Bit dull sounding now though, after 53 years ;-) So this is a nice treat.
ReplyDeleteCheers!