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Reunion, 1977–1990
Reunion
1978-91 lineup. L-R: Patrick Moraz, Ray Thomas, Graeme Edge, Justin Hayward, and John Lodge
In 1977, as the group made a decision to record together again, with their record company Decca (UK) urging a reunion album. London Records decided to release a somewhat poorly mixed then-eight-year-old recording of the band performing at the Royal Albert Hall, against their artistic wishes. London/Decca did this in an attempt to re-energise a somewhat waning public interest in the Moody Blues prior to their anticipated new album, but the crude sound of the concert from 1969 titled Caught Live + 5 would clash sharply with the lush and refined sound the modern Moodies were capable of producing in the studio. By this time Pinder had married and started a family in California, so for their reunion recording, the band decamped stateside with producer Clarke. The sessions were marked with tension and division, first there was a fire at the studios they were using, then after quickly re-locating to Pinder's home studio a landslide following torrential rains effectively marooned them inevitably causing tensions to rise (with Pinder then dropping out before completion).
Producer Tony Clarke was also forced to leave due to non-musical reasons before the album was completed, but by the spring of 1978 Octave was ready for release. Pinder, citing his young family, and by then probably considering their touring days behind them, excused himself from the touring commitments that were to follow. Pinder's decision caused some open acrimony within the band (notably from Edge), Ray Thomas had said Pinder was initially agreeable to touring, and his opting out later on (with a major comeback tour already planned) was a severe and embarrassing blow to them. Attempts were made by their management to completely downplay Pinder's absence, notably at a major UK music press party Decca organised, when the top Decca dignitary guest, while making a "welcome back" speech, openly referred to "Mike Pinder being currently absent over in the States", much to their dismay.
Octave and arrival of Moraz
During this period, the prog-rock band yes had asked their keyboard player, Patrick Moraz, to leave. Moraz's management had some contacts with the Moodies, and after a successful audition with the band in England in 1978, he was hired as keyboard player for the Octave World Tour that began in Germany in October. In spite of these difficulties, the album itself sold well and produced the hits "Steppin' in a Slide Zone", (no. 39 USA) written by Lodge and "Driftwood", (no. 59 USA) written by Hayward. The music video produced for "Driftwood" features Moraz, although Mike Pinder was the one who played on the actual recording; the video for "Steppin' in a Slide Zone" simply shows the other four members without Pinder (which was rather awkward as Pinder's keyboards featured extensively on the song, notably on the distinctive intro and during a solo section of the piece). A group performance of Hayward's "Had to Fall in Love" & Lodge's "Slide Zone" on the UK "Kenny Everett Show" also depicted them as a four piece. On Octave Hayward had some four solo composed songs (more in fact than on "The Other Side of Life" later in 1986), Edge contributed "I'll be Level With You" (aka "Little Man") one of only a number of songs showing a complete group unity. In truth, a few songs sounded like solo efforts, while Lodge's "Survival", Hayward's appropriate closing "The Day We Meet Again" and Pinder's lone final contribution and lead vocal, "One Step Into The Light" (curiously as the band is depicted as doing so on the cover photo - where Pinder is perhaps significantly barely glimpsed at all and almost out of focus) were all high points on the album. Around this time Justin Hayward enjoyed a solo hit (no.5) in the UK with the song "Forever Autumn" which was taken from Jeff Wayne's album musical version of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" story, in recent times Hayward has sung both this and "The Eve of The War" live in the touring version of the album, as featured on Wayne's original big selling double album.
The Moodies toured the U.S. and Europe during much of 1979. By 1980 they were ready to record again, this time bringing in producer Pip Williams. Moraz was retained as the band's permanent keyboardist, though Pinder had originally understood that he would continue to record even if not touring with the band. Pinder attempted legal measures to prevent the new Moody Blues album from reaching the public without his contributions, but he was not successful, and ultimately, he never returned to the fold. While Moraz was a more than capable keyboardist replacement for both records and concerts Pinder's departure was on an artistic and songwriting level to prove a considerable loss to the group overall. Nevertheless when released in 1981, Long Distance Voyager was a colossal success, reaching #1 on Billboard and top 5 in the UK. The album yielded two hits, "The Voice", (no. 15 USA) written by Hayward, and "Gemini Dream",(no.12 USA) written by Hayward and Lodge. John Lodge's "Talking out of Turn" also charted in the USA reaching no. 65. Edge provided "22,000 Days" (Featuring Thomas as lead voice with Hayward & Lodge) while Thomas own contributions were the final portion of the set with his singing on the final two songs; "Painted Smile", "Reflective Smile" (a poem narrated by a DJ friend of the band) and "Veteran Cosmic Rocker". By now, the mellotron had long been set aside as their primary keyboard instrument and the band embraced a more modern, less symphonic approach, though still retaining a lush keyboard-led sound as Moraz gave a more contemporary edge to their sound. The marketing formula for the band demanded from this time forward that a Justin Hayward song would be used to lead off their studio albums, as his material was the most popular. This however began to narrow The Moodies' range as a certain predictability became apparent, with songs now being aimed at picking up radio airplay. Hayward had always written most of their hit singles, followed by Lodge, however from this point onwards Hayward had to carry far more of the composing burden, most notably in Pinder's absence (Pinder had often either closed Moodies' albums or provided a key penultimate song). Also Ray Thomas' song contributions began to diminish soon after, Hayward and Lodge also then teaming up to provide songs in addition to their own compositions. It has to be said that despite being a strong contemporary album with Patrick Moraz contributing a much needed fresh energy, and selling exceedingly well, duly picking up new fans for the band, most longtime Moodies fans, while remaining loyal to the band, nevertheless acutely felt the absence of Pinder's voice and songs on "Voyager".
The Present (1983), again produced by Williams, proved less successful than its predecessor, though it did spawn a UK top 40 hit (No. 35) in "Blue World" (#62 in the U.S.) and a U.S. top 40 hit in "Sitting at the Wheel" (which failed to chart in the UK). Videos were also produced for both singles. "The Present" was released in conjunction with Talencora Ltd. Records shortly before Decca was bought out by Polydor Records.
The Other Side of Life
In 1986 they enjoyed renewed success with their album The Other Side of Life and in particular with the track "Your Wildest Dreams" - a U.S. Top 10 hit (and #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary singles chart for two weeks) which garnered a Billboard Video of the Year award after being frequently featured on MTV. Newly-hired producer Tony Visconti, and Barry Radman, a synth programmer formerly hired by Moraz, delivered a modern sound the Moodies had been after in order to remain competitive with their pop contemporaries. The album's title song also charted in the U.S., at #58. The renewed interest in the band ensured a younger audience from this point on, with many of their longtime followers remaining loyal despite a fair number of older fans finding the current albums of this period far more lightweight in content. For example, John Lodge had gone from writing powerfully reflective mystical or humanitarian themed pieces such as "House of Four Doors", "Candle of Life" and "One More Time To Live" to quirkier items such as "Here Comes The Weekend", "Rock and Roll Over You" and "Love is On The Run (From Me)", while Hayward's songs seemed less the deeper drama of numbers such as "The Actor", "Dawning is the Day", "You Can Never Go Home", "The Land of Make Believe", etc., to pleasant (and more radio-friendly) perennial far simpler songs about lost love and romance ("Your Wildest Dream", "No More Lies", "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" etc.). There were still some deeper songs being created by the band, however, ("The Voice", "22,000 Days", "The Other Side of Life", "The Spirit", "Deep", etc.) but the overall tone of the band had become noticeably a more lightweight commercialised one; presumably this was with record company agreement to keep in accordance with the then prevailing times. Significantly their live shows from this period included a good number of their eighties album tracks, however over time more of the "Core Seven" album era favourites would gradually begin to reappear in their playlist.
The Moody Blues performed live at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986 which raised money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital. The band played four songs, and later provided backup with the Electric Light Orchestra for George Harrison.
The Moodies continued their early video-generation success with Sur La Mer (1988) and its video and single, "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" (no. 52 UK), a sequel to "Your Wildest Dreams". Their sound took on an ever-increasingly synthetic and technical quality as Moraz and Visconti began using modern sequencers, samplers and drum machines. During this time, Justin Hayward and John Lodge wrote and sang on most of the songs as the band came under pressure from their new record company, PolyGram Records, to promote those it deemed to be the two more commercial-looking and -sounding members. Ray Thomas was playing a diminished role in the studio. The band were temporarily evolving into a synthpop act, with music not at all fit for a flute (although Thomas actually provided additional percussion, notably a brisk tambourine, on many more Moodies songs which continued to be featured, plus occasional harmonica), and at this point he was largely relegated to the status of a backup singer. Thomas was also unwell during this period, further limiting his involvement with the band in the recording studio. He provided some backing vocals for both The Other Side of Life and Sur La Mer; however, multiple production considerations led Visconti to leave Thomas' vocals off of the latter of these two albums, thereby further reducing the texture of their overall vocal sound, which had been rich four-part harmonies, then went down to three, now reduced still further to just the more similar-sounding voices of Hayward and Lodge (Lodge also providing falsetto vocals and high harmonies), with Pinder and Thomas each having provided both lower- and higher-pitched vocal harmonies in the group's earlier vocal sound.
1990s to present
Departure of Moraz
Thomas' high value remained on stage primarily from his continued ability to sing out his 60's and 70's Moodies classics, and also in flute and keyboard duets he composed with Moraz which were only performed by the two during Moodies' concerts. The band had begun to reinforce their concert sound in 1986 with the addition of a second keyboardist (Bias Boshell was the first, replaced in 1987 by Guy Allison before Boshell returned by 1990), as well as female backing singers(see Personnel below).
In 1991, halfway through the production of their new studio album, Patrick Moraz made some comments in an article in Keyboard Magazine that suggested dissatisfaction with his role in the Moodies. His complaints ranged from the Moodies' music becoming too simple in structure, to the other members' reluctance to allow him to make significant contributions to the songwriting on their albums. He also was spending long amounts of time planning a music concert to celebrate his native Switzerland's 700th anniversary, instead of rehearsing with the Moodies. He was dismissed from further participation in the group before the project was completed. Boshell, as well as new keyboardist Paul Bliss, were brought in to finish the new album's keyboard tracks. Despite credits as a 'official band member' being included in any group photos on the four Eighties studio albums from "Long Distance Voyager" to "Sur La Mer" in recent years Moodies compilations now refer to Moraz as merely being an 'Additional keyboardist'. Moraz later took legal action against the group in the United States, which he won, but was then awarded only a nominal sum.
Keys of the Kingdom
Keys of the Kingdom (1991) had modest commercial success. Once again, Hayward's songs led off the album, with the new singles "Say It With Love" and "Bless the Wings (That Bring You Back)." Also included was a new ambient flute piece by Ray Thomas entitled "Celtic Sonant." Hayward and Thomas also co-wrote "Never Blame The Rainbows For The Rain" to close the album. John Lodge would make a defining shift in his songwriting on this album, leaving his trademark high-energy rock music, and instead gravitating towards slow love ballads such as "Lean On Me (Tonight)" (though he had earlier contributed some songs in this gentler vein such as "Emily's Song" for his daughter in 1971 and "Survival" in 1978, plus "Talking out of Turn" in 1981), while Lodge's more powerful songs continued with "Magic" and the Lennonesque "Shadows On the Wall". This gentler trend would continue on the two successive Moodies albums. Hayward wrote the driving two-part piece "Say What You Mean." Tony Visconti produced some of the tracks on "Keys", as did Christopher Neil and Alan Tarney. The ensuing tour saw them invited to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival. A non-album Hayward-Lodge song cut at these sessions, "Highway", was included on the "Say it With Love" twelve-inch single and on a later box set, while the vinyl album did not include their song "Once is Enough" as on the compact disc version.
The group remained a steady concert draw, and a series of video and audio versions of their 1992 Night at Red Rocks concert enjoyed great success, particularly as a fund-raiser for American public television where it had been first broadcast. The concert was conducted and arranged by Larry Baird, who has participated in many other bands' orchestral live concerts, such as Kansas, Michael Bolton, Three Dog Night, Al Jarreau and Alan Parsons. The group also continued their use of additional musicians on stage and in the studio. After the two legal suits from both Pinder in 1981 and Moraz in 1992, the band were careful not to recognize future keyboard players as official members. Following on from his contributions as keyboardist on the 'Keys Of The Kingdom' album, Paul Bliss has played keyboards for the band live since 1991, being promoted to first keyboardist in 2001 (but has since been replaced in March 2010 after 19 years continuous service with the band). Thomas and Bliss continued the tradition of a flute/keyboard duet for many tours. After Edge injured himself in 1991, second drummer Gordon Marshall was brought in to back him up; he stayed with the group after Edge recovered and has remained in the position since.
1990s tours
From 1991 to 1998, the group took a hiatus from recording, instead trying to perfect the art of performing live with an orchestra. The hiatus ended in 1999, with the album Strange Times, which proved to be the group's first album in almost two decades to be more than moderately received by UK critics. It was recorded in Recco, Italy, at Hayward's suggestion, and was the band's first self-produced effort. The album also featured keyboards and arrangements from Italian musician Danilo Madonia, who has worked in-studio with the band since. The album opened with "English Sunset", a pop song featuring a modern, nearly techno arrangement. The song "This is The Moment" (which is not on "Strange Times"), which was originally featured in the Broadway production of "Jekyll and Hyde", was a minor hit in the USA. Strange Times was also the first album since 1970 to include a new poem by Graeme Edge "Nothing Changes", narrated by Edge himself, with Hayward then singing the concluding portion of the track. Also in 1999, The Moody Blues appeared in one episode of "The Simpsons" called "Viva Ned Flanders". On "Strange Times" Ray Thomas appeared vocally with Hayward & Lodge on "Sooner or Later (Walkin' on Air)" and his own brief song "My Little Lovely", plus provided a vocal snippet and backing vocals on Hayward's "English Sunset"; these would prove to be his recorded vocal swan song with the band.
In 2000, the band released "Hall of Fame", a new live concert from Royal Albert Hall, with a concurrent DVD release. This was taken from the last tour on which Boshell played. He left the live lineup in 2001; Bliss took over first keyboard duties, with his former second keyboard role filled by Bernie Barlow, and Julie Ragins when Barlow took maternity leave from 2006 to 2009.
In 2001, an IMAX film was released, entitled Journey into Amazing Caves, which featured two new songs written and performed by the Moody Blues. The soundtrack also featured Justin Hayward performing vocals and playing guitar throughout. One of these songs, entitled "Water", is the Moody Blues' first instrumental studio recording since their 1983 piece "Hole in the World" from The Present LP.
Thomas retires
The new millennium saw the Moody Blues reducing their touring schedule. At the end of 2002, founding member Ray Thomas retired from the group, reducing the Moody Blues to the trio of Hayward, Lodge, and Edge, the latter being the only original member remaining. Flautist & rhythm guitarist Norda Mullen was recruited early the following year for their North America tour, and has worked with the band live and in the studio since. Toward the end of 2003, they released a Christmas-themed album entitled December. The songs included originals and four covers such as John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"; Mike Batt's "A Winter's Tale", "When A Child is Born" and even a version of Bing Crosby's evergreen standard "White Christmas", this makes it the group's first album to include covers since their 1965 debut album The Magnificent Moodies, besides the Peter Knight composed orchestrated parts of "Days of Future Passed" in 1967.
In March 2006, the first five of the band's 'Core Seven' albums (the seven albums from Days of Future Passed to Seventh Sojourn) were re-released in SACD format with Deluxe Editions, featuring bonus songs and some rare previously unreleased tracks by the group. In April 2007, the last two of these classic albums were re-released by Universal/Threshold. These deluxe editions were unique for an art rock group like the Moodies in that one of their members, Justin Hayward, was the one hired to do the work, instead of a professional master technician. Hayward stated that he listened to virgin vinyl copies of these albums and used them as reference points for the new compact discs. In September 2008, Hayward announced the impending release of remastered versions of Octave, Long Distance Voyager and The Present which will be released on Universal Records in the months to come. On May 21, 2007 the Moodies released a forty-one track, two-disc compilation of sessions recorded at BBC Studios, various television appearances, and a previously 'lost' performance done on the Tom Jones show titled Live at the BBC: 1967-1970.
Latest work
In 2007, the now defunct Hard Rock Park theme park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, announced the building of a dark ride entitled "Nights in White Satin - The Trip".[7] The ride incorporated multi-sensory experiences as well as a re-orchestrated version of the song by Justin Hayward. A re-recorded version of Graeme Edge's "Late Lament" again followed, which had each group member reading a verse of the poem. In March 2009, the ride closed due to the conversion of the park to the Freestyle Music Park, with the new owners desiring to make the park more "family friendly."
The group continues to tour; they toured the U.S., Canada and the UK in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. In addition, Hayward took part in the UK tour of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds in April 2006, and a second tour in November 2007, also with dates in 2009. The Moody Blues also toured Australia and New Zealand in 2006. Their long-time producer, Tony Clarke, died in January 2010.
The Moody Blues added keyboardist Alan Hewitt for their 2010 North American Tour, which is taking place in two stages, one during February/March, and the other this summer.
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