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The Moody Blues
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 
The Moody Blues were
originally an R&B based band of the British Invasion; they later
became best known for psychedelic music and early prog rock.
The Moody Blues
originated in Birmingham, England. At the time, Ray Thomas and Mike
Pinder were El Riot & the Rebels, a popular band. Pinder left to
join the army, but then rejoined Thomas to form the Krew Cats and had
moderate success. The
pair recruited Denny Laine, Graeme Edge and Clint Warwick, appearing as
the Moody Blues for the first time in Birmingham in 1964. Soon, the
band had a contract with Decca Records and released an unsuccessful
single, "Steal Your Heart Away", that year. "Go Now", released later
that year, became a huge hit in the United Kingdom and less so in the
United States. After
a series of unsuccessful singles, Warwick and Laine departed, replaced
by John Lodge and Justin Hayward in 1966. Deram Records (a Decca
imprint) chose the Moody Blues to make an LP in order to promote
Deramic Stereo and the group was assigned to make a rock and roll
version of Dvorak's New World Symphony. The Moody Blues convinced the
label otherwise and released an original album, Days of Future Passed.
The album plus two singles, "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday
Afternoon" became massively popular, as was the 1968 followup, In
Search of the Lost Chord, where the group began using the
Mellotron. Their
music was progressing more and more in complexity, resulting in 1969's
To Our Children's Children's Children. After that, the group decided to
record only albums that could be played in concert, losing some of
their bombastic sound for their next album, A Question of Balance
(1970). For their next two albums, "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor"
(1971) and "Seventh Sojourn" (1972) the band returned to recording very
rich sounds, that while difficult to play in concert, had the bands
signature lush sound. After that, the group took an extended break to
recuperate from a heavy touring schedule. Hayward
and Lodge released a duet album, the very successful Blue Jays (1975)
and the members each released solo albums. In 1977, the group reformed
and, during a tempestuous recording session, 1978's Octave was
released, though Pinder refused to tour and was replaced by Patrick
Moraz; the album was a hit, as was 1981's Long Distance Voyager, though
the band was quickly losing critical credibility. Despite
a few more albums and successful singles, the group has never managed
to regain its once massive popularity or critical acclaim.
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