Personalities | The Moody Blues | Sixties | Rock

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1964–74, 1977–present)

Though ‘Go Now’ was a worldwide smash in 1965, later singles were much less successful for Denny Laine (vocals, guitar), Mike Pinder (keyboards), Ray Thomas, (woodwinds, percussion), Clint Warwick (bass) and Graeme Edge (drums), veterans of several beat groups from the British Midlands. With the departures of the late Warwick and Laine (later in Paul McCartney’s Wings), the group were sagging on the ropes by 1967.

However, with the respective enlistments of John Lodge and Justin Hayward, they revived with ‘Nights In White Satin’, the hit 45 from Days Of Future Passed (1967), an ambitious concept LP with orchestra. Consequent albums refined a grandiose style so nebulous in scope that such diverse units as Yes, King Crimson and Roxy Music were all cited erroneously as variants of The Moody Blues prototype. Following a sabbatical for solo projects in the mid-1970s, the group reassembled for 1978’s Octave and further albums that have tended to sell steadily if unremarkably.

Styles & Forms | Sixties | Rock
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Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

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