The Moody Story James

The pre-psychedelic Moody Blues were represented in England by this album, which is steeped in American soul. The covers include songs by James Brown, Willie Dixon, and Chris Kenner, plus the chart-busting "Go Now" (originally recorded by Bessie Banks), interspersed with a brace of originals by lead singer/guitarist Denny Laine and keyboardist Mike Pinder, and one Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich number, "I've Got a Dream." The shouters, like "I'll Go Crazy" and "Bye Bye Bird," will be the big surprises, showcasing the rawest sound by the group, but "I've Got a Dream" shows a lyrical, harmony-based sound that is vaguely reminiscent of the Four Tops (which is ironic, as that group later cut a single of the latter-day Moody Blues original "So Deep Within You"), while "Thank You Baby," a Laine/Pinder original, offers them doing a smooth, dance-oriented number with some catchy hooks…

The Moody Blues get the two-disc treatment on the latest installment of Polydor's surprisingly thorough Gold series. Rather than just assemble the usual suspects around staples like "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Story in Your Eyes" (which are here), the compilers dove deep into the group's career, providing tracks from solo recordings like "Remember Me My Friend" from Justin Hayward and John Lodge's excellent Blue Jays album and their gorgeous follow-up single, "Blue Guitar," as well as lesser-known late-'70s/early-'80s cuts from Octave, The Present, and Sur la Mer…

This is compilation of BJH starting from when they left EMI's Harvest label in the mid 1970's. It therefore covers the period from their first Polydor album, "Everyone is everybody else". Unlike most stories, this one begins somewhere in the middle with a single edit of the title track from the "Ring of changes" album. The Harvest years are represented only by a later live version of the perennial "Mocking bird" taken from their famous Berlin concert. The overriding concern here is that the compilation purports to tell the "Story" of BJH.

Back in New York after three years spent gigging and recording in Europe, a mature and rejuvenated James Moody resumed the endless North American scuffle to get by as a contemporary jazz musician. Volume five in the Classics James Moody chronology presents 16 rare Mercury recordings made between October 1951 and June 1953, followed by eight Prestige titles from January and April, 1954. The first four tracks feature baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne; high points include the rowdy, bristling "Moody's Home" and "Wiggle Waggle," an R&B rocker that sounds like something right up out of the King record catalog. Beginning with the material recorded on May 21, 1952, Moody is heard leading a group largely composed of players who, like him, had worked in Dizzy Gillespie's big band. Two of these individuals – trumpeter Dave Burns and baritone saxophonist Numa "Pee Wee" Moore – show up regularly in the front line of Moody's excellent recording ensembles between 1952 and 1955.

April in Paris, 1950. James Moody is making records with a band led by trumpeter Ernie Royal. While two originals by Royal are based on textbook bop themes, Moody's own "Date With Kate" shows greater depth of invention. "Mean to Me" prances at a healthy clip and "Embraceable You" is presented as a slow-dance delicacy. Jumping to July of 1950, Moody leads his own "Boptet" through four remarkable exercises in modernity. Marshall "Red" Allen, who subsequently worked for decades with Sun Ra, is heard in Moody's band playing alto saxophone. These must be Allen's earliest appearances on record. "Delooney" surges ahead with peculiar chords that do in fact slightly resemble what Ra's Arkestra would be playing by 1957…

Barclay James Harvest was, for many years, one of the most hard luck outfits in progressive rock. A quartet of solid rock musicians – John Lees, guitar, vocals; Les Holroyd, bass, vocals; Stuart "Wooly" Wolstenholme, keyboards, vocals; and Mel Pritchard, drums – with a knack for writing hook-laden songs built on pretty melodies, they harmonized like the Beatles and wrote extended songs with more of a beat than the Moody Blues…