Thread: Anyone know what Moody Blues titles are coming to SACD?

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Post by flyingdutchman February 2, 2004 (1 of 11)
Saw the announcement at highfidelity and here.

Post by zeus February 2, 2004 (2 of 11)
flyingdutchman said:

Saw the announcement at highfidelity and here.

Not yet, but the Björk title is "Vespertine" ... out this month (in Europe).

Post by Grovewebb February 4, 2004 (3 of 11)
Universal Music have confirmed that the entire Moody Blues catalogue is to be released on SACD. They have no information on whether stereo or 5.1 or release dates. This is great news for all loyal fans who still support this quality group.

Post by Galley February 5, 2004 (4 of 11)
Grovewebb said:

Universal Music have confirmed that the entire Moody Blues catalogue is to be released on SACD. They have no information on whether stereo or 5.1 or release dates. This is great news for all loyal fans who still support this quality group.

I'd be happy with the two-disc Anthology and Days of Future passed.

Post by flyingdutchman May 20, 2004 (5 of 11)
flyingdutchman said:

Saw the announcement at highfidelity and here.

New news:

http://www.moodies-magazine.com/moody_news.htm

Coming to SACD in September the 7 classic albums

Post by MerlinMacuser August 14, 2004 (6 of 11)
flyingdutchman said:

New news:

http://www.moodies-magazine.com/moody_news.htm

Coming to SACD in September the 7 classic albums

Any more news on this?

H&H Exclusive! Surround-sound Classic 7--and much more!  By Randy Salas

An extreme makeover of the Moody Blues' Classic 7 albums is in the works for a September release in the United States and elsewhere.

The extensive re-do encompasses not only long-planned surround-sound mixes but also loads of previously unreleased material, including a 1969 concert that will be released separately.

Each of the albums--Days of Future Passed in deluxe packaging, as well as In Search of the Lost Chord, On the Threshold of a Dream, To Our Children's Children's Children, A Question of Balance, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and Seventh Sojourn--will be reissued as a two-disc set, said Andy Street, head of catalog development at Universal Music's UK offices.

Disc 1 will contain a remastered stereo mix of each album--except Lost Chord; see below--in standard CD format and a 5.1-surround mix in the SACD format, which is playable only on compatible players.

"With the advent of SACD and the possibilities afforded by 5.1 surround audio, the time is right for the Moody Blues' catalog to be considered for such treatment," Street said from his London office. "Always at the forefront of technology and groundbreaking recordings, the Moody Blues' albums were all mixed in Quadraphonic sound by [producer] Tony Clarke and [engineer] Derek Varnals in 1972 at Decca Studios in West Hampstead. These original multi-channel mixes were used utilizing Decca's unique reverberation chamber and equipment, which gave the Moody Blues' albums their distinctive quality. Therefore, these Quadraphonic mixes have been used for the 5.1 Surround masters.

" In Search of the Lost Chord was not mixed in Quadraphonic sound at the time due to the absence of all of the multitrack tapes, a situation verified by an exhaustive search through Decca vaults and at Threshold. Therefore this album will be presented as a high-quality SACD hybrid stereo disc mastered from the original Decca master tapes at 96kHz 24-bit. Finally, all of these SACDs will also be able to be played on conventional CD players in stereo."

Disc 2 will contains rarities, B-sides and previously unreleased BBC sessions, he said.

"The discovery of unreleased BBC sessions, including a December 1969 concert recorded for David Symonds, together with many 'work in progress' mixes and alternate final mixes, has resulted in the addition of these recordings as bonus material," he said.

He added: "Over the past decade, many important artists (notably the Beatles, with their 'Anthology' albums and the Who) have realized the value of satisfying their dedicated legions of fans by presenting recordings that show the evolution of classic material either in the form of demos or alternate mixes. With such an important act as the Moody Blues, the fan base is noted for its keen interest in the recording process of their many classic albums. Therefore, after searching Decca and Threshold archives, together with the BBC, notable recordings have been compiled as bonus tracks, including three previously unreleased songs."

Street said that the albums will be remixed by "our own engineer and project consultant, in conjunction with members of the band," but that Clarke and Varnals will not be involved.

Post by MerlinMacuser October 7, 2004 (7 of 11)
Learned this from the www.moodies-magazine.com site:

Classic 7 SACDs release delayed.  We've just heard from the U.K. arm of Universal Music who matter-of-factly states that "...the Moody Blues reissue program has been put back until early next year, dates to be announced."  The reissued discs -- which will include previously unreleased material as well as beefed-up sound -- were originally slated to debut last month.

Post by flyingdutchman January 10, 2005 (8 of 11)
MerlinMacuser said:

Learned this from the www.moodies-magazine.com site:

Classic 7 SACDs release delayed. We've just heard from the U.K. arm of Universal Music who matter-of-factly states that "...the Moody Blues reissue program has been put back until early next year, dates to be announced." The reissued discs -- which will include previously unreleased material as well as beefed-up sound -- were originally slated to debut last month.

Ok. Any more news on this?

Post by MerlinMacuser January 10, 2005 (9 of 11)
flyingdutchman said:

Ok. Any more news on this?

Heard a rumour that the release date was Jan 24, 2005 but I can't find the original source now. Maybe there was something on the Steve Hoffman forums. We can hope...these would be great material for MC and HighRez.

Universal has said it will be releasing 150 SACDs this year. Hopefully many will be back catalogue rock classics like Moodie Blues, Steely Dan and (dare I say?) the Beatles.

Post by MerlinMacuser March 8, 2005 (10 of 11)
From:http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3225&page=3&pp=15

Quote from Justin

March, 2005



This coming weekend I'm spending three days with yet another film crew and an informed (I hope) interviewer, trying to explain my version of the Moody Blues Story. This is for a BBC Series which looks like its becoming a DVD release as well. I say 'my version' because when I see the other guys being interviewed I usually find myself thinking 'I don't remember that bit at all!'

Why is there a seemingly endless fascination with what happened in the late 60's and early 70's? For me, as I write this, there is only the now and what I'm listening to, the guitar I'm playing and the way it makes me feel in the moment. I'm so glad that in those days we mostly resisted doing in depth interviews and' through the keyhole' stuff and concentrated on the music.

But, the reason people are obsessed with those times is occasionally brought home to me in a powerful and moving way. Because Universal are soon to release a collection of our first seven studio albums, along with previously unreleased songs and out-takes, as well as alternate versions of tracks, I was asked by them to approve the 5.1 surround sound parts ,which have been mastered using the original quad mixes done by Tony Clarke and Derek Varnals in the early 70's. I was absolutely stunned listening to them, I was suddenly right back in the centre of the studio floor where we had spent days and nights, had magical, mind blowing experiences, at the same time working very hard to make it all sound and feel right.

To hear backing tracks and vocal sessions separated and truly surrounding me was something I was unprepared for. Within a couple of minutes of the opening bars of Days of Future Passed I was unable to judge the sonic quality of the masters because my emotions had taken over. I don't feel that I, or any of us, should change anything from those mixes. If anyone really wants to know what the Moodies were about, just listen.

With regard to this release though, next week I'm going to Alberto's to hear the original stereo masters of the early albums and to master, properly, the unreleased tracks and out-takes which are in their original, unmixed state. I recently realised how poor the mastering was on the versions of the first seven albums re-released on C.D. in the late 90's, and I would encourage anyone interested to seek out the C.D. versions released by Decca in the 1980's which were much truer to the original records as well as having the proper sleeves. The 90's re-masters were bad re-masters of re-masters of copy masters. Why weren't we paying attention to the quality at the time? Hopefully the new Universal collection will become the definitive, true CD representation of those recordings.


__________________
Tad Bartel
Quadtrade


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