Moody Blues SACD's on spincds.com

Moody Blues Expanded 2 CD Versions

Now five Moody Blues albums expanded into either 1 or 2 CD deluxe editions:'A Question Of Balance' (Single Disc SACD £12.99) 'Days Of Future Passed' (1967, 2 Disc SACD for £14.99), 'In Search Of The Lost Chord' (1968, 2 Disc SACD for £14.99), 'On The Threshold Of A Dream' (1969, Single Disc SACD £12.99) and 'To Our Children's Children's Children' (1969, 2 Disc SACD for £14.99). Released March 27th. More details soon

 

can this be?!?!

 

imports....imports.....damn! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

awesome news!

 

Hopefully they will be on SACD. In Search Of The Lost Chord will not be surround, as they could not locate the correct tape anywhere in the vaults. I read Justin Hayward is involved in this project. Hopefully it is worth the wait

 

So does anyone know what's on the 2nd discs?

 

I refuse to get my hopes up until these are in my hot little hands

 

The talk of putting out LOST CHORD in 5.1 never made any sense...if they couldn't do it back when the other Original 7's were done, no way they could do it now. Well, we shall see if this all comes to pass....

 

Hope they sound as good as the two DTS discs.

 

I'm hoping against hope, but .. maybe they found the tapes for ' .. Chord'?

 

I wonder if Every Good boy'will be included at some point - was it ever mentioned? Really enjoy that one..
Looks promising for 2 disc sets of the five talked about in Spin Cd's if you ask me - though lets hope those little letters 'SACD' are accurate...

 

Too bad those ice people aren't into reporting on SACDs. Remember back when they had all the info? Back in the 80s was it?

 

I'd love to hear A Question of Balance in surround.

 

(from 2004) 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.

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.

 

Yes, but they have to work hard to achieve that. The two DTS are some of the best sounding ones in my whole collection. Great stuff!

 

Wonder if there's any possibility of the original 1967 stereo mix for the DOFP DE? TMK, that's never been on CD before.

(I'm sure they'll undoubtedly use the late '70s remix as the "main" stereo, regardless.)

 

So they're saying the stereo mixes will be SACD hybrids?

 

I'm wondering if spincds is jumping the gun a little bit. I have yet to see any other mention of these CDs being released soon.

 

Amazon UK has them listed with a March 20 release date!

 

I just checked there and didn't see anything - I guess I thought they'd be right up front. I'll look harder...

 

Quote from Justin

March, 2005

......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.

Let's hope Justin was "paying attention" this time so I don't waste my money again.

 

You can also find them listed on play.com!

 

Are you sure that these are SACD on play.com? They seem to be under the CD tab.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...711/sr=1-26/ref=sr_1_2_26/026-9408006-7997204

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...711/sr=1-29/ref=sr_1_2_29/026-9408006-7997204

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...768/sr=1-35/ref=sr_1_2_35/026-9408006-7997204

Did I leave one out?