The Moody Blues - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: 1970-1972

Here's the fifth and final album in my series of the Moody Blues performing for the BBC.

Note that this album significantly changed when I updated it in June 2022. Previously, this had been called "Volume 4." But I moved much of the content, a 1969 BBC concert, to a new "Volume 4" album, making this one "Volume 5."

After removing many songs from the previous version of this album, I wanted to replace them with something. It just so happens I recently came into a contact with a person who has access to transcription discs of the BBC radio show "Top of the Pops." To my surprise, those showed that the Moody Blues played some songs on the BBC in 1970 and 1972 that weren't included in their official album "Live at the BBC: 1967-1970," and generally haven't even been bootlegged. Those now make up tracks one through five, plus the last track.

Unfortunately, the Moody Blues played for the BBC on a regular basis through late 1970, then basically stopped. This isn't too surprising. Once a musical artist got fairly big, it was common for them to stop their BBC sessions. Take for instance the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Both of them played for the BBC a lot until they stopped in 1965. But the Moody Blues are generally considered to have a golden era from 1967 to 1972 and I wanted this to cover that entire era. To make matters worse, the band didn't seem to promote their music on any other TV or radio shows that I could find, unless it was done with lip-syncing.

So I did two things to make up for the lack of BBC or other similar recordings from 1970 to 1972. First, I found a recording of a concert the band did in 1970 that had excellent sound quality. (It was included on the band's "Timeless Flight" box set, but only as a DVD feature.) So I used that to get performances of songs (tracks six through nine) that appeared on the band's 1970 album "A Question of Balance" that otherwise weren't done for the BBC.

Unfortunately, after 1970, the situation becomes even more difficult. I couldn't find ANY bootlegs from 1971, 1972 or 1973 in worthy sound quality that would match the rest of this BBC series. Luckily, when I updated this album in 2022, I discovered they did a version of "Isn't Life Strange" exclusively for the BBC in 1972. So I used that.

But two of their biggest hits and best songs come from those years: "The Story in Your Eyes" and "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)." For "The Story in Your Eyes," it just so happens though that later releases of their 1971 album has a bonus track that 's an alternate version each of that song. So I've added it in, in lieu of anything that fits better. But unfortunately, I couldn't find any adequate version to use for "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)."

Still, all in all, this BBC series serves as kind of an alternate "best of" for their music from 1965 to 1972, though admittedly it's light on songs from their 1971 and 1972 albums.

This album is 40 minutes long.

UPDATE: On June 12, 2022, I updated the mp3 download file. I already described the changes I made up above, including changing the name of this album from "Volume 4" to "Volume 5."

01 Melancholy Man [Edit] (Moody Blues)
02 And the Tide Rushes In [Edit] (Moody Blues)
03 Minstrel's Song [Edit] (Moody Blues)
04 It's Up to You [Edit] (Moody Blues)
05 Don't You Feel Small [Edit] (Moody Blues)
06 Question (Moody Blues)
07 Tortoise and the Hare (Moody Blues)
08 Lazy Day (Moody Blues)
09 Candle of Life (Moody Blues)
10 The Story in Your Eyes [Alternate Version] (Moody Blues)
11 Isn't Life Strange (Moody Blues)

https://www.imagenetz.de/ceSWx

The cover art photo comes from an appearance on "The Top of the Pops" TV show in 1971. Ironically, that kind of appearance is exactly what I was looking for musically and couldn't find. I believe they lip-synced on that show, so I couldn't use it.