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Not long ago I interviewed Moody Blues<\/strong> founding member\/flautist\/vocalist Ray Thomas<\/strong><\/a>; much of our conversation<\/a> centered around a new box set documenting the group’s pre-Days of Future Passed<\/em> material. That music originally took the form of a UK album called The Magnificent Moodies<\/em> (issued around the same time stateside as Go Now: The Moody Blues #1<\/em>). The group also issued a number of non-album singles during that time, and \u2013 as was standard practice, especially for a group with the relatively high profile they enjoyed \u2013 they appeared on a number of radio programs in the UK.<\/p>\n There have been several reissues of The Magnificent Moodies<\/em>, but none has approached the level at which the term \u201ccomprehensive\u201d is an accurate description. Until now, that is: the new Esoteric Recordings release of The Magnificent Moodies<\/em> collects the original July 1965 Decca album, adds fourteen non-album cuts from the era, and also adds an earlier, unreleased take of \u201cGo Now!\u201d<\/p>\n And that’s only the first disc. A second CD features seven additional studio outtakes (including, as Ray Thomas mentioned, material he doesn’t even recall having recorded), a dozen songs from various Saturday Club<\/em> radio sessions, a mid-60s interview (also from Saturday Club<\/em>) with Thomas and co-founder\/drummer Graeme Edge<\/strong> (here’s my 2010 interview with him<\/a>), a Coca-Cola radio spot, and an entire additional seven-song session the band cut with producer Denny Cordell<\/strong>. Pretty much the only audio missing from this set is the French radio appearances the Moody Blues did in the 1960s, but as Thomas told me, they couldn\u2019t come to financial terms with the French (he used another word) that would secure rights to the recordings.<\/p>\n Taken as a whole, the new The Magnificent Moodies<\/em> set paints a picture of a group very different from the one that would go on to worldwide success<\/a> as a Mellotron-centric band fronted by vocalists Justin Hayward<\/strong> (guitar) and John Lodge<\/strong> (bass). The early lineup included neither of them. Instead, the early Moody Blues featured Denny Laine<\/strong> (later of Wings<\/strong>) on lead vocal and guitar, plus bassist Clint Warwick<\/strong>. Keyboardist Mike Pinder<\/strong> (here’s my interview with him<\/a>) was the remaining member, another co-founder and one of three (with Thomas and Edge) who would go on to the \u201cnew\u201d Moody Blues, much as the rhythm section of John McVie<\/strong> and Mick Fleetwood<\/strong> would form the basis of the old and \u201cnew\u201d versions of another<\/em> British group of the era(s), Fleetwood Mac<\/strong>.<\/p>\n