Chart entered : 10 December 1964
Chart peak : 1
Number of hits : 12
Somewhat belatedly Birmingham sees some chart action with the arrival of the first incarnation of the much-maligned Moodies.
The band started to coalesce in 1959 when Ray Thomas a 17-year old toolmaking apprentice who'd played bass in a local skiffle band The Saints and Sinners founded a rock n roll group El Riot and the Rebels. He was vocalist and harmonica player and the line up included Mike Pinder on keyboards and John Lodge on bass. They became popular in the city and recorded a demo but weren't signed up. After supporting the Beatles at a gig in April 1963 the band broke up as Mike joined the army and John returned to technical college. After just a few months service Mike was discharged for flat feet and he and Ray joined The Krew Kats but found themselves stranded in Hamburg when the group broke up and had to walk their way back to the coast. Once back in England they scoured the local music scene for recruits for an R & B band and picked up Denny Laine ( ex -The Diplomats ) on vocals and guitar , Graeme Edge ( ex- Gerry Levene and the Avengers - see post 163 ) on drums and Clint Warwick ( ex- The Dukes ) on bass. The name came from forlorn hopes of sponsorship by the M and B Brewery.
They were signed to a management company who leased their recordings to Decca in 1964. The first single was a cover of the blues guitarist Bobby Parker's "Steal Your Heart Away", the B side to his US hit single Watch Your Step. The lads' version of the dramatic blues ballad is Anglicised to some extent., Denny wisely doesn't attempt Parker's screams and Mike's piano to some extent replaces Parker's guitar but it's still a credible attempt. There was no real hook for the song to be a hit but that was quickly remedied with the next one.
"Go Now" was originally a US R & B hit for Bessie Banks at the beginning of 1964 and it was Denny's idea to do the song. The Popular thread is here : Moody Blues. It gives a very good account of the record's appeal but the Haloscan comments purge may have removed an important bit of context.
The song was number one on the day Winston Churchill died which the BBC's excellent Rock And Roll Years picked up on and put the song to footage of his state funeral. Churchill had been senile for a number of years but managed to "serve" a full term from 1959 to 1964 thanks to press and Opposition complicity in maintaining a discreet silence on the reality of his condition. Despite having sat out the Second World War as a teenager in De Valera's Ireland, my father was a big admirer of Churchill's and went down to London for the funeral, which you may find surprising in light of the next post.
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