The Moody Blues - Live At The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2009)

Posted By : Virginia Plain | Date : 30 Sep 2009 10:40:00 | Comments : 8 |

The Moody Blues - Live At The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2009)
Full Range DVD9 (VIDEO_TS) | 16:9 (1.77:1) | NTSC | 853x480 | 5.6 GB | Covers (300 dpi PNG)

DVD Info:

Year: 2009 (recorded 1970)
Country: US
Catalog #: EV 30272-9
Runtime: ~79 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Surround 5.1, English Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS Digital Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Dutch
Video Format: NTSC
File Format: VIDEO_TS folder
Resolution: 853x480
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (1.77:1)
DVD Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
DVD Source: DVD9
DVD Distributor: Eagle Vision
Program: DVD Decrypter
Average Bit Rate: 9.18 Mb/sec
Size: 5.6 GB

Menus: [X] Untouched
Video: [X] Untouched
DVD-extras: [X] None
DVD-Audio: [X] Untouched

“

DVD Liner Notes:

The Moody Blues arrived at the third Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970 as one of the world's top rock bands. Jimi Hendrix, The Who and The Doors were among the other attractions, but the Moodies could travel to the island content that their third album in 2 years, 'A Question Of Balance', was sitting pretty at the top of the UK chart: predecessors 'On The Threshold Of A Dream' and 'To Our Children's Children's Children' had made 1 and 2 respectively, so there was no doubting the quintet's status among such stellar company.

The Moody Blues had aimed high from the outset, as had been apparent when, some six years earlier, former members of three of Birmingham's leading bands - Denny Laine and The Diplomats, Gary Levene and The Avengers and El Riot and The Rebels - formed a supergroup. They topped the British chart in January 1965 with only their second single, a cover of Bessie Banks' bluesy 'Go Now', but found themselves back on the club circuit the following year. However, when bassist John Lodge and singer and guitarist Justin Hayward joined the nucleus of drummer Graeme Edge, keyboard player Mike Pinder and singer and flautist Ray Thomas in the World Cup summer of 1966, the stage was set for greatness.

Having just signed to Dacca Records' Deram label, the new line-up went into London's Broadhurst Gardens Studios in 1967 with the intention of recording a rock version of Dvorak's 'New World Symphony' to showcase the new "Deramic" stereo system. Having persuaded executive producer Hugh Mandl to allow them to record their own songs instead, they emerged with 'Days Of Future Passed', a pioneering work that included swathes of lush orchestral music linking the tracks. Any possible complaints from their label were stifled when 'Nights In White Satin' spun off as a Top 20 single - an unlikely outcome from the original concept - and the Moodies were off and running in a progressive style light years away from their first hit.

The majestic 'Days Of Future Passed' not only inspired similarly string-enhanced projects from the likes of Deep Purple and Procol Harum but has outlasted them. Significantly, it earned a gold disc in the United States, where they were to enjoy continued success. 1968's 'In Search Of The Lost Chord' was acclaimed there too, while the previously mentioned 'On The Threshold Of A Dream' confirmed their star status when it topped the UK charts and broke the US Top 20. The next step was to form their own label, Threshold, which gave them creative control over cover art, singles releases and everything in between.

But lists of achievements, however impressive, are nothing without the music, and it was this foundation on which the Moodies' success was built. Of their 14-song set, only three - 'Nights In White Satin', 'Ride My See Saw' and 'Question'- a UK number No. 2 in May of 1970 — were well known in Britain in their own right. The fact that the Moodies, at this point an album-oriented band, could achieve such acceptance with singles spoke much about the quality of the music.

Kicking off with 'Gypsy' from the previous year's 'To Our Children's Children's Children, they coupled 'The Sunset' and 'Tuesday Afternoon' from 'Days Of Future Passed' before unveiling the first selection from their latest album 'A Question Of Balance'. 'Minstrel Song' is followed by 'Tortoise And The Hare', 'Question' and 'Melancholy Man'. 'Never Comes The Day', 'Are You Sitting Comfortably' and 'The Dream' all come from 'On The Threshold Of A Dream', as does the two-part 'Have You Heard'. 'Nights In White Satin' is, of course, from 'Days Of Future Passed', while 'In Search of The Lost Chord' is represented by the two set closers, 'Legend Of A Mind' (with its memorable 'Timothy Leary's dead' refrain) and 'Ride My See Saw'.

The exuberance of their 1970 Isle of Wight Festival performance belies the fact that the Moody Blues' complex arrangements and multi-layered recordings were far from easy to perform live. Much depended on Mike Pinder and his Mellotron keyboard to reproduce the textured, symphonic sound the Moody Blues had created in the studio. The Mellotron was highly temperamental as a live instrument since it operated on a system of rollers and delicate tape loops. But when it worked it was, as one fan put it, 'a sound from another world... an outer-space mix of organ and strings.'

On the vocal side, harmonies had to be nailed accurately to make songs like 'Ride My See Saw' work, while in numbers like 'Tortoise And The Hare' the thunderous rock-rhythm of drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Lodge grabbed the spotlight. When Justin Hayward remixed the audio tapes for this release, he noticed that the band had 'started to fiddle around with songs and get away from the original recorded versions... Not that we were getting bored, it's just you take a few liberties with it.' He now believes that 'where we'd been more faithful to the record, it's... simpler and it's more accessible for an audience.' But long-time fans will be delighted with both approaches, enjoying new facets to certain songs and the familiarity of others.

Having experienced the previous year's festival, the Moodies were unphased when performing to an estimated audience of 600,000. It was an indication of their status that, having played the opening day the year before, the Moody Blues were one of the final day's attractions at the 1970 festival.

Their success was writ large: by the end of the year, they'd graced the stage of both the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Carnegie Hall in New York, and 'A Question Of Balance'was #3 in the U.S. album charts. The globetrotting and gold discs would continue and after a brief hiatus, the Moody Blues continued to record and tour, with Edge, Hayward and Lodge now the mainstays.

'Tuesday Afternoon', 'Ride MySee Saw, 'Question' and, of course, 'Nights In White Satin'remain in the Moody Blues' set nearly four decades on. This film lets us do the impossible, turn back the clock and enjoy a band at the peak of its youthful powers.

It's possible that some fans watching this DVD may not have been born when the music was performed. That is testament to a band which transcended the term 'popular music' to create something that, far from being a here today, gone-tomorrow proposition, has stood the test of time. If you need proof, just press Play...

--Michael Heasley

”

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Posted By: martinius Date: 30 Sep 2009 21:41:19

Thank you very much! I've only watched some recent videos and wanted something from
their gold epoch, not in the 3rd age ;-)
I wonder if you have any Genesis video in the Peter Gabriel's era (Selling England, Foxtrot,
Nursery Crime....)and you could post it. It would be very much appreciated.
Best regards.

Posted By: Spanky2 Date: 02 Oct 2009 12:26:52

Thanks a lot!

Posted By: aditter Date: 03 Oct 2009 03:36:24

How can I burn it ? the encrypted folder
the programs just dencrypted DVD's

Posted By: Virginia Plain Date: 03 Oct 2009 08:15:17

“

How can I burn it ? the encrypted folder
the programs just dencrypted DVD's

”

It is not encrypted in any way. I ripped this with DVD Decrypter with AnyDVD running in the background. It is completely unencrypted. It is region-free with all protection stripped from the disc.

Use ImgBurn to burn this to a DVD9 (DVD-R DL).

Posted By: TomInPhilly Date: 27 Feb 2010 23:36:48

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted By: Chimerah Date: 18 Jul 2010 14:01:12

Links still active today - Thanks! I wonder why Ray wasn't involved with the current interviews? Even Mike Pinder, who's distanced himself from the Moodies over the years, puts in some insightful comments and the section on the workings of his double Mellotron is cool.

Posted By: mobyo Date: 21 Jul 2011 18:13:58

Dear Virginia Plain,
Unfortunately links are dead, is it possible to reupload them?
Thank you,
mobyo

Posted By: cmnr1 Date: 27 Aug 2011 07:29:05

The Moody Blues - Live At The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (DVD9)
Video: 720x480, NTSC, 29.970 fps, 4411 Kbps, 16/9
Audio:
1. DTS, 768 Kbps, 6 channels, 48.0 KHz, 24 bits
2. Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, АС3, 6chanel, 448 kbs
3. Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, АС3, 2chanel, 448 kbs
http://www.wupload.com/folder/440494
http://www.filesonic.com/folder/10420551
No password, interchangeable.

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