Long Distance Voyagers: The Story of the Moody Blues 1965-1979

I love the Moody Blues and have followed them since the beginning. I was really looking forward to this book. It is an enjoyable book EXCEPT the MANY, MANY typos, misspellings and mistakes make it difficult to read as one must stop and re-read sentences in order to understand what was intended. Of course when one encounters obvious mistakes in a book such as this, it puts the rest of the information in question. On page 2 the author states that Steve Winwood had been in Cream. He wasn't. He was in Blind Faith with Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton both of whom had been in Cream. At only page two (and already the second error I had come across-the first was in the Acknowledgments) this didn't bode well for the next 800 or so pages! But still I read on. Most of the 42 errors I came across were in the area of poor editing (No editing?). Dates are transposed on several occasions causing needless confusion. Words and/or letters are added that don't belong. Other words are misspelled or misplaced ("off" instead of "of"; "in" instead of "on", etc, etc. Rod Clark(e)? is identified in photos on pages 62 and 63 with two different spellings for his last name but he is not mentioned in the text until page 94. Later his name is spelled both Clarke and Clark in several spots. Clint Warrick is called Clint Walker (P.88). Page 149 has a "Moog" synthesizer spelled "Mood" synthesizer. Page 215 has Atlantic City spelled "Atlanta" City. On page 281 the song Candle of Life is listed as Cradle of Life. On page 306 Justin Hayward is quoted as saying they "reverted to perforating live..." I suspect he meant "performing." There are many errors like this. Clearly this was edited with spell-check rather than a human. On page 378 discussing "After You Came" suddenly there appears a sentence about "Our Guessing Game" totally out of context. It belonged on the previous page where "Our Guessing Game' was discussed. Page 414 refers to the Baltimore Civic Center in "Biltmore", Maryland. On page 585 a drummer who has previously been identified as Dave Potts several times is now referred to as Mike Potts. On page 586 the paragraph on "We Need Love" is first written poorly and then apparently edited but the original poorly constructed paragraph was left in as well. On page 682 the author uses the word "acrimonious when the context clearly shows that he means amicable." This was not a cheap book. I expect better from a publisher and author. Having said all this I am , somewhat, looking forward to Volume 2. If the publisher or author want me to, I would gladly edit the next volume for free if they would send me an advance copy.

After waiting years, finally we get a Moodies bio - and 800+ pages at that. And it’s only volume 1! Kudos to the author. However, I give this 4 stars rather than 5 because of substandard editing/proofreading - typos, errors and inconsistencies abound. So, while I’m grateful for this book and acknowledge how much work went into it, I wish it had been better edited/proofread. Looking forward to volume 2.

As a journalist, this book easily would run over 1000 pages if typical pagination was used. I've got to give the author credit for his tenacity in coverage of a great band. A magnifier and straight edge will make reading easier; but, will not change the facts as presented. Lots and lots of facts and side stories with plenty of low resolution reprinted photos (most of which you will have never seen.) Some of the breakdowns of individual tracks yield good incites into the complexity of the music. The discography runs through December 2016 and the appendix attributes are noteworthy. While not an easy read, the author projects tons of trivia into your brain....not a bad thing when it come to the Moodies. If you are a fan there will be some initial disappointment raising to glee and anticipation of a vol.2. I see Justin Hayward from time to time and he still has fondest memories and loves to play. Get their 50th Anniversary on Blu ray of Days of Future Passed for some nice background while reading....then just drift into a dream.

I was excited, being a long-time Moody Blues fan-and it is a substantial book. However, as noted by others, I took stars off for the poor editing, errors, etc. BUT MOSTLY because, as stated in the 'Acknowledgements' on pg. v, that Edge, Hayward, Lodge, and Laine would not be interviewed for this book. How can you write a substantial book about the group when 4 out of the 6 major members provide no input? So what we have essentially, as they state further down on pg. v, is a huge collection of newspaper and magazine articles along with vintage interviews. And since this volume only covers up to 1979, it means the material is almost 40 years old. Have the facts in those articles been checked? Hardly the scholastic way to make a in-depth biography. I won't be purchasing Volume 2 unless all 6 are contributors.

I've been a Moodies fan since "Go Now." In fact "Go Now" was one of the first ever records I bought. So I bought the Kindle edition prior to a camping trip for reading material after the sun went down.It was a great history, but bogged down, slowed down to a screeching halt by minutiae and factoids. In fact it read like a very dry government report. The music got lost in the statistics and ever endless quotes by music critics who seem to have been paid to be as snarky as possible. I wanted to learn more about their music, not the trivia bloating the book. I did enjoy reading the excerpt from the Seattle Times review of their fall 1971 stop in Seattle, I was there and recall Pinder telling the audience how "bloody terrified" they were. This was the first stop of their first tour in many months.But yikes! If a volumn two is in the works, please spare us the endless details, and the snarky reviews. We love the Moodies, critics be dammed!

I have waited a long time to read a book about one of my favourite groups and at last we have one. It is clearly a labour of love by an author who has gone to extraordinary lengths to uncover meticulous details about this group right back to their childhood and their very early days and takes us on a journey through until the end of the 70s when Mike Pinder left the band and they became the classic rock group of latter years with their main period of creativity behind them.The book analyses each album in some depth and also interweaves modern current writing with historical reviews and comments so that we can see how a record or concert was viewed at the time as well as hearing what the author has to say about it in retrospect. The book is a huge tome- literally doorstep size and almost too much to take in. I am slightly critical of the photographic reproductions which are fairly poor and whilst this might have been done in order to reduce the publishing costs slightly detracts from the book.However if you want to buy a book which literally tells you all you need to know about the Moody Blues during their classic period then I cannot recommend this book any higher. As I started to say at the beginning of my review, there is virtually nothing else on the market, nor has there ever been, so at least for now this is the Moody Blues go-to book .

This is a review of 'Long Distance Voyagers Vol I', and not of the Moody Blues themselves.OK, so it's not the best written book in the world, but it's extremely readable and that's what counts. Marc Cushman is obviously a died-in-the-wool fan, and if at times his narrative becomes a little partisan, his enthusiasm is infectious. After all, from the point of view of music history, he's writing about perhaps the most influential rock group this side of the Beatles. Cushman brings to light many achievements, both of the group as a whole and of the individuals with in it, for which they have seldom been given credit. I never knew, for instance, that Mike Pinder did so much to create the sound of the Mellotron as we know it today. You could say he did for that keyboard what Hendrix did for the guitar. Much, on the other hand, is made of the originality of 'Nights in White Satin', although as a song, great as it is, I feel it's very much in the genre of 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore' and 'You've lost that Lovin' Feeling' to name but two of its forerunners. But as I say, Cushman is an unashamed fan, so must be allowed the occasional superlative.In the preface, Cushman states that it's still a work in progress, and there are a couple of mistakes, the most amusing of which is when he explains to the (non-British reader) that Edward Heath was a Labour Prime Minister, and that Harold Wilson was his Conservative counterpart. More seriously, there are one or two omissions that could stand amending. Why, for instance, did Threshold Records decide not to sign King Crimson, having originally made public its intention to do so. (Lets face it, that was a bit like Decca turning down the Beatles). Also, why did the Moodies turn down the then unprecedented offer to tour China? It's not so much a question of whether the decision was right or wrong, but one would like to know the reasons, as it would give further insight into the band. The whole thing was skated over in one short sentence. The same goes for an offer of a tour of South Africa, but perhaps in those Apartheid days the answer might be more obvious. (After all, look what happened to Barclay James Harvest when they were hoodwinked into taking up such an offer.)In all, despite the odd glitch, 'Long Distant Voyagers' is an easy and informative book, and one that I shall revisit time and again, and I'm looking forward to Part Two.

For this book is indeed, a massive volume, even though it only covers the early years. I got it for Christmas 2018, and have only just finished it in July 2019, and while there is, arguably, too much information in here, with so many contemporary album and concert reviews, no-one is forcing you to read it all. I'd rather have too much than too little.The amount of research executed here is nothing short of amazing, and clearly likely to be the work of a fan. That said, he is critical of some of the music, particularly during the solo era, and while I don't agree with all his opinions, he makes it clear they are his. There are typo's and mistakes, but then I'd have hated to be a proof-reader on this book, given the size. The bottom line is, I'm grateful to Marc for taking on this enormous task, and making such a good job of it. The Moody Blues are, without "Question", my favourite band, and a document of the history of the individuals and the band as a whole was long, long overdue. This book is a worthy effort and a success at that job, and I look forward to volume 2, the post-Pinder era of the band. The loss of Mike was enormous, and might have killed other bands, but while I feel the best was now behind them, I'm sure there is still a lot of interesting background to be revealed. Don't take too long Marc!

If you are in to the Moody Blues then this is the book for you. There is a staggering amount of information here, covering just about every known release - single and LPs - complete with pictures. Every tour is covered with lists and reviews from the period. Nothing seems to have been missed out... and this is just volume one. The casual reader will I suspect find all this detail rather too much but, as the only reference work available on the key period in this band’s life, you will need to have it in your library. The author is prone to be rather uncritical of the band but then I quess you need to be in order to produce this labour of love.

I have been a fan of the Moodies since the mid 60’s and was very much looking forward to reading this book, particularly as it covers the period when Mike Pinder was in the group.There is no doubt that the author has done a huge amount of work in researching the book but it seems to me that he has done his research and just included everything. That made the book boring, I got fed up reading every review of every concert and that's what let the book down. I would have expected the author to have summarised reviews etc.And why in the middle of the book did we get a chapter on the one song wonder Denny Lane, by that time he was history as far as the Moodies were concerned and not only that the chapter was more about Wings!Interviews with band members and stories about things they did and the like were good, these were what I wanted to read.So overall a disappointment.