The Moody Blues: Days Of Future Passed Live [Blu-ray] [Region A & B & C]

And Edge was towards his Eighties! I didn't expect much from this, I confess. I love the 1967 album, despite the traces of pre-psychedelic early Sixties beat group that are still there ('Peak Hour' for instance hasn't aged well), but I thought The MBs were just too old to do it justice. I bought the Blu Ray really out of loyalty and to complete my MB video set.OMG, it's absolutely brilliant! Hayward and Lodge play their instruments as well as ever, and despite a bit of 'cheating' to hit notes, Hayward's voice is spectacular. On 'Tuesday Afternoon' he sounds like a yearning young man, it's remarkable. Lodge's bass playing is resplendent, he is so very underrated in that respect. Edge is supported by the best 2nd drummer the band has used, much better than the flashy guy they used in the nineties/noughties, who I felt was trying to show Edge up.The lady that replaces Ray Thomas on flute is epically talented, and I think she really adds to the experience above and beyond expectation.But the orchestra are just marvellous. Peter Knight's glorious original orchestrations are followed to the Nth degree, apart from one tiny order change at the end, purely made to give the audience an applause point for 'Nights'. The conductor and team that re-transcribed the score - Knight's paper score is lost - should be praised to the high heavens.Before 'Days', the band run through a mix of other 'Core 7' greats and some of their Eighties hits. The latter I'm very ambivalent enough, but Justin loved that period of the band, and that's enough for me. After 'Days' there is fantastic encore of 'Question' and 'Ride My See Saw' with the orchestra joining in to a tumultuous conclusion. A fervent standing ovation at the end is 'hairs on the back of the neck' stuff.I will enjoy it for many evenings more. An absolute triumph. In my very humble opinion, the best Moody's concert captured on video ever, and I have them all.For the tech-heads, the sounds is exquisite, with a magnificent sound stage. The blending of orchestra and group is far better than 'Red Rocks' or the Albert hall concert, and of course 30 and 20 years in respective technical advances obviously helps. The BluRay picture is top notch - the number of cameras and quality of editing display a moviemaking integrity that you'd expect when viewing major world current chart-toppers, not a band on the edge (no pun) of retirement.Buy it!

I really don't understand the one review that says that the sound quality is not as good as previous dvd's. I have to disagree with that, and agree with all the others who like me believe the sound quality to be superb to accompany similarly superb picture quality and visuals - not only is it not poor quality sound, it is one of the finest concert soundtracks I have ever heard, every detail crystal clear, from solid vocals and rock instruments to the soaring orchestral sounds with the surround being used beautifully. I've heard few if any concert videos use surround so effectively. They could be in my living room playing. Of course, this is based on viewing/ listening with DTS 5.1 surround. I've not tried it in stereo (why would I?). Could this be tar reviewer's problem, though, if he doesn't have a surround system, I find it difficult to believe the stereo mix would be inferior and after all, that would mean that the previous dvd's to which he is comparing this had only been listened to in stereo.And, of course, the performance itself is utterly amazing and wonderful to have after more than 50 years of not having been able to hear this album in its unedited, intended form in a live concert.Special comment is deserved for how will Hayward and Lodge sing those parts originally sung by members who are no longer with them (Mike Pinder and Ray Thomas). I've just heard John Lodge singing Sun Set, a track I know was originally sung by Pinder and I couldn't tell the difference from Mike's original vocal.

If you were one of the few people who had not heard the Moody Blues before, you might never think this music was originally created fifty years ago. This live recording of the fiftieth anniversary concert in Toronto is simply outstanding, and this Blu-Ray version makes the most of modern technology to produce a fresh and real surround sound experience even better than the original stereo LP; we are there.The first half is a straight concert of some of the group's other work, much as they might have performed fifty years ago, and the energy and power and precision of singing and playing is better than ever, one forgets how old they are.The second half has the full orchestra and recreates, surpasses, the ground-breaking original Decca 'Days of Future Passed' album. Remember that the original orchestral scores and parts were lost and it needed to be re-written from listening to those fifty year old recordings - impressive.My system uses a Samsung Bluray player, a Samsung 40" full HD screen and a Logitech z906 surround system, not the most expensive set-up by any means, but with a well balanced smooth reproduction of the full audio range it offers superb clarity and separation of all the sound sources in this recording, allowing us the sensation of being a part of the audience. The image rendering is also excellent, interesting camera work, good composition and direction, with normal variations in lighting as one might expect with a live concert.This afternoon we've just listened to it twice, with only a break for a cuppa.The disc includes a feature where the three remaining members of the band talk about how the concert was set up, and also how the original album was recorded, and how it was initially intended by Decca to show off the merits of their FFSS recording system - fortunately Decca allowed it to be something more.