20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Moody Blues

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Is there another band from the classic rock era that's as full of hot gas as the Moody Blues? Not bloody likely. With music that oozes neoclassical pretensions and lyrics that read like the poetry of an English schoolboy who has breathed a little too deep of the gathering gloom, the Moodys showed just how terminally silly rock could get once it became established enough in the marketplace to begin to put on artistic airs. Even if you find that assessment of their work overly harsh, you'll agree that this, the latest in a long line of Moodys anthologies, is a poor value. Despite the presence of many of their U.S. chart hits, the set pales next to The Best of the Moody Blues, which includes six more songs, notably "Go Now," proof that when the Moody Blues first made the charts, they were a very different sort of band. What the heck happened? --Daniel Durchholz

Tracks:

Nights In White Satin
Ride My See-Saw
Question
The Story In Your Eyes
I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)
Steppin' In A Slide Zone
The Voice
Gemini Dream
Blue World
Your Wildest Dreams
I Know You're Out There Somewhere

Amazon.com

Is there another band from the classic rock era that's as full of hot gas as the Moody Blues? Not bloody likely. With music that oozes neoclassical pretensions and lyrics that read like the poetry of an English schoolboy who has breathed a little too deep of the gathering gloom, the Moodys showed just how terminally silly rock could get once it became established enough in the marketplace to begin to put on artistic airs. Even if you find that assessment of their work overly harsh, you'll agree that this, the latest in a long line of Moodys anthologies, is a poor value. Despite the presence of many of their U.S. chart hits, the set pales next to The Best of the Moody Blues, which includes six more songs, notably "Go Now," proof that when the Moody Blues first made the charts, they were a very different sort of band. What the heck happened? --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews:

Can anyone say "horrible compilation"?.......2005-08-15

The Moody Blues - Twentieth Century Masters.

INTRODUCTION:
The Moody Blues were one of the finest rock and roll groups of the late sixties and seventies. Truly, the band had a style all their own, one that very few bands could ever emulate successfully. The band's progressive symphonic pop-rock sound never failed to please audiences, and over the years, many compilations have been released to chronicle the band's long and varied career. One such compilation was the Twentieth Century Masters compilation. Would this be a very good, affordable compilation, or just another in a long line of crappy, cheap compilations? Read on and find out!

OVERVIEW/REVIEW:
When the other reviewers said that this was the worst Moody Blues compilation ever released, they weren't joking! Sure, you get big hits like Nights In White Satin, I'm Just a Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band), and Ride My See-Saw, but that's about where the good points of this compilation end. First and foremost is the omission of one of the group's biggest hits - Tuesday Afternoon. HOW THE HELL CAN YOU HAVE A MOODY BLUES COLLECTION AND NOT PUT THIS SONG ON IT!? And that's not where the atrocities end. The songs featured here are the edited single versions, they aren't in chronological order, and only adding to the overall poorness of the compilation is that little flaw every Twentieth Century Masters compilation has - it doesn't even come close to filling the eighty-minute time limit that you can fit on a compact disc. Why buy this cheap piece of crap when for a few bucks more you can get the band's official compilation, which has many more songs on it? Or for even a few more bucks, you could get the Anthology, which puts pretty much every other compilation the band ever released to shame. Unless you find this compilation in a budget bin for an extremely low price, don't even bother. Remember - there are alternative compilations that will do you much better.

EDITION NOTES:
Not only is this a crappy compilation, but like so many other Twentieth Century Masters compilations, this one seems to be disappearing from store shelves as other compilations in the series are releases. Oh well, I'm not complaining. This is a rare example of a time I'm glad to see a CD vanish from store shelves!

OVERALL:
Get one of the band's official compilations. This piece of junk is not worthy to carry the Moody Blues name. This is, hands down, THE WORST MOODY BLUES COMPILATION OF ALL TIME! If you want a proper introduction to the group, either buy an official compilation, or the Days Of Future Passed album from 1967. This so-called "best of" is a disgrace to one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. Avoid it like the plague!

not a weak track anywhere, but a pretty damn pointless CD anyway.......2005-06-20

Due to the extremely limited appeal of this CD, you'll most likely be able to get a used copy DIRT CHEAP. By limited appeal, I'm not saying that these songs are bad--in fact, none of them are bad. If you do see this dirt cheap and don't know a thing about the Moodies, it does provide you with a 'quick fix' of the group. But that's really the best that can be said because there are simply too many other Moody Blues compilations around that are easily superior. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is THE most pointless Moodies' compilation ever released--I do give this one the edge over 1985's similarly scant "Voices In The Sky" comp--but still, with the single disc "The Best of the Moody Blues" having all of the tracks found here plus 6 more, this "20th Century Masters" disc is basically just a waste of space.

Easily digestible.......2005-04-24

This is a good length compilation of some of the British rock group's more well known songs. Personally I'm not in favour of gargantuan 30 song compilations. There's no way you're going to play something of that length right through. Back in the LP days, a record side lasted 15 - 25 mins. After that, only occasionally would you go on to play side 2. If you're wanting a disc crammed with material, the recently released 'Gold' is your best bet. Thankfully 'Go now' isn't on this compilation. It is from a former incarnation of the Moodies and really doesn't fit with any of their subsequent material.
The song sequence is chronologic here, and starts therefore with their most well known song 'Nights in white satin'. It's great to start a Cd with such a potent number. The first 5 songs come from their progressive rock period (first seven albums, 1968 - 72) and the remainder from 1977 to the present day. While the 68 - 72 period yielded the more essential music with each of the first seven LPs basically flawless, this compilation is only looking at songs that were or could have been singles. The quality of the songwriting and production is very good throughout. If you're more into the cosmic, poetic, introspective, haunting, Moody compositions then you're not going to like the orchestrated rock and roll of 'Just a singer' or the synthesised plodding of 'Gemini dream.' But everyone's 11 song Moody compilation is going to be different. Generally this one is consistent, evocative, melodic multichordal pop rock. A great buy if you want a digestible chunk of high profile Moody songs.

A very good collection if............2003-06-23

The Best of the Moody Blues: The Millenium Collection is a very good CD for fans of the group. Most of their more popular songs are there which includes my favorite,"Question." The rest of the tracks include "Nights in White Satin", "Ride My See-Saw", "The Story in Your Eyes", "I'm Just a Singer", "Steppin' in a Slide Zone", and several others. The CD is very good for fans, but if you have a separate Best of album for the Moody Blues, I would stick with that one because it probably offers more. This CD only offers eleven tracks so it might be better for fans of the band who don't know much about them. Still a pretty good CD for fans of the Moody Blues!

Excellent group, excellent value.......2002-12-08

Getting 11 tracks from one of the world's most respected and enduring rock bands ...(£8) is excellent value by any measure. Speaking as an Englishman in England, I wouldn't have bothered reviewing this item except that (a) it's not available in Britain and (b) Amazon's own editorial review is so long on self-esteem and so short on reality that I felt something had to be done to redress the balance. So I give this compilation 5 stars when, musically, it's perhaps really only worth four stars.

It's not just that the negative reviews are so full of silly crap that they shoot themselves in the foot, it's more that this item is already a collector's item. I'll take more notice of reviewers who savagely criticise The Moody Blues when they've written more than 290 tracks and have been at the top of the music profession for 25 years.

Hot air indeed.

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