Moody Blues "Question of bal." CD or SACD vs Vinyl

I had a chance to listen yesterday and I added a separate review comparing my CD and vinyl copies of Days Of Future Passed.

I'll try to do "Question of Balance" next when I have a chance.

I posted my Question of Balance audio review a while back and also posted Seventh Sojourn audio review including the MFSL Ultradisc recording just today, if still interested.

I have all Moody Blues major albums on original vinyl and on CD. I have all the US remaster version CDs, the MFSL version of Seventh Sojourn and had the original CD issue versions before.

I also have many solo Moodies efforts on either vinyl or CD, depending on title.

Also have seen them live in concert 5-6 times over the years, including several times within the last 3-5 years.

I have listened mostly to the CDs of late, but plan to revisit the vinyl again soon for comparison at which time I can offer some comment if anyone is still interested.

Overall, the re-masters were a nice improvement over the original CD releases. I find the recording quality to be satisfactory as a whole, occasionally very good. I could probably offer more meaningful comment on specific albums if desired. I can't really say that any one album offers categorically better sound than another. "Keys to the Kingdom" from the early 90's is probably the sloppiest, most variable or inconsistent from song to song, but it still sounds good.

The MFSL copy of Seventh Sojourn is very enjoyable, one of my favs, but I cannot say that I think it really sounds categorically better in any meaningful way.

Live, they are exceptional, true professionals, and sound better than ever, having refined their sound and arrangements over the years.

Their discography is not recorded to the nth degree of excellence, still I am never disappointed going back to the recordings after a live performance nonetheless.

I would say the arrangements on Question of Balance are the simplest and most conventional of the classic 7 albums. As such, this album will probably sound good on more systems of various quality than the other 6. The CD remaster of this particular album is quite good, I would say.

There are other Moody albums where the arrangements and mixing seem much busier and more of a challenge to discern audio details with, I would say. Lost CHord and Children's Children come to mind.

Regarding sound stage, I can proudly say that 80% of any stereo recording I play, regardless of source, including all Moodies recordings, has a sound stage from wall to wall, about 20' across with my Ohm 5's, even though the speaks are positioned only about 5' apart from center to center. I attribute this to the omni-directional nature of the Ohms combined with good clean amplification.

For the other 20%, the recordings are generally miked with a stronger center bias, so the sound stage is variably more limited in width, depending on specifics of the recording.

No. Unfortunately I do not have a SACD player.

I think I noticed on Amazon though yesterday that there is yet another new series of Moody classic 7 remasters with bonus material available for pre-order and coming out soon? I'll be curious to hear what these sound like.

I 've seen them 6 times, 1st in 1978 (Octave Tour), 3 times in this millenium. I agree the recordings all pale in comparison to the Moodies live today. THey have really honed their repertoire to perfection live on most any decent night. Like fine wine, they've actually improved live considerably over the years, despite age.

I could see where quad and surround would lend themselves well to the Moodies classic 7 recordings.

"Hall of Fame" is a good more recent live DVD to get a sample. I hear the more recent "Lovely To See You" DVD is even better.

I saw them live on the tour LTSY was recorded on (sans Ray Thomas, who recently retired). IT was an exceptional performance of an exceptional set of tunes.

Justin Hayward is one of the most talented singer/songwriter//guitarists in the business and is highly underrated as a guitar player in particular IMHO. His performances live with the Moodies is something to treasure.

I'm a big Ray Thomas fan but I was OK with him retiring. I've heard LEgend of a Mind on many occasion and was happy to see them fit in some other less recently heard tunes like The Actor and Are You Sitting Comfortably.

Would love to hear stuff from Seventh Sojourn like "You and Me" and "Land Of Make Believe".

Hooking back up with Michael Pinder would be interesting but I doubt it will ever happen if it hasn't already.

I have "The Promise" on vinyl. Pinder/Moodies fans would like it. Very "astral" with some nice melodies and flourishes. The recording is nice as well.

Also have both Ray THomas albums on vinyl (From Mighty Oaks and Hopes, Wishes and Dreams). THey lie somewhere between older and newer Moodies albums in nature. There are a lot of very good songs performed and produced immaculately with Ray' voice in prime vibrato form. These songs are very MOR in design overall but will make you feel good if you listen carefully. There is a piece with calliope on HWAD that is very interesting from an audiophile perspective.

I also like Graeme Edge's solo works, "Kick Off Your Muddy Boots" and "Paradise Ballroom" very much each. These have a more rock/blues orientation than the typical Moodies solo album. He teamed with guitarist Adrian Gurvitz on these. Gurvitz is a very talented guitarist and there are many very excellent guitar riffs on these albums that few have ever heard. The albums suffer a bit with Gurvitz's vocals perhaps but the playing is so good you may not care.

Lodge's "Natural Avenue" is a very nice listen from start to end. Lodge never had the best voice for leads, but he does the job here and most every song is quite good. ALso excellent sound and production on this one.

I'm familiar with Hayward's "Songwriter" and "Night Flight" solo works. These are OK but, a bit too poppish and MOR overall. I tend to miss more in Justin's solo works I've heard compared to his work with the Moodies. Many like "View From A Hill" and consider that his best, but I have not heard it (its on my "buy" list though).

Of course then there is Hayward and Lodge's solo effort "Blue Jays" which many consider to be on par with the best of the Moodies works, and holds a very distinctive place in the adult-oriented, classic pop/rock archives. It is a most wonderful artistic work with immaculate production and sound with orchestral and vocal harmony flourishes that help round out the sound nicely on a good system. Highly recommended.