The Prog Rock Band is Releasing A Greatest Hits Collection
By James Reaney, The London Free Press
Chances are pretty good later this year Nights in White Satin will be heard in downtown London.
British rock band the Moody Blues returns to the RBC Theatre at the John Labatt Centre on Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. in support of its new greatest hits collection, which will be released July 19.
One of those hits, the orchestral epic Nights in White Satin, first arrived in 1967 on the' landmark Days of Future Passed album. Late last year, it landed at No. 2 on Britain's UK Rock Chart, and at No. 27 on the BBC Radio 1 chart. That was the fourth time Nights has charted in its 44 years. The 2010 resurgence was credited to a cover performance by Matt Cardle, winner of Simon Cowell's Brit TV show The X Factor.
Over the decades, Nights has sold about 12 million copies. Not bad for a prog rock lament with a spoken-word interlude, and a seven-minute running time.
Don't ask drummer Graeme Edge - who is at the core of the Moodies with bassist John Lodge and singer-guitarist Justin Hayward - to explain the secret of the song's success.
"I wish I knew because I'd do it again," Edge once told QMI Agency. "We've always said there was a sprinkling of fairy dust on that one."
This summer's release celebrates the Moodies' 14 studio albums, including In Search of the Lost Chord (1968), On the Threshold of a Dream (1969), Octave (1978) and Strange Times (1999). The two-disc version of the release will have a bonus track from the 2003 holiday album.
The Moody Blues