Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day’s useless energy spent
The Moody Blues were formed in Birmingham, England, in 1964, emerging from the fertile Midlands beat scene that had already produced The Spencer Davis Group and other rhythm-and-blues-inflected acts. Originally conceived as a harmony-driven R&B band, the group took its name from the Duke Ellington composition “Mood Indigo,” reflecting both their jazz awareness and their desire for a slightly more sophisticated image than many contemporaries.
“BBC TV 2nd House Performance”: live-in-the-studio performance for the BBC, filmed on 30 November 1973, originally broadcast on BBC2 on 1 December, with a cast including Oldfield, his brother Terry (flute), Fred Frith (and other members of Henry Cow), Steve Hillage, Pierre Moerlen, Tom Newman, Mike Ratledge, Mick Taylor, Karl Jenkins and others. It includes a new part for oboe.
