The Moody Blues - "The Lost Performance - Live in Paris '70" (Inspire Music 58 min.)

Was this 1970 "concert" at a small club in Paris the best choice as the first full 70's performance of The Moody Blues for release on DVD? I don't think so, and the reason is very simple. The only thing occasionally live here are some of the vocals, all the instruments are on tape! So what you get here is one hour with The Moody Blues where they (only sometimes) sing their songs, but only pretends to play them. The whole concept of miming is one of the most idiotic and atrocious ideas in music history, and this DVD explains very well why. Here are flute solos that starts long before the flute is anywhere close to Ray Thomas' face, while he on other occasions pretends to play the flute when there is actually no flute to be heard! But Graeme Edge is undoubtedly the one most pathetic to watch as he really struggles to make it look like he actually play on his drums, while at the same time afraid of making too much sound that may interfere with the pre-recorded music. There are also some obvious problems with the playback during "Gypsy", and it's quite impressive how the band manages to hide their embarrassment. What makes this even more tragic is that the footage itself IS very good. It's sure cool to see crystal clear footage of the band when they were at the height of their career, and the setlist is close to perfect. So if the band had played instead of acting, then this would have been a superb DVD. I can surely enjoy it as a curio and time capsule, but it's worthless as a document of The Moody Blues as a live band. What would have been far better to see on DVD is their full performance at the Isle of Wight festival from the same year. Those who have seen "Nights in White Satin" from that show will certainly know what I'm talking about.


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