Iain Matthews

The following is a partial discography; a comprehensive discography is available [3] (http://www.iainmatthews.com/disco.htm) on Matthews' personal site. In 2004, founding member Ray Thomas retired from the group, leaving Lodge, Edge and Hayward to soldier on. Since that time, Matthews has had a moderately successful career, releasing records on a number of small labels in Germany, the UK, and the U.S., before moving to Amsterdam in 2000, where he continues to be involved in various indy projects and collaborations, including the Sandy Denny tribute band No Grey Faith and yet another revival of Plainsong. The new millennium saw the Moody Blues reducing their touring schedule. He also appeared with Andy Roberts at the 1992 Cambridge Folk Festival, which led to the first of what were to be several reformed version of Plainsong. Their 1999 studio album, Strange Times, generated little interest beyond the group's enduring fan base. It also led to his first truly solo performances: his previous "solo" outings had always been as a front man for a one-shot band. However, a heavy touring schedule kept them among the highest-earning concert acts, and a series of video and audio versions of their A Night at Red Rocks concert enjoyed great success, particularly as a fund-raiser for American public television.

It led, however, to hooking up with producer Mark Hallman — a longtime fan — moving to Austin, Texas, and recording several albums for a series of German independent labels. Keys of the Kingdom (1991) had but modest commercial success. This led to Walking a Changing Line (1988) on Windham Hill, an unlikely album-length tribute to Jules Shear of Jules and the Polar Bears. The band had begun to reinforce their concert sound in the later 1980s with the addition of a second keyboardist and female backing vocals, and they decided not to hire a permanent replacement in the keyboard chair, but instead to tour as a quartet with extra hired musicians. Matthews was invited to join them to perform, both with them and in other configurations, at the 1986 Cropredy Festival. The early 1990s saw the departure of Patrick Moraz. Since 1974, Fairport Convention had been staging the annual Cropredy Festival; since 1979, this annual reunion had been pretty much their only activity as a band, but in the mid-1980s several of them were interested in reviving the band and had done some recording. The Moodies continued their early video-generation success with Sur la Mer (1988) and its video/single I Know You're Out There Somewhere, a sequel to Your Wildest Dreams.

He worked for a while in an A&R capacity at Island Music and then new-agey Windham Hill Records. But in 1986 they enjoyed renewed success with their album The Other Side of Life, in particular with the track Your Wildest Dreams, a top-40 hit which garnered a Billboard "Video of the Year" award after being frequently featured on MTV. Neither this nor a return to solo recording in England turned his luck. The band's popularity waned through the release of The Present (1983). Soul" and Prince's "When U Were Mine". On these albums the Moody Blues embraced a more modern and less symphonic sound, although synthesizers were still a strong part of their composition. As Matthews' official web site writes, at this point he "had been struggling for nearly 15 years now and was still living hand to mouth, with nothing to show for his efforts but a string of out-of-print albums, and the loyalty of those musicians and fans who shared his vision." [2] (http://www.iainmatthews.com/bio.htm) He moved from Los Angeles to then-inexpensive Seattle, where he teamed up with David Surkamp, formerly of the Seattle band Pavlov's Dog, to form the New Wave band Hi-Fi, whose repertoire included Matthews originals, but also covers of Neil Young's "Mr. In spite of these difficulties, the album was a hit, as was 1981's Long Distance Voyager.

Label-owner Shelly Siegel, died suddenly in 1979, leaving the label rudderless. However, Pinder refused to tour and was replaced by former Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz. However, the North American rights for his album were held by the small Canadian label Mushroom. In 1977, the group reformed and after a tempestuous recording session, 1978's Octave was released. He bounced from Elektra to CBS Records, to the small Rockburgh label, where he finally scored a hit single in 1978 with a cover of Terence Boylan's "Shake It", and a moderately successful follow-up covering Robert Palmer's "Gimme an Inch". Hayward and Lodge released a duet album, the very successful Blue Jays (1975) and the members each released solo albums. After Plainsong collapsed due to a bandmate's alcohol problem, and with his career now based in Los Angeles, he released several more albums with ad hoc bands, including one produced by ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith, but none met with commercial success. After that, the group took an extended break--originally announced as a permanent break-up--to recuperate from a heavy touring schedule.

It also included "Even the Guiding Light", a spiritually positive answer to Thompson’s powerful but bleak "Meet on the Ledge". 1 in both the UK and the US) the band returned to their signature orchestral sound, which, while difficult to play in concert, had become the band's trademark. The album included a cover of Dave McEnery's "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight", plus a song of Matthews' own, "True Story of Amelia Earhart's Last Night" based on the research that suggest that Earhart on her round-the-world flight may have been spying on Japanese bases in the Pacific islands. For their next two albums, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971) and Seventh Sojourn (1972) (which reached No. After solo two albums on Vertigo Records, under the sponsorship of former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith and surrounded by a who's who of likeminded British semi-folkies (notably another ex-Fairporter, Richard Thompson), he formed Plainsong, who signed to Elektra Records and in 1972 produced In Search of Amelia Earhart, which solidified Matthews' songwriting reputation with the critics, if not with the general public. 1 in British charts), was indicative of the band's growing success in America. The band went through several different lineups and toured extensively for the next two years, to general critical acclaim but no great commercial success. 3 in American charts (No.

With Thompson, Nicol, and Hutchings from Fairport, plus drummer Gerry Conway (of Fotheringay, and later to join Fairport) and pedal steel player Gordon Huntley, he formed Matthews Southern Comfort, whose sound was rooted in American country music and rockabilly; this was his first significant experience as a songwriter, although the band also covered the likes of Neil Young and Ian and Sylvia. This album, reaching No. In 1969, as Fairport's music veered more toward British folk influences, Matthews was booted out. After that, the group decided to record only albums that could be played in concert, losing some of their bombastic sound for their next album, A Question of Balance (1970). He recorded a couple of singles there in 1967 with a pop band called Pyramid, before being recruited by Ashley Hutchings as a male vocalist for Fairport Convention, where he duetted first with Judy Dyble, but more famously with Sandy Denny. The band's music continued to become more complex and symphonic, resulting in 1969's To Our Children's Children's Children, a concept album based around the band's celebration of the first moon landing. He moved to London in 1966, taking a job in a Carnaby Street shoe store. The top-40 single from this album, Ride my See-Saw, was the first single to be mastered using eight-track recording technology.

Matthews grew up in a working class family in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, where he sang with several minor bands during the British pop music explosion of the mid-1960s. The album plus two singles, "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" became massively popular, as was the 1968 followup, In Search of the Lost Chord. He later had a solo career and fronted the bands Plainsong and Matthews Southern Comfort. [1] (http://www.richieunterberger.com/matthews.html). The original album, Days of Future Passed (1967), was not the demo recording the label had ordered, but instead a successful commercial release. Influenced by both rock'n'roll and folk music, he has performed mainly as a solo act, alghouth he was a member of Fairport Convention during the early period where they were heavily influenced by American West Coast folk rock. The Moody Blues agreed, but insisted that they be given artistic freedom and left without supervision; they then convinced Peter Knight, who'd been assigned to arrange and conduct the orchestral interludes, to collaborate on a recording of their stage show instead. Iain Matthews (known in the 1960s first as Ian MacDonald, and from the late 1960s until 1989 as Ian Matthews) is a British musician and songwriter. The Moody Blues contract with Decca Records was set to expire, and they owed the label several thousand pounds in advances. Deram Records (a London/Decca imprint) chose the Moody Blues to make an LP in order to promote Deramic Stereo and the group was to be forgiven its debt to the label to make a rock and roll version of Dvorak's New World Symphony.

Plainsong, Pangolins (2003) Blue Rose. The band soon realized that their original style of American blues covers and novelty tunes was not working for them, and they determined to develop an original style. Their new style featured the symphonic sounds of the mellotron (an early analog sampling keyboard; Pinder had worked for its manufacturer) and Ray Thomas' flute, with the performance organized around a concept--one day in the life of everyman. Iain Matthews and Elliot Murphy, La Terre Commune (2001) Blue Rose / rfect Pitch / Eminent. After a series of unsuccessful singles, Warwick and Laine departed, replaced by John Lodge, also once a member of El Riot, and Justin Hayward, formerly of The Wilde Three, in 1966. Iain Matthews and Elliot Murphy, The Official Blue Rose Bootleg (2001) Blue Rose. "Go Now", released later that year, became a huge hit in the United Kingdom and charted moderately in the United States. No Grey Faith, Secrets All Told — The Songs of Sandy Denny (2000) Perfect Pitch / Unique Gravity. Soon, the band had a contract with Decca Records and released an unsuccessful single, "Steal Your Heart Away", that year.

Iain Matthews, Excerpts from Swine Lake (1998) Blue Rose. The pair recruited Denny Laine, Graeme Edge and Clint Warwick, appearing as the Moody Blues for the first time in Birmingham in 1964. Iain Matthews, Skeleton Keys (1992) Line. Pinder left to join the army, but then rejoined Thomas to form the Krew Cats and had moderate success. Ian Matthews, Walking a Changing Line (1986) Windham Hill. At the time, Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder were El Riot & the Rebels, a popular band. Hi-Fi,Moods for Mallards (1982) First American Records; live mini-album. The Moody Blues originated in Birmingham, England.

Hi-Fi,Demonstration Record (1982) First American Records; live mini-album. The Moody Blues were originally a British rhythm and blues-based band; they later became best known for psychedelic music and early progressive rock. Ian Matthews, Siamese Friends (1979) Rockburgh. December (2003). Ian Matthews, Stealin' Home (1978) Rockburgh. Hall Of Fame - Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2000). Ian Matthews, Hit and Run (1977) CBS. Strange Times (1999).

Ian Matthews, Go For Broke (1976) CBS. A Night at Red Rocks (1993). Ian Matthews, Some Days You Eat the Bear...Some Days the Bear Eats You (1974) Elektra. Keys Of The Kingdom - IMPORT UK (1991). Plainsong, In Search of Amelia Earhart (1972) Elektra. Sur La Mer (1988). Ian Matthews, Tigers Will Survive (1972) Vertigo. Prelude (1987).

Matthews Southern Comfort, The Essential Collection (1997) Half Moon (a retrospective of 1970s recordings). The Other Side Of Life (1986). Matthews Southern Comfort, Later That Same Year (1970) MCA. The Present - IMPORT UK (1983). Matthews Southern Comfort, Second Spring (1970) MCA. Long Distance Voyager (1981). Fairport Convention, Heyday(1986) BBC - a release of recordings from 1968/1969. Octave UK (1978).

Fairport Convention, What We Did On Our Holidays(1968) Polydor. Caught Live + 5 (1977). Fairport Convention, Fairport Convention(1968) Island. Seventh Sojourn (1972). Pyramid, "The Summer of Last Year"/"Summer evening" (1967) Deram Records; his first recording. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971). A Question of Balance (1970).

To Our Children’s Children’s Children (1969). On The Threshold Of A Dream (1969). In Search Of The Lost Chord (1968). Days of Future Passed (1967).

Go Now! (1965).