Caught Live + 5 | |
Type: | Live album |
Artist: | The Moody Blues |
Cover: | Caughtlive+5.gif |
Released: | April 1977 (US) |
Recorded: | Live: 12 December 1969 at the Royal Albert Hall Studio: 19 May 1967 – 17 November 1968 |
Genre: | Psychedelic rock, Progressive pop |
Length: | 75:32 |
Label: | Decca (UK) London (US) |
Producer: | Tony Clarke |
Prev Title: | This Is The Moody Blues |
Prev Year: | 1974 |
Next Title: | Octave |
Next Year: | 1978 |
Caught Live + 5 is a live album by The Moody Blues, consisting of a 12 December 1969 live show at the Royal Albert Hall and five previously unreleased studio recordings from 1967 to 1968.
The band's performance was a popular and critical success at the time. In his newspaper review of the event, music critic Jack Scott called the concert a "knockout victory for progressive pop," having a "rich, full sound that combined sensitivity with sheer popular punch."
The album was released without the participation of the band, who have been critical of the album. Justin Hayward remembers, "That was a disaster, I thought. I never wanted to release that. We were out of contract when it was released, we didn't have any choice in it. I never liked that record at all. I never liked the Albert Hall as a venue for recording – nice atmosphere and everything, but I can think of much better places to record. A round building is not the best place for rock 'n' roll."[1]
Caught Live is the first Moody Blues album since Days of Future Passed not to feature cover artwork by Philip Travers. Decca Records instead used British art design group Hipgnosis.
The "+5" studio tracks were re-released on their 1987 album Prelude.
While Caught Live + 5 managed to reach #26 during its American chart run, it missed the British listings completely, the first time this had occurred for The Moody Blues since their 1965 debut The Magnificent Moodies (although that album had reached number 5 on the NME album chart).
Tracks 1–14 are live while tracks 15–19 are studio recordings.