The Moody Blues ~ Stop

The Moody Blues had two distinct recording eras from 1964-1972, the 'Denny Laine' years (1964-1966) and the 'Justin Hayward' years (1967-1972), this with respect to the lead singers. Regarding the US singles charts only, the Moodies burst on to the scene in early 1965 with their top-10 hit "Go Now", but their next two singles, 'From the Bottom of My Heart' and 'Stop!' barely cracked the top-100. Founding members Laine and Clint Warwick left in 1966, and the remaining members- Mike Pinder, Graeme Edge and Ray Thomas added newcomers Hayward and John Lodge in 1967. From 1967 through 1972 the Hayward-led Moodies released seven incredible albums during a six year stretch. They were known as an 'albums' band (similar to Procol Harum, Pink Floyd, etc) and despite some killer singles culled from the albums, none cracked the top-20 in the US singles charts. It was not until later 1972 when 1968's "Nights in White Satin" was re-released as a single that they had a top hit, and that peaked at #2. Of course, the group continued to record albums and singles throughout the rest of the 1970's and 1980's, and each band member also recorded solo material as well.
The song 'Stop!', written by Laine and Pinder, reached #98 in the Billboard charts during April 1966- after one week, the song dropped from sight and is not well known even to many hardcore Moody Blue fans, so here it is, we hope you enjoy this unique piece of music !

Text by Tremsfan

Category:

Music

Tags:

• stop
• the
• moody
• blues

[doubleotwentyone]

Thanks to Tremsfan for alerting me to this one ~ does anyone else notice a similarity of the staccato chords to Andy Williams' Cant Get Used To Losing You.....?

[ggonzpr]

The M.B.s had another hit on WMCA "This is my house" and yes "Stop" reminds me of "Can't get used to losing you" by Andy Williams. Thank you for this gem.

Ggonz

[sburns54]

@krazeykriss I have a bunch of the old "fabulous 57" sheets WMCA put out every week, listing their, uh, top 57 hits. "STOP!" was at # 11 on March 17, 1966, having debuted at 53 on the January 20 list. It may have gotten higher; the March 17 one is the latest I have. It charted for at least 2 months in NYC.

[mr2448]

a lost great song, thanks

[renman16291]

I have this record, b/w Bye Bye Bird. Yeah, WMCA played it a lot.  It was a hit in my neighborhood. I liked this better than 'Go Now' and the times I saw Denny in concert, wished he sang this instead.

[tremsfan]

krazeykriss- I lived in the NYC back then and heard it only a few times, didnt think it charted that high !

[krazeykriss]

"Stop!" was on both WABC & WMCA, New York's two big 60's top 40 stations. It was much bigger in NYC than nationally, cracking the top 15 on both stations, but has sadly been ignored ever since. Great song! BTW, I had the chance to meet Denny Laine literally an hour ago (he came to our radio station for an interview), & told him about "Stop!"'s NY chart success. Even he had no idea...........

[gilgamess]

@60piano61 I agree! I played it on my show years ago. I didn't know it charted; it should have gone higher.

If you'd like to hear shows based on the neglected oldies, pop over to Rockin' Radio on Live365.

[marrrrrrks]

I like it

[enemywon]

@doubleotwentyone Strangely enough I have been listening often recently to that old Andy Williams song, and there is a great similarity there, perhaps not accidental.

[enemywon]

It looked for a while as if Laine had made a terrible blunder ala Wayne Fontana leaving the Mindbenders, etc. but his subsequent career as a key member of Wings more than vindicated him. Thanks for the track which I had been looking for in many places. I think I only heard it once back in '66 but remembered it well enough to miss it.