The Moody Blues - 1990s To Present - Thomas Retires, December

Thomas Retires, December

The new millennium saw the Moody Blues reducing their touring schedule. At the end of 2002, founding member Ray Thomas retired from the group, reducing the Moody Blues to the trio of Hayward, Lodge, and Edge, the latter being the only original member remaining. Flautist and rhythm guitarist Norda Mullen was recruited early the following year for their North America tour, and has worked with the band live and in the studio since. Toward the end of 2003, they released an album entitled December. The songs included originals and four covers: John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", Mike Batt's "A Winter's Tale", "When A Child is Born" and Bing Crosby's "White Christmas". December was the group's first album to include covers since their 1965 debut album The Magnificent Moodies.

In March 2006, the first five of the band's 'Core Seven' albums (the seven albums from Days of Future Passed to Seventh Sojourn) were re-released in SACD format with Deluxe Editions, featuring bonus songs and some rare previously unreleased tracks by the group. In April 2007, the last two of these classic albums were re-released by Universal/Threshold. These deluxe editions were unique for an art rock group like the Moodies in that one of their members, Justin Hayward, was the one hired to do the work, instead of a professional master technician. Hayward stated that he listened to virgin vinyl copies of these albums and used them as reference points for the new compact discs. In September 2008, Hayward announced the impending release of remastered versions of Octave, Long Distance Voyager and The Present which will be released on Universal Records in the months to come. On May 21, 2007 the Moodies released a forty-one track, two-disc compilation of sessions recorded at BBC Studios, various television appearances, and a previously 'lost' performance done on the Tom Jones show titled Live at the BBC: 1967-1970.