The Mood were one of the many groups that hit the US shores during the reign of “New Music.” The post-MTV branding for what was previously called “New Wave, ” but with a lot of synthesizers! I don’t think I ever saw a video on MTV, but that could be just my failing memory. Usually that was the reason why when visiting Crunchy Armadillo Records I’d pick up a copy of something. Maybe it was just the credits on the disc which cited gear like this: Oberheim, Prophet 5 & 10, grand piano, Roland guitar synthesizer. Ka-ching!
At the time I didn’t know the history of the band, I just bought their US EP in 1983, but The Mood dated from 1980 and were a trio formed by John Moore, Mark James Fordyce, Steve Carter, John Dalby and Eric James Logan. They issued an indie single in 1981, “There Is A Reason” and that got RCA sniffing around to sign them in that New Romantic wave that was starting to break by late 1981. By then 40 percent of the band left, leaving Moore, Fordyce, and Logan as the signees to RCA. And the latter two cleverly dropped their surnames; both opting for the James moniker. Their gigs featured opening acts you may have heard of: Soft Cell and Depeche Mode.
The only disc I’ve ever seen by The Mood is that 5-track US EP, but apart from their self-released 7″ debut, RCA managed to release five singles. Including a re-recording of the band’s debut single. While the band scraped near the lower reached of the UK Top 40, RCA never greenlit a full album. RCA America issued the EP which is as close as they got back then. I’ve never seen any of these five [six if you count their indie debut] on American shores. The only other blip on the radar I have is a Razormaid remix of “Don’t Stop” on one of their “Class-X” CDs that I have in the Record Cell.
In 2008, Cherry Red issued the first CD by The Mood and it’s been on my want list ever since then. Alas, I didn’t act decisively at the time and the Cherry Red CD became a reasonably expensive OOP CD commanding $50-100 prices in the aftermarket. But in 2025, I’ve learned that The Mood have taken their legacy by the horns and have secured the master tapes, duly baked and remastered by producer Steve Levine with Mark Fordyce. The first fruit of their labor is ready now – a compilation of every RCA/B side, and and is thankfully available on the licorice pizza or the silver disc.
The Mood: The Singles 1981-1984 – UK – CD/LP [2025]
- Is There A Reason 3:26
- Waves In Motion 4:09
- Don’t Stop 3:06
- Watching Time 3:32
- Paris Is One Day Away 3:03
- No-one Left To Blame 4:09
- Passion In Dark Rooms 3:29
- The Munich Thing 4:16
- I Don’t Need Your Love Now 3:28
- She’s Got Me 4:06
- Don’t Let Me Down 4:16
- I’m Coming Home 3:04
Interestingly enough, the Cherry Pop CD that I can’t afford features 19 tracks, including the 12″ mixes of the RCA singles as well as the 7″ edits. Plus the indie version of the debut and a few loose tracks. But as it turns out, the 12″ versions are all I’ve ever known of some of these songs as US RCA put those on the “Passion In Dark Rooms” EP back in 1983! And I can’t remember, but the Cherry Pop 2008 CD might be mastered from vinyl as is sometimes the Cherry Red way. So the band’s own issue is likely to be the better sounding copy as they bought the masters from RCA and took ownership. There may be more coming as this is just the first project the band have reissued. Word has it that remixes and unreleased material, possibly the album that never was, are yet forthcoming.
One certainly can’t fault the price the band are selling this compilation for. The CD is a modest £12.00/$15.60 and the 180g. black [!] LP is £25.00/$32.50 but buy fast if you’re American as our Dollar is shriveling in value as our economy is speedily contracting under the chaos of our shiny new governance. DJ hit that button!
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Post-Punk Monk 
Oh wow! I’d almost forgotten that whole Nū Wāv “Stylized Neo-Scrubs” affectation, but piled up with “Brooding Serious Artist with Earring” and leather pants to boot?!? This covers almost ALL the bases! Shame he forgot his “Wacky Non-Conformist Hat” and “Slit Eye-Shades”, but I guess you can’t have everything…
Doubtless any videos would have included Square Shouldered Women with Sticky Little Tangles in their Big Yellow Hair‡‡…
‡‡gratuitous tPoH plugs, ho!
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The Grumpy Curmudgeon – I can never forget the Nū Wāv Neo-Scrubs affectation because, memorably, chasinvictoria was rocking that very look upon our fateful first meeting in the hallowed halls of WGAG-FM! So I probably saw chasinvictoria in scrubs before first encountering Prince’s own Dr. Fink™ on the video for “Dirty Mind” slightly down the road.
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I only ever heard their ‘Paris Is One Day Away’ single as it made the lower reaches of the UK chart. It was played at our Christmas ‘82 school disco.
I quite liked it but I never did hear any of their other releases. Maybe I should check out more of their recordings.
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AndyB – Give them a shot. I looked to embed any Soundcloud presence but there was none I could find…during my lunch hour. The search engine at Soundcloud leaves much to be desired, of course!
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Not to draw any well-deserved attention away from that Carefully Tousled Superman Lock…
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The 2008 Cherry Red compilation was remastered by Scott Davies (R.I.P. Rubellan Remasters) and sounds great. Of course, with Cherry Red reissues, quality product tends to be the exception, not the norm. The Mood had a decent sound – shame they never found a wider audience.
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Shelf – I had a vague feeling that Scott had worked in that but was it from master tapes? With the indie debut 7” I sort of doubt it. I think Scott mentioned in EF this in the infamous deleted thread, so I couldn’t verify.
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Someone else with a copy can chime in, but it sounds to me like the 2008 CD was created from master tapes, even the indie 7″. I just listened to both tracks of the debut single, the corresponding RCA re-recordings, and the 12″ version of “Is There A Reason” through headphones – no audible artefacts that you might expect from vinyl transfers. Reps at Sony BMG are acknowledged in the liner notes for licensing. The Mood are definitely Monk music ;-)
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So, I just compared the audio samples and track times for the 2025 release with the 2008 CD. “She’s Got Me” on the new collection appears to be a different mix than the one on the Cherry Red CD. And “I’m Coming Home” is a previously unreleased song that does not feature on the 2008 disc!
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Scott Davies (Rubellan Remasters) Facebook comment regarding this new compilation and the original: “This is the first time the material has been re-released from master tapes. It wasn’t a secret that even though Sony had the tapes available and ready for me to use back in 2008, I was instructed to master it all from vinyl (no comment).”
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drivel – I though he had said that in his deleted thread on Steve Hoffman Music Forums. Thanks for sharing that. The importance of the reissue producer’s predilections in the Cherry Red mix is probably the determining factor whether master takes or vinyl get used for their productions, which are all over the map. Perhaps some producers seek to shave costs by forgoing master tape sources.
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There is also this comment from Scott Davis on The Mood’s facebook page “…Also, I noticed that The Munich Thing isn’t the version released on the B side of the Passion In Dark Rooms single, but sounds like an unreleased mix with more in common with the USA EP mix”.
To which The Mood replied “…The Munich Thing mix is the original which was never used until now. Same with She’s Got Me which is the original mix, not heard before.”
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Currently watching the first episode of Scott Davies’ video podcast series on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAnxhd5ZlWc). First off – his musical attitude is very relatable, and his stories are quite compelling. And Scott’s insider musings are mindboggling and maddening. To my surprise, he does confirm that The Mood collection that he remastered for Cherry Red was totally sourced from vinyl (along with all the other projects he worked on for that label). Sounds better than a lot of reissues produced from master tapes – the guy is an audiophile artist. Even if you hate YouTube (and you should), that series is well worth viewing.
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The mood have reformed original members John moore and Steve carter have released 50 Songs on Utube this year with a stunning new version of Paris is one day away Utube @Themood-2025
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John Moore – Welcome to the comments! I’m glad that the time has come for The Mood’s legacy to be more than a footnote in the New Wave period. Welcome back!
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