Goodbye, Denny Laine

Denny Laine, who has died at his home in Florida, aged 79, was the best thing about the Moody Blues, even though he was only in the band for a couple of years, from its foundation in Birmingham to his departure two years later. It was his voice that made “Go Now”, their No 1 hit, more than just another British beat group’s cover of an American soul record.

The original of “Go Now”, by Bessie Banks, released in January 1964, was itself a classic. Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, arranged by Garry Sherman, written by Larry Banks (Bessie’s husband) and Milton Bennett, it was first released in the US on the Tiger label. “It shines,” wrote the great enthusiast Dave Godin, who released it in the UK on his Soul City label before including in the second volume of his Deep Soul Treasures series, “like an epic beacon in the history of soul music.”

Alex Murray, a young Decca A&R man, produced the Moody Blues’ version at the label’s West Hampstead studios. Denny Laine said the song had come to them via the journalist James Hamilton, a soul music fan who wrote for Record Mirror and received regular shipments of new records from the New York radio disc jockey B. Mitchel Reed. They speeded it up very slightly and took some of the gospel feel out of the 3/4 rhythm but, crucially, they kept Bessie’s unaccompanied opening vocal line, giving Laine the chance to seize listeners by the lapels: “We’ve already said goodbye…”

“Go Now” was still slipping down the charts when the band I was in supported the Moody Blues at the Dungeon Club in Nottingham in March 1965. No doubt the booking had been made before they hit No 1. In front of an audience of a couple of hundred kids in the basement premises, the Moodies were wearing their early uniform of dark blue Regency-collared double-breasted suits. As they went through their repertoire of covers, including James Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy”, they were impressively powerful and professional. By the end of the year they were supporting the Beatles on their final UK tour. Two degrees of separation, eh?