Artist: THE MOODY BLUES
Album: THE PRESENT REMASTERED & EXPANDED (CD)

Release date: 1983/ 2008
EAN/UPS: 0600753127896
Media type: CD

The Present is the eleventh album by The Moody Blues, released in 1983. It is the second album of the Patrick Moraz era. It had three minor hit singles in the U.S. with "Blue World" (#62), "Sitting at the Wheel" (#27) and "Running Water". The album itself features strong compositions, but with a track order designed to capitalise on the legacy of the more successful Long Distance Voyager, with Justin Hayward's songs at the beginning and Ray Thomas' as finales.

The Present also became, in 1983, the first compact disc manufactured worldwide.[citation needed] In November 2008, the album was remastered and released on CD with two extra tracks.

The cover is a pastiche of Maxfield Parrish's famous painting Daybreak, with some subtle details: The "X" that the standing child is giving to the other is said to symbolise the Roman numeral "X", this being the Moody Blues' tenth album (with Lodge and Hayward).

TRACKLIST:

    "Blue World" (Justin Hayward) – 5:20
    "Meet Me Halfway" (Hayward, John Lodge) – 4:08
    "Sitting at the Wheel" (Lodge) – 5:40
    "Going Nowhere" (Graeme Edge) – 5:33

    "Hole in the World" (Lodge) – 1:54
    "Under My Feet" (Lodge) – 4:51
    "It's Cold Outside of Your Heart" (Hayward) – 4:27
    "Running Water" (Hayward) – 3:23
    "I Am" (Ray Thomas) – 1:40
    "Sorry" (Thomas) – 5:02

2008 remastered CD expanded edition:
    "Blue World" (Single Edit)" – 3:38
    "Sitting at the Wheel (Steve Greenberg Remix)" – 7:32

LINE-UP:

    Justin Hayward – vocals, guitar
    John Lodge – vocals, bass guitar
    Ray Thomas – vocals, harmonica, flute
    Graeme Edge – drums
    Patrick Moraz – keyboards