RIP Tony Clarke, Moody Blues producer

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I've seen a few posts on other forums announcing the January 4th passing of Tony Clarke, the producer of the Moody Blues during their classic period.  I've checked a lot of new sites, but cannot find an obituary.

I checked www.moodyblues.co.uk,
and not only is there no mention of Clarke's death - there is NO
mention of the man once referred to as "the sixth Moody" whatsoever in their "band history" page.  As a
matter of fact, there is no mention of anyone who is no longer in the
band - no Pinder, no Thomas, no Moraz (no big surprise there, I
guess).  Revisionist history?

Anyway, I think I'll spin "On the Threshold of a Dream" in memory of Tony Clarke.

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mwood Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 12 2009 Location: Massachusetts Status: Offline Points: 101	Topic: RIP Tony Clarke, Moody Blues producer Posted: January 05 2010 at 20:04
	I've seen a few posts on other forums announcing the January 4th passing of Tony Clarke, the producer of the Moody Blues during their classic period. I've checked a lot of new sites, but cannot find an obituary. I checked www.moodyblues.co.uk, and not only is there no mention of Clarke's death - there is NO mention of the man once referred to as "the sixth Moody" whatsoever in their "band history" page. As a matter of fact, there is no mention of anyone who is no longer in the band - no Pinder, no Thomas, no Moraz (no big surprise there, I guess). Revisionist history? Anyway, I think I'll spin "On the Threshold of a Dream" in memory of Tony Clarke.

AUSSIE56 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 05 2010 Status: Offline Points: 5	Posted: January 05 2010 at 21:10
	Yes, condolences to Tony's family.............He was their key to the new world of 'concept' albums. Revisionist history.......exactly. It's not as if it's been an omission on their part!!
	Ubiquitous

Easy Livin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 21 2004 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 15585	Posted: January 06 2010 at 03:37
	Can anyone substantiate this sad news please? There's no mention on his offical site yet : http://www.tonyclarkestudio.co.uk/ but perhaps he maintained that himself. Wiki has howver been updated : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Clarke_(producer)

AUSSIE56 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 05 2010 Status: Offline Points: 5	Posted: January 06 2010 at 04:53
	http://www.mikepinder.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2298
	Ubiquitous

ChrisJ1972 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 06 2010 Location: Brighton, UK Status: Offline Points: 1	Posted: January 06 2010 at 08:51
	It is with great sadness that I can confirm the passing of Tony Clarke. http://www.tonyclarkestudio.co.uk has been updated in the interim while the family comes to terms with their loss.
	Chris

Easy Livin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 21 2004 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 15585	Posted: January 06 2010 at 10:04
	Many thanks Chris, sincere condolences to the family.

esotericarts Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: October 31 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 94	Posted: January 06 2010 at 10:25
	so sorry to hear this, Tony was a big help on pictures when my other half did the Moodies catalogue

Cesar Inca Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 19 2004 Location: Peru Status: Offline Points: 4888	Posted: January 06 2010 at 11:04
	Thank you for your vision and guidance that played such an important part in the logistics beneath The Moody Blues' genius. Now that your Candle Of Life has burned out and you have stepped beyond the Threshold Of A Dream, you have become a Gypsy of a Strange and Distant Time travelling Eternity Road to sing A Song That Never Ends. Rest in peace, Tony. Edited by Cesar Inca - January 06 2010 at 11:05

rainbow_glo Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 06 2010 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 4	Posted: January 06 2010 at 13:06
	You are welcome to view or even contribute to a memorial/tribute thread for Tony Clarke at our Moody Blues message board, or just read and learn some of the details that will answer some questions, if you'd like. It will be seen by his wife of many years, the lovely Helen Clarke. http://travellingeternityroad.yuku.com/topic/8271 Elsewhere on the main page http://travellingeternityroad.yuku.com/forums/63 you can find a recent chat transcript link and a bio for Tony. We had the opportunity to spend some precious time with them (Nov 29, 2009), never knowing the next planned chat was never to be. Peace- Edited by rainbow_glo - January 06 2010 at 13:07
	rainbow_glo

BlueEyedGal Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 06 2010 Status: Offline Points: 2	Posted: January 06 2010 at 16:23
	I'm saddened to hear about Tony Clarke's passing and I'm disappointed that none of the Moody Blues members have acknowledged his death. I read elsewhere that there has been an email account set up for Helen Clarke, Tony's wife, that only she will have access to where condolences should be sent. [email protected] Farewell Tony.

rainbow_glo Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 06 2010 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 4	Posted: January 06 2010 at 18:05
	Graeme Twittered a comment about Tony.... The rest of the band would have to be asked by the media for a comment, and they probably won't be. They live in different parts of the world and have for a long time. It even took a while for all of them to be notified. But as a rule they are a private bunch of guys, nobody needs to be disappointed over reactions that for them, ARE personal and private. It's only been 2 days, anyway, hard to say what they may do in the coming days. Peace-
	rainbow_glo

BlueEyedGal Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 06 2010 Status: Offline Points: 2	Posted: January 06 2010 at 21:08
	You're right rainbow_glo. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I do hope that Justin, John, and even Mike who all have their own websites would include a little one-liner acknowledging Mr. Clarke's contribution to their success. They wouldn't be who they are without him.

AUSSIE56 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 05 2010 Status: Offline Points: 5	Posted: January 06 2010 at 21:19
	I'm sure each will no doubt reflect on their history with Tony. A history that saw six people come together at the right time and 'voila'......progressive rock. As Ray Thomas would no doubt say, Tony provided the added 'fairy dust' to their sound........ "A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own." ~Thomas Mann
	Ubiquitous

42bunny Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 07 2010 Status: Offline Points: 2	Posted: January 07 2010 at 21:39
	Interestingly enough, the album cover for Octave, Mike Pinder's last collaborative effort with the original post "Go Now" lineup, has Pinder airbrushed out of the cover photo. He was there in the original. For two good recollections and testaments to Tony Clarke, see the following post from Mike Pinder's site,(http://www.mikepinder.com/index1.shtml). Acutally, I couldn't find it on his site...it was sent via email to subscribers to his site (unlike other's, there is no cost). There are a few photos that didn't copy as well. It wasn’t long after meeting Tony for the first time that the new Moody Blues line-up fell into place. The Go Now fiasco was behind us and Justin and John had joined the band. Decca Records wanted us to do an LP along with the London Festival Orchestra and they introduced us to Tony Clarke. Tony was a calm and collected man with musical talents and great ideas. We soon realized that Tony was playing an equal part in our recordings. He was the right man to complete our recording team. We really were a team and Tony was the captain of our ship. The creative channels were open and we shared our musical ideas and much laughter. The music that endures from that period is owed in no small part to the creativity, talent and genius of Tony Clarke, the sixth Moody. We have a bench in our garden that Tony would sit on every morning while he stayed with us recording my sons Mike Lee and Matt. For 8 weeks Tony would sit on our garden bench, drink his morning coffee and phone his lovely and devoted wife Helen back in England. We treasure the time we had with Tony and as I sit on his bench in my garden, I will think of his laughter, his humour, his wit, his gentle nature and love of music and know that I will see him again someday. Sail on Tony until I see you again my friend. Mike Pinder We've, all the Moody Blues, reached that certain age when friends and family begin to leave us. Clint Warwick left us in 2004 and Nicky James in 2007. Our lives don't always touch on a day to day basis, sometimes it's even years, but the time we spent together, worked and played together, the bond of friendship are always there in our memories. Last August, I had the pleasure of sitting down with my old mates, Mike Pinder and Tony Clarke and talking about old times. An evening that means more than ever now. It was a great shock when Mike rang on Monday afternoon to tell me that Tony had passed away, another mate lost to us. We first met Tony Clarke when he was junior producer working for Decca Records. Tony, along with Peter Knight, had been asked by Decca to make a demo LP incorporating their new deramic sound system. At the time the Moody Blues were working on a stage show which was literally just about a day. At this time we were having trouble getting studio time from Decca. When we spoke with Tony for the first time we told him what we were working on and that we were desperate to record it. He was very enthusiastic about the idea and literally put his job on the line in producing it. For this we will always be very grateful. We went on to make another seven albums with Tony, with great success and giving a lot of people dreams of love and peace - which was what our music was all about. I think that in itself will get him into heaven. "Gweddill mewn tangnefedd hen ffrind" - Rest in peace, my old friend. Ray Thomas

himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Posted: January 08 2010 at 21:51
	He will be deeply missed. What an amazing producer. I hold Seventh Sojourn as high as possible in terms of both music and producing. Tony was doing something very right when he mixed that album, I've never heard a Mellotron sound that good in my entire life.

Easy Livin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 21 2004 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 15585	Posted: January 09 2010 at 04:45
	Nice tributes from Ray and Mike. Good to see them around. I hope Ray's health is not causing him too much inconvenience, we miss his dulcet tones.

rainbow_glo Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 06 2010 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 4	Posted: January 09 2010 at 07:58
	42bunny said: Interestingly enough, the album cover for Octave, Mike Pinder's last collaborative effort with the original post "Go Now" lineup, has Pinder airbrushed out of the cover photo. He was there in the original. You must have a different album cover than mine. :) The promo photos that came out for Octave after Mike and Tony left were sans Mike, however. I agree heartily, Mike and Ray's tribute to Tony was very nice. Easy Livin, Ray is working on a re-release of his solo material with 2 added tracks, and we can expect some surprises with this release as well. :) The bonus tracks will be new, one a tribute to his old friend Nicky James who passed away not long ago as well, a cover of Nicky's song "Troubadour," and the other a new tune in a Celtic vein. I believe the latter was intended to be an instrumental. Hopefully this will all transpire this year. Otherwise he has enjoyed his days gardening and doing a little fishing. If any of you went to the link I provided, you will have seen that there were several nice pictures that people provided of the Ray, Mike and Tony reunion, if that is of interest to any of you. This was on the occasion/celebration of Ray's marriage to his sweetheart, Lee. Peace-
	rainbow_glo

Easy Livin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: February 21 2004 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 15585	Posted: January 09 2010 at 12:32
	Great news about the re-relase of Ray's albums Rainbow. Those are two fine albums which are long overdue for CD release. The song in the Celtic vein sounds interesting, Ray's "Celtic sonnet" (on Keys for the Kingdom) was beautiful.

42bunny Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 07 2010 Status: Offline Points: 2	Posted: January 09 2010 at 14:30
	Well, I bought the first release when it came out in 78 and my recollection is that Mike was clearly visible. I searched through my albums (all 25 boxes of them) and couldn't find it.....murphy's law at work. What struck me was seeing the later releases, and thinking how cheap it was that Mike was removed from the album, almost as if he weren't a participant.

rainbow_glo Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 06 2010 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 4	Posted: January 09 2010 at 14:59
	But, Mike wasn't ever removed from the cover of the Octave CD. :-) They've always only shown the little bit of his head ever since the '78 LP's were released. There's a picture on the inside of the LP's gatefold that shows all 5 of them walking face-forward through the archway, maybe you're thinking of that? Reprints of it had no changes of any kind until the recent re-master. And that was just the audio that changed. shrug Peace-
	rainbow_glo