The Mood are Eric James Logan, Mark James Fordyce and John Moore, a three piece  synthpop group from York (UK), who were signed to RCA Records from 1981 to 1985, releasing five singles and one album. 

The band got to know each other from hanging out in the York independent record shop "Track Records" between 1979 and 1980. With a shared interest in bands such as Japan, Kraftwerk, Roxy Music and Bowie and a liking for the new Blitz club run by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan in London, they decided to form a band that would reflect what would become the New Romantic movement. At this time there were a lot of bands from Yorkshire such as Heaven 17, ABC, the Human League and Soft Cell which created an equally strong scene in the North. Early gigs in Leeds attracted Marc Almond as a fan and had Soft Cell and Depeche Mode as their support bands.

The band formed in 1980 originally as a five piece, consisting of Eric James Logan, Mark James Fordyce, John Moore, John Dolby and Steve Carter. The band's first musical offering was provided with their self-produced single "Is There A Reason" and "No One Left To Blame' on their own independent label, Romantic Records in 1981. This single produced the desired result by attracting attention from record companies and music media alike by scoring their first chart listing, peaking at number 6 on the futurist chart from the now de-funct Sounds magazine.

The band line-up was changed when Steve Carter and John Dalby left for pastures new and the remaining trio put pen to paper to sign to RCA Records. This allowed their early use of synthesisers and electronic drums to shape the bands new sound. At this time both Mark and Eric dropped their surnames to James and The Mood as we now know them was born.

The band re-recorded 'Is There A Reason* as their debut single for RCA with Anthony Forrest producing the first of three singles for the band which also saw the engineering talents of Julian Mendelson and Gary Langam (The Art of Noise). The single failed to chart but built on the band's growing reputation. The following single "Don't Stop* was released in January 1982 and peaked at 59 in the UK singles charts though it deserved a far higher placing. The single did hit the top 10 in the Billboard chart in the US and reached number 1 on the newly introduced UK dance chart.

The third single "Paris Is One Day Away" followed a couple of months later, climbing to 42 and just missing out on the symbolic top 40 (the band were pulled from a TOTP "bubbling under" appearance due to the 1982 World Cup schedules), that then ensures the label pulls out all the stops to promote the single and makes it a hit. The band's innovative commercial sound was edging itself ever closer to the top end of the charts. The band also nearly missed out on a coveted Radio 1 session for the Peter Powell show, when their equipment was stranded on the first floor of a riverside pub during one of York's worst floods. Luckily a friend with a boat was enlisted and they made the session at the legendary BBC Maida Vale Studios in London, much to the delight of their growing fan base.

The fourth single saw a new producer introduced to help find that elusive hit. Steve Levine who'd learnt his trade as an engineer at CBS studios for the likes of The Clash and Sailor, worked with the band on "Passion In Dark Rooms", which also guested Roy Hay from Culture Club on Guitar. Sadly the single failed to eclipse their previous chart attempts but such indicators do not fairly reflect the quality of all their recordings. Four other tracks including "Don't Let Me Down" were recorded with Steve Levine for the band's debut album. Levine went on to produce Culture Club's first three multi platinum albums.

The band's final single "I Don't Need Your Love Now" produced by Paul Cobbold was released in 1984 and spelt the end of the band's recorded output. RCA chose not to release an album with the band in the UK but put out a 5 track mini-album in the USA. The Mood left RCA in 1984 and with a new manager in place were due to sign a new deal with EMI, the deal never came to fruition and the band split shortly after.

RCA Records

Singles: Is There a Reason (1981), Don't Stop (1982), Paris Is One Day Away (1982), Passion In Dark Rooms (1982), I Don't Need Your Love Now (1984).

Album: Passion In Dark Rooms (1983) USA only release.

Cherry Red release singles collection

In 2008 driven by on-line fan demand Cherry Red Records released a CD "The Singles Collection" which included all the bands singles and B sides, plus all the 12" mixes.

2024 Remasters

Mark Fordyce with the help of their old producer Steve Levine negotiated the return of all the bands master tapes from Sony / RCA Records, including many unheard recordings. Mark had the tapes baked, digitally transfered and remastered, allowing The Mood's singles to be available on streaming platforms for the first time.

The Singles 1981 - 1984

A new compilation of the singles and B sides plus bonus tracks all remastered from the original RCA master tapes. Available on Vinyl, CD and digital formats, released early 2025.