Moodswings

Moodswings were a British duo with serious backroom credentials. Grant Showbiz had worked as a roadie and guitar tech before producing records by the Smiths, Billy Bragg, Silverfish and Gong, and James F. T. Hood had drummed for the Pretenders, the Impossible Dreamers, Kid Creole & the Coconuts and Jeff Beck. Together they made slow, glowing electronic music, drifting where ambient meets the pulse of trance.

Their big moment was a remake of "State of Independence", the Jon Anderson and Vangelis song from The Friends of Mr Cairo, which they recast as "Spiritual High (State of Independence)" with Chrissie Hynde singing. It became a hit from their album Moodfood, released on Arista/BMG in 1992: a long, luminous build of swirling keyboards that feels less like a single than a sunrise. "Spiritual High Pt. III", on the same record, sampled Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

The Live at Leeds EP followed in 1994, its artwork a nod to the Who album of the same name, and in 1997 Psychedelicatessen brought in Tanita Tikaram to sing "Oh Happy Day". Showbiz stayed in the fold up to Horizontal, which Hood produced on his own.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.