The Moody Blues
Mike Pinder
b. 27 December 1941; Birmingham: keyboards (Mellotron)
Ray Thomas
b. 29 December 1941; Stourport on Severn: flute and vocals
Graham Edge
b. 30 March 1941, Rochester: drums
Justin Hayward
b. David Justin Hayward, 14 October 1946; Swindon: guitar and vocals
John Lodge
b. 20 July 1945, Birmingham: bass and vocals
 
1965
February. "I Don't Want to Go on Without You" / "Time Is on My Side" (Decca F 12095) [UK #33]
May. "From the Bottom of My Heart" / "And My Baby's Gone" (Decca F 12166) [UK #22]
July. The Magnificent Moodies [UK LP]
October. "Everyday" / "You Don't (all the Time)" (Decca F 12266) [UK #44]
 
1966
October. "Boulevard de la Madelaine" / "This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)" (Decca 12498)
November. The original Birmingham band, as managed by Tony Secunda, has series of flops after "Go Now." A dissatisfied Denny Laine and bassist Clint Warwick left the band while the others seemed to lose direction. The band replaced Laine and Warwick with Justin Hayward (guitar) and John Lodge (bass); but the band had so little cash that Lodge was forced to sell some of his equipment to be able to afford a European tour (Frame 1993: 13). When Brian Epstein became their manager, they hoped they might have turned a corner. But, as with other acts that Epstein managed, they got secondary attention to the Beatles.
 
1967
January. "Life's Not Life" / "He Can Win" (Decca F 12543) [Withdrawn after one day.]
May. "Fly Me High" / "Really Haven't Got the Time" (Decca F 12607)
August. "Love and Beauty" / "Leave this Man Alone" (Decca F 12670)
With Hayward and Lodge in the band, they work a series of club tours honing their sense of ensemble and style (and paying debts). One of the ideas to emerge during this period was of an identity blending rhythm and blues and light classical music.
The real change in sound, however, came with Pinder's purchase of a Mellotron. The string sounds on this instrument allowed them to imitate an orchestral accompaniment and, like Procol Harum, to play with the idea of mixing genres. They began to concoct an idea for a classical album.
Signing with Decca, they agreed to a rock version of Dvorak’s Symphony #9 [New World Symphony] with the London Festival Orchestra (largely a studio orchestra composed of members of the London Symphony Orchestra). However, the task of learning the symphony and the recognition that singles and songs sold more records lead the band down a different path: create your own fusion of rock and classical. What they created imitates a song cycle.
November. "Nights in White Satin" / "Cities" (Deram DM 161) [UK #19]
——. Days of Future Passed (Deram DML/SML 707) [UK LP #27]
The idea of the album is to look into the lives of different people over the course of a day (and a Tuesday at that). The presumed setting is London and vignettes relate how these individuals react to their day: waking up, going to work, breaking for lunch, daydreaming in the afternoon, returning to an apartment, and a lonely evening alone pondering missed opportunities. The beginning and end feature Graham Edge reciting his poetry over an orchestral flourish.
This is a true concept album; that is, a particular logic holds throughout the album and between songs. (Sgt. Pepper's is a neatly packaged hodgepodge by comparison.)
The album was hugely successful and allowed the Moody Blues eventually to form their own record label and to spend even more money on other concept albums.
 
1968
April. Days of Future Passed [USLP release, US #3]
July. "Voices in the Sky" / "Dr. Livingston I Presume" (Deram DM 196)
——. In Search of the Lost Chord. (Deram DML/SML 717)
October. "Ride My See-saw" / "Voices in the Sky"
November. "Ride My See-saw" / "Simple Fame" (Deram DM 213)

1969
April. On the Threshold of a Dream [Deram DML.SML 1035; UKLP #1]
April. "Never Come the Day" / "So Deep within You" [Deram DM 247]
Summer. The Moody Blues establish their own record label, Threshold Records, a subsidiary of Decca. The label allowed them more freedom to design their record packages.
October. "Watching and Waiting" / "Out and In" [Threshold TH 1]
November. To Our Children’s Children [Threshold THM/THS 1]
 
1970
August. A Question of Balance (Threshold THS 5)
 
The Official Moody Blues website
Art Rock Schedule The Nice
  18-Apr-2012