"Prelude" is a compilation album by the Moody Blues, released in 1987, featuring tracks from 1967 to 1968, most of which were previously unreleased. The first four tracks were singles released in 1967 before Days of Future Passed, marking the debut of Justin Hayward and John Lodge with the band. Tracks five and six were B-sides from 1967 and 1968, with "A Simple Game" later recorded by the Four Tops, reaching number three in the UK charts in 1972.
Tracks seven through eleven were recorded during 1967 and 1968 but didn't see release until 1977, when they appeared on the Caught Live + 5 album. The final track, "Late Lament," features a poem by Graeme Edge and serves as a remix from the 1974 compilation This Is The Moody Blues, which was the first time it was recognized as a separate track from "Nights in White Satin."
While many of these songs have been included in other compilations, such as the 1994 Time Traveller box set and the 2006 deluxe editions of Days of Future Passed and In Search of the Lost Chord, Prelude is the only album that features all these tracks together.
