The Moody Blues discography runs to sixteen studio albums, from a 1965 debut to December in 2003. The band formed in Birmingham in May 1964, and the arrival of Justin Hayward and John Lodge in October 1966 set up the line-up that recorded their best-known work. This guide goes through every Moody Blues studio album in order, era by era, with a few pointers on where to begin.

The first line-up (1965)

The original Moody Blues were Graeme Edge on drums, Denny Laine on guitar and vocals, Mike Pinder on keyboards and vocals, Ray Thomas on a range of instruments and vocals, and Clint Warwick on bass and vocals. This line-up made The Magnificent Moodies (1965). In October 1966 Justin Hayward and John Lodge replaced Laine and Warwick, and the band that followed was a different proposition.

The core seven (1967–1972)

The seven albums from the arrival of Hayward and Lodge to the 1974 pause are often grouped as the “core seven”, and they were reissued as CD and SACD editions in 2006 and 2007. The run opens with Days of Future Passed (1967), a concept album that follows a single day, with orchestral interludes played by the London Festival Orchestra under Peter Knight. Then came In Search of the Lost Chord (1968), On the Threshold of a Dream (1969), To Our Children’s Children’s Children (1969), A Question of Balance (1970), Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971) and Seventh Sojourn (1972).

I tell the British side of this story in my book Beyond the Thames →

The pause and Octave (1974–1978)

The band paused in 1974 and came back together in 1977. Octave (1978) was the result. Mike Pinder left that year, after the Octave sessions, and Patrick Moraz joined for the world tour that followed, staying with the band until 1991.

The 1980s (1981–1988)

With Moraz in the line-up, the band made Long Distance Voyager (1981), The Present (1983), The Other Side of Life (1986) and Sur la Mer (1988).

The last albums (1991–2003)

Keys of the Kingdom (1991) came out in the year Moraz left. Strange Times followed in 1999, and Ray Thomas retired in 2002. December (2003) was the band’s final studio album. The Moody Blues were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Where to start

Start where the classic line-up starts: Days of Future Passed (1967), the first album with Hayward and Lodge and the one built around the orchestra. From there, the rest of the core seven in order is the natural route, and Octave (1978) and Long Distance Voyager (1981) show where the band went next. For a different angle, my pages on the best Moody Blues albums and the Moody Blues albums ranked put the same records in order of preference rather than of release.

Go deeper

The Moody Blues band page has a guide to each of the albums above. You can also pick through their best songs and their underrated albums, or set them against their contemporaries in Pink Floyd vs the Moody Blues and the Moody Blues vs Genesis. New to the genre? Start with my progressive rock for beginners guide.

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