| Prelude | |
| Type: | Compilation album |
| Artist: | The Moody Blues |
| Cover: | MoodyPreludey.jpg |
| Released: | 26 October 1987 |
| Recorded: | 30 March 1967 – 17 November 1968 |
| Genre: | Progressive rock |
| Length: | 37:33 |
| Label: | London |
| Producer: | Tony Clarke |
| Prev Title: | The Other Side of Life |
| Prev Year: | 1986 |
| Next Title: | Sur la Mer |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
Prelude is a 1987 compilation album by the Moody Blues consisting of tracks from 1967 to 1968, all but one of which were not included on albums.
Tracks 1–4 were previously released on singles in 1967 prior to the release of Days of Future Passed. They are the first Moody Blues releases to feature Justin Hayward and John Lodge.
Tracks 5 and 6 were released as non-album B-sides in 1967 and 1968 respectively (Track 6, "A Simple Game", was later recorded by the Four Tops and went to #3 in the UK charts in 1972).
Tracks 7–11 were recorded in 1967 and 1968 but were not released until 1977, when they were the + 5 side of the 1977 Caught Live + 5 album.
Track 12, "Late Lament," which rounds out the album, is the Graeme Edge poem that appears at the end of Days of Future Passed as the second part of "Nights in White Satin". This version is a remix from the 1974 compilation album This Is The Moody Blues, whose release was the first time "Late Lament" was identified as a separate track from "Nights in White Satin".
Though many of these tracks have also appeared on other releases, such as the 1994 Time Traveller box set and the 2006 deluxe CD/SACD editions of Days of Future Passed and In Search of the Lost Chord, Prelude is the only release that contains all these tracks.