After this, from 1964, their success hit a bit of a decline. Denny Laine and Clint Warwick left and the remaining members, Mike Pinder (keyboards and guitar), Ray Thomas (flute) and Graeme Edge (drums) recruited two new members, Justin Hayward (guitar) and John Lodge (bass).
But nothing improved. They started working on a stage act that had a concept, a day in someone’s life. This lead to Decca picking them to do a demonstration record with an orchestra, Days Of Future Passed. Composer/arranger/conductor Peter Knight was brought in, and the album, often regarded as one of the first concept or prog rock albums, was reasonably successful. It produced two singles, Nights in White Satin and Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) aka Tuesday Afternoon.
The success meant more albums from the band, usually with an overarching concept: In Search of the Lost Chord, On the Threshold of a Dream, To Our Chldren’s Children’s Children being the best.
After Seventh Sojourn, the band took a break and there were solo projects. Re-forming for Octave in 1978 was the beginning of the end for the band. Pinder, most known for his key Mellotron work, left.
After that, the band style changed and was driven by Justin and John, producing some success but mainly radio friendly adult soft rock.
Their last studio album was the awful Christmas album December in 2003 (yes, I know, all Christmas albums are awful, but this is bad). Thomas retired and died recently.