On the Threshold of a Dream is the fourth album by the Moody Blues, released in April 1969 on the Deram label.

Guitarist Justin Hayward remembers, "We were on a fast train in the '60s with our heads down, plowing away at this stuff, never really doing that much on the road.

"[3] Like its predecessors, On the Threshold of a Dream is a concept album, but carries a looser theme than Days of Future Passed and In Search of the Lost Chord.

Written by drummer Graeme Edge, keyboardist Mike Pinder remembers the introduction's production being a collaborative effort among the group's members.

Edge, a mocking establishment figure, confirms the first man's existence, but insists his purpose is to be a cog in a corporate machine.

The song presents a bit of cutting social commentary by closing with a mundane diary entry recounting a day of posting letters and window shopping followed by a subdued recounting that "Somebody exploded an H-bomb today...But it wasn't anybody I knew" as the song fades out.

When mixing the album, Varnals was careful to fade out the track at the right moment for maximum effect: "Yeah, we wanted to keep that in because it was witty and quite amusing.

"[10] Mike Pinder's "So Deep Within You" was later recorded by the Four Tops with instrumental backing by members of the Moody Blues.

"[14] Ray Thomas' "Lazy Day" and Hayward's "Are You Sitting Comfortably" introduce a mood of drowsiness, preparing the listener for the album's centerpiece, Mike Pinder's "Have You Heard" suite.

With the line "must be lamb today because beef was last week" the re-release liner notes describe the lyrics as "an acerbic comment on the average Sunday for the British working man".

[16] Its lyrics recall the days of medieval minstrels, featuring finger-picked guitar and lyrics full of vibrant imagery including "a fleet of golden galleons on a crystal sea" and the "glorious days of Camelot" while Merlin casts a spell of slumber.

Its words suggest that just as new life springs from death in nature, a spirit of love and selflessness can help society realize its dream and achieve enlightenment.

Edge explains, "My job back then was to write a poem that kind of hinted at all of the various themes to make sure that people's heads were pointed in the right direction.

The song bookends "The Voyage", an instrumental piece that builds with Mellotron-produced orchestral strings and reaches a crescendo with a repeated melody on piano before cellos lead a transition back to a reprise of "Have You Heard".

Varnals remembers the introductory section of "The Voyage" being influenced by Also sprach Zarathustra, having been used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was released several months before the album's sessions.

The track took three days to record, with Mike Pinder largely working alone on Mellotron, with overdubbed cellos, piano and other instruments played by the group.

Producer Tony Clarke remembers, "We brought in carpets and lamps and ashtrays and recorded in the dark.

I certainly saw it as a real chance at musical freedom on this record...a way to express the sort of searching, seeking things that we were doing in our lives.

"[26] Drummer Graeme Edge remembers the creative environment: "The album was our one where we actually concentrated on recording and weren't rushing off to do gigs here and there.

As we'd just come off tour the music we created combined the knowledge of studio techniques that we had acquired recording In Search of the Lost Chord together with the craft we had learnt through performing on stage every night.

We were originally told by the head of production that if the album was as good as we said it was, it could be housed in a brown paper bag!

"[31] The additional space allowed for inclusion, for the first time, the album's lyrics, as well as an essay by composer Lionel Bart.

[32] The imagery on the cover features "a metallic, robot-type entity clutching different, various life forms and squeezing tight representing freedom of thought and expression and creativity",[33] explains Mike Pinder, as well as an image of Merlin casting a spell, Camelot, and a fleet of golden galleons on a crystal sea, images inspired by the lyrics to "Are You Sitting Comfortably".

[34] Bassist John Lodge recalls, "We would get our graphic artist, Phil Travers, in to the studio to listen to each track as it was completed.

Phil would then sketch out various rough sleeve designs and we would all sit around a coffee table and discuss what we wanted.

It proved to be one of the group's more enduring records in the US, staying in the Billboard LPs chart for more than two and a half years.