ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 339 VAN MORRISON - MOONDANCE (1970)

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

Week number two of 2017 features an artist that hasn't received much attention here at the bottom. But this week, Moondance by Van Morrison grabs the spotlight. It's Morrison's third studio album and followed Astral Weeks. The album features jazz, blues, soul and pop moments. Here are a few nuggets:

The album climbed as high as number 29 in the US.
It has been certified Triple Platinum by the RIAA.
Amazingly, the song Into The Mystic, which is easily my favorite VM song, was not released as a single.
Neither was the title track, which I also like a lot.
In 1999 the album was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame, and it has been named by the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame as a "Definitive 200" album, coming in at number 72.
2013 saw the release of a deluxe version that included three additional CD's of previously unreleased music from the sessions.

For me, it's about three songs. The previously mentioned Into The Mystic and Moondance, as well as And It Stoned Me. Otherwise, I think it's an okay album.

Side One:

1. And It Stoned Me

2. Moondance

3. Crazy Love

4. Caravan

5. Into The Mystic

Side Two:

6. Come Running

7. These Dreams Of You

8. Brand New Day

9. Everyone

10. Glad Tidings

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Permalink Reply by Jon on January 13, 2017 at 5:20pm

I like this whole album, it mellows me out. I've had it running for the last two hours while I work on something and it has made me extremely mellow. You know, every time I hear "Moondance", I think of that werewolf movie, probably the greatest (and funniest) werewolf movie EVER. Yep, saw it when it was in theaters, so I guess that makes me kinda old. Good thing I'm not forgetful or anything like that. I have this but haven't listened to it for awhile, but it's crazy good!

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Permalink Reply by Scott on January 14, 2017 at 7:54am

I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, a few times to listen to Morrison albums. Can’t remember if this was one of them, but most recently I tried his latest release on Spotify (which I’ve since given up on) and I’ve never gotten past “Eh”…

I do like the mood setting “And It Stoned Me” to open this up though it has that soft rock acoustic work that I really dig (which is an appropriate term fitting the mood and times of this album). Obviously Moondance is familiar to anyone that’s ever turned on a radio in the 70’s 80’s or today’s classic rock radio. It’s a got a sexy groove and the sax solo works quite nicely. Can’t say the flute bothered me at all, cool song! Though his voice does, at times, seem grating at the higher registers but that’s nit-picking a cool tune so I won’t do that…

So I now see where Jon was going with the mellowing out comments, Crazy Love has me feeling the same way, but this song also is familiar and I like this better than the title track. Caravan has that weird vocal of his when he hits the upper registers, not sure I like that but the song, yet again, is quite nice.

I really like Into The Mystic, the less horns the better this songwriting sounds, but I think he’s not gonna go with a horn section on any track here… Love the acoustic on this one though, may be the best song on here, at least it so far… Come Running faded into the background a bit, is it possible Side Two is more mellow than Side One? The answer is yes, until I hear a harpsichord? Hmmm…. I liked the closer quite a good bit too. Though Side One is far batter but Side Two isn’t shabby either, I don’t see a fit for this in my collection only because I don’t see me seeking this out and I don’t see my wife getting into it. Still this was a great and long overdue listen… Nice work