Moondance
| Van Morrison
Moondance
Moondance is the third studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 27 February 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. After the commercial failure of his first Warner Bros. album Astral Weeks(1968), Morrison moved to upstate New York with his wife and began writing songs for Moondance. There, he met the musicians that would record the album with him at New York City's A & R Studios in August and September 1969.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
November 25, 2018. Morrison’s lyrical interests on Moondance turn towards the preoccupations of gypsies and sailors.
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Rolling Stone
March 19, 1970. Moondance is an album of musical invention and lyrical confidence; the strong moods of “Into the Mystic” and the fine, epic brilliance of “Caravan” will carry it past many good records we’ll forget in the next few years.
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All Music
The yang to Astral Weeks' yin, the brilliant Moondance is every bit as much a classic as its predecessor
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Classic Rock Review
July 10, 2015. Morrison blends diverse styles such as jazz, folk rock, country, R&B, and American soul with potent melodies and pristine arrangements, all on a cohesive album which always sounds fresh.
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Rolling Stone
October 18, 2013. That LP is nearly all main course, and if the numerous alternate takes here often feel incomplete without their sublime, brassy final arrangements, they compensate with intimacy . . . .
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Independent
October 6, 2013. A good “deluxe” remaster job will do at least two things: one, it’ll strip away centuries of digital compression and make the music sound as if you’ve never heard it properly before; two, it’ll include additional material that gives insight into how the finished work was shaped. Moondance delivers on both counts.
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All About Jazz
November 30, 2013. is nothing but a sublime pleasure to rediscover it via the expanded edition
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No Depression
November 19, 2013. Morrison’s brilliant compositions and his winningly varied, uniquely delivered vocals. It’s hard to believe he was just 24 at the time.
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altockchick
February 1, 2013. The entire work takes less than forty minutes, and in those forty minutes, Van Morrison will take you places where you really need to spend some time.
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Thirty Summers
September 25, 2015. It is full of some of popular music’s best songs…catchy, positive and soulful with brushes of jazz keeping the cats happy!
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American Songwriter
October 22, 2013. It sharply finds the sweet spot between the mystical impulses that would drown his later projects and taut, tightly arranged songs.
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The Second Disc
October 28, 2013. Though its warmly melodic songs – equal parts jazz, folk, soul, blues, pop and rock – are certainly accessible enough to stand on their own, Moondance is an argument for the art of the album.
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The Telegraph
October 16, 2013. – shows the painstaking work and creative effort that went into the final, magnificent record, which is also available in a single remastered version
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Pop Matters
August 12, 2012. The 94th most acclaimed album of all time wants to rock your gypsy soul, just like way back in the days of old. Sail into the mystic with Van Morrison’s 1970 breakthrough album. Fantabulous!
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Immortal Reviews
March 15, 2018. Van Morrison captured the romance of the 60s in Moondance perfectly, his 1970 album that put him on the map serving as a key record in music history.
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Sound On Sound
May, 2009. Featuring such timeless gems as 'Caravan', 'Into The Mystic', and the title track that Van Morrison has performed more than any other number in concert, this record saw him enter New York's A&R Recording studio with only the song arrangements in his head and a determination to do things his way.
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Puluche
February 27, 2014. In a time when jazz was resurfacing the music scene between disco and rock, singer-songwriter Van Morrison found a way to intertwine the use of the genres’ elements with his poetic words
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Uncut
October 24, 2013. Moondance transports and elevates.
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Super Seventies RockSite
striking imagination of a consciousness that is visionary in the strongest sense of the word, create an atmosphere that instantly sets its own terms.
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Treble Zine
August 28, 2005. Moondance‘s precursor, Astral Weeks, favors a loose structure, relying on a meandering, early-jam band feel with Morrison’s solo vocals as the center-piece of each song.
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Vinyl Reviews
Van Morrison is incomparable, but I think of the Band when I play his music. Both artists pay similar attention to the roots of their originals—blues, rock n’ roll, R&B, and more.
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Classic Rock History
January 30, 2016. It holds it’s own with any of the great jazz songs.
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Audiophile Audition
November 5, 2013. It is filled with a joyful rhythms honoring his love for the classic American music that Morrison experienced in Europe while growing up with his ear glued to the radio soaking up gospel, blues, and jazz from the States.
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Icon Fetch
October 22, 2013. Moondance has a timeless quality shared by few albums of any generation.
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Audiophile Review
December 20, 2013. In many ways, Moondance as an album plays almost a jazz recording that creates an overall mood that pulls the listener into its spaces.
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Seattle PI
October 22, 2013. It is a tribute to Moondance and Morrison that there would even be a possible demand for this material. But even for the most devoted fan, all these takes must get repetitious and I cannot imagine there will be a great deal of replay for three of these discs.
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The Metropolist
March 8, 2015. Poet. Visionary. Soul man. Van Morrison is one of music’s greatest creators. With the gift of a voice that transcends language and the ability to meld rock, folk, jazz and blues, he is a spiritual alchemist whose work lies beyond classification.
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The AU Review
October 28, 2013. There are so few albums that can arguably be put into a category above and beyond the normal “masterpiece” slot into a level of a kind of transcendental majesty, and Moondance – Morrison's 1970 second solo album – is certainly one of them.
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Compulsive Reader
July 29, 2012. With voice and chorus, the downbeat rhythm-and-blues of “Brand New Day” on Moondance is about change, awakening and awareness: . . . .
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Aphoristic Album Reviews
1970. . . . Moondance is based around punchy R&B and concise pop songs. It’s certainly more radio friendly and accessible than Astral Weeks, but both are very strong records, documenting Morrison’s early phase.
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Robert Christgau
An album worthy of an Irish r&b singer who wrote a teen hit called "Mystic Eyes" . . . adding punchy brass (including pennywhistles and foghorn) and a solid backbeat (including congas) to his folk-jazz swing, and a popwise formal control to his Gaelic poetry.
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Blurt Magazine
Janury 1, 1970. it possessed a soulful swagger, a rousing sense of urgency and determination, as well as an immediacy that its predecessor clearly lacked. They were songs so compelling, they became enduring anchors in Morrison’s ongoing trajectory.
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Zumic
October 17, 2013. Van Morrison's Moondance is heralded as one of the greatest albums of all time.
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Mac Editon Radio
December 22, 2013. Van Morrison Moondance Deluxe edition and the HD Tracks digital download deluxe edition are both highly recommended for all Van Morrison fans.
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Write On Music
October 27, 2013. Ask Van Morrison about Moondance and he’ll probably gripe about not making much of any money off the album. Ask anyone else even remotely familiar with the man’s music, though, and it’ll likely be cited as among his best, most beloved works.
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The Young Folks
February 28, 2015. I love an album that was created so many years ago. The messages are universal in that we can still relate to what he sings about today in 2015 and the songs are stories and I love stories.
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Rolling Stone (German)
April 16, 2009. Carried by a soulful voice that could grasp bravely and a wonderfully organic production, "And It Stoned Me", "Crazy Love" or "Caravan" still inspire today.
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Record Collector
Musically speaking it’s a marvel.
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My Vinyl Review
January 7, 2009. Moondance is a beloved record to many and has always sounded so much better on vinyl than on cd.
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Vinyl Me, Please
March 16, 2017. Moondance would define what people would come to expect from a Van Morrison record: the swinging blue-eyed soul of an Northern Irish folk rocker enamored with early R&B.
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