album rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Soul / R&B / folk rock / jazz / Celtic. Moondance is the third studio album by Van Morrison (born George Ivan Morrison, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1945), and the record that established him as one of the major artists of his generation. After the commercial failure of his previous Warner Bros. album, the abstract folk-jazz masterpiece Astral Weeks (1968), Morrison moved to upstate New York, began writing new material, and assembled a new band. Where Astral Weeks was impressionistic and stream-of-consciousness, Moondance is formally composed, rhythmically direct and emotionally warm — a synthesis of soul, jazz, pop, rock, R&B and Irish folk elements that became the sound he would be most associated with throughout his career. He wrote and produced the album entirely himself. The first side of the original LP is widely considered one of the greatest sequences in rock history: 'And It Stoned Me', the title track 'Moondance' (whose saxophone solo by Jack Schroer is among the most influential in popular music), 'Crazy Love', 'Caravan' and 'Into the Mystic'. Side two includes 'Come Running', 'These Dreams of You', 'Brand New Day' and 'Glad Tidings'. The album was produced by Morrison for Inherit Productions, a division of Schwaid-Merenstein.
Label: Warner Bros. Records (USA/UK), released 27 January 1970 (UK) and 28 February 1970 (USA).
Producer: Van Morrison (for Inherit Productions, a division of Schwaid-Merenstein). Note: The title track 'Moondance' was produced by Morrison and Lewis Merenstein at Mastertone Studio, New York.
Recording studio: A&R Studios (also known as A&R Recording), New York City, USA. Recorded August–September 1969.
Critical reception: Moondance was an immediate and unanimous critical triumph. Robert Christgau gave it an 'A' in The Village Voice, writing that Morrison had 'finally fulfilled his artistic potential.' Greil Marcus and Lester Bangs jointly reviewed it in Rolling Stone as a work of 'musical invention and lyrical confidence.' Jon Landau wrote of Morrison's vocals that 'things fell into place so perfectly I wished there was more room to breathe.' The song 'Moondance' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1990 and ranked number 226 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004). In 1978, the album was voted 22nd best album of all time in Paul Gambaccini's poll of fifty prominent rock critics. Rolling Stone later added it to its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Commercial success: Although it never reached the top of the charts, Moondance sold continuously for decades, particularly after its remastered reissue in 1990. By 1996, it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA for three million US shipments. A deluxe edition released in 2013 received similar critical acclaim.
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