Moondance
	Produced by Van Morrison
	Released on March 1970
	UK CHART POSITION #32 . . . US CHART POSITION #29 . . . GOLD RECORD (11/19/76), 3x PLATINUM (5/1/96)
	Find it at GEMM
3103-2 cover [high resolution scan]

V an Morrison never lost the little boy in him who sat spellbound listening to rock & roll for the first time on a record player. That same wide-eyed wonder is at work on Moondance. When he sings on the opening track, “Hope it don’t rain all day,” he’s not being completely honest. He wants to get wet, to baptize himself in rhythm and blues. Moondance is his sharing of the rapture. It contains some of his most memorable music: “And It Stoned Me,” “Moondance,” “Crazy Love,” “Caravan.” His songs have the earthy intellect of Dylan, the soulfulness of Ray Charles. Earthy intellect? Man I’m sorry about that. Dylan was a loquacious Loki, a troublemaker, an intellect first but also, somewhere under the veneer, a balladeer. Invert that and you have Van Morrison. There’s a kernel of chaos in every song, but Van Morrison isn’t preaching revolution to the world, he’s preaching freedom from within. The same freedom I felt as a kid when I first heard rock & roll. You wanted to hoard it, share it, run down the street singing it and end every conversation with it. That’s the message of Moondance: love and music will set you free. I don’t see the mystic at work in this music so much as the imagery of allegory. Trains, boats, gypsies are all signs of freedom. Really, there’s nothing that mystical about it. But Morrison is a converted man, singing from the other side. He wants you to jump in the water with him, to dance under the moon, to turn up the radio and feel free. You should. It’s a marvelous night for it.

3103-2 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. AND IT STONED ME    4:30
2. MOONDANCE    4:35
3. CRAZY LOVE    2:34
4. CARAVAN    4:57
5. INTO THE MYSTIC    3:25
6. COME RUNNING    2:30
7. THESE DREAMS OF YOU    3:50
8. BRAND NEW DAY    5:09
9. EVERYONE    3:31
10. GLAD TIDINGS    3:13
    
    All songs written by Van Morrison

CREDITS

VAN MORRISON -- vocals, rhythm guitar and tambourine
JOHN KLINGBERG -- bass
JEFF LABES -- piano, organ and clavinette
GARRY MALABAR -- drums and vibes
JOHN PLATANIA -- lead and rhythm guitars
JACK SCHRORER -- alto and soprano sax
COLLIN TILLTON -- tenor sax and flute
Judy Clay -- girl singer
Emily Houston -- girl singer
Guy Masson -- congo drum
Jackie Verdell -- girl singer
Lewis Merenstein -- executive producer
Tony May, Elliott Schierer, Shelly Yakus, Steve Freidberg and Neil Schwartz -- engineers
Elliott Landy -- photographer
Bob Cato -- designer

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