Artist – Album: Van Morrison - Moondance
Released: 28th
February 1970
Sounds Like: That feeling you get when you impress
everyone by knowing what year Neneh Cherry’s ‘Buffalo Stance’ was released.
Apologies, dear reader (note the use of the singular there),
for only just getting this blog out before midnight. Beginning a blog with only
an hour of the day left is not on and I really must do better. I had planned on
having an evening of blogging, maybe making a start on the next couple of days
(God knows when I’m going to do them now) but just as I was leaving work a
colleague called and said that someone had dropped out of their networking quiz
team and they really needed me to step in. How could I say no to that desperate
plea? I just couldn’t. Plus I like to be a smart ass. We did pretty well,
finishing third out of what must’ve been about a million teams (slight
exaggeration) and it may (not) surprise you that we bossed the music round, but
it does mean I’ve been a bit lax when it comes to today’s blog.
Fortunately, Van Morrison’s Moondance is not an album that
needs a lot to be said about it. His second solo album, it’s arguably his best
(or at least makes the top two) and is lit up by Van the Man’s soulful
songwriting and exceptional vocal talents. It’s littered with some of his
greatest tunes: the opening ‘And It
Stoned Me’ which almost sounds like a Tom Sawyer slice of Americana; the
jazzy ‘Moondance’; the partying
centrepiece ‘Caravan’; the lush,
brilliant ‘Into the Mystic’; the
giddy salutation ‘Glad Tidings’.
This is a great album; one with enough class and that has
earned enough praise over the years to be able to deal with being shunned by me
for some charity pub quiz at Stockport County’s football ground. Hopefully.
Albumaday... rating:
9/10
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 – 3:42
Listen to ‘Caravan’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBFCfGLVnlI
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