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Music Advisor: Van Morrison’s Moondance reissue

Irish music legend Van Morrison’s 1970 masterpiece Moondance has been reissued and updated. Featuring the title song, And it Stoned Me, Caravan, and Crazy Love, Moondance brought Morrison commercial success following his overlooked but esteemed Astral Weeks and his debut, Blowin’ Your Mind. Morrison himself didn’t okay the reissue of this classic album, but the two-disc expanded edition includes the wonderful remastering of the LP, plus an 11-track second disc. Disc two includes outtakes from the original recording session and rarities like a previously unreleased version of I Shall Sing and an extraordinary horn-free version of Into the Mystic (Take 11).

STACK Magazine says: There’s nothing like the metallic timbre of the engineer’s intercom to impart that thrilling vibe of history-in-the-making. The guy announcing take numbers on the Moondance bonus disc is the legendary Shelly Yakus but Van was already the Man as he sculpted his classic jazz-country arrival from the sounds in his head and a band with the delicate touch to realise them. The original 1970 album is beautifully remastered in a way that emphasises the acoustic space. Piano, guitars, bass, horns and woodwinds respond from far-flung corners as the Irish gypsy scats and grumbles through the rain and sunshine and moonlight of some elated pastoral dream. All 11 bonus tracks are previously unreleased and revealing, tracing the evolution of the project from a discarded Bessie Smith cover to an exquisitely under-sung early take of Into the Mystic and a whole other Moondance that’s at least three shades more blue.

Rolling Stone says: “Van Morrison’s brilliant 1970 LP Moondance has been expanded to include a bevy of rarities, including alternate versions of songs from the album and outtakes from the original sessions that offer a previously unheard perspective on the creation of one of the most revered recordings in popular music.”

Mojo Magazine says: [The 50 outtakes] are not fore (sic) the casual listener…. The big find is the rambunctious Mardi Gras party-style I Shall Sing, a small 1974 hit for Art Garfunkel but never released by Morrison until now; Van unsurprisingly gives the tune a more soulful treatment.

Twitter:

US singer @brianlogandales: “Into The Mystic Take 11. Van Morrison outtakes. I’m gonna cry”

Into the Mystic (Take 11) – Van Morrison

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