Van Morrison - Moondance
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 16 hours ago
- 3 min read
Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 27.1.1970
By the end of the 1960s, Van Morrison felt completely stuck. He saw no real money from his biggest hit "Brown Eyed Girl", and became entangled with manager and producer Bert Berns, a figure with ties to the criminal underworld who even sent mobsters to threaten him. Berns eventually passed away, but in order to escape his draconian contract with "Bang Records", Morrison needed outside intervention. That intervention came from "Warner Bros.", who bought out his contract in a deal worth $20,000.
Morrison released his second album "Astral Weeks", which was warmly received by critics, but the wider audience remained indifferent. Commercially, it failed.
Morrison stated that to the people around him he looked like a successful artist, but his bank manager thought otherwise, but he said that he had to keep going, even if it meant cleaning windows.
"Warner" executives gently hinted to Morrison that he had one more chance to justify their faith in him. He had no intention of letting them down. Especially not with another mouth soon to feed. His wife, Janet Planet, was pregnant with their first and only son.
Under the very real pressure surrounding him, Morrison did what he knew how to do best: deliver the goods, while remaining fiercely eccentric.
Following in the footsteps of Bob Dylan and "The Band", whom he deeply admired, Morrison and his wife moved to the town of Woodstock in upstate New York. There, amid the quiet and pastoral landscapes, his third album "Moondance" was born, released on January 27, 1970.
This is an album bursting with mystical love songs, hymns to life and nature, songs about dreams and visions. Morrison said that “No one knew what he was looking for except him, so he just did it. Here he blends jazz, folk rock, country, R&B, and soul, with strong melodies and pristine arrangements, all coming together into a cohesive album that still sounds remarkably fresh.
Morrison dictated the course of events. He fired everyone who had helped him create "Astral Weeks", deliberately cultivating an atmosphere of artistic autonomy during the sessions. He claimed that when he went into the studio, he is a magician. He make things happen. Whatever works in that particular space at that particular time, he use it. he exploit it.
The album finds Morrison channeling his abilities through more traditional melodic forms, giving the songs a rustic, earthy quality.
The opening track "And It Stoned Me" is based on a kind of mystical experience Morrison had as a 12 year old while fishing in the countryside. He asked an old man for water, who gave him some drawn from a stream. Morrison shared his feelings: “We drank a bit and it seemed like everything stopped for me. Time stood still. For about five minutes everything was completely quiet and I was in this ‘other dimension’. That’s what the song is about.”
The jazzy title track "Moondance" is a tribute to the autumn season and to romance itself. The song features piano, guitar, saxophone, electric bass, and a wonderful flute performance by Colin Tilton. Toward the end of the track, Morrison can be heard vocally imitating the saxophone.
"Crazy Love" features gospel styled backing vocals with Motown influence, achieved by Morrison positioning himself extremely close to the microphone. The music itself is very restrained, built around acoustic drums, bass, and brushed percussion.
On "Caravan" and "Into the Mystic", Morrison focuses on the mysterious power of music itself. Singing about music, gypsy life, and his youthful days on the water in Belfast, these songs function as symbols of harmony.
His spiritual redemption arrives with the gospel infused "Brand New Day". Morrison said he was inspired to write the song after hearing "The Band" on the radio performing "The Weight" and "I Shall Be Released".
The album cover was photographed by Elliott Landy, who was also responsible for the photography on Dylan’s "Nashville Skyline". She recalled that when she arrived at his house on the day of the shoot, Van had a huge pimple right in the middle of his forehead, so she had to photograph him up close, cropping the top of his forehead.
In July 1970, Morrison, wearing sunglasses, appeared on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Van Morrison was on the verge of fame. “If you want dreams to happen, make them real,” he sang on the album’s penultimate track "Everyone". And there is no doubt that the singer from Belfast fulfilled his own dream, finally locking into perfect alignment with "Moondance".
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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