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"...Let Your Soul And Spirit Fly...Into The Mystic..." - Moondance by VAN MORRISON (2013 Expanded Edition 2CD Version)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 February 2014

*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2013 2CD VERSION ***

First things first - the reissued album "Moondance" is presented in 'two' versions. The other is a DELUXE EDITION 4CD/1BLU RAY set in a book that has received derision for its packaging faults. This review is for the October 2013 'EXPANDED EDITION' 2CD version in a three-way foldout card digipak on Warner Brothers R2 536561 (Barcode 081227963842). I love the way this reissue looks, feels and sounds. Here are the fantabulous details...

1. And It Stoned Me
2. Moondance
3. Crazy Love
4. Caravan
5. Into The Mystic
6. Come Running [Side 2]
7. These Dreams Of You
8. Brand New Day
9. Everyone
10. Glad Tidings
Disc 1 has the 10-track album in 2013 remastered form (38:56 minutes). The original self-produced vinyl LP "Moondance" was released March 1970 on Warner Brothers WS 1835 in the USA and UK.

1. Caravan (Take 4)
2. Nobody Knows You When You're Done And Out (Outtake)
3. Into The Mystic (Take 11)
4. Brand New Day (Take 3)
5. Glad Tidings (Alternate Version)
6. Come Running (Take 2)
7. Crazy Love (Mono Mix)
8. These Dreams Of You (Alternate Version)
9. Moondance (Take 22)
10. I Shall Sing (Take 7)
11. I've Been Working (Early Version, Take 5)
Disc 2 (52:12 minutes) is an 11-track Bonus CD with Sessions, Alternates & Outtakes. The three-way card digipak houses CD1 in the left flap with pictures of the master tape boxes beneath - the 24-page sepia-effect booklet sits in a centred lip pouch with a photo of Van out walking amongst Autumn trees and Disc 2 is on the right - again with tapes boxes beneath the see-through tray. The booklet also features Janet Planet's original notes, a new essay by Alan Light, photo outtakes from the cover session and notes on the recording and master tapes. But then you get to the real meat and potatoes - the huge overhaul in sound...

The original tape engineer ELLIOT SCHEINER has been recalled for the remaster and he gives 3 pages of warm and detailed explanation. The album was recorded in Mono in two gulps - September and November 1969 - and then mastered into Stereo on the latest equipment of the day - an 8-track. There is faintly detectable hiss on some of the songs inherent to the original tapes - but the clarity on his vocals and the individual instruments is now truly fantastic - warm, sweet and allowed to breath. I don't detect any compression here - nor is it over trebled for effect - it's just beautifully handled and allowed to simply be.

While "And It Stoned Me" is a good sonic opener - the remaster really kicks in with "Moondance" and "Crazy Love" where John Kleinberg's bass and Jeff Labes' Piano are suddenly alive - while the fabulous threesome of backing singers Emily Houston, Judy Clay and Jackie Verdell add so much Soul to these renditions. Then you're hit with "Caravan" and everyone's Soul igniter - "Into The Mystic". And wow is the only appropriate response. Like so many fans I've waited too long to hear these joyous songs sound this good. And when he launches into that abandoned vocal during "Into The Mystic" ("...I Wanna Rock Your Gypsy Soul...Just Like Way Back In The Days Of Old...") - I'm blubbing like a teenager confronted by Ryan Gosling....

I hadn't expected the bonus to be so brilliant. It hits you on many fronts - the intimacy - sound engineers talking in the takes - classics in beautiful full-studio sound quality. Take 3 of "Brand New Day" is shockingly gorgeous and he may have lost something in the final translation. As if to reinforce that Take 2 of "Come Running" is even better - the band and song fresh - a truly lovely outtake (I'll re-play this cut more than the album version). Even the finger-clicked in "Crazy Love" which is Mono is lovely (possibly the mix used for the 7" single B-side to "Come Running"). The only one that sounds slightly off is the out-of-whack piano and vocal to Take 22 of "Moondance" - a jazz-based rock track he seemed to struggle with feel-wise.

Listening to Take 11 of "Into The Mystic" is as spine-tingling as the finished track and while the Jimmie Cox cover version "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out" is a bit of a let down - the new song "I Shall Sing" is properly fabulous stuff and only hammers home the huge contribution the horn section of Jack Schroer (Alto and Tenor Sax) and Collin Tilton (Trombone and Flute) made to the album. In fact it sounds like The Mavericks only 30 years before their time. The last entry is a genuinely unexpected high - the band fully rocking it out on Take 5 of "I've Been Working" which goes a little Beefheart in its quirky guitar parts. Its ten-plus minutes is cooking ("I've been working for Jesse James...") and ends Disc 2 with a feeling that you've been treated to something very special indeed. In fact in some respects I prefer the single disc of alternate versions and outtakes rather than the overload of the 5-disc version that for me actually spoils the magic of the original album.

In truth Van Morrison fans have been waiting more than 40 years to hear one of their favourite albums sound this good and finally be presented with a degree of packaging dignity its always deserved at least in the 2-disc version). The only real mystery is why it wasn't combined with a series of releases - one of which would be the masterpiece that preceded it - "Astral Weeks"? But that's another man's licensing headache.

"Switch on your electric light" Van sings on "Caravan". Well after all this time - "Moondance" is burning brighter than ever. Don't hesitate - buy this beautiful reissue...

34 people found this helpful

It was all I expected, I love it.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 28 January 2023

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I’ve been searching for a Van Morrison cd. I loved it so much I bought another one

dwight dodd

Good Morrison stuff !

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 2 January 2023

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Lot of good Morrison material !

The Dreamer

Masterpiece Expanded Reissue

Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on 15 September 2016

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Di "Moondance" ho già scritto. Questa recensione riguarda la versione Expanded che, oltre all'Album originale rimasterizzato, comprende un secondo disco contenente un'eccellente selezione di materiale inedito delle session. 11 tracce in tutto, 8 delle quali sono alternate take dei brani finiti su "Moondance". Per quanto ovvio, nessuna di queste performance risulta superiore a quelle della track list definitiva, nè le potrebbe sostituire, pur essendo veramente entusiasmanti. Ascoltate, ad esempio, "Caravan" (take 4), con la voce celebrativa e quasi sconvolta di Van, sottolineata da una chitarra elettrica un po più pronunciata e da una sezione fiati molto sciolta: questa è l'essenziale modalità groovy dell'Irlandese e della sua band. "Into The Mystic" (take 11), al contrario, è così ariosa da ricordare fortemente le session di "Astral Weeks". La corposa linea di basso in "Glad Tidings" (alternate version) sembrerebbe fuori contesto, eppure contrasta alla grande coi bellissimi accordi jazzati del pianoforte e con la sezione fiati gospel in stile Stax. Quello della title track (take 22) è un solido arrangiamento jazz che rimanda nettamente alle rendition offerte dalla band nei live show, a partire dagli anni '90. Di particolare interesse è "I Shall Sing" (take 7), rimasta fin qui inedita: se si pensa che nell'edizione Deluxe di "Moondance" ve ne sono presenti ben 13 take, è evidente che Van l'avrebbe voluta inserire a tutti i costi nell'Album ma, pur essendo una canzone eccellente, non appartiene al delicato equilibrio lirico e musicale di quel set. Questa esclusione mette in risalto l'alto senso di discriminazione artistica di Morrison, anche in questa prima fase della sua carriera solista. La traccia finale è una prima versione di "I've Been Working" (take 5), molto più elettrica di quella definitiva. Dura più di 10 minuti ed offre una performance della band che suona in scioltezza, decisamente funky, sconfinando in un'energica improvvisazione che consente a Morrison di comporre liriche estemporanee a dir poco meravigliose. Ma anche questa traccia, ancora incompiuta, non poteva finire sull'Album. Se la confrontiamo con la breve versione pubblicata in "His Band And The Street Choir", si può comprendere l'intenzione che stava alla base del progetto di "Moondance". Nel set dell'Expanded Edition, in una bella digisleeve a tre ante, è compreso un booklet ottimamente realizzato, con interessanti note di Alan Light e di Elliot Scheiner (sound engineer), oltre a quelle originali di Janet Planet, moglie di Van.
Sono sicuro che tutti apprezzeranno la notevole qualità audio della reissue su singolo CD, davvero molto migliorata rispetto alle prime scialbe versioni in formato digitale, mentre gli irriducibili impazziranno per la monumentale Deluxe Edition, con 4CD ed 1 BD, ma credo che la versione Expanded in doppio CD sia senza dubbio la scelta migliore per ogni appassionato della musica di Van Morrison.

5 people found this helpful

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Antonio Narvaez

Van the Man, el león de Belfast.

Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on 17 August 2022

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Moondance álbum de 1970, salió después de Astral Weeks (1968) ambos discos deberían formar parte de la fonoteca de cualquiera persona aficionada a la buena música. Imprescindibles-

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Sandra Mullen

The best!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 4 October 2022

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It’s Van nothing else to add😊

2 people found this helpful

Cathy Gumtow

Classic Van; great listening.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 25 August 2022

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Arrived quickly. No problems with packaging.

One person found this helpful

ING.

dischi di bonus inutili

Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on 13 June 2022

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Un'opera magna come questa non abbisognava di bonus tracks come se non ci fosse stato un domani. O perlomeno, alternate tracks scartate rispetto a quella che sono poi divenute (non per caso) la prescelta. Vabbè, teniamoci il primo CD e gli altri nella loro custodia a fare i funghi...

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Laura G

Still Sounds Great!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 11 January 2022

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Moondance is a classic album that's stood the test of time. I bought it for a friend for Christmas and she loves it. It comes with an extra CD but even on it's own, it's well worth having.

john

Good to hear Van again!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 27 April 2022

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Heard Into the Mystic again and had to have this CD!

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