Moondance

Van Morrison has the kind of voice you expect to hear singing to you in a bar where they secretly sell the best sandwiches and no one knows why.

Van Morrison’s Moondance was an enjoyable enough listen, though it didn’t quite leave a lasting impression on me. There’s a relaxed, warm quality to the album that makes it particularly well suited to listening at night, especially at the end of a long work day when you’re looking for something calming rather than demanding. The mix of jazz, folk, soul, and blues gives the album a loose, lived-in feel, and Morrison’s distinctive voice fits naturally into that atmosphere. The title track is obviously the standout, but songs like “Into the Mystic” and “Caravan” add to the album’s mellow, slightly dreamy character. For me, Moondance was less an album that demanded my attention and more one that provided pleasant company in the background. It’s easygoing, warm, and atmospheric without being particularly challenging. Maybe not something I’d reach for every time, but a nice record to put on when the day is winding down.

Beautiful, cozy instrumentation that enchants you with its warm acoustics and sweet melodies. There is this almost magical feeling to it that I can't get enough of. It's soft, jazzy and just plains sounds amazing.

a pleasant and percussion-light bit of pop fusion. it lacks anything particularly challenging but also lacks anything particularly unpleasant

Damn side A is maybe one of the best in album history, 5 all-time great hits and side B is no slouch either. It is a bit folksy and smooth jazz at times but all these songs are so catchy. And yes Van sings like he has rocks in his mouth at times but the songwriting is top notch. This is a no skip could listen to everyday album, one of the greats!

Van Morrison made one genius album, and this was the next one. It's a career-best for most people who didn't peak as early as Van did. Okay fine, it gets 5 fucking stars, but only because I can't give Astral Weeks 10. (That harpsichord on Everyone is indefensible though.)

3.5

I liked the album. Best song: "These Dreams Of You".

not really into it, but i can see why people would like it 6/10 for me probably 8/10 for most

This album did nothing to change my opinion that every Van Morrison song sounds the same. But it’s a really good, well produced same song, with fantastic instrumentation. 38 minutes is an absolutely perfect length for it too. Some great songs on here, even if I’m not the biggest fan of his songwriting. 4/5

Loving how warm & nostalgic this album feels. The opening two tracks really set the tone - ‘And It Stoned Me’ offering a breezy, warm vibe and ‘Moondance’ switching to a jazzier, more bouncy tone. Both are thoroughly enjoyable, and the album continues in a similar way. Every song has it’s place, it’s beautifully delivered throughout and I found myself tapping away to the entire thing. It’s a strong 8/10, soft 9/10 for me.

Smooth.

What a lovely album for a Sunday morning! I’m currently on the train back from Wollongong and I am basking in the sun’s rays as the south coast passes before me. I came to know a couple of these songs via Michael Bublé (he strikes again!) and while his covers are probably my preference, I loved how stripped back these felt in comparison. “Brand New Day” has really got me in my feels.

Van Morrison has one of the ugliest voice over beautiful music

this man and I are not friends

Love love love, lets go to a concert

Sleeve by Bob Cato (again) with photos by David Gahr The close up styled and unusual coloured portrait with the enlarged film strip like repeat is distinctive if not exceptional. The record is the same, I would like to like Van but I can’t and wont listen to this again on purpose. It ticks all the boxes for the type of music I prefer but perhaps it’s because it’s so available and I have heard it so much I wont play it.

He may suck as a person, but there's no denying the man can sing. The songs are quite nice and many have a much better groove to them than I would have guessed knowing Van Morrison's reputation for slow, romantic songs.

The guy’s a sack, but I’ve loved his tunes since I was a kid. I own this album. 4.5

Just yesterday I heard some Van Morrison in a YouTube video and thought the creator doesn't have taste.

No no no

pretty enjoyable romp. i liked the songs that go for a more atmospheric sound such as Into the Mystic. but otherwise i don't really care for Van Morrison as a singer or a performer. his writing is pretty good, granted, but Astral Weeks does better on all three metrics. deserves to be one of the 1001? not as much as Astral Weeks but it can stay i guess

So many good songs. Just a solid listen all the way through!

3/5

Great album for autumn. Favorite tracks: And It Stoned Me, Caravan, Into the Mystic, Everyone

6,5

Very enjoyable

The songs are so frequently played by every bar band I’ve seen that it is hard to appreciate the freshness of the music when it came out. He does that Irish blue-eyed soul better than anyone.

It was fine. I'm not a big Van Morrison fan. It was easy to listen to though. I knew Moondance and Into the Mystic.

Fine album but boring and forgettable Only song I liked was Moondance, everything else is very average

Number: 286 Familiarity: Well-versed (4) Rating: 5 Before: ======= Cool, I love the music of Van Morrison, the early stuff more than the later stuff. In fact, I would place Astral Weeks in my top 100 essential albums for sure, probably top 50. I understand he may not be that likeable as a human being but I shall endeavor to look beyond that and focus only on the music. After : ======= So I listened to this 3 times, yesterday, and could listen to it again without getting tired of it. On a song by song basis I have it ranked at 4.5. I'm going to go with 5.

alright

Really grooved with this. I could definitely see this one growing on me more with revisits. had no idea this guy was irish lol

Had a fun time listening to this one. I'd heard the songs from the front half but the ones towards the back were all new to me. I quite enjoyed this.

Title track is okay but the rest is just incredibly one-note. I thought an hour had passed and it'd only been ten minutes. I skipped the last three tracks. Music for old farts.

And It Stoned Me Moondance Crazy Love Caravan Into the Mystic

This is definitely Van Morrison. I like it, but I'm fine with one or two songs instead of a whole album I think.

not for me but it was alright

Rien de transcendant

Full of influences folk, jazz, country-rock, r&b, blues gospel ssand probably anything else that Van thought of. When it's good it's perfect, but there a couple of songs that don't quite measure up. So you have an album where Into the Mystic and Crazy Love sit alongside These Dreams of You and Everyone. But when it's good - wow!

I'm getting tired of folk rock that's only decent.

Cool pop but not rock.

Made me very nostalgic for The Blues Brothers movie.

Easy listening and not overplayed like Brown Eyed Girl. Instantly my mind takes me to the Big Lebowski bowling alley. I can see the bowling ball roll down the lane and hear murmurs of casual conversation amongst bowlers. "And It Stoned Me" and "Moondance" are top contenders. I dig the jazzy rock with a slow rolling drum beat and horns coming in. 4/5

Pleasant enough

Solid album. Mix of pretty good with good enough.

Opening song sounded like a "The Weight" knockoff (I've had a few of those recently), and the last song sounded like "Brown Eyed Girl Part 2". The thing I remember most about this album is the SNL sketch where Melanie Hutsell was the only one standing, and doing a stupid dance to the title track (a song I really dislike). Overall, it was better than I was anticipating, but just average at best.

Almost no skips.

Van Morrison is a cranky, old douche. But he writes a nice song.

Was going 3s but some songs strayed me up to a 4, Moon dance is classy af Who knew he had other tunes than Brown eyed girl 🤷‍♂️

I prefer Astral Weeks but really enjoyed this too.

Moon dance will always be a classic song. I believe this is the first time I’ve listened to it in full, but it was a huge part of my childhood with my dad singing it around the house! The rest of this album was nice, somewhat forgettable, but nice. 3.5/5 ⭐️ 281/1081

Some standout songs, but overall a bit too same-y/generic

Absolutely nothing about this album excited me at any point. What a dull listen.

Idk what I expected but the first track really tricked me. I liked it a lot. The rest was kinda lame. It's funny when artists do something so interesting and different for just a few songs, and then the rest of the album they default to the same overdone pop sounds from their decade. This album is maybe essential, but it's in spite of 60% of the album. Also his voice just ain't for me.

i like van morrison's weird voice and style. i *really* like the title track, and there's a couple of other bangers on what is otherwise just a vague good vibes album that passes you by. i also really liked Caravan. soft 3

Rating: 6/10 I would classify this as 'mostly annoying'. I don't care how acclaimed this is it just doesn't really do it for me. The good songs are good, a piece best enjoyed for the 4 minutes they last, but as a whole it's just so nice and pleasant and....regular. Without much to get me attached. And It Stoned Me and Into the Mystic are two songs I liked a lot in particular, and to be honest everything after the latter song was either bugging me or going in one ear and out the other. It gets points for the all around strong A side and well made folky genre mashup. Honestly I would replay all those songs. I could maybe do without listening to side B ever again

Some songs bled together more than I expected but the classics here are classics for a reason

This album really makes me miss pre-covid Morrison. So much of this album is perfection, but not completely without a couple duds. The first half of the album is pure excellence, the latter half however is marred by either sub standard song writing or poor production choices, yet surprisingly never on the same track. One song might not be that well written, but will have a killer bass line, or the song features excellent writing, but the production is generic and boring. I'm thinking a 3/5 overall.

Moondance (the track) is an out-and-out six star beauty. The rest of the album is four or five star "filler". Albums rarely this level of excellence

Northern Irishman gets Jazzy. Michael Bublé would be out on the streets without this album of classic songs!

Nice vibes.

Listens: 3 Standout Tracks: Moondance, Into the Mystic Third Van Morrison album on the List so far. Astral Weeks was super early on in my journey and is one of maybe only 3 or 4 albums for which I did not write any kind of review. Then ~120 albums ago I got his 1.5 hour live show, which I rated middle-of-the-road, and which left no real impression on me. Now, I'm back again to Van Morrison's second studio album and I have to say, I was much more impressed with this one. It's certainly more cohesive and attention-grabbing than the live album. The songs are well-produced. Moondance specifically is quite the remarkable, beautiful song. So much so that I was surprised to see it wasn't the top track by a factor of 10. Overall, this was much more palatable than the live album, and I honestly cannot even remember Astral Weeks, it's been over 18 months since I last listened. 4

When a folk singer/songwriter decides to play with jazz, soul, and other genres of music, you get Moondance. This was one of my dad's go-to albums, so I grew up hearing it. So this is probably a 50/50 split on me actually liking the music, and the nostalgia of hanging out with my dad out in the garage while he worked on one of his many projects. I'm still not sure whether this is the right album of Morrison's to be on this list however.

It's decent

Pleasant without ever being really noticeable

Thoroughly enjoyed. A few nostalgic tracks in there which I didn't realise were Van Morrison.

Very compelling. Was nice to hear the single Moondance in the context of a full album and it really impressed me. Would listen again and again

And It Stoned Me & Into The Mystic alone make this record great! Add in Moondance, Glad Tidings and Brand New Day and you've got a great record.... Even the other "filler songs" are great. Just may be one of those rare perfect records

Sounds like an album The Eagles would make if they were friends with a jazz band

this is like the perfect album for background listening in the kitchen

#267/1001 🇬🇧☘️ For me VM never bettered his first album Astral Weeks. I've avoided this album on account of it's title track which i've always associated with bad tv variety shows in my childhood. Its actually really good and now i feel bad for neglecting it. Best Tracks: Into The Mystic, Crazy Love, Come Running.

- I have to get out of the way that I kind of have an aversion to his voice... it sounds both too round and held in/pinched at the same time... - That said, the album is easygoing emotive, melodic (sometimes jazzy) folk rock. - I like the mix and production, too... the sounds are clean and nicely spread out and not too cluttered. - The overall smoothness of the music definitely wins out... I can for sure see myself listening to this in the future. This album was a nice discovery for me.

Nice to see he's learned how to sing by the third album. Too bad it's now eye watering boring. Can we just put the one song on best music list and leave us out of this. Even the name of the album recognizes the only good thing on here. The wes Anderson song at the end is good too

I want to hate it. I really do. But I can’t. There’s something about it that I just can’t hate and I hate that. He sucks as a human though.

The first 5 tracks on this is a pretty generational run. All classics. Van morrison has always done a unique mix of jazz and folk that you don't see from others. The second half was lacking a bit more but still enjoyable

Decent album, but the album he wanted to make and a bit hokey at times, but there are solid songs on here.

Strengths of this album are: ive listened to some of these songs forever, good drumming and its optimism Weakness are: the whole time im just thinking Id rather listen to otis

No notes

Still an amazing album, track after track, so many hits. Definitely belongs in the conversation of any list of great albums. "But he's an asshole, blah blah blah!" Whatever, art vs artist, and this album is an all-timer. Not your style, fine, hate on it, just miss out on some amazing music then.

Pleasant but generally kind of dull. The most interesting thing about Van Morrison's music is his distinct voice, and as someone who likes a distinct voice that really kept me engaged. Everything else about this album was very boring to me. The instrumentals are a folkier take on soul and jazz, and unfortunately the way those genres are combined here remove pretty much anything interesting about them. Outside of a few solid acoustic moments, particularly on the excellent Into the Mystic, the music was mostly edgeless and forgettable. It sounds like something your uncle would put on because he thinks it sounds sexy. As a songwriter, Morrison is passable, but I've heard much better in this territory. He seems mainly content to let his voice do the heavy lifting, and in fairness, it does carry even some of the weaker material here. But I don't think that's ultimately enough to make me revisit this album.

This was lovely and enjoyable all the way through.

Beautiful

Stellar

More soulful than I expected. A nice listen.

I was listening to this working a power outage and to be honest I can't remember the finer details other than it was enjoyable.

6/10 Released in 1970, this album is an interesting blend of genres: folk, blues, and rock - albeit soft rock - which somehow becomes a proto-easy listening. I enjoyed it at first, but by the end of the album I was thoroughly bored by it. There just isn't any "wow" factor here - no songs that really stand out or do anything special (compared to their contemporaries). It's not bad, but just not really for me.

it was only OK

Heard it before many, many times! Van Morrison's run between 68 to 74 (Astral Weeks to Veedon Fleece) is up there with any artist. I have no idea how many of them are on this list but this is the first time that Van has appeared for me. Not my absolute favourite but it's still great. The title track obviously, and it stoned me is also wonderful. My personal favourite has always been Glad Tidings. Van has a habit of ending a lot of his albums on a real high and this one was no exception!

Make me sleepy and not in a good way 2.5

Saturday afternoon

no me gustó nadita.

R&B, soul, rock, jazz, pop, Irish folk.

Boring. Bad vocals. Mediocre backing band. Did not enjoy

ive never really listened to Van Morrison except for Brown Eyed Girl, but man this album slaps. having heard BEG, this is a pretty big contrast. its less cutesey folk-pop, and much more like Americana. it relies on his gravely voice, and really hits comes together with the addition of the horns on several of these tracks. all in all, i think its pretty stellar. also, insane that Moondance is originally by Van Morrison. its amazing what styles that song can take, and i think is a true showcase of VM's talent.

So many great songs and such a chill vibe. Into The Mystic belongs on every summer road trip playlist. Really could be persuaded into a five for this, but when compared to other five-star albums it doesn’t stack up in my book.

A solid damn album. A few songs everyone is going to know on here, and they easily transition into a flow that allows you to listen to the entire album. Super enjoyable and I could listen to it all day long.

𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 is warm, polished, and easy to like, with a smooth blend of soul, folk, jazz, and R&B. The band sounds excellent, and there are plenty of moments where everything settles into an effortless groove. What I still struggle with is Van Morrison himself. He is clearly a distinctive singer and songwriter, but I rarely connect with him as strongly as his reputation suggests I should. The music is good, sometimes very good, yet it keeps me at a slight distance. A solid album with a lot of craft, but I’m still waiting for Van Morrison to fully click with me.

Classic sound from Van Morrison. Really easy music to listen to and good to start the day with. I enjoy the layout and sequencing of the tracks and the general mood of this one.

This is so easy to listen to. Van Morrison is a reprehensible person but his music is beautiful. Already loved Moondance, most of the album even. These Dreams of You is amazing. I like And it Stoned Me, but the lyrics are dumb. Some tracks get a little same-y, maybe a little too flute-heavy for my taste (?) but overall a very good album. I think Van Morrison needs to be a "best of" artist for me. I don't need his albums enough.