Song: Moondance
Album: Moondance (1970)
Studio version:
Live at Montreux 1980:
There are many people that believe Moondance is Van's best record, or at least his second best. I am not one of them. Don't get me wrong: It's a fine record, and I might consider it one of my favorites of his quite large collection. But there are a few others that are above it, simply because Moondance is mostly nothing more than a great mix of pop, folk and jazz. Not to say there aren't any stellar songs on that record, but we'll get to those later. As a whole it's great, and the song Moondance works in its context. But I rarely put the song on by itself, it just does not stand out as much as some of his other songs do.
This does not mean I don't like the song: I really do. It's a very catchy swing-jazz song. The more upbeat rhythm kind of makes it feel like it was written in the 'cool' 50s and it's clearly the mood Van is trying to grasp. If I recall correctly, he even said himself it could be a song Sinatra would sing. And I can clearly see it. (a quick look on wikipedia says I'm right)
The instrumentation here fits well and I love the piano soloing and the sax solo that comes right after it. It's got schwung, it's got rhythm it's basically got everything a jazzy pop song needs. Which is ultimately also its Achilles heel: It's nothing more than that. It's a good pop song, like Brown Eyed Girl is a good pop song. It's enjoyable, well written (it is Van Morrison after all), and as always Van does a stellar vocal performance. But it misses the spiritual, Romantic feel that I search for in a top Van Morrison song. Not many of his songs have that mind you if you look at how many songs he has, but that's what makes them special.
7/10
A TIER HAS BEEN REVEALED:
Good song, nothing more, nothing less
Moondance
--
http://img.imgcake.com/VincentLauw/awesomehedgehogjpges.jpg