Acclaimed Albums – Moondance by Van Morrison

List item: Listen to the 250 greatest albums
Progress: 78/250Title: Moondance
Artist: Van Morrison
Year: 1970
Position: #102

So, it’s a return to the world of Van Morrison. It’s been over 40 albums in between this and Astral Weeks. Almost a year too. Plenty of different styles of music have been looked at in the interim which made me wonder if that has effected how I will view Moondance compared to Astral Weeks.

Casting my mind back to when I listened to Astral Weeks I know that whilst I was strangely drawn to it and kind of enjoyed it there was no real sticking quality for me. Especially when you consider that it was rated (at the time of posting) #15 on the list. Still, this is what happens with meta-lists.

So here we have Moondance. It is still at a really respectable position on the list – but it is 70-80 places lower. I do not understand this. I really liked Moondance. Unlike Astral Weeks, which took a while for me to get into, there was an immediate impact.

‘And It Stoned Me’ is a great beginning track. It sets a more soulful tone, a stark contrast to the more “mystical” Astral Weeks. Then the album keeps on going, one of those that is great to have on as you do other things and then keep restarting once it reaches the end.

Of note on this album is the title track ‘Moondance’. This has been covered quite a few times by a number of artists, but I will always remember it as a song that was played during my Year 6 play… that was a weird one.