Van Morrison sent a message that this 50 song deluxe version of The Celtic Cowboys follow up to “Astral Week” and one of the most beloved albums in rock history “Moondance” was being released without his participation or approval, I did what any vaguely intelligent person would do I ignored him.
Of course I did, if you’re not in the market for 11 takes of “Caravan” or 6 takes of a song that didn’t even make it onto the album “I Shall Sing” you should be.
You won’t get real insight into the creative experience,these aren”t skeletal versions, seldom demos. These are studio outtakes of one of the greatest artistic achievements ever.
“Astral Weeks” is mythic Celtic dreams , “Moondance” is mystic Celtic pop. Steve Crawford called it his favorite album of all time on this very website for a reason, it does the impossible, it lifts you up to a spiritual higher ground.
“Into The Mystic”? 5 takes. These are the songs near the point of creation, not everything made it on to the original album. Whether it”a a more prominent acoustic guitar on this song or an improvised “Turn it up buttercup” on “Caravan” this is not adding to our understanding of the album, rather it is am addendum and an added plus. Put plainly, buy it because it sounds great.
Grade A-