I love Van Morrison and used to own this album, but lost it during one of many moves in college.

Nevertheless, I'm in the mood for some fall music, so I figure I'll shell out the 9.99 for the album on I-tunes. I love my Ipod and now buy most of my music off of I-tunes.

Except, guess what album I-tunes don't have? Moondance. Bummer. I don't blame Apple. But I do blame the music industry. They need to get their act together and realize that by refusing to sell some music online, they are only hurting themselves.

Whatev. Now I'll just burn the album for free off some other website. I wonder why record sales are falling?

Jack, I know you’re into great music so here’s a tip that could turn into something memorable: 3-time Grammy winners, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, are scheduled for a Portland show in early October. Testify!

Moondance is a great album, though its less than hip to admit it. I blame it on the infinity of bar-room hacks who give out free shooters and play Brown Eyed Girl 6 times a night.

I'll tell you what ever happend to Tuesdays and so slow. The bar room hacks killed 'em. That's what.

"Brown Eyed Girl" does not appear on Moondance.

Ohhhhh yeahhhh, "Into the Mystic"

If you can't snatch the Moondance album, grab either "Tupelo Honey" or "His Band and the E Street Choir" (it's ok, you can skip the first track, 'Domino' if you want; you'll love the rest of 'em).

You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail right around the seven oceans
Drop it straight into the deep blue sea
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
She's an angel of the first degree
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee
..................

Call me up in dreamland
Radio to me man, alright
Get the message to me
Anyway you can

P.S. -- "Too Long in Exile" is an awesome album!

By the sacred grove, where the waters flow
We will come and go, in the forest

In the summer rain, we will meet again
We will learn the code of the ancient ones
In the forest

Well color me stupid! I knew there was a reason I liked that album so much.

Though to be excessively semantic, I never claimed it was (though to be excessively honest, that [i]is[/i] what I meant). I still maintain that Brown Eyed Girl is an anchor dragging down the entire Morrison ouvre.

I think that his best song, though, is Atral Weeks.

That is a great album...though I generally pop in his greatest hits album. Sure, I skip a lot of good stuff, but you get some other greats as well.

Along the playlist for autumn, why not throw in some Jackson Browne and Paul Simon.

And bid a sad farewell to summer's Jimmy Buffet albums. Some can do his "Christmas Island" in December, but I am too much of a traditionalist to stomach it.

Best Van song on an otherwise crappy Van album: "Autumn Song" on "Hard Nose the Highway". Perfectly autumnal, naturally. Incidentally, when Van toured on the back of this album in 1973, he played to a sparse Portland crowd of less than 1,000 folk at the Civic Auditorium. That might explain why he didn't visit the Rose City again until 1986!

I was never much of Van fan, mostly due to the songs disparaged above. However, I had a revelation watching The Band's Last Waltz DVD. Van belts out an electric version of Caravan while The Band backs him up. The horn section, arranged by Allen Toussaint, is an added bonus.

Dr. John claims, on the alternate audio track, that Morrison got the most "house" (cheers and applause) of anyone that night. Not bad, considering 'anyone' included Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, etc.

Another good reason to visit or revisit this DVD is The Band's closer, the Holland/Dozier penned "Don't do it." (Scorcese puts it at the beginning of the film). A Motown fan shouldn't miss it.