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aaronk
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| Posted: 11 September 2006 at 12:40am | IP Logged
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Although not a top 40 hit, does anyone know if there was a difference between the LP and 45 version of "Moondance" by Van Morrison?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
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eriejwg
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| Posted: 10 January 2016 at 7:44pm | IP Logged
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Almost coming up on the 10th anniversary of this
question from Aaron, so I'll ask too. Is there any
difference?
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jimct
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| Posted: 10 January 2016 at 11:04pm | IP Logged
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Without the 100% certainty that comes from doing an A/B sonic
comparison (beyond my pay grade!), my answer is no. Please indulge me
to provide some background info here, however, as this one was a bit
complicated to finally sort out.
Despite the WB LP of the same name first being released in January, 1970,
only one 45 from the album was released that year: "Come Running/Crazy
Love" (WB 7383), from which the A side did manage to eke into the BB Top
40, at #39.
The first appearance for "Moondance" on 45 was actually as the first of a
trio of "WB Back To Back Hits" issued in 2/73: "Moondance (listed time
4:35)/Crazy Love" as WB 7137 (can you believe Warners replaced the Top
40 hit side with the popular then-LP cut, "Moondance", yet left the 1970
"Come Running" 45's original B-side intact?) (FYI, the other two reissue
45s were WB 7138's "Domino/Into The Mystic", where they again opted to
include the latter (another classic "Moondance" album cut) instead of, say,
the late 1971 #28 BB hit single "Wild Night". "Blue Money/Call Me Up In
Dreamland" was WB 7139.)
Back in 2014, Rhino released a deluxe edition of "Moondance" on CD. The
fact that WB waited until 10/77, which was more than 7 1/2 years after
the initial LP's release, to release the title track as a "new release 45"
clearly puzzled the reissue folks there. Why did it happen? It had always
puzzled me as well. Rhino goes on to say: "it may be a little surprising for
some to find that (Moondance) wasn't actually released as a single until
1977. Although even after doing further research, we can't for the life of
us figure out *why* it was released as a single in 1977. If someone can
offer insight into this seemingly arbitrary decision, we're all ears."
Well I hope they see this post, because research I've just done has turned
up a possible WB motive/mindset for it. Just 6-8 weeks before the WB
8450 45 issue for "Moondance", the label had released a Morrison 45 as
WB 8411, "Joyous Sound/Mechanical Bliss". It would be the first/only 45
with both sides culled from his first new album in almost 3 years, "A
Period Of Transition." That was considered a very long time gap, back
then, by the music biz, as he had reliably released an album a year in
1970, 71, 72, 73 & 74. To me, it is reasonable to conclude that WB was
concerned about the long layoff hurting his new LP's sales, and were
looking to "jump start/refresh the consumer's memory" about Van a bit.
I say this because in late 1977, WB decided to replace the 1970-until-
then WB LP stock # for "Moondance" (1835) with a re-issue of the LP,
complete with the then-current palm tree label, as WB 3103. Labels doing
this wasn't unheard of, normally for accounting purposes. To me, it
appears as if WB was planning to re-market the catalog album, as
part of an overall Van Morrison blitz, in combo with his new "...Transition"
LP. With the new Moondance stock # representing new budget dollars set
aside for marketing purposes. Clear evidence that WB wasn't "abandoning"
his new LP is that the B-side of the 1977 "Moondance" 45, a key part of
the overall Van Plan, if you will, was "Cold Wind In August", the track from
the "....Transition" LP generally considered to be closest to his "classic"
style. Makes perfect sense to me that a 1977 45 buyer of "Moondance"
would then likely flip it over, and give the "Cold...." side a spin. And if they
liked it, I'm sure WB wouldn't have minded a bit if he/she then went back
and bought a copy of Van's new LP as well.
To me, it is reasonable that both Aaron and John have asked about a
possible 45/LP version difference, given the unusually long time gap
between the two. I have just pulled and timed my 1977 WB 8450
mono/stereo promo 45. Both sides have a listed time of (4:35) and an
actual time of (4:33). I just pulled my Mercury "The Best Of Van Morrison"
CD (my CD copy of "Moondance", my first choice to check against, is
deeply buried right now), and I got (4:31) there. I know the song very well,
since 1970, and have always thought just one version existed for it, be it
'70 or '77. But if anyone has lingering concerns, or thinks they've heard
musical element differences between the two, I can easily shoot out a 45
dub. For now, I'm crossing my fingers I've correctly gotten to the bottom
of this tricky one.
Edited by jimct on 10 January 2016 at 11:12pm
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MCT1
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| Posted: 17 January 2016 at 5:05pm | IP Logged
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Very interesting about "Moondance" and the the other Van Morrison songs appearing on Back To Back Hits reissue 45s without having ever been released previously on regular-issue 45s. I had never noticed that before.
I had also never noticed that random, album-less release of "Moondance" as a single in 1977. I think your theory about Warner Bros. releasing it to promote his back catalog in the wake of his recent return (with a track from his recent album on the B-side, to encourage people to check out that album, too) is likely correct.
As to why the album was renumbered from 1835 to 3103, I can provide an explanation for that. Around this time, Warner Bros. began charging a list price of $7.98 (rather than the previous $6.98) for new pop LPs. It started off with just certain select releases, but soon spread to become the standard list price for virtually all new releases. LPs with the $7.98 list were marked with the catalog number prefix "BSK" (whereas "BS" corresponded to $6.98). Once $7.98 had become the standard list price for new pop releases, Warner Bros. raised the list price to $7.98 on select pop catalog LPs. Concerned about consumer sensitivity to the price increase, they only raised a limited number of stronger-selling catalog LPs to $7.98, leaving the bulk of the pop catalog at $6.98. To make it obvious to distributors and retailers which catalog albums had been raised to $7.98, they not only changed the prefix to "BSK", but also gave these albums new catalog numbers. All of the catalog numbers from 3100 to 3116 were used for catalog albums being raised to $7.98:
http://bsnpubs.com/warner/warner/warner3100.html
Virtually very U.S. record label went through a similar process around this time in terms of their LP prices, and some made similar catalog number changes as a result. For example, the catalog LPs that Atlantic renumbered into the 19000 series around the same time were renumbered for the same reason.
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Topic: Van Morrison Moondance question
