Moondance

by

Van Morrison

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In the history of popular music, there are works which, no matter how old they are, no matter how many times you have heard them, they remain consistently fresh, innovative, inviting and entertaining. Moondance, by Van Morrison, deserves an honored place on that list.

I was listening to the WXRT here in Chicago the other day, and Lin Brehmer, the morning DJ, had just played the first cut on Moondance, "And It Stoned Me". The song ended, and Lin read the titles of the first five songs on the disc, then he said, "If that is not musical genius, I don't know what is". I think Lin hit the nail on the head.

Moondance is an excellent album. The songwriting and the arrangements combine to form a mood and a feeling that is so distinct, so ephereal and relaxing, you feel like you are in another time and place. Listen to the song Moondance on the radio, and you may tire of it soon. Listen to it in the context of this album, and you will understand that it was written by a young man who was writing about his time, his life, his relationships.

This album has been written about many times, by writers whose skills far outweigh mine. Let me just finish by saying that Moondance is a special album, filled with special music. Buy it, and it will be special for you, too.

The good news?

20+ years after their debut on CD, FINALLY, there are full remasters of Moondance, Street Choir and Astral Weeks.

The bad news?

They're not available domestically from Warner Music Group USA: All three were released in June 2008 by Warner in Japan only, and Amazon is FINALLY getting around to stocking them.

The catalog numbers for the three Japan Warner remasters are WPCR-75419, -20 and -21, which streeted in Japan on 6/25/08. Be sure that you use the links I have provided above, as Warner Japan has previously released non-remastered versions of all three titles, and you don't want to make an expensive mistake.

These classic albums, which we have all waited so long to be brought properly into the digital world, now, unfortunately, join fellow Warner artists such as Little Feat, The Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, Ry Cooder, Tower Of Power, Cold Blood and several others, whose remastered catalogs are only available off-shore.

Pathetic.

The responsibility for this is ultimately Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the CEO of WMG USA. Instead of focusing on WMG's core music catalog, he's busy extolling the virtues of consumer-oppressive DRM, over-paying P-Diddy tens of millions of dollars, and this week, revealed as losing another $30 million of WMG funds in promoter Joe Meli's mad scheme to charge $15,000 per person to attend a swank, exclusive, five-act concert series in the Hamptons. These are only a few of many excesses this guy has perpetrated at WMG, presiding over a spectacular loss of investor equity since the 2005 WMG IPO, while he and his investors have lined their own pockets.

This year, Universal is staging a 28-title Van Morrison catalog re-release, all remastered with bonus tracks. You'd think SOMEBODY at WMG would be smart enough to pilot-fish that momentum with these three seminal titles. At the very least, how hard can it be to obtain the existing, completed remasters from a Japan subsidiary and make them available in the U.S.?

All of this is no surprise to WMG, or ex-WEA, insiders. Internally, Warner policy was always that the majority of consumers were going purchase popular catalog titles anyway, so why waste profits to remaster them? WEA sales employees were told this directly by Warner management as far back as the early 90's, and Bronfman's regime simply status-quo'd that odious philosophy.

This is what happens when bean-counters run record companies.

But, I guess Edgar & Co, too preoccupied with moguling the mess they've made of a once-great record company, can't see the opportunity: As of this writing, no WMG act has any major position on the charts, and artists, alienated by WMG's all-finance-dominated mentality, are departing for pastures where music still has some modicum of corporate consideration.

What a waste.

WMG could borrow a page from Sony, who established a successful business model out of sonically-upgrading their catalog over a decade ago. The only major Columbia Records artist that comes to mind, whose catalog hasn't been remastered, is Springsteen... and you have to believe that's not by Sony's choice.

Bottom line, Edgar? If you don't believe there's no positive revenue to be generated by offering a better product, then you've no business being in that business.