The Styrous® Viewfinder: 20,000 vinyl LPs 293: Moondog

Today is the birthday of Louis Thomas Hardin, aka Moondog, born on May 26, 1916, he was an American musician, composer, theoretician, poet and, as was Harry Partch, the inventor of several musical instruments from odd parts. He was blind from the age of 16.

Although his music is symphonic, it ain't Johann Strauss! No frothy bon-bons here, however, there are touches of beauty and quiet to be found in his works. His music has been performed by major orchestras all over the world and he has influenced many artists.

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP front cover

cover photo by Don Hunstein
photo of album cover by Styrous®

Hardin lived in New York City from the late 1940s until 1972, and during this time he could often be found on 6th Avenue, between 52nd and 55th Streets, wearing a cloak and a horned helmet sometimes busking or selling music, but often just standing silently on the sidewalk. He was widely recognized as "the Viking of 6th Avenue" by thousands of passersby and residents who were not aware of his musical career.

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP back cover

cover photo by Don Hunstein
photo of album cover by Styrous®

Born to an Episcopalian family in Marysville, Kansas, United States, Hardin started playing a set of drums that he made from a cardboard box at the age of five. His family relocated to Wyoming and his father opened a trading post at Fort Bridger. He attended school in a couple of small towns. At one point, his father took him to an Arapaho Sun Dance where he sat on the lap of Chief Yellow Calf and played a tom-tom made from buffalo skin.

Moondog is a gatefold album so that when it opens up, the front and back cover create a very large image . . .

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP gatefold cover

cover photo by Don Hunstein
photo of album cover by Styrous®

. . . and the interior of the album has the luxury of the traditional informational format with additional photos by Fred Lombardi whose images were also used on album covers for The Electric Flag, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! by Janis Joplin, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen, The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions by Miles Davis, the Raspberries and many many others.

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP gatefold interior

photos by Fred Lombardi
photo of gatefold interior by Styrous®

The music of Moondog

Some of the segments are preceded by short lines from his poetry. The opening, Theme, is a bouncy delightful venture with staccato strings, flute and what sounds like bongo drums (they aren't) followed by brass which all build to a grand finale. This is followed by the ponderous Stomping Grounds with tympani doing most of the stomping.

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP gatefold interior details

photos by Fred Lombardi
detail photos of gatefold interior by Styrous®

Symphonique #3 (Ode To Venus) is one of those beauty spots I mentioned earlier. The violin duet opening is right out of a Haydn music book. A delightful foray for strings, it is very lovely.

Symphonique #6 (Good For Goodie) is a syncopated, jazzy and bouncy festival for reeds with trombone and tuba backup followed by brass. It could very well have been written in the heydays of Harlem.

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP gatefold interior details

detail photos of gatefold interior by Styrous®

Mini-Sym #1 is almost a continuation of Goodie at the beginning but after a minute or so, it settles into a fugue, slows down then starts up again into a fast and syncopated rhythm. A little later in the work, Bird's Lament revisits it.

Although it is less than two minutes, Bird's Lament is a tour de force with its fast pace that is a sweet reed heaven with a syncopated and jazzy beat and a snare back up.

Witch Of Endor is delightful! The first movement is almost danceable; the second is mysterious with vibrato stings; the third is a plodding tune with oboe and clarinet swirling around each other while the strings create the drama then the whole orchestra joins in. The Finale is very slow and dramtic at first then it goes into the original dance with oboe and violin that are joined by bassoon then orchestra which all softly fade out. I would have liked it to have a definite end but then, I'm not the composer!

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP, side 1

photos by Styrous®

Moondog ~ Moondog

vinyl LP, side 2

photos by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Theme - 2:35
A2 - Stamping Ground - 2:36
A3 - Symphonique #3 (Ode To Venus) - 5:51
A4 - Symphonique #6 (Good For Goodie - 2:45
Mini-Sym #1 - (5:45)

Side 2:

B1a - I - Allegro
B1b - II - Andante Adagio
B1c - II - Vivace
B2 - Lament I, "Bird's Lament" - 1:42
        Witch Of Endor (6:29)
B3a        I - Dance
B3b        II - Trio
B3b1        A. Adagio (The Prophesy)
B3b2        B. Andante (The Battle)
B3b3        C. Agitato (Soul's Death)
B3c        III - Dance (Reprise)
B4 - Symphonique #1 (Portrait Of A Monarch) - 2:36

Companies, etc.

    Manufactured By – Columbia Records
    Produced For – Poseidon Productions (3)
    Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Pitman
    Printed By – Shorewood Packaging
    Published By – Archimedes Music
    Published By – Skiff Music Corp.
    Mastered At – Customatrix

Credits:

    Baritone Saxophone – Wally Kane
    Bass – Alfred Brown, George Duvivier, Louis Hardin, Ron Carter
    Bass Clarinet – Ernie Bright*
    Bass Trombone – Paul Faulise
    Bassoon – Don Macourt*, George Berg, Jack Knitzer, Joyce Kelly, Ryohei Nakagawa, Wally Kane
    Cello – Charles McCracken, George Ricci
    Clarinet – George Silfies, Jimmy Abato, Phil Bodner
    Composed By [All Selections], Liner Notes – Louis Hardin
    Contrabass – Joe Tekula
    Design [Album Design] – Ron Coro
    Engineer [Engineering] – Arthur Kendy, Fred Plaut
    English Horn – Henry Shuman*, Irving Horowitz
    Flugelhorn [Flügelhorn] – Joe Wilder
    Flute – Andrew Lolya, Harold Bennett
    French Horn – Brooks Tillotson, James Buffington*, Ray Alonge, Richard Berg (3)
    Percussion – Bob Rosengarden*, Dave Carey*, Elayne Jones, Jack Jennings
    Photography By [Cover] – Don Hunstein
    Photography By [Inside] – Fred Lombardi
    Piccolo Flute – Harold Jones (2), Hubert Laws
    Producer – James William Guercio
    Producer [Associate Producer For Poseidon Productions] – Alfred Brown
    Tenor Vocals [Tenore] – Eugene Becker, Raoul Poliakin
    Trombone [Tenor] – Buddy Morrow, Charles Small*, Tony Studd
    Trumpet – Alan Dean, Joe Wilder, Mel Broiles*, Teddy Weiss
    Trumpet [Bass] – Danny Repole
    Tuba – Bill Stanley, Don Butterfield
    Tuba [Tenor] – Bill Elton, Bill Stanley, John Swallow, Phil Giardina
    Viola – David Schwartz, Emanuel Vardi, Eugene Becker, Raoul Poliakin
    Violin – Aaron Rosand, Paul Gershman

Notes:

Original pressing on the grey 2-eye label. In Unipak gatefold cover.

There was no specific promo pressing of this LP, but promotional copies of this pressing were sent out with radio timing stickers on front or a small sticker at bottom-left stating "For Demonstration Use Only Not For Sale".

All copyrights are administered by Archimedes Music (ASCAP), a Division of James William Guerico Enterprises, Inc., except Theme (Archimedes Music/Skiff Music Corp. [ASCAP]).
Cover photo/inside photos: Columbia Records Photo Studio
Printed in U.S.A.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Rights Society: ASCAP
    Other (Library of Congress catalog card number): R72-750723
    Matrix / Runout (Side A, stamped, variant 1): XSM150716-1A
    Matrix / Runout (Side B, stamped, variant 1): XSM150717-1A
    Matrix / Runout (Side A, stamped, variant 2): XSM150716-1B
    Matrix / Runout (Side B, stamped, variant 2): XSM150717-1B
    Matrix / Runout (Side A, stamped, variant 3): XSM150716-1A p o
    Matrix / Runout (Side B, stamped, variant 3): XSM150717-1D p C3 o

Moondog (2) – Moondog
Label: Columbia Masterworks – MS 7335
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold - UNIPAK
Country: US
Released: 1969
Genre: Jazz, Classical
Style: Big Band, Contemporary

Viewfinder links:

Ron Carter

Miles Davis

Janis Joplin

Moondog

Harry Partch

Raspberries

Bruce Springsteen

Net links:

ACBA ~ The Story of Moondog by Andy Warhol

Brute Norse ~ The Out-of-Step Pagan Philosophy of Moondog

The Viking of 6th Avenue