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Blowin' Your Mind! is the solo debut album by Irish musician Van Morrison, recorded on the 28th and 29th of March, 1967. It contained his first solo pop hit "Brown Eyed Girl".
[edit] Recording and release history
Morrison does not regard this record as a true album, because it was compiled and released by Bert Berns without his consent. He had signed a contract a few months before, that surrendered virtually all control of the material he would record with Bang Records. The songs were recorded in March 1967 and were intended to be released on four separate singles. The album jacket became notorious as a model of bad taste. It featured a strange swirl of circling brown vines (and drug connotation) surrounding a sweaty looking Morrison. Greil Marcus described it as a "monstrously offensive, super psychedelic far out out-of-sight exploding" design.[1]Morrison's then-wife, Janet Planet said "He never has been, never will be anything approaching a psychedelic user - wants nothing to do with it, wants nothing to do with any drug of any kind"[2]As the singer recalls, "I got a call saying it was an album coming out and this is the cover. And I saw the cover and I almost threw up, you know."[3] Later, after Berns' death, Morrison would express his displeasure on the "nonsense song" he included on the contractual obligation recording session. It was entitled, "Blow In Your Nose" and includes the words, "We put an album together/ We're releasing it next week/ It's a gorgeous album cover/ You should see it / It's groovy."[4]
[edit] Songs and reviews
Of the eight songs on the album, all were composed by Morrison except "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)" and the last song, Midnight Special. Clinton Heylin contends that the first side of the album "makes for one of the great single-sided albums in rock", [5]whereas Greil Marcus the album's most hostile critic, found it "painfully boring, made up of three sweet minutes of "Brown Eyed Girl" and ... the sprawling, sensation dulling "T.B. Sheets". [6]"He Ain't Give You None" is an urban tale of "lust, jealousy and sexual disgust." It references Notting Hill Gate and Curzon Street in London England places Morrison would have been familiar with when he lived there during his earlier touring days. It contains the words, "You can leave now if you don't like what is happening." Brian Hinton compares "the delighted comtempt of the singer, the song's graveyard pace, the stately organ and stinging guitar" to the Highway 61 period of Bob Dylan.[7]
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Morrison, unless otherwise noted.
- "Brown Eyed Girl" – 3:03
- "He Ain't Give You None" – 5:13
- "T.B. Sheets" – 9:44
- "Spanish Rose" – 3:06
- "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)" (Farrell / Russell) – 2:57
- "Ro Ro Rosey" – 3:03
- "Who Drove the Red Sports Car?" – 5:35
- "Midnight Special" (traditional) – 2:51
[edit] Bonus tracks (1994 CD reissue)
- "Spanish Rose" [Alternate Take] – 3:38
- "Ro Ro Rosey" [Alternate Take] – 3:09
- "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)" (Farrell / Russell) [Alternate Take] – 2:39
- "Who Drove the Red Sports Car?" [Alternate Take] – 3:49
- "Midnight Special" (traditional) [Alternate Take] – 2:46
[edit] Charts
Album - Billboard
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1967 |
Pop Albums |
182 |
Singles - Billboard
| Year |
Single |
Chart |
Position |
| 1967 |
"Brown Eyed Girl" |
Pop Singles |
10 |
- ^ Hinton. 1997. p78
- ^ Heylin. 2003. p158
- ^ Rogan. 2006. p204
- ^ [1] Morrison's CO Album WFMU:Blow In Your Nose
- ^ Heylin. 2003. p158
- ^ Hinton. 1997. p79
- ^ Hinton. 1997. p80
[edit] References
- Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
- Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074169X
- Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison:No Surrender, London:Vintage Books ISBN 9780099431831
[edit] External links
