Blowin Your Mind
After a young Van Morrison left his Belfast R&B-pop; band Them following a couple of U.K. hits in "Gloria" and "Here Comes the Night," American producer-songwriter Bert Berns brought him to New York for 48 hours in early 1967 to record the tracks that would becomeBlowin' Your Mind!Berns died shortly thereafter, but the tracks he cut included the song that launched Morrison's solo career--the U.S. top 10 hit "Brown Eyed Girl." Most of these songs have been released on early Morrison compilations, including some on this same label. But this is the original album (plus alternate takes) in its original format with the great psychedelic artwork, and it contains some youthful vocal magic on the soul standard "He Ain't Give You None," the stark and graphic "TB Sheets," and the strange and wonderful "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)." This was undoubtedly Morrison's first period of transition. After the release ofBlowin' Your Mind!he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to work on his next album, the landmarkAstral Weeks.--John Sutton-Smith