Browse by Artist: MOONDOG

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	The Viking of Sixth Avenue
Label:	ASTRALWERKS
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	ASW 30653CD

Now available at domestic pricing, via Astralwerks.. "This new release from Honest Jon's is the first overview of Moondog's amazing artistic life -- including recordings spanning from 1949 till 1995, with numerous 78s and various other vanished records revived for the first time (not to mention a couple of Weegee photographs!). Though the compilation is rooted in the decades Moondog regularly lived rough in New York City, performing on street corners -- 'the Viking Of Sixth Avenue' -- at the same time it lays the music's claim to the future. It makes vivid sense of his inspiration of fans from Igor Stravinsky to Bob Dylan, Mr Scruff to Frank Zappa, Charlie Parker to Elvis Costello, Janis Joplin to Anthony And The Johnsons. As Moondog put it himself in 1989 -- 'I still love horned helmets and swords and spears. I like to feel that I'm loyal to my past. I wouldn't want to be on the street anymore. But, you know, that led to a lot of things.' Moondog was born Louis Thomas Hardin on May 26, 1916, in Marysville, Kansas. Noting the five-year-old's interest in percussion, his father -- an Episcopal minister -- took him to see an Arapaho Sun Dance. During the ritual the budding musician was allowed to sit on Chief Yellow Calf's lap and play the tom-tom. This experience -- and later playing tom-tom and flute with the Blackfoot tribe in Idaho at another Sun Dance -- would have a profound and lasting effect on the development of his own music and ideas. 'The American Indians have this basic beat,' Moondog said in 1995, 'a heartbeat in two speeds -- a walking beat (in twos) and a running beat (in four). I use those rhythms to this day. In fact it just came to me recently that American Indian music is just so syncopated that any jazz musician -- especially in the swing era -- would see a clear connection between jazz and Indian music. Those songs are not improvised -- they've been handed down from generation to generation -- they're extremely old. I think of America as an 'Old World' too, maybe older culturally than Europe.' And elsewhere: 'Harmonically, my music is the same as Bach, Beethoven and Brahms; rhythmically, it goes back to the past -- the swing rhythms of the Indians. You really couldn't find anything more syncopated.'"

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Playing Moondog's Music
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	HJP 017EP

Repressed! "Recorded in 1955, released on his own short lived Moondog label. 4 tracks of manic saxophone and snare drum mayhem. You will not find an original of this anywhere. Blind from the age of 17, classically trained in music, Moondog aka Louis Hardin left the countryside in the late 1940s to busk on the streets of New York, playing percussion instruments of his own creation. He later became the darling of the NY arts & music set. He also recorded for Folkways, Woody Herman's Mars label, then Prestige and CBS." CD of this was previously issued in 2003 by Moondog's Corner.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Moondog And His Friends
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	HJP 024EP

Repressed! 7 track 10" release, originally released by Epic! "Originally released in 1953 -- a fantastic collection of recordings from the eccentric genius that was Moondog. This mini-album features Moondog's pioneering techniques in tape overdubbing -- he harmonises with himself on voice, double bass and home-made drums. Touches of his classical music education are underpinned by his signature and irresistible Native American rhythms. Epic, prophetic, naive -- seriously lovable music. 10" vinyl only release." Tracks: "Dragon´s Teeth -- Voices of Spring," "Oasis," "Tree Frog -- Be a Hobo," "Instrumental Round - Double Bass Duo -- Why spend the dark night with you?," "Theme and Variations -- Rim Shots," "Suite No. 1," Suite No. 2"

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	The Viking of Sixth Avenue
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	HJR 018CD

Previously licensed to Astralwerks in the U.S., now re-released on its original label, Honest Jon's, with new and improved gatefold card wallet sleeve packaging. Poet, composer, street musician and cosmologist Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916-1999) learned rhythm from American Indians and counterpoint from J.S. Bach. Many of his recordings feature instruments he built himself: trimba, yukh, tuji, oo. Sometimes you can hear in the background the streets of New York, where Moondog often slept. In addition, he was blind, due to an accident when he was 15. Sometime in the 1950s, fed up with being mistaken on the street for Christ (his regular busking spot was uptown on Sixth) Moondog put on a Viking costume, with spear and horned helmet; and he dressed like this until the late 1970s (by which time he was working with orchestras in Germany). Moondog's renown was extensive: Igor Stravinsky lobbied a judge on Moondog's behalf. Charlie Parker wanted to play with him, Julie Andrews DID play with him, and he was feted by the likes of Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando, and Steve Reich. Andy Warhol's mother designed one of his covers, and Weegee took photographs of him (included in the booklet). Janis Joplin covered him, Mr. Scruff owes him badly, and Antony and the Johnsons covers his songs. This is the first retrospective of Moondog's music -- 36 tracks from 1949-1995, most of them exceptionally rare, all of them miraculous.

Artist:	MOONDOG
Title:	Snaketime Series
Label:	MOONDOG RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	MOONDOG 001LP

Grey area repro of the very rare original Moondog label version of one of the earliest Moondog LPs (soon after reissued on Prestige as the self-titled Moondog LP; both versions were released in 1956). Same music as the commonly available Prestige edition, but this has the original half-moon line-art cover that will enhance your mantleplace so much more. Originally recorded in New York City, 1956. From the Prestige liner notes: "Sometimes Moondog the enigma defeats an unprejudiced view of his music. But, if we ignore the cloak of seeming inscrutability and concentrate on the music, the experience can be astonishing. Moondog possesses an admirable virtue; he perceives music everywhere in life. The collection of vignettes contained in this album are fully realized attempts to integrate music and sound. Music and life's sounds are inseparable to Moondog. Thus, the complete 'Lullaby' contains the cry of the baby; a string duo appears comfortably at home in a 'Frog Bog' setting; a New York 'Street Scene' includes (American-Indian inspired) drum solos, the wisdom of a Far-Eastern philosopher, and the strident blowing of a police whistle commencing the flow of traffic. A vast amount of the world's music is part of Moondog's working vocabulary. This reservoir of material serves his eclectic approach to composition. Moondog chooses deftly amongst all of music to elicit his surprising couplings. A pair of violins bowing a Bach-influenced counterpoint might be heard over a rhythmic pattern of Cuban drumming. The ability to find unexpectedly complementary areas of music is an essential ingredient in these miniature portraits of life's many parts. The countless hours spent by Moondog on the streets of New York provides a constant stream of material for this great silent observer. Moondog's music is what he has found in the world in which he lives. Through him we can view the world in a more perfect form." --Robert S. Altshuler.

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