''Blowin' Your Mind!'' is the debut studio album by Northern Irish musician

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

, released in 1967. It was recorded 28–29 March 1967 and contained his first solo pop hit " Brown Eyed Girl". It was included by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' as one of the ''40 Essential Albums of 1967''.

Recording and release history

Morrison does not regard this record as a true album, as Bert Berns compiled and released it without his consent. A few months previously, Morrison had carelessly signed a

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

that he had not fully studied and it stipulated that he would surrender virtually all control of the material he would record with Bang Records. The songs were recorded in March 1967, intended to be released on four separate singles. Months later, Morrison recorded another batch of songs to fulfill his contract with Bang Records, which were never planned to be released, and were largely nonsensical joke songs. This session was widely bootlegged and eventually given an official release in 2017 as part of '' The Authorized Bang Collection''. The album jacket's psychedelic design was strongly disliked by Morrison and his fans, who felt it misrepresented his musical style.

Greil Marcus Greil Marcus (né Gerstley; born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. Biogra ...

described it as a "monstrously offensive, super psychedelic far out out-of-sight exploding" design. 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".Heylin. 2003. p158 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."

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", whereas

, 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'". "He Ain't Give You None" is an urban tale of "lust, jealousy and sexual disgust." It references

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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 contempt of the singer, the song's graveyard pace, the stately organ and stinging guitar" to the '' Highway 61'' period of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

.Hinton. 1997. p80

Reception

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gave the album a 3-star rating and wrote that "Although Van Morrison's first solo album is remembered for containing the immortal pop hit "Brown Eyed Girl," ''Blowin' Your Mind!'' is actually a dry run for his masterpiece, '' Astral Weeks''."

Track listing

Personnel

;Musicians * Van Morrison – vocals, guitar, harmonica on "T.B. Sheets" *

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and jazz fusion guitarist. Biography Eric Gale was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. His grandfather was English, and Gale had relatives in Venezuela and Bar ...

, Al Gorgoni,

Hugh McCracken Hugh Carmine McCracken (March 31, 1942 – March 28, 2013) was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally ...

– guitars * Russ Savakus – bass * Paul Griffin – piano * Garry Sherman – organ *

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations are an American R&B girl group from Newark, New Jersey, founded by Cissy Houston who are mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists but who are also a Grammy-nominat ...

– backing vocals on "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Midnight Special" * Gary Chester – drums ;Production * Vic Anesini – mastering * Brooks Arthur – engineer * Bert Berns – arranger, director, producer, liner notes * Adam Block – project director * Bob Irwin – liner notes, reissue producer * John Jackson – project director * Garry Sherman – actual arranger, conductor, musical supervisor *Rodriguez of Los Angeles – cover photography

Charts

Album

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Singles

References

Sources

* Heylin, Clinton (2003). ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', Chicago Review Press * Hinton, Brian (1997). ''Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison'', Sanctuary, * Rogan, Johnny (2006). '' Van Morrison: No Surrender'', London:Vintage Books

External

WFMU'S: Beware of the Blog
Morrison's Contractual Obligation Album {{Authority control Van Morrison albums 1967 debut albums Albums produced by Bert Berns Epic Records albums Legacy Recordings albums Bang Records albums Unauthorized albums