''Moondog 2'' is the sixth album by American composer

Moondog Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his p ...

AKA Louis Thomas Hardin. This album was the followup to the 1969 album ''

''. Produced with

James William Guercio James William Guercio (born July 18, 1945) is an American music producer, musician, songwriter, and director. He is well known for his work as the producer of Chicago's early albums as well as early recordings of The Buckinghams and Blood, Swe ...

, it featured Moondog's daughter June Hardin as a vocalist. Unlike his previous instrumental album, which was largely performed by an orchestra, ''Moondog 2'' contains vocal compositions in canons,

rounds Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...

, and

madrigals A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number ...

, and harked back to the home-recorded feel of his earliest records. In the liner notes to the album, Hardin states he first began writing rounds in the late winter or early spring of 1951 but soon moved on to instrumental music. But after he'd heard in 1968 that

Big Brother and the Holding Company Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After some i ...

had recorded "All Is Loneliness" he took to writing them again.Sleevenotes for ''Moondog'' album, 2001 Beat Goes On reissue The album has been re-released twice as a 2-for-1 CD combining ''Moondog'' and ''Moondog 2'': once by CBS in 1989, and once by Beat Goes On Records in 2001.

Reception

featuring

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage presence. ...

covered the song "All Is Loneliness" on their 1967 self-titled album. The song was also covered by

Antony and the Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons is an American music group presenting the work of Anohni and her collaborators. Career British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Anohni's music through his Durtro lab ...

during their 2005 tour. New York band

The Insect Trust The Insect Trust was an American jazz-based rock band that formed in New York, United States, in 1967. Background The members of the band were Nancy Jeffries on vocals, Bill Barth on guitar, Luke Faust, formerly of the Holy Modal Rounders, on ...

play a cover of Moondog's song "Be a Hobo" on their album ''Hoboken Saturday Night''.

Track listing

All compositions by

(Louis Hardin) # "Bells Are Ringing" – 1:19 # "Voices Of Spring" – 1:47 # "What's The Most Exciting Thing?" – 2:31 # "All Is Loneliness" – 1:16 # "My Tiny Butterfly" – 1:12 # "Why Spend A Dark Night With Me?" – 1:09 # "Coffee Beans" – 2:10 # "Down Is Up" – 1:07 # "Be A Hobo" – 1:09 # "Remember" – 1:52 # "I Love You" – 1:08 # "Nero's Expedition" – 1:52 # "No, The Wheel Was Never Invented" – 1:20 # "With My Wealth" – 1:35 # "This Student Of Life" – 1:24 # "Some Trust All" – 1:28 # "Wine, Woman And Song" – 2:23 # "Sadness" – 1:22 # "Maybe" – 2:03 # "Each Today Is Yesterday's Tomorrow" – 1:37 # "Imagine" – 2:16 # "You The Vandal – 2:08 # "Trees Against The Sky" – 1:18 # "Behold" – 1:27 # "Sparrow" – 1:37 # "Pastoral" – 2:42

Personnel

Louis Hardin Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, Music theory, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a c ...

- composition & musical direction,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, vocals *June Hardin - vocals *

*Kay Jafee -

virginal The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ...

, recorder,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a ...

, ancient organ *Michael Jafee - recorder,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

*Steven Silverstein - schom *Judith Davidoff -

viola de gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...

*Gillian Stevens - troubadour harp

References

{{Authority control 1971 albums CBS Records albums Moondog albums Albums produced by James William Guercio