release date: Sep. 1967
format: cd (1998 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,16]
producer: Bert Berns
label: Epic / Legacy - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Brown Eyed Girl" (5 / 5) (live) - 4. "Spanish Rose" - 7. "Who Drove the Red Sports Car?" - 8. "Midnight Special"
Studio album debut by Van Morrison [aka George Ivan Morrison] originally released on Bang Records (co-founded by producer Bert Berns). While still a part of Them, he was too much wanted as a solo singer - and at live concerts - and the band was often referred to as 'Them and Van Morrison' a name they never officially accepted but that was how the public and the press saw... Them. The success of the band led Morrison to initiate a solo career, which apparently, had him sign a contract with Bert Berns label Bang Records without giving it much attention.
Blowin' Your Mind! is not an album in the hands of Morrison himself, as Berns compiled the recordings and had the album released without Morrison's knowledge, which seems plausible looking at the song titles, the album cover, and also his second album release Astral Weeks on which Morrison had more control and what also reveals his true potential.
Anyway, the album is "filed" as his debut, and it does contain a few memorable tracks including his own classic "Brown Eyed Girl", but the sound and style of the album is very much bound to his successes with Them proving Berns directional wish to continue in the pop soul and uptempo sound that seemed the obvious choice but basically wasn't what Morrison himself wanted at the time.
Nevertheless, the album is there - it isn't a great release but it can't disguise the fact that Morrison has a remarkable talent and a strong singing voice.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]
Anyway, the album is "filed" as his debut, and it does contain a few memorable tracks including his own classic "Brown Eyed Girl", but the sound and style of the album is very much bound to his successes with Them proving Berns directional wish to continue in the pop soul and uptempo sound that seemed the obvious choice but basically wasn't what Morrison himself wanted at the time.
Nevertheless, the album is there - it isn't a great release but it can't disguise the fact that Morrison has a remarkable talent and a strong singing voice.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]
