PRE-ORDER: Moondog - Moondog In Europe [CD], Moondog, CD

Originally released in 1977, Moondog In Europe was visionary composer Louis Thomas Hardin's aka Moondog first release after moving from NYC to Germany. Regarded as reflecting the historicity of his new environment, the album is more structured and formal than most of his previous releases; however, his layered song-cycles are just as circular and experimental, and still backed by a fair amount of tribal percussion. "Viking I" opens the album with Moondog's solo celesta playing and retains the quirk and charm of his previous work before going into heavy pounding percussion that opens the nearly five-minute "Chaconne In G," giving way for bouncy violins and cellos to take us down a familiar road. Side B is unlike anything in Moondog's catalog. Made up of six extremely heavy and mostly ominous pipe organ tracks that last over twenty minutes, it is darker and far more eerie than anything Moondog had yet released. Less playful than other of his albums, In Europe displays Moondog's virtuosity as a classical composer, with elegantly stylized pieces that see him embracing a grandiosity he hadn't approached previously.