- Artist: Moondog
- Rating:
- Release Date: 2004
- Total Time: 121:41
- Type: Compilation (best of), Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Avant-Garde
Review
This deluxe double-disc box from Germany's Roof Music contains a collection of Louis Thomas Hardin's music recorded from 1977-1999 entitled The German Years as well as a second disc entitled The Last Concert, Mimi-Festival 1999. There are 44 pages of liner notes that lovingly put the complex music into as much perspective as possible, though it is up to the listener to diligently explore the lifework of this creative and unique individual. "High On a Rocky Ledge" could be John Cale in his sixth decade and is a highlight. This track and "Do Your Thing," "I'm This I'm That," and "Pygmy Pig" are culled from 1979's H'Art Songs album, one of seven different sources for the music on disc one. The performances are as delightfully diverse as the titles and keep one's attention as the parade of ideas unfolds. "Heimdall Fanfare" is a completely different outing from "Fujiyama 2 (Lovesong)," while "Do Your Thing" could certainly have found some kind of commercial success had some publisher gotten it into a film soundtrack -- or had Janis Joplin lived long enough to cover more of Moondog's compositions. The concert on disc two flows seamlessly from disc one and is so perfect that it sounds like a studio recording, except for the applause. Performed on August 1, 1999, five weeks before his passing on September 8 of that year, it is an amazing "bookend" to this compilation. Berthold Klostermann's 13-page biography is combined with a chronology, six pages on the music from the first CD, and a discussion of Moondog's work by the man himself, and there are other essays on the pages inside, making this a real treasure chest of photographs and information. The detailed liners along with the two-plus hours of listening housed in a beautiful hard cardboard package make for an extraordinary work of art. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Lament 1 ("Bird's Lament") | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:02) | |
| Pigmy Pig | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (3:16) | |
| Viking, for celesta & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:57) | |
| Dog Trot, for saxophone ensemble & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:24) | |
| High on a rocky ledge | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (4:25) | |
| Log in B, for organ | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (4:34) | |
| Marimba Mondo 2, for marimba | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (5:47) | |
| Paris, for chorus, saxophones & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (3:27) | |
| In Vienna, for celesta & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:11) | |
| EEC Suite, for saxophone ensemble~EEC Lied | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:53) | |
| Fujiyama 2, for narrator, unison chorus, unison koto and viola da gamba | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (4:57) | |
| Heimdall Fanfare, for waldhorns & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (3:10) | |
| To a Sea Horse, solo | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:17) | |
| Single Foot, for 4 saxophones & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:55) | |
| Do Your Thing | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (3:07) | |
| Bumbo | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (3:08) | |
| Dark Eyes, for strings & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:06) | |
| Logrundr XII, for organ | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:33) | |
| I'm this I'm that | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (3:47) | |
| Frost Flower, for organ & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:45) | |
| The Message | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:59) | |
| Introduction & Overtone Continuum, for keyboard | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:22) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Jazz Book, for piano & percussion~No. 2 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:18) | |
| Carnival, for piano & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:48) | |
| Elf Dance, for piano & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:18) | |
| Jazz Book, for piano & percussion~No. 4 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:22) | |
| Fiesta, for piano | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:00) | |
| Jazz Book, for piano & percussion~No. 3 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:57) | |
| Chaconne for piano in A minor | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:28) | |
| Poetry~3 Couplets (i) | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:32) | |
| Prelude and Fugue for piano in A minor | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (4:19) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 3 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:46) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 6 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:45) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 7 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:46) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 8 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:45) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 10 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:40) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 13 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:36) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 14 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:45) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 16 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:45) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 18 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:14) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 20 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:55) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book I. No. 25 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:08) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book II. No. 6 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:59) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book II. No. 9 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:45) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book II. No. 22 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:52) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book II. No. 23 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:44) | |
| To a Sea Horse, solo | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:31) | |
| Jazz Book, for piano & percussion~No. 1 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:03) | |
| Jazz Book, for piano & percussion~No. 5 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (1:16) | |
| Poetry~3 Couplets (ii) | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (:33) | |
| Art of the Canon, for piano~Book V. No. 9 | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (5:13) | |
| Mood Montreux, for piano & percussion~1st Movement | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:54) | |
| Mood Montreux, for piano & percussion~2nd Movement | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (3:34) | |
| Mood Montreux, for piano & percussion~3rd Movement | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:29) | |
| Santa Fé, for piano & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:28) | |
| Barn Dance, for piano & percussion | Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) | (2:11) |
