Van Morrison: Crazy Love

My favorite Van Morrison album is the classic “Moondance” from 1970. It spawned some great songs including the title cut, “Caravan,” “Into the Mystic,” and today’s Friday Flipside – “Crazy Love.” While all of the songs were popular on album radio, none were released as singles during the album’s original run; however, Warner Brothers finally released “Moondance” as a single seven years after the fact. This later release failed to generate much interest as it only peaked at #92 – although it is the best song on the album in my opinion.

“Crazy Love” was the “B” side to “Come Running” the original single from the album. Although “Come Running” barely made it to the Top 40 (at #39 no less), it failed to solidify a solid pop radio base for the album. That’s where album radio saved the day and all of the songs I mentioned in the second sentence helped propel the album to the #29th spot. Three million copies of “Moondance” were sold and earned it a triple platinum certification in the US.

It was Van Morrison’s only multi-platinum album – let’s back up, it was Morrison’s only album to sell at least a million copies in the US and have platinum status at any level. Half a dozen of Van’s other albums sold 500 thousand copies or more for RIAA gold certification. To paraphrase a commercial, I don’t listen to Van Morrison very often, but when I do, I listen to “Moondance.” Stay entertained my friend.