From 1954 – 1962 field recordist Tony Schwartz frequently checked in with Moondog, his favorite street musician. Tony Schwartz made recordings of Moondog’s earliest compositions as they were coming into focus.  Sometimes these recordings were made right on the street as Moondog busked, sometimes they were made in Schwartz’s studio, and sometimes they were made on NYC rooftops.  The resulting recordings, many of which had never been released, were deposited at the Library of Congress as part of the Tony Schwartz Collection in 2006 when Schwartz passed away, and this record was culled straight from these original tapes.

Side one kicks off with an unreleased version of Moondog’s classic composition Why Spend The Dark Night With You? followed by the first ever complete recording of his Nocturne Suite, a beautiful piece of classical music performed with members of the Royal Philharmonic.  The side ends with the complete On the Streets of New York 7” EP, which was released on Mars records in 1955 and subsequently re-released by Honest Jon’s Records in 2004 on their excellent Moondog anthology.  Side two features sketches of Moondog compositions never released, many with the man himself howling and chanting over his homemade percussion set. Moondog’s music is as universal as it gets – part classical music, part Native American, part European folk, and part something completely unique.  Moondog is one of the towering figures of 20th century music. This record comes with liner notes featuring never before released interviews with Moodog by Tony Schwartz and is housed in an old school “tip on” cover. All tracks fully licensed from the Library of Congress.