Audiopile Review: The wildly rare 1978 Moondog LP, “H’Art Songs” (a combination of Art Songs and his last name, Hardin), is mercifully reissued for the first time since it’s quiet appearance almost 50 years ago. Outside of the cheeky “Enough About Human Rights!”, which was included on Honest Jon’s fantastic Moondog primer, Viking Of 6th Avenue, H’Art Songs has remained not only an elusive LP but a true anomaly in his catalog, not to mention his most personally revealing. Issued after a quiet seven year period that followed his triumphant 1969 self-titled album and its followup, Moondog 2, both of which elevated his oddball street compositions into fully fleshed out orchestral masterpieces, the vocal-forward H’Art Songs once again simplifies his approach. Fronted by Moondog’s disarming baritone, his jaunty vocals bounce across ten songs that take on mid-century classical-pop, a simple setup of piano and the occasional bit of primitive percussion, recalling the work of his Prestige Records era. Indeed, songs like “I’m Just A Hop Head” or “Pigmy Pig” bring to mind his early street corner work, but there are moments that transcend much of what he issued prior. Album highlight “High On A Rocky Ledge”, with it’s breezy piano line that floats above the crushingly gorgeous vocals of Moondog, is an ode to devotional love delivered with such a life-affirming tenderness that we dare you to not become verklempt. Elsewhere, we get a rare glimpse into his outlook on the world as he sings about vegetarianism on “Pygmy Pig”, espouses anti-war rhetoric via “I’m In The World” and wonders about the natural world’s rights on “Enough About Human Rights!”, all themes that still resonate to this day. H’Art Songs is a hidden gem of 20th century pop music, an album more than worthy of reappraisal.

“Moondog’s jovial H’art Songs was the first release not to incorporate his name in the title, but the record that forever proved his genius. A rare vocal album recorded by Moondog when he was in his sixties, these ten art songs blur the boundaries between classical and pop music. Moondog called this series of art songs ‘H’art songs’ — Hardin’s art songs. The musical content is on a higher level than most popular music, but has an appeal to a wide range of tastes, from the pop to the classical listener. This collection of piano pop songs written and recorded in 1977 made Moondogs’ stunningly eclectic discography even more chaotic musically, it also featured some of his most mesmerizing wordplay. Telling tales that can be interpreted as metaphors for how to live — sometimes political, sometimes autobiographical, sometimes nature loving – they are always intriguingly poetic, and helped push this album to the very top of all Moondog’s releases.”