Pitchfork: Moondog Resurrected by Damon Albarn

Next time you walk by what looks like just another crazy hobo playing music on the sidewalk, pay attention. Louis Thomas Hardin, who christened himself Moondog, spent years jamming on the corner of 54th and Sixth in Manhattan. He was blind, had a long beard, and dressed up like a Viking. He composed percussive, experimental pieces with names like "Witch of Endor" and "Frog Bog".

Devendra Banhart looks like Harry Connick Jr. compared to this guy. But Moondog wasn't some outsider freak. He was an innovative, influential genius who rubbed shoulders with everybody from Igor Stravinsky, Charlie Parker, and Janis Joplin to Julie Andrews, Elvis Costello, and Mouse on Mars. He recorded for major labels and tiny imprints. He's been covered by Joplin, Antony and the Johnsons, Alan Licht, and the Kronos Quartet, NRBQ, and sampled by Mr. Scruff.

Although Moondog died in 1999, his legacy lives on in the hands of none other than Damon Albarn, whose Honest Jon's imprint delivers the anthology The Viking of Sixth Avenue to America on March 7. Originally released in the UK last fall, the compilation commemorates (and helpfully condenses) Moondog's half-century career into a primer for beginners.

The set includes thirty-six tracks recorded between 1949 and 1995, with the bulk taken from Moondog's notorious stint in the 60s and 70s on that Manhattan street corner.

Tracklist:

01 Themes and Variations
02 Down Is Up
03 Bumbo
04 Big Cat
05 Oo Debut
06 Lament 1 "Bird's Lament"
07 Moondog's Symphony 1 (Timberwolf)
08 Moondog's Symphony 2 (Sagebrush)
09 Rabbit Hop
10 Rimshot
11 Snaketime Rhythm
12 Instrumental Round
13 Double Bass Duo
14 Why Spend the Dark Night With You
15 All Is Loneliness
16 Snaketime Rhythm
17 Dragon's Teeth
18 Oboe Round
19 Be a Hobo
20 Dog Trot
21 Oasis
22 Avenue of the Americas
23 2 W 46th Street
24 Lullaby (2 W 46th Street)
25 Fog on the Hudson (425 W 57th Street)
26 Utsu
27 On and Off the Beat
28 Chant
29 From One to Nine
30 Improvisation in 4/4
31 Enough About Human Rights!
32 Viking I
33 Rimshot
34 Chaconne in G Major
35 Oasis
36 Invocation