While Blowin' Your Mind doesn't exactly do what it says on the tin, it's still a serviceable debut for one of the most illustrious men in blue-eyed soul and eventually adult contemporary. Everyone knows "Brown Eyed Girl", and while that song is still wonderful fifty years later and the clear highlight here, one need not overlook "T.B. Sheets", a nearly ten-minute blues dirge about tuberculosis. Morrison has a wonderful voice here, and while his backing band is almost too reminiscent of something Bob Dylan's would do, it's still very solid, especially the backing harmonies. The covers here are also pretty nice, but some of the other material not previously mentioned can be a bit of a drag. They're not bad compositions, just kind of middling blues, and are only saved from total mediocrity by Morrison's voice. Really, it's a solid debut, and while it's far from his best work, it's still an important record in Van Morrison's catalog.
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