Best Moon Safari Albums

Swedish progressive rock band Moon Safari, are one of my favourite modern (i.e. post the 1970s peak) bands.

They play in a very melodic, symphonic rock sound (think a combination of early 70s Genesis and Yes) with excellent five part harmony singing.

Their live album, The Gettysburg Address, makes my Desert Island Top 200 list.

Moon Safari Releases & My Ratings

This band is very consistent and here are my ratings (10 brilliant, 9 excellent, 8 very good). Although several of the album titles are in Swedish, the lyrics are in English.

2005 Studio – A Doorway to Summer = 8
2008 Studio – Blomljud (it means Flower Sound) = 8
2010 Studio – Lover’s End = 8
2012 Live – The Gettysburg Address = 9
2013 Studio – Himlabacken Vol. 1 (it means Heaven Hill) = 8
2013 Studio EP – Lover’s End Pt. III = 8
2014 Live – Live In Mexico = 8

I suspect these ratings will rise as I get to know these recordings better.

Hear Moon Safari samples at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

What Others Say About Moon Safari

I consider ProgArchives.com as the definitive website for progressive rock. Here are their ratings (19 March 2021) from their Moon Safari page:

  • A Doorway to Summer  = 3.58
  • Blomljud = 4.13
  • Lover’s End = 3.86
  • The Gettysburg Address = 4.55
  • Himlabacken Vol. 1 = 3.92
  • Lover’s End Pt. III EP = 4.73
  • Live In Mexico = 4.02

I’m puzzled as to why the rating is so low for A Doorway to Summer. I don’t see it as inferior in any way.

The critics at AllMusic haven’t rated the albums, but their Moon Safari page shows user ratings that are all in the 4 to 5 star levels, with Blomljud, The Gettysburg Address and Live In Mexico all shown as 5 stars on 19 March 2021.

On YouTube

The Notes Reviews channel is very good for progressive rock and it has several videos about Moon Safari, starting with the worst to best:

Interestingly, the reviewer favours the early studio albums and places them in this order:

  1. A Doorway to Summer
  2. Blomljud (this is a double CD and CD1 is his favourite)
  3. Lover’s End
  4. Himlabacken Vol. 1

Personally, I think it’s really hard to decide on an order because they are all so good and have similar qualities.

He’s also produced more detailed review videos for his two favourite albums:

A Doorway to Summer

Blomljud

 Final Thoughts

If you like classy, symphonic progressive rock, I don’t think you can go wrong with Moon Safari.

My favourite is still their first live album, The Gettysburg Address, but if you prefer studio albums, I’d start at the beginning with A Doorway to Summer and then work forwards in time.

 

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