Personnel: Van Morrison (vocals, guitar); Eric Gale, Hugh McCracken (guitar); Seldon Powell, Artie Kaplan (flute, saxophone); Artie Butler, Paul Griffin (keyboards); George Devins (vibraphone, percussion); Bob Bushnell (bass instrument); Gary Chester, Herbie Lovelle (drums); Jeff Berry (tambourine); The Sweet Inspirations (background vocals).

Liner Note Author: Michael Ochs.

Recording information: A&R Studios, New York, New York (1967 - 1968); Century Sound Studios, New York, New York (1967 - 1968).

The sessions included here have been repackaged so many times and under so many different names that it's almost impossible to keep it straight. Here's the deal: after splitting from Them, Morrison did a singles session for American producer Bert Berns, which yielded the mega-hit "Brown Eyed Girl," included here, and the prototypes for a couple of tunes from Morrison's proper solo debut, ASTRAL WEEKS. Those sessions were unceremoniously packaged by Bang Records as BLOWIN' YOUR MIND in 1967. In 1970, Bang released five tracks from that album along with some other session outtakes, dubiously titled THE BEST OF VAN MORRISON (not to be confused with the Polydor compilation).

In 1973, Bang released T.B. SHEETS, yet another combination of tracks from BLOWIN' YOUR MIND and outtakes. BROWN EYED BEGINNINGS, itself released in other countries under other names, contains every single cut from those Bang sessions, including almost an album's worth of ephemeral minute-long nonsense tracks Van recorded just to tick Bang off when they played contractual hardball. T.B. SHEETS is the essential version of those sessions, as it includes everything but the aforementioned nonsense tracks, which are notable only for their novelty value.